Darrine had unconsciously sunk into a state of gray
depression. Her mind was filled with
doubts, feelings that she was too old to have any use or purpose remaining in
life. It didn’t matter that she’d been
placed in a position where she was likely to meet her doom. She was expendable and everyone knew it -
that was everybody except for herself.
She was an old and foolish woman who had deceived herself into believing
that she still had value.
Darrine heard the voices at the rear of the column rising in
a shouted repetition of the Queen’s chant and felt the strange sense of apathy
lift from her mind. In an instant, her
thoughts cleared and she understood that the unfamiliar lethargy was not of her
own making. Anger replaced the doubt for
she was outraged that she’d succumbed so easily to the Valkea’s illusions. The bitch wasn’t going to be able to do that
again!
Turning, she looked at Trooper Kulm and finally realized
that he’d long ago stopped singing his romantic ballads to the decoy Lady Carra
in the wagon. She watched him shake
himself like a wet dog. “What in the
name of the Spirit was I thinking?” he muttered in disgust.
Darrine started to speak to him to let him know that he
wasn’t alone in being victimized by the Valkea’s deception, but her horse
staggered as three arrows pierced deeply into the mare’s flesh, one severing an
artery in her neck. Darrine barely got
her feet free of the stirrups before the bay collapsed to the ground.
“We’re under attack!” Captain Rodal bellowed. “Defensive positions!” He spurred his horse forward to protect the
decoy wagon.
The captain knew that the safest thing to do would be to
charge onward and simply move out of range of the attacking archers. However, the entire purpose of this
expedition was to draw out the Valkea so they had to remain in place until the
monster appeared. The best they could do
was to take a defensive position. All
his officers knew what was expected of them so with discipline the men quickly
moved into defensive postures.
To add realism to the charade they were playing, Sergeant
Garbarek quickly pushed the fake Carra into the back of the wagon for this
protective move would surely be expected.
Then he put a horn to his lips and blew a far-reaching blast to draw in
the soldiers who were hiding in the surrounding areas.
Darrine found herself on the ground in the midst of a
hailstorm of arrows, although none of the bolts were being aimed directly at
her now that her horse was downed. As
expected, the Valkea’s fighters were trying to keep her alive so they could
capture her. She noticed that Sergeant
Garbarek had been shot at and was now bristling with arrows stuck in his cloak
and surcoat, but he appeared to be safe inside his armor. The archers avoided firing directly at the
wagon so they could take Carra alive, too.
Trooper Kulm’s horse was down and he leaped off the dying animal to jump
next to Darrine with his sword drawn to protect her as she struggled up from
the ground. He had two arrows sticking
from his cloak, but they had penetrated no deeper than the cloth because of his
breastplate.
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