Her legs shook as she moaned, falling to the ground.
“Ana,” she mumbled. “I don’t think I’m going to have the chance to get to know you better.”
“Don’t say that,” I whispered. Crawling over the injured female, I grabbed her hands in one of mine. “Daegal. Xander,” I snapped. “Help us.”
My voice cracked on the last word, and Xander seemed to come back to life. He and the Fortune Elf each drew their weapons, their faces grim. Metal zinged in the air as they widened their stances.
I returned my gaze to the injured female before me. The last two deaths I’d witnessed had been nothing like this. I’d thought those were bad, but this…
This was horrifying. Jo wasn’t nameless. She wasn’t just someone I had seen in the streets. We’d been on the way to becoming friends.
And now she was bleeding out in front of me.
What could I do?
My breath was coming in bursts as I tried to think of something. I couldn’t just sit here as she bled out in front of me. I did not know how to treat an arrow wound, but the way the blood was pouring out from her chest… she wasn’t going to survive. Not with an injury like this. Not here, in the middle of the woods, far from any healers.
Eventually, I settled on pressing my free hand against the wound. Jo’s blood was wet against my skin. It was frighteningly reminiscent of the way my own blood had coated the tower floor too many times to count.
No. Stay in the present.
I shoved down the shudder that threatened to rip through me as I whispered, “It’s going to be okay, Jo.”
Behind me, a branch snapped in the woods. Xander’s head jerked, and he withdrew a dagger from its sheath. He spared a look down, snapping, “Ana, stay here.”
He drew back his arm before sending the dagger hurtling through the woods. I watched in awe as he ran after it, a warrior’s cry escaping his lips. Moments later, a loud snapping of bone came from the direction in which he had run.
And then a heavy silence fell around us.
A choking sound came from the barmaid as she shook her head. I returned my gaze to her. “Be still, Jo,” I said in what I hoped was a soothing tone of voice. “We’ll get you to safety.”
“Don’t lie to me.” She coughed. Her skin was growing paler and paler as seemingly endless amounts of blood seeped out of her chest. A rattle escaped from her lungs as her entire body shook.
“Jo—”
A trickle of crimson blood came from her mouth as she turned wide eyes to me. A branch cracked somewhere in the woods and time seemed to return to normal.
“Run,” Jo ordered, her voice rasping. Her chest rattled as she drew in a deep breath. And then there was… nothing.
Her lifeless eyes stared up at me.
A strangled cry rose in my throat as I stared at her unmoving chest. From afar, death was terrible. But up close and personal… It was so much worse.
Death was a horrid mistress who stole what wasn’t hers.
I couldn’t move. My mind was telling me it wasn’t safe to remain where I was crouched, but my body… It was refusing to react. This female who could have been my first female friend had been alive one minute ago.
One minute. That was all that it took for her to die. A single minute.
I had no idea time could be so cruel. Yesterday, Jo had been alive. And now her lifeblood was seeping into the ground before me.
For what felt like an eternity, I stared at Jo’s unseeing eyes.
Then, Xander’s hands reached for me. I ignored the black, ink-like spatter on his skin as he grabbed my arm.
“That was just a scout,” Xander said, his voice low. “But where there is one, there will be more.”
He drew me to my feet, forcing my eyes to meet his. Black blood marred Xander’s pale face, which was contorted into that of a fierce warrior. I glanced at Daegal, but the Fortune Elf was just staring blankly at Jo’s body.