Page 58 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Elanna scampered toward her as fast as her cumbersome gown would allow, somehow dodging any blow or hit. She knelt next to Wenonah and hugged the woman to her.

“’Twill be all right,” Elanna said, more for herself than anyone else.

Hux had managed to procure a sword, finally. He laughed giddily as he evaded his opponent, offering him the thrust of a mortal wound in return. To say Hux had skill with a sword was an understatement. Despite opponent after opponent targeting Hux, no one so much as scratched him.

Protect him, Stars. Protect him, oh Goddess of the Rainless Moon, who shines fortitude down on those who believe. Protect him.

She couldn’t help it. She may know light, and he may have known darkness, but gaping at him, fearing for him, Elanna would not dispute that Hux had been by her side in as many ways as she could count.

The hall roared with the din of chaotic battle.

Tapestries, upholstered chairs, and cracks in the marble floor were stained with crimson.

The stench of death caused Elanna to retch.

At least half the council and half the Warins were dead.

A familiar body caught her eye, and she held her breath.

Goodsell’s knight, Kennel, stared blankly.

Another fallen Warin landed next to Elanna .

Wenonah shrieked. Her cries were guttural and took Elanna’s breath from her.

“Breathe!” Elanna commanded.

Hux! Where was Hux? He’d moved to the dais and fought beside Dashiell.

Another scream from the queen drew Elanna’s attention. The puddle of blood under her husband eked out hopelessness.

Griffith, Roger, and Hubert all stood on one corner of the dais, five knights defending them from would-be avengers, Daved amongst them. The banging on the double doors continued. Why had no savior entered from the hidden side door? Was it, too, obstructed?

The cracking sound of splintering wood came. But the doors held firm. Bellowing. Yelling. Noise to drive away all sanity flared from the opposite side of the doors.

The uproar of steel against steel, shouts, and grunts was everywhere.

“Move!” Elanna shouted, grabbing Wenonah’s hand and yanking her out from the chairs. Two men crashed into and broke the chairs not a moment later. The sound that escaped one as the other impaled him made Elanna gag again.

Out in the open, a man with dark eyebrows and a broadsword fixed on and stalked toward Elanna and Wenonah, his eyes roving between the two. Elanna shoved Wenonah behind her.

“Come no further or have your future end in torture.”

He snickered. A derisive sound that was abruptly altered into one sickening and gruesome as a sword skewered his middle, spraying blood on the two women.

They shrieked. He dropped to his knees. Behind him stood Joss, holding the hilt of the sword.

She pried it from his back, wiped her cheek with her shoulder, and kicked him to the floor.

The expression of a warrior was smeared across her face.

She nodded before being drawn into another match.

Wenonah stood absently, her hands in the air, the blood dripping from her chin.

A small whimper escaped her .

Elanna tugged her arm and strode toward the double doors, cursing the gown again. Eight men fought here, four to keep the doors bolted, four to open them. She gawked helplessly. She knew not what to do. Nary an idea came to her.

Whoosh!

An ax narrowly missed her, plunging instead into the wall behind her.

She pivoted and paled. A dagger protruded from Wenonah’s chest. She gaped at it, then at Elanna.

Wenonah collapsed to the floor.

Elanna couldn’t scream; she was petrified.

The tension in the hall shifted. The sense of demise entered and suffocated any spark of hope. ’Twas clear. Those who fought for the sovereign and his queen were gravely outnumbered. The usurpers had tipped the balance and ’twas only a matter of moments before everyone in this hall lay dead.

Her eyes circled the hall.

She couldn’t count the dead.

Joss and Barrett both brandished wounds.

Daved and only three other Warins were alive, as well as a handful of guards.

Hux still battled. Dashiell had received a wound to the shoulder and held his hand tight to the gash; his swings became less and less forceful.

They would not be able to hold off enemies much longer.

She couldn’t glimpse Tara and Goodsell.

Elanna swallowed.

This is the dark. This is the end.

Another man near the dais targeted Elanna into his focus. He strode toward her.

Who would harm a StarSeer?

She Saw herself being hunted. Not now. In her path’s future. All StarSeers being hunted. Hiding like prey from predators.

She backed into the corner.

Stars. Do something.

Briefly, she met Hux’s gaze.

This is the end.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Crack .

The sound of the doors fracturing a final time resounded through the Crown Hall.

They shattered open.

A pause flooded across the fray before a large man stepped into the hall.

He had a tight bandage around his thigh. His grip on his sword was poised to damage anyone who came into its contact. His eyes scrutinized the entire hall in such a manner as to cause three men near her to visibly shudder.

Then he roared a battle cry so fierce that one man dropped his sword.

The Wolf had arrived.