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Ambushed
in the Folcwine Forest
Lost in his
own thoughts, it took a few seconds for Alec to make the connection
between the searing pain that suddenly burned across the top of his left
thigh, and the arrow protruding from the horse's side just in front of
the girth strap. The animal screamed and threw him, then bolted down the
road.
The snow
cushioned his fall. Dumbfounded, he reached down and felt the shallow
gash in his leg. The wound was minor, but the suddenness of it all
seemed to numb him momentarily. It wasn't until he'd struggled up to
check his bow that he truly understood what was happening. As if time
had paused and was now resuming its normal course, the air around him
was instantly filled with an angry hail of arrows.
"Alec,
get down!" Seregil shouted from somewhere nearby.
Clutching
his bow and quiver, Alec dropped and scrambled on his belly to the
nearest trees. Rolling into their shelter, he peeked cautiously around a
tree trunk, realized too late that he was on the opposite side of the
road from Micum. Four archers stood in the road less than two hundred
feet away, sending out a volley of arrows. Alec also caught a glimpse of
others working their way through the trees in his direction.
The archers
kept their steady attack; arrows sang in the air, nipping off a hail of
twigs around him, thudding into the trees he sheltered behind. There was
no sign of Seregil except a third track snaking off through the snow
into the trees beyond Micum. Left more or less on his own, Alec knew
what his next step had to be.
His heart
pounded sickeningly as he fitted an arrow to the string and took aim at
a man for the first time in his life. A tall archer standing boldly at
the edge of the road presented an easy target, but try as he might, Alec
couldn't seem to hold steady. Startled by a horse's scream, he released
the shaft high and it sped off uselessly into the trees. Micum's gelding
drove itself into a heap just in front of him, a shaft protruded from
its throat. Another arrow slammed into the beast's chest and it gave a
final bellowing groan.
"The
bastards know their business, killing the horses," Micum called
over to him. "I hope you have a few shafts left--I'm pinned down
here!"
Nocking a
second arrow, Alec drew the fletching to his ear and tried again.
"O
Dalna!" he whispered as his bow are wavered again. "Let me
pull true!"
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