Page 202 of Salt Between the Wolves

This was not a chance encounter or an opportunistic attack; it was a carefully planned trap.

Someone had known they would come, and someone had wanted them here.

Another rider fell, blood splashing across the stones as the formation collapsed around him.

Men struggled to regain control of their terrified horses, but the narrow ravine left nowhere to maneuver and nowhere to escape, exactly as Garrick had warned.

"SOREN!"

The shout cut through the chaos, and Soren turned toward it.

A warrior pointed upward, drawing his attention to more movement among the cliffs.

Archers.

There were at least twenty of them, perhaps more, far more than they had faced at Red Creek and far more than anyone had expected.

The mark burned fiercely, and a sudden lance of pain shot through his chest.

His vision blurred for a single heartbeat, but that brief moment was enough.

Something struck him with tremendous force, and the impact nearly tore him from the saddle.

Pain exploded through his shoulder.

Soren looked down and saw an arrow protruding from beneath his collarbone.

For a moment he simply stared at it, surprised not by the pain itself, but by the fact that it had happened at all.

Another arrow struck the horse beneath him, and the animal screamed before collapsing.

A heartbeat later, the ground slammed into Soren.

Stone, mud, pain, and shouting voices blended together until the world fractured into noise.

Someone grabbed his arm and dragged him toward cover.

It was Garrick, of course.

The captain shoved him behind a fallen boulder while blood already soaked through the fabric surrounding the arrow wound.

For the first time since Eira disappeared, fear crossed Garrick's face openly, and it was not fear of the enemy but fear for him.

"You can't stay here."

Another arrow shattered against the stone nearby, but Garrick ignored it completely.

"We need to pull back."

The words landed harder than the arrow itself.

Retreat.

Soren stared past him at the ravine, the dead, the wounded, and the trap he had led them into with his own decisions.

The realization settled inside his chest like lead.

This was not Vargan's fault, nor fate, nor simple bad luck.