Page 60 of The Stallion & The Tigress
She leaned into him and gave him a long,searing kiss on the lips.“Just in case,” she said.She walked tothe edge of the river and stood, naked and unafraid.
“Hold onto Z’s stirrup and let him do all thework,” Aleksi told her as they stepped into the water.“All youhave to do is kick your legs and not let go.”
Sahar clamped her jaw tight and nodded.Aleksi led Zolotoy into the water and swam ahead of him, holdingthe stallion’s reins.Sahar held on to the stirrup strap on Z’supriver side and kicked as she floated out and across the river,keeping her gaze on the back of Aleksi’s head.
They made the far shore a good hundred pacesupstream from the Wolf’s camp, sopping wet and freezing.Aleksirubbed her icy skin with a drying cloth and then did the same tohimself as she dressed.Clothed and armed, he tied off Z to a tree,pulled the sturdy walking stick with the tip he had whittled to asharp point from the saddle straps, and turned to her as she wastying off her braid.
“If this is to be my last night in thisworld,” he said, “I regret nothing.”
“Nor do I,” she said.She took a deep breathin and blew it out.“I don’t fear the fight to come,” she vowed.“Awolf and his pack of one is no match for a stallion and atigress.”
Aleksi held her chin and gave her a fiercekiss.“No,” he said, handing her the sharpened stick.“They’renot.”
Step by slow, cautious step, they walkedtoward the camp, Sahar following in Aleksi’s footsteps, careful notto make any sudden noise.They hunkered down behind the tree lineat the edge of the little clearing.From there they could see whatlooked like two heads poking out of the one bedroll, and heard thelow, sonorous snore of a man.They crept a little closer, trying tosee the rest of the camp, but the fire had burned to embers and thewaning moon had disappeared behind a bank of clouds.
The horses looked to be sleeping where theystood tied to a line, and Sahar breathed a sigh of relief thatLasair was at least upright on all fours.She looked to Aleksi, andraised her brows and jutted her chin forward, but he shook his headand pointed toward a pile of something big and dark that was mostlikely saddles and gear by the horses, though something seemed oddabout the shape and mass of the pile.
They watched it closely for a while, but thepile didn’t move or worry the horses, and after giving the camp onemore look over, Aleksi nodded to Sahar.
“First we secure the Wolf and the Tall,” hewhispered.“Then we free Lasair.”
“Of course.”
He rose to a crouch, indicating that sheshould stay behind him, and began to enter the clearing.They hadtaken no more than three steps in when Lasair snorted and threw upher head with a loud whinny.Aleksi cursed and leapt the remainingdistance to the bedroll, which was now rolling away from him.Thedark pile by the horses rose into the shape of a man throwing off ablanket and closing the distance between them, short sword in onehand and blade in the other.It was Yago who advanced on Aleksi,forcing him to fight, leaving Sahar to deal with the longer reachof Taweel the Tall, the exact opposite of what they’d planned.
“I have Yago,” Aleksi yelled over thestomping and snorting of the horses.There was a rending tear andTaweel emerged from the rent bedroll, his blade glinting in thelight of the emerging moon.“Sahar,” Aleksi yelled.
“I have him.”
The Tall was armed with a short sword and awaist blade, and easily had half an arm’s reach on her.He had theadvantage and he knew it, sneering smugly as he swung his swordwith a turn of his wrist.She sheathed her waist blade and grippedher stick with both hands.While it was no match for a sword, itwas six feet of sturdy oak honed to a deadly point in the hands ofa woman who had plenty of practice stick fighting with herbrother.
She bent her knees and glared at Taweel asthe sound of metal clanging on metal rang out over curses andgrunts from Aleksi and Yago.
“Lay down your puny stick,” Taweel said, “andI’ll make your death swift and merciful.”
“Lay down your sword,” she countered,shifting her weight onto her toes, “and I won’t cut your stones offand gift them to your father on a golden plate.”
Her words had their desired effect as Taweelsputtered and choked on his sneer, and she sprang straight for him,swinging the stick hard and whacking him on the outside of hisknee.He bellowed and stumbled.She turned full circle and whackedhim on the outside of his other knee.His knees buckled and hestumbled forward, but he saved himself from falling by stabbing hissword into the ground and bracing himself with it.She consideredtrying to sweep the sword out from under him but didn’t want tochance embedding the stick into it and giving Taweel a chance towrest her weapon from her.
She swung the stick high and brought it down,aiming for the side of his head, but he dipped and rolled andpushed himself up onto his feet as the stick hit the ground, theforce of it shooting waves of pain up her arms and into hershoulders.Taweel brought his sword down onto the stick, numbingher fingers and wrists, but she didn’t let go.He raised his swordhigh, readying for another blow.She gripped the stick with all hermight and heaved it away as Taweel’s sword came crashing down andhit earth.Putting all her weight behind the stick, she swung forTaweel’s sword arm, grunting with the effort.It struck the meat ofhis upper arm with a satisfying thunk, and she stepped back andpositioned the stick to jab, jumping away as Taweel pivoted andslashed out with his other arm, the cold gleam of his waist bladeshining in the light of the dwindling campfire.
He straightened and shook himself as she sether feet and shoulders.
“I am going to kill you, bitch,” he barked,charging her with teeth bared.
“Sahar?”Aleksi yelled.
She dipped one way and leapt the other,dodging Taweel’s clumsy charge and ducked behind a tree, glancingover to where Aleksi was raining blows down on Yago, who looked tobe struggling to keep his sword up in a defensive posture.Aleksicould kill Yago at any time, but he was keeping his word andworking on beating the Wolf down and capturing him alive.
“I’m fine,” she yelled back, grinning andtaunting Taweel as she danced from one side of the tree to theother.
The heel of her boot caught on a root, andshe tripped and fell, landing flat on her back, knocking the breathfrom her.She gasped trying to suck in air, but her throat hadclosed and her chest had seized, and Taweel was standing over her,the point of his sword at her heart and a sickening smile on hisface.
“I told you I would kill you,” he said,planting a booted foot on her throat.“I’m going to enjoy doingit.”
Her vision narrowed to a pinprick as shegrabbed at the Tall’s boot on her neck, but without air in herlungs the strength was quickly leaving her body.Somewhere far awaya wolf yelped, a stallion bellowed, and the earth beneath herthundered.As the world was going black, the weight of Taweel waslifted from her, and she sucked in great, gasping gulps of air asshe rolled over onto her hands and knees.A cursing, grunting massof flailing arms and kicking legs rolled and tumbled across thecamp as she slowly pushed herself up onto her feet, finally able totake in a complete breath.She felt for her waist blade, herfingers wrapping around the hilt when a pair of hands grabbed herfrom behind and threw her face-first into the tree’s trunk.
When she came to, it was to the sound ofclanging metal and the hazy sight of Aleksi’s sturdy legs and broadback standing between her Yago and Taweel, holding them off andtrading them blow for blow.Leaning against the tree, she slowlyrose to her feet and braced herself until her vision stoppedswimming and her legs stopped shaking.
