Warwolfe (de Wolfe Pack Book 0)(63)

And then, an arrow struck her.

A large yew arrow with a barbed iron head went straight into her right thigh, straight through it, and embedded itself in the mare’s body. Startled by the pain, the mare came to a sudden halt but Ghislaine didn’t fall off because she was pinned to the horse by the arrow. She tried to control the horse with one hand while trying to remove the arrow with the other, but she couldn’t get a good grip on the shaft. Without a weapon, she was vulnerable to the men who were now rushing her from the trees. Terrified that she was about to be captured, she tried to get the mare moving but the horse wasn’t cooperating.

Her terror was replaced by great surprise when two war horses suddenly appeared and the men who had charged her from the trees were cut down by broadswords that were singing a deadly song as they sailed through the air. The attackers were still barking and Ghislaine caught sight of them, dirty men in leather and loincloths, faces painted with mud and twigs in their hair. Some had iron-head axes and still others had bows and arrows, but even in their greater number they were no match for the Norman knights on horseback.

Still, it was a battle from the start as Gaetan and his men cut down the savage tribe that ambushed them from the trees. Soon, the road was littered with headless bodies, bloodied limbs, and carnage, but the dog-people didn’t give up. They were tenacious, but so were the knights. There were far more of the dog-people than the Normans and they seemed to come in waves, but the Norman knights handled them easily.

Meanwhile, Ghislaine and the two knights who had ridden to her aid seemed to be boxed in by a swarm of the dog-men but, in short order, the attackers fell away and someone grabbed hold of her horse’s reins, tearing off down the road to get her out of harm’s way. Ghislaine simply held on to the horse’s neck, in anguish with the arrow still through her thigh.

She watched the road pass beneath the mare’s feet, praying they would make it to safety as the ground whizzed by and rocks kicked up in her face. Time seemed to have little meaning as they ran, but jostling her leg was sheer agony and with every move the horse made, she struggled not to cry out. But soon enough, the horse came to a halt and hands were reaching out to steady her. Someone pulled her into a sitting position and when she looked around, she saw Gaetan bailing off his horse and rushing to her side along with de Moray, his bloodied sword still drawn. De Moray stood guard to make sure they weren’t attacked again as someone slid onto the back of her horse and held her steady.

“Easy, my lady.” It was Aramis behind her, bracing her right thigh against his enormous right thigh to keep it steady as Gaetan tried to get a look at what had happened. “We shall remove this quickly, have no fear. Stay still.”

Ghislaine was in pain, in distress. “I am sorry,” she gasped. “I knew there was someone in those trees, waiting for us, and I thought if I drew them out, they would lose the element of surprise.”

Gaetan looked up at her, an oddly compassionate expression on his face, something Ghislaine hadn’t seen in days. His focus moved to Aramis, sitting behind her and holding her fast, before returning to the arrow.

“It was a clever move, little mouse,” Gaetan said as he tried to get a look at the underside of her thigh where the arrow had her pinned. “It was also astonishingly brave. But had you told me your plans, I would have sent an armored man in your stead so we would not find ourselves in the position we do now.”

He was back to complimenting her and rebuking her in the same breath. “Had I told you my plans, you would have stopped me,” she said frankly. “I took you along this road, de Wolfe. It was my duty to protect you when I sensed danger. You do not know these lands; I do. I know what these people are capable of and I could not… I would not….”

She trailed off, unable to finish. Gaetan didn’t say anything after that. He had his hand on her leg, which was covered with those leather trousers she liked to wear, even beneath the cotes he had given her. In truth, he didn’t trust himself to speak because he still wasn’t over the shock of seeing her risk her life for him and his men. Never in his life had he met a woman of such bravery, but in that bravery there had been great danger. Now, she had an arrow through her thigh, anchoring her to the horse. He could see that it was embedded fairly deeply and he pushed aside any emotion he was feeling to logically address the injury.

But it was a struggle.

“It will cause you more pain if I try to pull it out and I am not entirely sure I can because of the way it is embedded in the mare,” he said, hating the fact that he was starting to feel queasy at the sight of her with an arrow in her. “I am going to break the shaft and then we will lift you off of it.”

Ghislaine was looking at him steadily, pale-faced, with beads of sweat on her upper lip, but her expression was one of faith. Total faith. Gaetan locked eyes with her and, at that moment, something changed for him. This strong noble woman had been trying to do the right thing since nearly the moment they met. Not including their brief encounter on the battlefield, she had been trying to help men she didn’t even know save their comrade. Her motives weren’t entirely altruistic; she wanted to be rid of a half-brother who had made her life miserable. But more than once, she had gone above the call of duty to help men who were, in theory, her enemy.

But not anymore.

At this moment, she had proven herself to him.

“We need more hands to help, Gate,” Aramis said, his voice tense. “I can lift her up but we must have more hands to steady both her and the leg.”