Every step Bryan took deeper into the woods was farther and farther away from Katrina and Arthur. His natural instinct was to stay with them but he knew if they reached the house, the chances of the two of them getting away got smaller.

Following the trail, Bryan saw when the wolves split up. He followed Snow knowing that as alpha of his small pack, he would be taking the most direct route and that his brother would be circling then coming up from behind on whoever had gotten their attention.

Bryan had only ever seen them act that way when they came across Morgana’s men in the woods. It didn’t take long before he heard the shouts of several men and the growl of his wolves. He carefully followed the sound. Stopping behind a tree, he grabbed an arrow and shot at one of the men rushing toward Snow with his blade high.

With one shot straight to his back, the man fell to the ground. He took aim and shot at the next man while trying to see how many of them were out there. Every time he heard one of the wolves growl, he saw more men appear and realized that the other three were forcing most of them from the woods, causing them to group up. There were so many of them, Bryan knew he wouldn’t be able to stop them all on his own. All he could do was decrease the number and hopefully give Katrina and Arthur enough time to escape.

Bryan had shot several more arrows when he saw a man coming out of the woods. His arm was up and about to throw a dagger at him when he saw Minx jump out of the woods. She landed on him from behind, saving Bryan as her teeth bit the back of Morgana’s man’s neck.

Bryan started walking back, shooting arrows as he went when he felt someone come up behind him. He turned, grabbing the sword from his back, swinging it just in time to block the blow of the man sneaking up on him. Bryan was quickly able to gain an advantage and stabbed the man, killing him.

That was when he noticed that some of Morgana’s men were already behind him. Taking aim, he shot the one farthest away before running after the one closest to him. Minx appeared at his side, and she jumped on the back of the man closest to them.

In front of him, he saw the leader, the same one from before. Bryan needed to warn Katrina so she could escape. With a whistle, he got Minx’s attention and he pointed in the direction of the house. “Minx, protect!”

Minx took off in a flash heading toward the house. Bryan followed behind the men. The tattoos he had noticed on their faces ran the length of their back. Every one of them was shirtless with tattoos and piercings and the few he got close to had eyes that were almost completely black.

When he stopped the next one, Bryan felt a blade slice against his arm, cutting him. It wasn’t deep enough to hinder his movement, so he swung high and hard, his sword was sharp enough to cut the head off with one stroke.

Time was not on his side and Bryan felt his panic rise, hoping against hope that Minx managed to warn Katrina in time to get out. When Bryan got to the house, the door was kicked open, none of Morgana’s men were in sight. Bryan ran into the house and into his room. He sighed in relief when he saw the bolt door open.

Bryan ran out of the house grabbing the extra quiver of arrows he kept by the door. This was all he had left and based on how many of Morgana’s men he saw earlier, it wouldn’t be nearly enough. When he ran around to the back, he saw a very visible trail left by Katrina as she tried to run away. Between the dress and carrying Arthur, she would leave a trail even a blind man could follow, and he swallowed the lump in his throat as he saw the trail of men following her.

Scared, Katrina watched for what felt like hours, until she saw Minx run through the woods. Covered in blood, Katrina knew instantly that Bryan had sent her to warn her. She opened the door letting Minx in, as she ran to the back, grabbing Arthur and the bag that Bryan made her pack. She opened the bolt door, holding Arthur tight to her with one arm, as she gripped the blade with the other.

Minx walked in front of her, leading her out as Katrina started panicking about what was next. How far would she get holding Arthur? He was too big for her to carry in the bag and she knew it would soon be dark, and she didn’t know if they would get that far.

Arthur started to fuss and she tried her best to sooth him while walking quickly. When she saw a large clearing, Katrina debated about what to do. The clearing was the fast way to get to the hill Bryan mentioned, but it also exposed her.

She noticed Arthur, who was still fussing in her arms, his lips quivering. “It’s okay, Arthur. Bryan promised he would be right behind us.”

Minx stayed beside her as she started to try to run as quickly as she could across the clearing. When Minx stopped and started growling, Katrina looked up to see a large man stepping from the trees. He was covered in tattoos and she felt his black eyes piercing her.

She held the dagger tighter taking a step back when she heard a sound behind her. She turned quickly and saw men coming up out of the woods. Every one of them shirtless, covered with tattoos and eyes as black as their leaders. Minx kept low in front of her and watched the leader as if she automatically knew who the biggest threat was.

“Give me the boy,” the leader finally spoke, as he took a step toward her. His voice was deep with a thick accent that caused her to shudder. The setting sun seemed to shimmer off the giant battle ax he had strapped on his back, making the dagger in her hand look more like something one would use to eat with instead of protecting themselves.

“No,” Katina managed to say with more conviction in her voice than she felt as she drew herself taller.

When the man laughed, everyone laughed with him. The echoing sound was chilling, which added to her fear. Minx stayed by her side and Katrina tried to find an opening. One of the men stepped forward and Minx bared her teeth as she crouched low. She was about to pounce on the man when a whistling sound passed by her ear, immediately followed by an arrow flying past her and landing in the leader’s chest.

As she turned her head, she saw Bryan coming from the woods with the other three wolves in tow. He screamed a battle cry that echoed. The men all started to run toward her and Minx jumped on the closest one, quickly tearing at his throat. The other three wolves got to her before the men did and they kept a circle around her as Bryan fought his way to her.

With a quick stab, he killed the last man that was behind her as he came and stood inside the circle of wolves, who were keeping everyone from her. All of Morgana’s men pulled out their swords and began to circle them again, this time closer.

Before they broke the circle, a flash of lightning appeared in the sky above them. Katrina screamed as the man in front of her got hit by a bolt of lightning. She looked around and saw Merlin standing at the opening, the air shimmering around him. He raised his hand and this time lightning flew from his fingers to the surrounding men, who began to attack. The wolves jumped first, but Bryan had pulled her behind him, telling her to stay close as chaos began to erupt all around them.