Page 19 of Danny's Dance

I yelled out a string of curse words at the rider and with a power nobody would expect, my mate yanked the distracted rider from his saddle. With a nauseating crash, he slammed the man into the ground. One down. At least, five, six, seven more to go. Damn, nine, ten, eleven. And my little trick would only workonce.

“For fuck’s sake, Regan, you should’ve run! Now we’re all in trouble!” I angrily yelled at my mate, who waved my concernaway.

“Not leaving you behind. Ever,” he growled, grabbing the horse by the reigns as he swung himself up. With energy and almost enthusiasm, he drove the horse towards our incoming enemies, storming into the heart ofbattle.

“Fuck it,” I hissed, dropping my own satchel and unsheathing two small knives from on myback.

“Looks like we’re fighting,” Darren next to me smirked, his dagger ready in one hand and his other armed with a small star. I had seen his aim, he was good. With one swift motion, he pulled his arm back. The muscles rippling under his shirt as he put his weight behind thethrow.

Fifteen meters ahead, another rider fell from his horse. Bull’s-eye. Damn, the kid was reallygood.

I readied myself as the rest of my family joinedme.

“This is madness!” Aspen screamed, but I could see small lights dancing in his golden eyes. Whereas her memories petrified Ash, they fueled Aspen and his rage. If he could, he’d take them down all byhimself.

But the five, well, counting in Darren, six of us against ten riders was not a joke. They easily had us outnumbered and were at a serious advantage up on their horses. It would take a tough fight to get out of this one, granted that no more showed up. This was probably just a search party that gotlucky.

With a loud battle cry, Aspen followed Regan as he dove straight towards the first horse. Right before impact, he conjured a knife from his sleeve and made a deep gash in the horse’s leg. With a thud, the large body hit the ground as the rider tumbled from its saddle. I grimaced. This one wasmine.

I sprinted towards the fallen man and before he could get up, I danced around him in a whirl of red as I slashed his throat. With blood spouting out of his neck, he fell down next to his horse. Only ten more togo.

“Watch out!” I twirled around and barely had enough time to dodge a flickering blade. “Fuck!” I shouted as his sword sliced through my arm, barely missing my neck. I reached for my shoulder and winced as my fingers found a deep slash with hot blood gushing out of it. “Mother ofshits!”

Thank the gods it was only my right arm. Luckily, most people assumed I was right handed and aimed for that side. I brought up my right arm in mock defence as I hid my left hand behind my back. Searing hot pain shot through my nerves as the gash was apparently deeper than I anticipated. The rider turned around and with a nasty smile on his face, he galloped back atme.

I hid my grin behind my red hair as I pretended to be much more vulnerable and weak than I actually was. I hadn’t met a man so far who wasn’t fooled by my slender frame and pretty face. Thinking he already had me, he aimed for my right side. At the last moment, I mimicked Aspen and twirled to the left, slashing his horse with the blade I had hidden behind myback.

The beast staggered and with it, threw his rider from his saddle. With an angry scream, the ugly map fell into the dirt. He threw me one last nasty look before JP jumped on his back and sank his knife through his throat. Nine more togo.

I pressed my hand against my wounded arm as I could feel the pain vibrate through my body. Fuck, that hurted like abitch.

Behind me, Ash and Aspen had somehow both gotten up on horses and had joined Regan in running through our enemies and getting in a couple of slashes. That was only seven more to go. With some luck, we could actually do this. I turned to check up on Darren and found him missing from his spot. Had he run? Thatcoward!

Not even sure why I felt so betrayed by him leaving since we only met him this morning but revelling in the rage and pain, I ducked out of another incoming sword and stabbed my knife in his leather boot. He screamed out in agony and with the blade still sticking out from his foot, he rode another ten meters before he felldown.

None of those men seemed to be great riders. At least we had that luck. I sprinted towards the fallen rider, cursing that I got wounded so early on. Blood kept gushing out of the wound and pressing my hand on it left me defenceless. But with every movement, the wound tore back open. I needed to bandage myself or I’d soon faint from the loss ofblood.

Not fast enough, the man had scrambled up from the dirt and was swinging his sword above his head. I stared at the measly dagger in my hand and cursed that we didn’t travel with better weaponry. But if we did, we’d attract too much attention to ourselves. I twirled my knife between my fingers and readied myself for the strain on my arm if I had to parry his heavy sword with my teensy blade. Why did we not carry better weaponsagain?

With a loud cry, he stormed towards me and I only prayed that I would be able to block his attack. As strong and fast as I was, I was no match against brute power. A glint caught my eye and before I knew it, the bull of man hit the ground with such force I could only imagine how painful it would’ve been if he impacted with me. A small star protruding from his neck and I caught a shadow moving in the shrubbery. So Darren hadn’t run after all. Seemed like he was doing what he did best.Redistributing.

That was one more down. How many to go? Five? I quickly did a headcount for the horses that were still with rider and only counted three more sitting in their saddle. Two more. I just watched Regan swing a sword he must’ve stolen from one of the dead guys through another man’s chest. With a gurgle, he dropped from his horse into the dust. His horse, not caring that he lost his rider, just thundered straight ahead. This was my chance to get up on the saddle. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, reading myself for a jump. The horse galloped next to me and I reached for his reigns, trying to swing my foot into the stir-up. My sudden appearance spooked the animal and with a jut, he jumped out of the way, making me fall flat on myface.

Damnit!

Pain shot through my body as I landed on my bad arm and I screamed in frustration. Stupid arm and stupid fuckinghorse.

Just in time, I rolled out of the way as another rider galloped over me and I narrowly avoided his hoofs slamming into the ground. Fuck me, that was way too close. With my hand pressed against my open wound, I crawled up from the mud and cursed as I felt the edges of my skin curling up. My legs trembled as I stood up, exhausting crashing likes waves through me. My body felt heavy. Everything about me felt heavy. The pain was numbing, but everything of me was numbing. My head was growing fuzzy and my vision blurry. How much blood had I lostagain?

How many more attackers? Was everyone still safe? I felt for my wolf and asked her to find Regan’s, just for a little encouragement or a surge of energy. I knew it wasn’t fair to distract him, but I needed to feel him. Just to know he was doingokay.

My body vibrated warmly as my wolf returned with Regan’s and I happily let them crash into my chest. The scent of oak hit my nose and I could feel our bond and his magic flow through me. Greedily, I revelled in his power, loving how it enveloped me like a good embrace. I could already feel the wound on my arm starting to heal from the overload of magic surging through my veins. And then suddenly something else hitme.

Black. Dark. Vile.Tainted.

My eyes flew open just as I could see Regan fall from his horse.No!

Chapter Twelve - Shift

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