32. Clash of Stone and Steel #3
The other men were momentarily stunned as they looked at their fallen companion, but Talyn didn’t wait for them to regain their heads.
She disappeared again to port right behind a second man with a crossbow.
She slit his throat as well before swiveling around to plunge the now-bloody dagger into the heart of the man standing right behind her.
Then she was gone once more, appearing behind the third man with a crossbow.
By this time, the men realized what was happening.
Having seen two of his other companions fall already, the third crossbowman turned the second he saw Talyn disappear, so she appeared in front of him instead of behind him.
He fired, but Talyn realized the danger just in time to throw herself out of the way of the bolt that would’ve lodged itself right in her stomach.
Instead, it lodged in the leg of one of the other outlaws, who screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
The flurry of sudden activity finally spurred Samhail to move.
He yanked the crossbow bolt out of his side and felt hot blood spill down his hip.
His vision blurred momentarily with the pain, then he pulled the bolt from his stomach as well.
He waited to feel his strength and power return, but he was as weak as ever, and now he was bleeding profusely.
Samhail tried to stagger forward. Talyn was fast and had her powers, but she was taking on at least twelve men right now. He had to help her.
Samhail reached up and drew his swords, the movement sending gut-twisting pain shooting up and down his torso.
He allowed himself only one grunt before he launched himself at the nearest man.
Luckily, the man’s attention was focused on Talyn, so Samhail took him completely unaware as his sword cleaved the man in half.
Before the body even hit the ground, Samhail was moving again, slashing out at the next outlaw while spearing a third in the gut.
The spike of adrenaline made his vision go fuzzy for a moment as he stumbled forward to engage another outlaw, and the momentary loss of sight gave the man an opening to slash him across the thigh with his own blade.
The cut wasn’t overly deep, but the leather of Samhail’s pants became instantly wet with blood.
Samhail slashed out with both swords, and deep gashes in the shape of an X opened across the man’s chest. The man’s scream rent the air before he pitched forward to land face-down on the ground.
Samhail wheeled to face the next attacker, but he came up short when he realized there were none left. All fifteen of the men now lay on the ground in puddles of blood, and Talyn was nowhere to be seen.
He swore violently, but he jolted a second later as Talyn appeared at his side. He just barely managed to keep from swinging out instinctively at her sudden appearance.
“Nemesis take you!” she yelled at him. “Why did you pull the bolts out? You’re bleeding all over the place.”
“The tips were caronium,” Samhail gritted out.
His weakness had returned now that the adrenaline spike was subsiding, and he sank to his knees.
“We need to get you to a healer,” she said kneeling down beside him. “We passed that town a ways back. We need to get back there.”
Talyn stood up and hurried over to the nearest body. She used Fred to cut the leg of the man’s pants off and then pulled the belt from around his waist. She folded the pant leg into a tight square and pressed it to Samhail’s side over the wound to staunch the blood.
“Hold that there,” she ordered, and Samhail obeyed.
Talyn looped the belt around Samhail and fastened it over the wound to hold the cloth in place.
Luckily the man she’d taken the belt from was on the heftier side because the leather just barely managed to close over the thick muscles of Samhail’s torso.
He grunted as Talyn pulled the belt tight and secured it.
She repeated the process for his stomach wound.
“My power isn’t returning,” Samhail said. “It should’ve come back when I pulled the bolts out. Maybe there was something else on them.”
Talyn went over to examine one of the bolts he’d pulled out.
“The tip is missing,” Talyn said. “It must still be in the wound. We’ll have to get it out before you can be healed.” She paused and narrowed her eyes as she examined the bolt more closely. “It almost looks as if the point was meant to come off so it would lodge in its target.”
Samhail heaved himself to his feet with a groan, and Talyn dropped the bolt to hurry back to him.
She positioned herself under his arm and wrapped a hand around his waist as if she might actually be able to hold him up.
He didn’t bother trying to lean on her. His weight would’ve buckled her knees, but he let her lead him back toward his horse.
He managed to mount with some difficulty, and Talyn mounted her own horse to lead the way to the town they’d seen a few miles back.
Samhail used the rest of his strength to stay upright in the saddle, but through his haze of pain, one thought shone through.
Talyn hadn’t betrayed him or left him to die. She’d saved his life.