Risk

Chapter XXXI

Jasta jumped off the horse, ignoring the pain in her legs as she did. She had to see if Rowan was alright. She could just barely see through the legs of the horses that formed a ring around the fight, and that certainly wasn't enough to tell what had happened.

She hardly even paid attention as she heard the bushes rustle behind her, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the cloaked people had indeed been able to keep up. They were certainly a strange lot.

She shoved her way into the gap between two of the horses, ignoring the angry shouts completely, and at least trying to ignore the sounds of fighting as the strange black-clad figures fell on the Risks, pulling out previously unseen weapons.

She shoved one last time on the flank of the horse, and then she was stumbling into the circle that was quickly dissolving in the chaos of the fight. She didn't even think about helping, or if she might be hurt if a weapon accidentally went flying. She had just one thought, and that was checking if Rowan was okay.

Totin was yelling angrily at his brothers as they tried to fend off the black figures that seemed to shift with the very shadows, but that wasn't who she was looking for. She scanned the clearing, and then she saw him. He was dangerously close to a horse's stomping hooves, and he didn't look like he was planning on moving any time soon. She rushed over.

He was curled up and facing away from her, but she grabbed his arm. She let out a sigh of relief when Rowan jumped slightly at her touch, and he sat up and scooched backward just as the horse's hooves would have crushed him had he stayed where he was. He looked over at her. His lip was split, a thin trail of blood was drizzling down his chin, and one cheek had a nasty purple bruise forming on it, but he seemed a lot less hurt than she thought he would be. She let out a small sob and hugged him.

He inhaled sharply, the breath hissing through his teeth. "Careful."

"Sorry." She quickly pulled back. "Did I hurt you?" she bit her lip.

"A little bit." He blinked a few times as if he was dazed.

"Sorry."

"I thought I told you to run?"

"I couldn't leave you here to get killed, and besides, these- ah- people offered their help, so I thought I'd come and rescue you." A tear fell down her cheek but she wiped it away. He was okay. He wasn't going to die. She let out a shaky sigh that was almost mixed with a laugh.

He spoke but the sounds of the fighting and yelling drowned out what he said next.

"What?" she tried to speak up so that the din wouldn't drown her out as well.

"We should move." And just as he said it, as if on call, a knife whistled past, embedding itself into the ground not far from where they were sitting.

She nodded and scurried to her feet, offering a hand to help him up. He took her hand, and she half-pulled him, and he half-pulled himself until he was standing again, a pained look on his face.

"You okay?" she frowned, glancing around at the fight that was in utter chaos. She could hardly tell what was happening, but she was pretty sure that Rowan's bothers were losing, which was a good thing. They wouldn't be able to follow if they were all incapacitated.

Rowan nodded, but he definitely didn't look okay.

"Here, let me help. We need to get out of here." She slipped her arm under his own and took a step. Rowan tried to mimic her movement, but his leg buckled and he almost took both of them down. He cried out softly.

She lifted him up again as best she could, and then took another step, this time trying to bear more of his weight. A horse reared up near them and then almost came crashing down right on top of them, but Jasta sidestepped just in time, pushing Rowan and hoping that she wasn't hurting him too badly, but she knew that staying there would hurt them much worse.