Page 147 of Artemysia
“No, Sylvi,” Riev says forcefully. “Take me.”
She nods. “We only want you. Delphine can go.”
“Fuck that.” I use Riev’s vulgar words, and the boldness of it calms me. And like him, I move with speed and precision.
Throg and I used to throw knives in games as teenagers. I know I’m good.
I keep my elk steady with my legs, and while Sylvi’s attention is on Riev, I launch a knife at Kye. It spins in the air and pierces through his hand, and he drops the syringe. He’ll never have full function of his hand again. I rely on his screams to distract Sylvi, while I unsheathe a second knife from my baldric.
I aim for her arm that supports the weight of the bow and throw my knife with enough force to slice through muscle and tendon, pinning her upper arm to her ribs.
This should cause her to turn away from both me and Riev. She’ll lower the crossbow, releasing the bow to the ground.
Sylvi screams and lowers her bow.
She acts as if she believes the crossbow fired into her, and in shock and confusion, hurls the entire thing up into the air.
This is unexpected. The bolt releases and rebounds off a stall door, hitting my hip.
I fold over my elk’s neck with a yelp.
Oh effin’ hell, that hurts.
“Delphine!” Riev moves to dismount to help me, but I refuse to stop.
“No, let’s get out of here while we can.” I brace myself and yank out the bolt. It wasn’t lodged deep, but the puncture bleeds through my tan breeches.
“I hear guards coming. Follow me.” I turn to look back at Riev, and he nods. I urge my elk out of the stables. Kye curses as he drags a still-screaming Sylvi out of our path to avoid being run over. Unfortunately, their shouts and cries draw the attention of the guards.
The king has summoned a large contingent of men—what looks to be about five hundred red-and-white-uniformed soldiers, assembled at the hedge borders of the manor. In Stargazer, this would be considered a sizeable army to amass. The men stand in formation, led by theking and Prince Toryl.
Toryl’s eyes glint briefly in the sun. His brows are pinched, and a deep frown is etched on his face. Perhaps there’s a tinge of regret that they have caught up with us. Before I turn to gallop away on my elk, he nods at me once with a quirk of his lips, then returns his expression to the mask he wears as a ruler. I don’t blame him.
The soldiers on elk lead the charge. How they assembled so quickly is beyond me, but the king and the prince stay back.
“I don’t think we should kill anyone, so don’t get too enthusiastic,” I tell Riev.
He offers a noncommittal grunt, but makes no promises.
We gallop at full speed, hooves thundering the ground. Our elk are fast. We’re light, without saddles or gear. We might make it far enough ahead.
Except ahead of us to our right, another battalion of riders appears. They mean to drive us toward the river on our left, trapping us.
To outrun them and get to the forest, we must head toward them and fight our way through. Riev knows this too, and he hangs back and tracks right, defending my flank as the riders behind us gain ground.
He knocks off the first guard to reach us, causing the guard’s elk to spin with a buck, kicking the rider next to him. The rider’s leg snaps.
When the clang of blades rings out, another soldier is thrown off his elk. Riev uses the flat of his sword, obeying my command not to kill anyone, but the next two men wield lances. I’m forced to hurl a knife before a lance knocks me off, and I hit the guard in the shoulder. Cursing, he slows, pulling back on his elk. Heck, I survived a dagger to the shoulder. He can too.
The other rider receives a knife in the thigh, thanks to Riev.
“Hey,youstabbed one,” he says unapologetically.
We’re pulling ahead.
However, I have good reason to believe that we won’t make it to the forest on the horizon.
“Riev, I think the bolt was poisoned. My legs are going numb.” Painful pricks stab at my feet, and my thighs weaken.
