Page 36 of A Sea So Cruel
The least she could do was get Kaid out before it got worse. She had dragged him into this mess and he didn’t need to die with her for it.
Asta snarled through gritted teeth as she plunged her sword forward, narrowly missing her opponent’s abdomen as they parried. “You need to go!”
She could take them both on long enough for him to escape. Long enough for him to live. Asta, however, wasn’t sure what her own fate would be.
Without having to warn him again, Kaid took off in a limping sprint down the beach, his cloak billowing out behind him. He couldn’t run past their attackers and live, so he ran the opposite direction. Asta jumped to his place so she was facing both figures now.
The wound on her shoulder was throbbing, but Asta held her ground.
What do you do if they hurt you, Asta?
Gyrial’s voice echoed through her thoughts. What do you do? You don’t run, you don’t hide, you don’t surrender. She remembered the answer as she bared her teeth and let out a growl.
Let it fuel you.
Asta’s sword slashed out in a fury of calculated combinations. It was like training, when she had taken on two sparring partners at once. She ducked when one swung high, using the position to sweep their legs. She jumped when the other swung low, using the momentum to kick the creature in the chest.
She was wild. Unleashed. An uncontrolled chaos, ruthless and devastating. She was not a princess sitting on a throne, but a warrior fighting for her kingdom. There was no knight to rescue her. There was no army to back her up. She didn’t need it. There was no stopping her.
She whirled like a hurricane and slammed the pommel of her sword into one assailant’s head. Even through the fabricof the thick hood, she could feel the crack of their skull. That opponent staggered back, clutching their temple.
The next charged her, but Asta was ready. She parried, twisting her own sword around her opponent’s and shoving it to the ground. Asta managed to drag her dagger through the attacker’s torso before they lifted their sword again.
She was so shocked that they were still able to fight that she wasn’t able to block the next strike. The blade landed on her forearm, lacerating the same arm that bore her shoulder injury.
Asta needed to plan her retreat. She knew it when the assailant with the head injury hadn’t been knocked out. They should be incapacitated by now with the strikes she had been making. Whatever they were, they could withstand injuries far worse than humans could, and she needed to live to warn others about them.
The next time the still-fighting creature attacked, she took a cheap shot and pushed her heel as hard into their abdomen as she could, sending them flying and landing on their back.
Asta turned and sprinted, taking off in the direction that Kaid had gone. Hopefully he had found a safe place to hide, or someone to help, or a shortcut to the village where they would be shielded by the crowds.
She didn’t hear running behind her until she was quite a distance down the beach, her attackers clearly needing time to gather themselves before they could chase her.
Good. She had done some damage, then.
Asta was running at full speed, pushing the pain in her left arm aside and focusing on her legs. She could feel the blood trickling down her fingertips, but she wasn’t losing it fast enough to bleed out as long as she could tuck herself away and make a tourniquet soon.
She turned a corner, temporarily out of sight from the things pursuing her.
Suddenly, Asta was being pulled backward, a hand pressed firmly against her mouth and her back pressed against something hard. She kicked and elbowed as she was dragged back into a dark cave, so far back that she could no longer see the opening.
Asta felt warm breath caress her ear, causing the hair on her arms to stand up.
“Stay quiet, Princess.”
She knew that voice. It was Kaid. Thank the gods.
Asta did as he said and waited, quietly. They heard footsteps rush past the cave, sand kicking up in their wake. When they passed, Asta began breathing again, not realizing she had been holding air within her lungs the entire time.
Kaid’s palm finally dropped from her lips and he stepped away from her. She could hardly make out his face in the faint moonlight as she turned to face him.
The pain in her arm was coming back with a vengeance, the throbbing worse than ever. “My arm.” The only words she managed to get out.
Kaid pulled her a little closer to the light of the cave entrance but remained far enough back so they could easily disappear into the shadows again if needed. He assessed the lacerations under the moonlight, then used his dagger to cut the bottom of his cloak.
He wrapped the strip of cloth under Asta’s arm at the top of her shoulder and nodded to her. “This will hurt.”
Asta gave a sharp nod in response and readied herself. When he pulled the cloth tight, her vision turned clouded and her knees buckled.Sweet Dagmar, that throbbed.
