Chapter Three
I hardly slept during the night, and in the morning I knew I was in no state to drive. Even still, I didn't like handing the keys over to Owen. Not that he wasn't a good driver, but I liked to hold my fate in my own hands. Besides, without having something specific to concentrate on, I was afraid I'd nod off and get scolded by the elf prince. Not that I cared what he thought of me.
Banff in the summer was something I could never get used to. The dark evergreens were sprinkled with a generous helping of leafy trees and bushes, giving it a mottled effect. The grass growing along the tall deer fences that separated the road from the forest was tall and blew in a gentle breeze, spotted here and there with bright-colored flowers. The animal bridges, wide overpasses built over tunnels so the animals could pass from one side of the forest to the other, teemed with herds of whitetail deer, and we even saw a wolf. Owen insisted on pulling off to the side of the road and taking a picture of it.
In the back of the hummer, Charlotte and Victor had their heads together. They whispered to each other, but my hearing was good enough to pick out a few words. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be speaking in English, and I couldn't understand it anyway. My mood grew even darker. What if he was telling her all about last night? When she laughed, was she laughing about how defensive I had gotten?
"Can you get me one of those protein bars back there?" I asked, not bothering to hide my grumpiness.
Charlotte fished one out for me, and Victor leaned between the two front seats to hand it to me.
"I hope you and I have a chance to talk again soon, in private," he said. "I'm afraid there were a few things I said that I… perhaps should not have. I would like the chance to explain."
I tried not to think about how beautiful his blue eyes were as I took the protein bar. My failure in this regard only made me grumpier. "I understood just fine."
"Understood what?" Owen turned bright eyes on me. "What did I miss?"
I glared at him, but even as I opened my mouth to tell him it was none of his business, a sharp thwack in the side of the hummer made us jump. I glanced out the mirror to find an arrow embedded into the gas tank. Another thwack, and an arrow sunk deep into the hood of the hummer. I cursed as a plume of smoke burst into the air.
"Stay down," I shouted at the elves while Owen slammed on the breaks.
Elves burst out of the ground in the grassy knoll between the split highway and the rocky ditch to our other side. They threw off robes covered in grass and gravel and charged, shouting and waving clubs and rock-tipped spears. I cursed again, climbing into the back. The elves attacked the hummer, shouting and stomping their feet. We rocked back and forth as their weapons dented the sides. One of them smashed a mace into the windshield. The glass fractured into a spider web pattern but held. It wouldn't survive more than a couple more blows, though.
"Protect the princess," I ordered Owen, then slammed my door open into an elf that was stabbing at the lock with a knife. I yanked out my gun and shot it into the air.
The elves drew back, allowing me to get out of the hummer with time to shut the door behind me. I pointed my gun at the elf with the mace. "Drop it! It takes you far longer to swing that thing around than it does for me to pull this—"
Victor jumped from the vehicle. He had two daggers in his hands and leaped among the enemy elves at once. I wheeled about, slamming the door shut behind him, but my distraction cost me. The mace-wielding elf lashed out. My gun was the casualty, ending up crushed between the mace and the hummer door. I howled as I withdrew. My hand just barely escaped being crushed.
If the elves thought that was the end of my fight, they were sorely mistaken. With another feral howl, I threw myself at the mace-wielder, knocking him off his feet. I brought my palm to his nose and kicked him between the legs. As he doubled over, face twisting in pain, I tackled another elf. When I blocked a punch and drove my fingers into his sternum, I caught sight of Victor.
Time literally stood still. He had thrown off his robe, revealing a pair of tight-fitting pants and not much else. His bare chest was completely hairless and sculpted with such precision that he could have been carved straight out of a woman's fantasies. His abs flexed with his movement, going from a six to an eight pack depending on how tightly he held his body. His eyes were steely, determined.
But what really had the drool pooling in my mouth was his fighting style. He looked more like a dancer as he faced off with half a dozen opponents. His knives flashed and flew with such quickness that I could hardly track them. The other elves threw punches at him, but he nimbly dodged them like he was untouchable.
Wow. I found myself gaping at him rather than fighting off the enemy. Even after I shook my head and returned to knocking over elves like bowling pins, I couldn't help myself from sneaking glances at him. I had never seen anybody fight like that before. I should have taken him up on his offer the previous night. We could have been in the bathroom… I never did get my shower.
A solid punch to my jaw brought me back from my distraction. I pummeled the guy who had hit me, then kicked the feet out from under a second attacker and mightily lifted a third to throw back into the group. I grabbed the mace guy's face and smashed it into my knee. He stumbled back.
"Retreat," he shouted.
They scattered, climbing over the deer fence nimbly and disappeared into the forest. I turned back to the hummer and threw open the door to check on Owen and Charlotte.
"You guys okay?"
Owen nodded, though his face was drawn tensely. It had probably killed him to have to stay in the vehicle watching us fight. He was like me: he hated being on the sidelines.
Charlotte was tucked down behind the driver's seat, stuffed into a Kevlar vest. Not that Kevlar was actually much use against knives or arrows. If we had known that other elves would be attacking, we would have gotten some decent arrow-resistant armor. Kevlar was good against bullets and that was basically it.
"They slashed all four tires," Victor said, stepping up beside me. His chest gleamed with sweat and, for the first time, I noticed he had an earthy scent that I enjoyed quite a lot.
Great. I shook my head.
All a man had to do to catch my eye was fight well. After the beautiful performance Victor had just given, I'd be a puddle for days. Maybe I would have to reconsider the whole conversation we had the previous night. My gun was ruined, so it wasn't like I could shoot him. That put us on equal footing, right? Finding a place to be together would be trickier, though…
I shook the thoughts from my head. Now was not the time.
"We have extra tires in the back," Owen said. "The real problem is that."
He pointed at the arrow still protruding from the hood of the hummer. Smoke still belched from it. I went around to check it out, but I didn't need to be a mechanic to know that there would be no starting the vehicle up again. I grimaced, glancing at Charlotte's pregnant belly.
"No cell service," Owen said, holding his phone into the sky. "So do we sit here and wait for another vehicle to come by and help us out, or do we start walking?"
"I chose this road because it's not well-used," I said. "I wanted to be able to speed up a little. We'll be about an hour away from the nearest city by way of driving. But walking with a woman so heavily pregnant…"
"I'm strong," Charlotte said. "I can walk."
"We might not have to." Victor pointed to the opposite side of the road. A large semi-truck rounded the corner.
I sighed in relief. "Good. Let's just be careful about it."
As if he hadn't heard me, Victor darted across the median onto the other side of the highway. He planted himself in the middle of it. I grabbed my spare gun from under the seat and ran after him. The semi pulled to a stop a few feet from the elven prince. The driver leaned on his horn and screamed at us, face red.
"Hey," I shouted at him. "You don't go around throwing yourself in front of vehicles. What is wrong with you? Did you want to get hit?"
"They stopped," Victor said.
His calmness did nothing to help me. I prodded my finger into his chest, about to start screaming, when the blaring horn suddenly cut off. A grunt behind me made me turn. Owen fell to the ground, a surprised look on his face as blood blossomed from his face. The driver of the semi grabbed Charlotte around the waist and lifted her into the air. She screamed, but the driver stuffed her into his truck before I could raise my gun.
I caught a glimpse of the driver's face, ball cap pulled low, large glasses hiding his face before he stepped on the gas. Charlotte's mouth was open in a scream and the semi barreled towards Victor and me. I dropped the gun and grabbed Victor, yanking him from the semi's path. Owen leaped over us as we fell, swinging his hook. It sunk deep into the semi's back, and he scrambled up onto it as it drove away.
I rolled over and grabbed my gun, but it had already turned the next corner and was gone.