The other warrior again roared his fury, this time, if it was possible, it was clear his fury was seriously furious as the Dax instantly rounded his horse in a tight circle and charged the standing warrior.
Oh shit.
Forget this crap. I was out of there.
I got to my feet and I freaking ran.
I had no idea where I was going. I had no idea where I was. I had no idea what was out there. And I didn’t care.
I just headed away from the lights of the Daxshee into the bright, moonlit stone and dark brush of what appeared to be mostly wasteland around it.
I had no plan. I had nothing on my mind.
Except escape.
My side hurt. My feet hurt. My neck hurt. My ass hurt. I needed a f**king bra. But I didn’t care. I just ran.
And ran.
And freaking ran.
Then I heard the hoof beats behind me, steady, fast, pounding into the rock and I knew the Dax had triumphed against scary, huge, cruel warrior.
I didn’t have to look.
The Dax was coming after me.
I knew it.
I ran faster, sprinting, the pain in my side agonizing but I kept going as fast as I could.
The horse’s hooves got closer; I knew they were almost upon me. Frantic, I glanced back and saw I was right. Not only were they close, the man, the rider, so huge he seemed giant, had leaned so deeply to the side, his body was in line with the horse’s middle.
And his long arm was stretched out.
I faced forward and tried to run faster.
But I couldn’t go any faster and I certainly couldn’t go faster than a horse.
I cried out when the arm hooked me at the waist, closed around and lifted me clean off my feet before my ass was planted on the horse in front of him.
Without thinking, I screamed bloody murder, twisted on the still running horse and prepared, instead of running for my life, to fight for it.
He had an arm around me, the other hand dropped the reins and he went for the chain at his waist.
I lifted my hands, nails bared, and went for his eyes.
I caught the flash of the surprise that slashed across his dark, painted features before he abandoned the chain and his hold on my waist, he reared back and caught my wrists before my nails reached their target.
I took that opportunity to slide off the slowing horse.
Doing this, he was forced to let go or come down with me. I hit feet first, pain shooting through my ankles and up my calves and I dropped because of it, rolled, found my feet again and started to run.
The horse came back at me but this time, I was prepared. When I glanced back and saw him this close, I ducked under his arm. Him and his horse shot passed me and I instantly changed directions and ran the other way.
I seemed to be making some headway and I heard no horse but was stopped when a steely arm wrapped around my waist, lifted me off my feet and whirled me around.
Shit, he was off his horse. And shit again, he could run without sound.