Page 116 of Searching for her Heart
He nods his head, then sends a stream of water into their backs. They try to step forward to steady themselves, but their legs hit the rope and they drop to their stomachs. Drake is on them in an instant, making quick work of slitting their throats, and darting away before they even realize what’s happened.
As Ryker and Indy try to pull the rope free from the dying trolls, I turn back to Apollo as he takes down the next one, I grab my dagger, and aim for its head this time. I’m relieved when I make my shot and it falls to its knees before slumping over to the side.
I scan around us and see there’s only two trolls left, Brax already roaring at one of them as Indy and Ryker tie up his feet. Apollo makes quick work of drowning the last one, but its movements are too erratic for me to hit it. So I watch, adrenaline pumping through me, as it slowly falls to its knees, trying to tear at the water it’s drowning in.
I glance over and see Drake has slit the neck of the other troll right beside the one Apollo is holding, and it, too, falls to the ground, dead. My men cheer, giving each other hugs and high fives.
I let out a deep breath and move to a large rock to sit down, feeling the adrenaline crash coming on strong now that we aren’t in danger anymore. That was far too close for comfort.
Ryker starts moving towards me, with the others rightbehind, everyone full of smiles. “Penny, we did it!Youdid it! I’m so pr?—”
He cuts himself off at the same time two arms band around me and yank me backwards to my feet as I scream in fright.
“Now, now, nobody make any sudden moves.” I don’t recognize the man’s voice who is holding me, but I do feel the dagger pressed to my neck.
“Seriously, dude? What the fuck?” I ask, feeling annoyed at once again being attacked by someone.
The dagger digs in a little, making me hiss and I see my men all try to take a step towards me, but the man halts them in his tracks with his next words. “Take one more step and I’ll kill her.”
“What do you want?” Indy asks through gritted teeth, his fists clenched at his sides.
“I want your coins. I know you have a lot of them, I want to see you put them all into one bag then hand it over.”
“Fine, just don’t hurt her,” Brax snarls, moving to our packs with Ry and Indy. The three of them make a visible effort of moving the coins into a single bag. My eyes move to Drake, who’s still standing in front of us, alongside Silver and Apollo.
“Love, are you okay?” he asks, his intense eyes staring into mine.
“I’ve been better,” I tell him, rolling my eyes.
“When we get out of here, I’m going to buy you a ring to put on your right hand.” I frown at him. He knows it’s my left hand, he is a fantastic listener and when I explained the wedding tradition to him, he held my left hand and kissed it, promising to get me a ring as soon as we found somewhere that sold them.
I watch as his eyes quickly dart down to my right hand before moving back to my eyes again. What is he trying to tell me? I move my fingers and my eyes open wide in shock. I still have the dagger in my hand, I hadn’t thrown it and forgot I was still holding it.
“But not straight away, it will take time to find the right one,”he adds. He’s telling me not to do it right now, to wait for the right moment, probably when there wasn’t a dagger against my neck.
When the others finish bagging the coins, Brax brings it over. “That’s close enough, leave it there,” the man tells him when he’s ten feet away.
“Hand over my wife, and I’ll hand over the coins.”
“I don’t think so, she’s coming with me until I’m sure you aren’t following me. I’ll leave her in the next town for you.”
“Are you seriously going to drag me through the woods like this for over a day?” I ask, skeptical of his plan.
I feel his hot breath on my ear as he leans over me, whispering, “Of course not. As soon as we are free of these idiots, I’ll slit your throat.” I gulp at his threat. “Maybe you and I can even have a little fun before that.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. We have been through so much together. We’ve survived dangerous creatures, mountains, avalanches, freezing conditions, fire, the desert, a whole group of bandits and this latest attack by the trolls. There was no way I’d be taken down by one greedy man, wanting things that don’t belong to him.
“Silver?” His eyes meet mine as he looks at me with anger and fear. “Be ready with that cream, would ya?” I ask. It takes all of two seconds before his eyes widen in realization. He moves quickly to his bag, and I’m dragged back a step.
“Hey! Don’t move!” he yells at Silver, who ignores him as he digs out the canister from his bag.
“You know, of all the dumb plans I’ve seen and heard, yours has got to be the dumbest,” I tell the man at my back.
“What are you talking about, you dumb cunt?”
“Ohh… Now you’ve done it. My mates were already mad, but now… See the way Drake is looking at you? I bet he’s already decided the best way to kill you.” I point to the man in question before pointing at Braxton. “And Braxton? He’s wondering how longyou will last out here with two broken ankles. I think Apollo might almost drown you before pulling back, and then doing that over and over again. Ryker is likely to bust up your face with his fist and Indiana will silently slash you with his blade. But do you know which one you need to look out for the most?”
“The one holding the tin?”
