Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,54
of a broomstick, minus the broom.
Seconds later, Silvo appeared, sword held above his head to catch the blows from her mate. She scooted toward the edge, praying she wouldn’t fall off with this plan of hers. She’d risk it for her mate, the only man she’d ever love.
Silvo was hunched in the middle of the path. Ferrus stepped out of the room and saw her on her knees. Ferrus’s attention on her, Silvo leaned back to swing his weapon forward. She was waiting for just this moment. The pipe secure in her hand, Lilah whipped her arms around and landed the bar on the back of the prick’s knees.
Caught off guard, Silvo’s legs bent, and he fell backward, hitting the edge of the walkway and rolling off. She couldn’t watch him hit the ground at least fifty feet below. That was just too gruesome. Didn’t matter. Ferrus dragged her to him and scooped her up.
He held her so tightly, she couldn’t breathe. Arms around his neck, she didn’t care. She needed him more than breath, for the next ten seconds, anyway, until she had to inhale.
The world around her began to seep into her consciousness. Men were running and screaming to the cave entrance.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her lips brushing his neck. He shivered.
“We’re being attacked,” he said like he was asking her if she wanted a drink. The memory of the village elders from earlier in the day popped into her head. They were angry enough with the treatment of the mountain women that they were willing to wage war for them. And who usually headed up such battles? The alphas, Iridia, Zee, and Wren.
“Oh my god, Ferrus. You have to stop this. That’s my cousin out there. They can’t kill her.” She took off running, clinging as close to the wall as she could to not fall off the edge. They really needed to put a railing up. A big, strong railing. Telephone pole big.
Why were the Gnoleons attacking anyway? Did they not think she could handle this? They hadn’t given her enough time to accomplish anything.
Ferrus lifted her off her feet, and they sped fae fast to the outside. When he set her down, she scanned the area for one of the alphas or someone she recognized. She quickly realized the tree fae were not the enemy.
From the forest at the base of the mountain, hundreds of creatures with long spears raced upward to meet the red fae standing their ground. The beings were about half the size of the men. But where they lacked in size, they made up with numbers. It looked like someone had tipped over an anthill, and all the little creepy crawlies had come running out.
The warriors easily disarmed the enemy of the spears, when the men could reach them. The little buggers ducked under the swinging weapons without missing a step. They needed a golf swing, not an overhead who-can-hit-the-hardest contest.
“I can’t believe this,” Ferrus said.
“What?”
“We are fighting Kappies.”
“Aren’t those the short creatures you all laughed about in the throne room when Wren told you about them?”
“Yes,” he replied to her smart-ass comment, “you have made your point.”
As she watched, the soldiers were quickly being overrun by the ants; there were just so many of them.
“Ferrus,” she heard the waver in her own voice, “this doesn’t look good. Is that all the guys?”
A few warriors had fallen, not because of injuries from weapons, but something else. She squinted, shielding her eyes with her hand. That’s when she noticed the Kappies were using the spears as a diversion tactic. Their goal was to get close enough to rake their claws on the fae. As soon as they did, they jumped back to avoid the sword coming their way.
“What are they doing? Trying to make our guys bleed to death from scratches?”
“I don’t know,” Ferrus said, “but whatever it is, they are taking my men down.” He grabbed her and bent down to look into her eyes. “Swear to me you will not try to fight these things. If they break through, promise me you will run and stay alive.” She started to shake her head. Of course, she wasn’t promising that. His eyes became glassy. “Lilah, please. I cannot fight for my home if I don’t know you are safe. Promise me you will get to safety now.”
What could she do? She was the reason he wouldn’t fight to save his people. No, that couldn’t happen.