How The Warrior Fell (Falling Warriors series Book 1) (47 page)

“What are you doing?” Namoriee eyed Leawyn curiously.

Leawyn had sat compliantly and didn’t resist when Tristan brought her in and bound her. She was filled with relief at seeing Namoriee unharmed as he tied her feet first, then her hands behind her back and around the pole in the middle of the tent.

That was quite some time ago, and until now, Leawyn hadn’t so much as moved a muscle. Now she was flailing her legs about.

“Hey!” Namoriee snapped, moving her legs out of the way when Leawyn almost slammed her heel onto Namoriee’s foot.

“We gotta get out of here,” Leawyn said, still flopping around like a lunatic. “Asten is planning an attack. Only this time it’s to completely annihilate the tribes. We have to warn Xavier before that happens.”

“Why?”

“What?” Leawyn huffed, slumping against the pole. She blew an errant strand away from her face, frustrated.

“Why
do
you want to go back?” Namoriee hesitated, avoiding Leawyn’s eyes when she looked over at her. “I thought this would be what you wanted? To escape Chief Xavier?”

Leawyn stilled, the question throwing her off guard. Why did she want to go back?

By all accounts she shouldn’t want to. Why would she want to go back to a man who was more acquainted with her tears than he is her smiles?

Leawyn bit her bottom lip thoughtfully, thinking about her time spent with Xavier and the conflicting feelings that arose. For the longest time, Leawyn couldn’t understand why Xavier was so horrible to her. Xavier gave her every reason to fear him. To hate him.

It wasn’t easy, being married to Xavier. Every day was a battle to stay strong, to survive. But when Leawyn thought back at all the times Xavier was being horrible, and
really
examined the way she felt . . . she realized she was never as strong as she was when she was with Xavier.

Each terrible thing he did to her, Leawyn could have used as an excuse to end her life—to be a coward. But she chose to live. He pushed her, but she pushed back just as hard. Leawyn learned to be strong when she was at her weakest. None of that would have been possible without Xavier. He made her find her strength.

She wouldn’t abandon him.

“Because he needs me,” Leawyn answered with a soft smile. “And I need him.”

Namoriee looked up at Leawyn, clearly shocked. “I can’t pinpoint when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing Xavier as a monster. He’s just a man who’s never had love, and it’s up to me to show him love isn’t a weakness . . . it’s powerful.”

Leawyn raised an eyebrow when all Namoriee did was stare at her with her mouth agape.

“Any more questions? Or are you ready to help me save our men?”

“Tyronian is
not
—”

“Yeah, yeah. Save it,” Leawyn cut off her protests impatiently. “Can you reach that?”

Namoriee was startled to see a small dagger was now laying on the floor a few inches away from her feet.

“When did that . . . ?” Namoriee trailed off, confused.

“Xavier gave me that. It’s been in my boot this whole time. Bad breath guy didn’t even think to search me. Idiot,” Leawyn mumbled. “So, can you get it?”

“I believe so.” Namoriee stretched out her leg trying to nudge the dagger closer.

“Try taking off your shoes,” Leawyn suggested helpfully. “You can grip the hilt better with your toes. Just be careful you don’t cut them off.”

“Not helping,” Namoriee mumbled but kicked off her boots nonetheless.

It took some maneuvering, but it wasn’t long before it was close enough for them to reach. Leawyn awkwardly sawed at the ropes binding her wrists. She broke free and quickly reached forward to untie her feet.

“What now?” Namoriee asked, rubbing her sore wrists when Leawyn was done freeing her.

“Now we have to try and escape.” Namoriee rolled her eyes at Leawyn’s stating the obvious.

They walked up to the opening of the tent; loud male voices could be heard from the other side. Leawyn pulled back the flap enough for them to duck their heads and peak outside; they pulled back immediately.

“Well, that’s not good,” Leawyn deadpanned. Namoriee nodded her agreement, eyes wide.

“What are we going to do?”

The tent was guarded, which didn’t particularly surprise Leawyn. What
did
surprise Leawyn was the amount of guards stationed. Two guards stood at the ready directly outside of the tent, with a huddled group sitting around the fire in the center of the quad. The other guards stationed on the outskirts solidified the fact they were surrounded.

Leawyn looked around their sparse tent thoughtfully. “As far as we can tell, they only had one guard in the back, so if we can take him out, we’ll sneak away.”

“How are we gonna do that?”

“We’ll cut a slit in the tent,” Leawyn pointed over to the corner and the sole silhouette standing guard.

“And after?”

Leawyn shrugged helplessly, giving Namoriee an exasperated look. “I don’t know, Namoriee! I’m doing this as we go.”

“We have to get out of this camp—unnoticed—and then there’s the fact of somehow getting
back
,” Namoriee pointed out obviously. Dubiously. “We’ll never make it.”

“We have to try.” Leawyn said firmly. “If we don’t, hundreds of people will die. Gather your courage, Namoriee,” Leawyn ordered grimly, “because we’re
going
to get out of here.”

Namoriee inhaled shakily, but she pushed back her shoulders in determination. It made Leawyn grin. Namoriee was stronger than she thought she was.

They tiptoed to the back of the tent, careful to avoid direct firelight so as to not create their shadows. When Leawyn was stationed directly behind the guard’s silhouette, she looked over to Namoriee, who nodded at her, her face bleak but determined. Leawyn gripped the dagger tighter, pointing the tip so it was level with his skull.

It was just when Leawyn finally found the strength to plunge the dagger into his skull that he jerked, reaching up toward his neck, before slumping to the ground.

Namoriee and Leawyn looked at each other in alarm. They jumped when the flap to the tent was wrenched opened.

“You!” Leawyn said in surprise, lowering the dagger from in front of her. “What are you doing here?” she asked in bewilderment.

The strange woman with the colorful eyes threw a bow to Leawyn, who snatched it out of the air on instinct. Leawyn looked down, seeing that it was her bow. She looked up.

“We don’t have much time. Come.”

The dark-skinned beauty turned on her heel, disappearing as quickly as she appeared.

“Who was
that
?” Namoriee asked, wide-eyed.

“I have no idea.” Leawyn shrugged. “But for right now, she’s on our side. Let’s go.”

Namoriee groaned and followed Leawyn outside where the strange woman was waiting for them impatiently.

“What did you do to them?”

Bodies were everywhere Leawyn looked.

“Fast-acting dart. Quick and silent.” The woman pointed at the thin sticks lodged into the necks of the men.

Leawyn prodded one of the bodies with the tip of her toe. “Are they dead?”

“Yes,” The woman answered simply. Namoriee and Leawyn shared a stunned look.

“But I did not kill all of them. Just the ones that would hinder your escape. We must hurry, it won’t be long before someone finds one of the bodies.”

Leawyn didn’t ask any more questions. She was right; they didn’t have time to ask questions. They ran a different way than Leawyn was brought in, and when the woman stopped in front of the rocks that made up the base of the cliff that had a long, thick rope hanging down from it, she stopped and turned to face Leawyn and Namoriee.

“We must climb up.”

Leawyn’s brows shot up to her hairline. Was she serious? She tilted her head back. It was too dark to gauge how far up it was, but if it was anything like what Leawyn saw earlier . . . it was high.

“She’s not serious is she?” Namoriee’s horrified whisper sounded behind Leawyn.

The woman’s face remained impassive as ever, but Leawyn could have sworn she seemed a bit impatient. Wordlessly, Leawyn held out her hand for the rope, wiggling her fingers in a “give it here” way.

Leawyn gave the rope a couple of pulls, testing the strength. It seemed sturdy enough.

“It will hold,” the woman said in her strange voice. “Now hurry, time is running out.”

Leawyn nodded. She looked over her shoulder at Namoriee who looked at back at her anxiously. Leawyn could see her trembling.

“Courage, Namoriee,” Leawyn reminded her. “Once I’ve climbed a body-length size, start to climb up after me. Okay?”

“I’m scared of heights,” Namoriee whimpered.

“Courage,” Leawyn ordered firmly and waited until Namoriee gave her a jerky nod before she started to climb up the rope.

It was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

The rope wobbled. Leawyn clung to it fearfully. For a moment, Leawyn pictured the rope snapping and her falling to her death.

“Keep moving, Leawyn.”

Leawyn looked down when the rough voice floated up to her. She sighed in relief. No falling to her death for her. Leawyn resumed climbing.

It was daunting. Leawyn’s arms felt weak; it was getting harder and harder to pull herself up. She was covered in sweat and out of breath. When she finally reached the top, Leawyn collapsed on the ground in relief, panting. A few moments later, Namoriee’s leg appeared over the edge. Leawyn helped pull her up when she struggled to do it herself. Namoriee collapsed much like Leawyn did, sucking air into her lungs.

“I’m . . . never . . . doing . . . that . . . again,” Namoriee gasped out, wiping the sweat on her forehead with a trembling hand. Leawyn agreed with her wholeheartedly.

They both looked over when the woman pulled herself up, not looking the least bit disturbed. Leawyn narrowed her eyes in envy.

“We must hurry,” the woman urged. “That took too long.” She turned and pulled a dagger out, cutting the rope so it fell to the ground.

As if to prove her point, shouts rang out, the sound carrying up the mountain.

“Hurry!” the woman said sharply, taking off into the trees.

Leawyn stood quickly, hauling Namoriee up with her, and they followed. They ran until they burst into a small clearing where three horses stood waiting. The woman made a beeline for them, quickly untying the buckskin and tossing Leawyn the reins.

“This one is the fastest,” she told Leawyn. “And he’ll run until his heart stops if you ask it of him.”

Leawyn climbed up smoothly, turning the stallion in a tight circle when he sidestepped impatiently.

“You must ride hard, Leawyn. Do not stop. When you get to the river, head east. It will be a straight shot from there.”

Namoriee pulled up beside Leawyn, riding a dapple grey mare.

Leawyn looked down at the woman. “You’re not coming with us, are you?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“No, I am not.”

“Why did you help me twice? You must have been watching me for a while. Who are you?”

“Let’s just say we have a common enemy,” the woman replied mystically.

“That answer is unacceptable,” Leawyn told her, scowling.

“It’s the only answer you’re going to get.”

“At least tell me your name!” Leawyn called out desperately as the woman started riding away.

“Don’t worry!” she called over her shoulder, riding farther and farther away. “We will meet again. Ride hard!” Leawyn could only watch helplessly as the woman rode away, quickly disappearing into the night.

Leawyn looked over at Namoriee, putting the mystery woman in the back of her mind. She had more important things to worry about.

“Don’t worry,” Namoriee said before Leawyn could open her mouth. “I’ll keep up, no matter what.”

Leawyn nodded. They both knew it couldn’t be any other way. Without saying anymore, Leawyn dug her heels into her horse’s side and took off, Namoriee quickly following.

They rode hard and fast at neck-breaking speed, desperate to reach their men in time.

“You were right,” Tyronian said quietly. Xavier looked over at him when he sidled alongside him.

“You did have a plan.” Tyronian eyes were regretful. “I should have trusted you, I’m sorry.”

“You were scared.” Xavier looked away, staring out into the distance. “I know all too well how it feels to have your woman kidnapped.”

The air was a symphony of noise as the gathered tribes made and sharpened their weapons of choice. The sounds of the warriors blended together with the clatter of carts being loaded as the woman and elderly raced to pack up and leave.

The prelude acquainted with an upcoming battle.

“She’s not my woman.” Tyronian glowered, which was the expression he wore often whenever they talked of Namoriee, Xavier noticed. “Yet,” he pointed out as an afterthought. “Still, that’s no excuse.” Tyronian sighed. “I won’t doubt you again.”

“Did you kill him?” Xavier said, changing the subject. He didn’t handle apologies well.

“Hassef is no more,” Tyronian confirmed, his expression murky. “I still can’t believe he was the traitor. I never would have guessed.”

Xavier thought of the young warrior that had betrayed them all.