AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It is.” Mina exhaled. She couldn’t deny it, and if she was being truly honest with herself. She didn’t want to deny it anymore.
The weight of those two words sank into her chest and he leaned down to brush his lips over hers. Once. Twice. Th—
“Oh, Pardon me,” gasped a high squeaking voice from somewhere behind them.
Mina jumped and pulled away from Erik. He looked up and a courtly smile lifted his lips. “Hello, Hamish. We’re just taking the horses out for an early morning ride.”
“Oh, let me get the saddles. Rain has been eager to get out of her stall for days” the older man said, turning away from them. His white hair was hidden beneath a knit cap and Mina noticed he had an odd limp as he moved.
“I can saddle her,” she muttered.
“He likes to do it,” Erik said, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze.
Mina nodded, and they stepped aside, watching with indulgent amusement as the old man moved around the stable, readying their horses for them.
By the time they were ready to get moving, Mina's body was buzzing with energy. Erik sidled Stormwind up beside her and she smiled at him. “So, where are we going, Your Majesty?”
He narrowed his eyes at her and jerked his head towards the palace gates. “Follow me.”
Urging their horses down into the city, Mina couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at every inch of the sleeping city. For the first time, the markets that were usually full of bright fabrics, trinkets, and food sat empty. Not a soul wandered the streets. The lights were doused in the houses they passed. The only faces they saw on their journey to the fields outside the city were that of the guards who watched them closely as they moved.
Mina frowned the moment the gates closed behind them. “Is this safe? I didn’t think about it until now, but…what if more of those people come?”
“There are wolves patrolling the outer walls. They won’t come anywhere near us,” he said, gazing at the horizon. “But if you would like to go back, we can.”
Mina bit her lip and then shook her head. “No, we’ve come too far now. I want to ride. I need to feel the wind in my hair.”
Erik smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that. Let’s see if you can keep up.”
He snapped his reins and Stormwind took off across the open ground. Rain’s muscles bunched beneath Mina, and she squeezed her thighs, sending the mare racing after them.
Rain charged forward, and leaning into the movement, Mina felt free for the first time in weeks. She couldn’t resist the urge to throw her arms wide and trust the animal beneath her.
She let out a happy cry of joy, and when she took up the reins again, she looked to her side to see Erik riding right at her side.
She wanted to say something, to do something, to show him how much this moment meant to her, but as she opened her mouth to call out to him, something dark shot through the air, and struck him hard in the shoulder. Erik cried out in surprise and pain, jerking backward. Stormwind let out a surprised scream, and kicked up his front legs, starling Rain.
Mina tried to hold on, but it all happened so fast, the horse beneath her jerked upward, and she slipped from the saddle.
She tumbled through the air, and her head smacked into a rock, sending black spots across her vision. Scrambling to roll over onto her hands and knees she heard the whoosh of another arrow flying past her, and the horses screaming in fear as they ran from the attack. Looking around she spotted Erik on the ground, lying motionless on his side, with an arrow protruding from his shoulder.
Mina’s heart leapt into her throat, and she pushed off the ground throwing herself at the dirt beside him. Her head throbbed harder with every breath, but she had to make sure he was okay.
Checking to see if the arrow had gone through to his back, she swept her hand over his spine, and found nothing. Holding her breath, she pushed him carefully onto his back, and she saw a gray tint spreading across the skin of his neck.
“Erik stay with me,” she whispered, smoothing the fabric of his jacket around the arrow. “You hear me, just hang on.”
Another arrow flew past Mina’s head and she felt something burn across her temple, but she couldn’t pay them any mind. Not until the arrow was out of his chest. Then she could worry about getting out of range.
Recalling all her lessons about tending to battle wounds and what arrows could do to vampires if they hit the right spot, she knew she had to be careful. If any of the wood got into his system, and went to his heart it–No, she wouldn’t let that happen. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and wrapped her hand around the arrow. She put her other hand on his chest to brace herself, and then pulled it up and out with one hard jerk.
She tossed it to the side and nothing happened. Erik didn’t move an inch. Tears swelled in her eyes, and then with a great gasp he came to, coughing up blood into the grass.
“M-Mina?” He croaked looking up at her. “Run. You have to run.”
“Not without you,” she said, looping his arm around her shoulders. “We have to get you back on Stormwind.”
Erik nodded, but as he pushed off the ground, he groaned in pain, and fell against her. “There was poison on the arrow. I can’t…I'm too weak.”
