Just Breathe

RETH

Four of the guards stood over them, shielding them from the attack while the others rushed to engage with the intruders.

Too late. Too late.

Reth tried desperately to suck in air.

"Behr?" he croaked, his chest heaving. "Behr?"

Behryn shuddered and his lips moved. Reth caught the bare murmur of his words, little more than breath over his tongue. "Fucking wolves."

Reth blinked. A hysterical laugh bubbled into his throat, but then Behryn's eyes rolled back in his head, and Reth snarled. "Get the wise-women! NOW!"

One of the guards, Tobe, an Equine in his thirties that Behryn had always spoken highly of, beckoned his brothers for cover, and squatted next to them, very carefully touching Behryn and examining the point where the arrow punctured his back—high, and to the left.

Reth wanted to roar, but his breath was still shallow, still trying to stop.