"Four hours to the city by coach. The messenger would take half the time to cover that distance, so they have to be over half way along the road by now, at least. So, they should be an hour away from us." Shiar repeated to himself, not for the first time, as he pushed his horse out the city gates, followed closely by Lord Kannein and a joint patrol of both of their men.

The garrison had been alerted and more riders would follow and more would maintain watch along the city walls and within the streets. He told himself it was all he could do for those in the city, after sending more of his men to reinforce the Royal soldiers guarding Caelur. He tried convincing himself he was being paranoid, that his sister would be on the road, safe in a carriage, laughing at his worry when he finally came upon them, but he didn't believe a word of it.

Shiar was worried, even as he told himself that it didn't make sense to be so. Lyana couldn't be a target, that there was nothing to gain from hurting her. She hadn't been out in society for long enough to be known as anything more than High Lord Shiar's sister. She was only important to him and Caelur through friendship, well connected but not a threat in and of herself. The second born and a daughter at that, from a high blooded family, a future for marriage and connection, but not of any political relevance.

Not worth killing or ambushing, unless they were trying to make it staged, make it look like it was an Aupanan attack. If those mysterious forces that had fed Sellexu the bad information on Aupana two years ago were back and trying to play another game. Perhaps she was worth kidnapping but no one would make it off the island with his sister, he was certain of that much. Unless she had never left that far harbour and had never followed behind the messenger as planned and was already on a ship to somewhere he couldn't reach.

"They don't expect us to catch on, whatever it is. We have time and surprise on our side, friend." Lord Kannein shouted beside him, riding neck and neck into the woods alongside him. Shiar hadn't expected the man to jump in to help him, but he found himself oddly happy to have someone else and more fighters on his side.

"Stupid girl." Shiar growled, shaking his head. "She was supposed to be at home, safe."

Kannein chuckled, trying to get Shiar to see the humour in it, to ease his mind on the long journey. "And you laughed at me and my sister, only a couple days ago. It'll be fine. She'll be fine."

He wanted to growl that his sister wasn't trained to fight like Nerini was. That if Lyana was trained, he would never have to worry about her quite as much as he did and he would be able to laugh like Kannein was right now. He refused to acknowledge that voice in his mind that said "ah ha. Exactly" to an argument he had never expected to make himself. That of the need for a woman to be able to defend herself.

***

Nerini was almost too late, try as she might to catch up with the mercenaries, she had barely caught them in time. She had taken too much caution and not enough speed in her pursuit. She was hearing the yelling and metal clashing as she trotted around a bend in the road in an attempt to be quiet and unobtrusive, she had almost failed at the simplest of tasks.

But she wasn't failing, wasn't too late, Nerini told herself as she kicked her demon steed into a gallop and drew her swords. She flashed into view from the trees and let her horse barrel into an archer as she launched herself from Cocoa's back, taking out two fighters as they attacked a guardsman. 

She hit them in a slashing tackle and was up and moving on by the time anyone else understood there was someone else in the fray. In the instant that she had crossed the small distance to the group, she had been able to make out the defenders of the coach and the mercenaries, cutting through the ranks of the enemy to join the lines of defence around the beleaguered coach.

She didn't stop to acknowledge their uniforms, or the language they were speaking, shutting away the thought in her mind that she recognized these fighters she was assisting. It didn't matter that these were men that she had fought against and escaped nearly two years ago, as she parried swords and thrust her blades clean through whatever foe was in front of her, giving them no quarter as she fought to gain herself time to get whomever was in the coach to safety.

 Nerini spun and slashed with a fury that overwhelmed the enemy, a dark form seemingly come from the forest itself, hacking the attackers back away from the carriage like a vengeful spirit that moved as silent as death.

She growled at one of the guardsmen, grabbing him by his collar and pushing him towards the carriage's driver seat when she had time to do so ."Drive, idiot! Get on those horses and run!" 

The man stumbled, his mind trying to come to terms with the unexpected help, before her words hit him and he nodded, turning to follow her orders.

"You're hit!" An unexpected cry came into her awareness, from a girl standing halfway out of the carriage, reaching towards her, seemingly oblivious of anything around her but Nerini. "You were hit by an arrow". The girl was in a dress, unarmed, not very aware of what was going on around her, possibly oblivious to the fact that she was making a very appealing target of herself.

Nerini growled, and shook her head, jumping up near the door to shield the young Sellexun woman with her own body, in case there was more archers waiting for a clear shot. "Get in the carriage! Do you have a blade to defend yourself?" Her words were a harsh yell, from the adrenaline and the need to snap some sense into the girl.

The girl looked shocked at the rough treatment and words, pausing for a moment with big mossy green eyes, shaking her head, still pointing at Nerini's shoulder, looking ready to cry. "No."

She pulled out her spare short sword from its sheath at the small of her back and shoved it into the girl's hands, pushing her back into the carriage. "If anyone other than your kinsmen comes into the carriage, you fight and fight like there's no other choice. You use every weapon you have, your teeth and nails, until there's not an ounce of blood left in whomever thinks they can harm you. You survive, with every ounce of your being, that is your job."

Before the girl could respond to her, Nerini stepped down from the carriage, slamming the door shut, catching an attackers blade with her own and kicking the form back into the trees with a single boot to the chest. 

She pointed at another guardsman, before simply grabbing him and nearly throwing him at the carriage. "Get on the back and fight anyone that comes after you, that's your mission, don't stop, don't slow down. No one catches up and no one gets on this carriage. Stay on and defend, get to the city, don't wait for anything else."

There was a lull in the fighting as he scrambled away from her to the carriage. She took that time to glance at her shoulder, wincing as she caught sight of a thick crossbow bolt sticking out of it. She clenched her hand tighter around her sword hilt to hold on, willing the pain to stay away just a bit longer. 

Nerini took a steadying breath before she waded through the mercenaries in front of the carriage, fighting through with another guardsman she vaguely recognized, clearing a path for the horses to take off running down the road. She stepped out of the way as she felt the breeze of the racing horses pass her, then spun and joined the rest of the Sellexun Guard in forming a defence against the attackers that wished to follow. 

The carriage was off like a bolt as soon as it could be, most of the mounted guards surrounding it and providing an escort, pushing the poor horses as hard as they could to put distance between here and the Lady.

Four defenders including her remained against around a dozen of the attackers. The two forces squaring off against each other, the three Guards looked tired but grim. She appreciated the fact that their determination did not waver, despite the fact that they had been left behind against a force that more than doubled theirs. 

The mercenaries grinned with confidence at the seemingly easy odds, clearly thinking there would be no contest and they would soon be chasing down the fleeing carriage. Nerini caught those expressions and smiled from beneath her hood, spinning her blades as the adrenaline continued coursing through her blood and dulling the pain of her bleeding arm.

 In Sellexun, she chuckled to the guards standing at her sides. "Well, boys, fancy meeting you here like this. Let's give them a run, shall we?"

***

Shiar galloped through the darkness of the trees, rounding a bend so quickly that he was barely able to steer his horse around a carriage in flight as it careened past him. He swore as the carriage scattered the first ten or so riders in his group then slowed to a stop.  The drivers of the vehicle recognizing fellow men at arms among the allies from Kannein's men and shouted explanations shaking through the air around them.

"Lyana!" His voice was hoarse in worry as he dismounted and sprinted to the carriage which was coated with blood and a had a stray arrow or two buried deeply into the wood. He counted four guardsmen with the vehicle, for the seven that should have been with her and wondered where the others had fallen. 

Shiar ripped the door open furiously, only to be forced to jump back off the steps as his sister launched herself screaming and swinging am Aupanan short blade at him, eyes wide with fright, smeared with blood.

"Lyana! Stop! Stop it's me! You're safe! You're hurt!" He grabbed her as she stumbled into realization of what was happening and dropped the blade on the ground, clearly overwhelmed. Shiar forced himself to speak as soothingly as possible, taking her in his arms and hugging her tightly, his hands searching for where she'd be bleeding from, feeling her body trembling. "Where are you hurt?"

Lyana shook her head, her body quivering with fear, panting, as tears began to well in her eyes. "I'm not. It was someone else, a man from the forest. He yelled at me, shoved the sword in my hand and told me to fight back if anyone came in the carriage."

"Sir, they're back there, fighting, they're outnumbered." The guard from the back of the carriage interrupted, pulling his gaze away from his trembling sister and nodding in the direction the carriage had come from.

He nodded, putting his sister back into the carriage, grabbing two of his men and telling them to stay with her. He shoved them into the carriage with her before they could nod their acknowledgement.

"They're going to die." He growled to Kannein, who tossed him his reins, nodding easily in the same direction.

"The attackers? Agreed."

"Ten of you take her back to the city, Fast! The rest, let's hunt" Shiar growled, vaulting onto his horse and spinning it back in the direction the carriage had been coming from, his men settled behind him. 

With one final glance after the carriage, both him and Kannein kicked their mounts into a gallop once more, the Aupanan men following beside their new allies and howling, eerily, like wolves.