Page 78 of Ella’s Desire

An item fluttered down over the edge of the upper story, a strip of something he couldn’t quite make out. Not until it fell past his face and coiled onto the fouled ground where the cows had tread.

A blue ribbon.

Lark’s ribbon.

The reiver shoved at a cow as he passed them. The animal lowed in protest, but still moved out of his way. With him facing the opposite direction, Bronson chanced the opportunity to stand slightly to get a better vantage on how to get to the second floor.

Several arm lengths from his left was a ladder leading up. There would be no way to climb it without the reiver alerting the others.

Which meant that he would have to die.

27

Ella held her breath as the reiver neared them once more. Sweat prickled at her brow, and the urgency pulling at her mind left her heart pattering at a frantic pace. They had to hurry. They were nearly out of time.

She pulled free the dagger, her body coiled in anticipation. Before she could launch her attack, Bronson leapt from their hiding spot and punched the blade of his sword through the man’s throat, ending his life before he could make a sound.

Ella wasted no time. She gripped her dagger between her teeth for swift access and ran to the ladder. It was rickety, its rungs worn smooth by years of use. Halfway up, her foot slipped in her haste and she clattered several rungs down before catching herself.

“Hamish?” a voice asked from above.

Damn.

Footsteps thundered over the floorboards on the second floor as someone came to investigate. The slip had made Ella clench her teeth, which thankfully kept the dagger safely in place. She slipped it free with her hand now and waited for the reiver’s face to appear so she could throw her blade at him.

And he did appear, but only for a blink before his face registered surprise and he pitched forward. He fell head-first and landed between two cows with a sickening crack.

Ella replaced the dagger between her teeth and climbed. One hand, one foot, one rung, until she was nearly at the top. A high pitch scream sounded, like that of a girl. Ella pulled the dagger from her mouth and scaled up the rest of the ladder to the main floor. A man stood several yards away with Leila held in his arms, his blade pointed at her throat.

He snarled at Ella. “If ye take one st—”

She didn’t wait for him to finish. She sent the dagger sailing toward him. The blade sank into his eye and he staggered back, his hands going up toward his face even as his body fell in death.

Three more reivers remained that Ella could make out, all creeping toward her. Leila grasped the hilt of the dagger from the man’s eye and yanked it free before setting herself protectively in front of Lark.

“Are you hurt?” Ella asked her sister as she marked the approach of the men closing in on her. A reiver with white blonde hair atop his ruddy head was nearest. More than that, he was the largest, the most intimidating, especially with the mace he hefted in his right hand.

He would need to die first.

“We’re not harmed,” Leila said firmly.

Ella cast a quick prayer of thanks for the girls being in good health and lunged toward the blonde-haired reiver. She did not try to aim for the center of his torso, not when he was so tall. That would be expected. Instead, she bent low and swung her axe into his knee even as his own mallet swept down at her.

The great weapon passed her head so close that the wind created by its power blew her hair off her face. The man howled in agony as the axe sank into his leg and collapsed to the floor. Ella lifted her axe to finish the fight when someone slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. She landed with such force that her teeth clacked. But she’d been hit thus before. In practice, where she’d learned how to react even as her body reeled.

She flipped over and kicked out as her attacker descended down upon her with his sword thrusting toward her neck. Her foot caught him square in the chest. He flew backward and a bloody sword exploded through his throat. His gave a choked cry of surprise, followed by a mortal gurgle.

The sword pulled free and he fell to the ground. From behind him, Bronson winked at her, and then spun about to engage their final opponent. Ella leapt to her feet and found the large reiver dragging himself across the room. Toward the window.

Not wanting to waste time running, she fell back on the ability she had spent a lifetime honing. She gripped her axe with both hands, hauled it back behind her head and sent it flying across the room. It slammed in the center of the man’s back with a solid thud. The reiver jerked and collapsed into a growing pool of blood.

The clanging of swords rang out. Ella whipped her head around to find Bronson and the final Armstrong reiver locked in combat at the edge of the ladder opening. Both men swung their blades with equal power, their feet working back and forth as they parried.

Ella tugged her axe free from the fallen reiver’s massive back. But before she could move to Bronson to assist with the final assailant, a hand clasped her ankle and yanked her supporting foot from beneath her. She fell with a thud onto the floor wet and warm with fresh blood.

The blonde-haired reiver dragged her closer, smearing her through the gore, his face grinning even as he lay dying. Ella didn’t bother fighting him. If he was still moving after the hit to his back, doubtless only one side of him was mobile. She hefted her axe once more and brought it down on his skull.

There’d be no more attacks after a blow like that. And indeed, there was not.