then wheeled around and in the same motion, slashed a soldier in the stomach, right before he came down at Steffen with a war hammer.
Gwen, bruised, shaking, covered in blood, looked around at all the corpses and was amazed at the damage they’d done. It was like a mini battlefield, and she and Steffen and Krohn had somehow survived.
But she relaxed too soon: Krohn started snarling again, and Gwen turned and heard another great rumbling.
The horizon became filled with soldiers, hundreds of them, all wearing the yellow and green armor of the Nevaruns.
Gwen’s her heart stopped, as she realized that those few knights they had killed had just been an expeditionary party, a small taste of what was to come. Now there bore down on them an entire army, in full force. There was no way they could defend themselves—and nowhere to run.
Steffen stepped forward, fearlessly raised the bow, and prepared to fire. She was in awe at his chivalry, his fearlessness, but she knew it was a losing battle.
“Steffen!” she cried out.
He turned and looked at her, as she laid a hand on his wrist.
“Don’t,” she said. “We cannot win. I need you elsewhere. Leave this place. Run and get word to Thor, to the Legion. Tell them to find me, wherever I am. That is what I need.”
“My lady, I cannot leave you,” he protested, wide-eyed, the army getting closer, raising his voice to be heard.
“You must!” she insisted. “I demand that you do. If you care for me, you will. You are needed elsewhere. Without you, I cannot get a message to Thor. You’re my last hope. Go. GO!” she screamed, fierce.
Steffen turned and raced off across the fields, sprinting.
Gwen stood there, facing the oncoming army alone, only Krohn by her side, and she trembled inside, but refused to show it. She held her chest out, her chin up, and she stood there proudly, refusing to run. Krohn snarled at these men, not showing an ounce of fear, and she was determined to match his bravery. Whatever would come, would come. At least she would go down proudly.
In moments they reached her. First came the thumping of horses, swirling all around her; then came the scowls of hundreds of angry men, charging for her, holding thick ropes of twine, preparing to bind her. Krohn, undeterred, bravely pounced and tore off the hand of the first man who reached for Gwen.
But another soldier raised a club and brought it down on Krohn’s back, and Gwen heard an awful crack. It sounded as if Krohn’s ribs were broken—yet somehow, Krohn managed to spin around and bite off his attacker’s hand, too.
Krohn leapt for another soldier, sinking his fangs into his throat and clasping onto them while the soldier shrieked. Another soldier smashed him with a mace, yet still Krohn would not let go—until finally another soldier cast a net on him, binding him.
Simultaneously, the soldiers brought their horses to a stop before Gwen, and a group of them dismounted and strutted towards her. One of them stepped out in front, and as he came close, he lifted his visor. She recognized him, from the confrontation outside the Hall of Arms. It was the man to whom she had been sold, the man arranged by Gareth to be her husband.
“I told you I’d return,” he said, his face humorless. “You had your chance to come peacefully. Now, you shall learn the hard way of the might of the Nevaruns.”
Gwendolyn only dimly saw the gauntlet, behind her, coming down for her face, as she heard the awful crash of metal against her skull, felt the ringing in her ears, and felt herself sink down, unconscious, into the field of flowers.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Luanda snuck through the back streets of the McCloud city, sticking close to the walls, doing her best not to be detected. She had only traveled the city briefly and did her best to retrace her steps, to try to find her way back to where she knew they were keeping Bronson. She passed a horse, tied to a post, and for a moment she turned and glanced out at the horizon, at the sunset, at the open fields, and she wanted more than anything to take the dagger in her hand and cut that horse’s rope, mount it, and charge away from here—far, far away, back over the Highlands and to the safety of home.
But she knew that she could not; she had a job to do. However despicable his