Chapter 75
Head bent over yet another map, Jool's heard her cry.
"Onaria!" Without a word to anyone, he sprinted from the temple, his feet light, his pace fast with all the cogs he'd taken. None could keep up as he tore past the builders setting logs in place.
His wife hadn't cried out again, but that one pulsing note of fear guided him. He ran for the river and saw her lying on the ground, an arrow rising from her chest.
Across on the other shore, Niimmo nocked another.
"No!" Jool screamed, the word reverberating, making the branches in the trees shiver.
The second missile fired, aiming for the most prominent thing on his wife.
The baby.
Jool proved faster, diving and snatching the arrow mid air. With a flick of his wrist, he flung it. It struck true, passing clean through Niimmo and thudding into the tree behind him.