Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, #5) - K.F. Breene Page 0,42

animals sensing the top of the food chain in their midst. They’d already become used to Shanti and Cayan sitting there. This was someone else.

A sensation niggled at her awareness. Something out in the night caught her attention. Like a bright light in a deep cave, she felt the presence nearing her. Death seethed, something lethal stalking closer, utterly silent.

Breath, deep and even, entered and left her body. Emptiness crouched around them—no Gift, no sound. Full of danger. The grasses and brush felt scratchy against her body. She soaked in Cayan’s heat and Rohnan’s supportive warmth, and let the awareness and anxiety of that skilled Graygual enter her consciousness, then flow back out. She was at one.

A rush of movement had her on her feet with sword in hand before she knew what was happening. Arms swung downward with a sword hilt between them. The blade caught the pale glimmer of the moon. She threw her sword up to block. Cayan, on his feet at the same time as she was, sliced down at a man in black. Someone bore down from behind. A sword fell toward Rohnan’s head. Shanti didn’t even have time to call out.

13

The crack of metal on metal robbed Marc of his focus for just a moment. Somewhere below him, in the trees, S’am was fighting.

Marc bit down on his lip with the urge to jump up and rush down to help her. He tightened his hand on his knife and continued to wait, hoping the person above him would continue moving. A yell pierced the night. Someone ran out of the gate and stared up at the hill.

She needs help, you idiot! Go!

A rustling sounded ten feet away, running back up the hill. Without warning, Xavier popped up like a groundhog, spun, threw something, and then started charging up the hill.

“Oh shit!” Marc jumped up after him, taking the blade of the knife and readying to throw.

Xavier dove into a group of trees. A grunt and sounds of fighting competed with the clashing of metal below. Marc sprinted up the hill. His foot hit a root then caught in weeds, making him stagger. He righted himself and charged onward, reaching Xavier as he punched someone beneath him.

“Here, I’ll get him!” Marc changed the position of the knife and tried to get around the two men as they rolled around the brush. “Here!”

Marc bobbed and then weaved, seeing an opportunity to stick his blade in the enemy’s side. He dropped to the ground and readied the attack when Xavier’s hammy fist came up and knocked him in the ear.

The world swam for a moment as Marc spun. He landed on his face on the mulch-covered ground. After wiping away a small stone that had stuck in his cheek, he crawled back up and searched for the dropped knife. Unable to find it, he yanked out another and scrambled toward Xavier, ready for another go.

“Hurry, help me!” Xavier said frantically, pinning the man to the ground with his knee in the center of the man’s back.

“Holy crap, you got him!” Elation filled Marc as he put his knife away and braced his hands on the man’s legs.

“No, you idiot—tie his hands behind his back.”

Marc took the small ties from Xavier and worked around to get the unconscious man’s wrists next to each other behind his back. He looped the rope around a little tighter than necessary and tied it off. “Should I do his feet?”

“Yeah. I’ll carry him.”

Marc worked at the legs, getting them squared away before standing up and trying to catch his breath. Xavier bent forward and placed two fingers on the man’s neck. When he straightened, he braced his hands on his hips and looked in the direction of the sword-fighting. “Why are they still fighting? This should be the guy.”

“Which guy?” Marc bent to peer at the man’s face, still feeling the pull of S’am in trouble and needing help.

“The mental worker. I assume he is, anyway. He’s too scrawny to be a Graygual.”

“Is he wearing all black?” Marc squinted down at the dark clothes against the dark ground.

“No way of telling. But who else would it be?”

“A Mugdock?”

Xavier turned and faced Marc. His face dipped toward the ground. “Oh crap. Quick, help me check. The mental worker might still be out there.”

Cayan’s sword blocked the strike before his body pushed the Graygual to the side, letting Rohnan duck out of the way.

In a rush of sweet sensation, the blanket covering Shanti’s Gift