Free Emily’s Revenge (The Mamluks Saga Book 3) by Edward Lake Page B

sensation, and I laughed mischievously with a cheeky grin. I gripped his fur harder, trying to rip it off his face. “Now, take me to the rebels.”

Chapter 22: Juozas
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    I was playing with Samantha, carefully lifting her up and down. She smiled and reached out to me, like she was telling me she wanted to go higher. I did the best I could, and it seemed as if she was pleased. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her close to my face. The thought of losing her again terrified me. I just wanted it all to be over.
    From behind, I felt Isabella’s soft hands slide onto my skin and go up to my chest. She rested her head on my back and swayed with Samantha and me. Feeling the warmth of her body soothed me. “You have the sweetest and softest touch.”
    Isabella giggled. “Well of course. I’m a caregiver.”
    Near us, young Theron and Hemma were play fighting with a group of other young Turks. Queen Vera was sitting close by, watching them with a smile.
    I watched the little ones too as I rocked Samantha in my arms. Theron tried to tackle his sister, but she was able to push him away. He stumbled backward and fell down a few feet from me. He laughed as he hurried back to his feet, then turned around and looked up at me.
    Theron saw me with Samantha and smiled. “Can she play?” he asked with great excitement, pointing with his clawed finger.
    I gave him a smile in return, but I had to respectfully decline his request. “I’m afraid not, Theron. Samantha is far too young. Perhaps someday she will be able to play with the children of Turkland.” I sure hope so.
    A loud boom echoed from outside the cave. I staggered toward the cave wall with Isabella, hugging Samantha even tighter. They’ve found us.
    Everyone jumped up and prepared to fight. I quickly handed Samantha to Isabella and moved her further down the cave. “Stay here.” They were both crying. I gave them each a kiss and wiped their eyes.
    I quickly turned around and ran to the front of the group. “All right, soldiers, activate your shields and aim your sijas .”
    Another boom came down on us, cracking a few holes in the cover the Turks had made for us. I saw the light from above, and my heart rate increased rapidly.
    Finally, the lasers from the enemy broke through, and a group of Mother’s soldiers came marching into the cave.
    “Attack!”
    As one, we fired away and ran at the soldiers. All the lasers flashing at once made the cave incredibly bright.
    “To the outside, and spread out—it will be harder for them to contain us that way!”
    We hurried out of the cave and the enemy stayed close behind, shooting at us as we ran. In the forest, we spread out as I had suggested and got into small groups. Together, each group worked as a unit to fight off the incoming barrage.
    In the sky, I saw tens of thousands of ships swarming us. The ground soldiers backed off a little and let the ships do the work.
    From above, they blasted us with constant beams and rapid-fire. We tried to counter the attack with steady beams and rapid shots of our own, but the overwhelming ambush from Mother’s ships made it impossible.
    One by one, at a frenetic pace, our force fields were being knocked out, and my fellow rebel soldiers were dropping to the muddy ground.
    An earsplitting whistling sound echoed throughout the forest. The enemy soldiers looked around with great confusion. I felt the ground shake, and moments later, hundreds of drambies stampeded onto the battleground and attacked Mother’s soldiers.
    The drambies stomped the ground, making everyone, including me, stumble and fall over. Amazingly, as I watched from the ground, it appeared as if the drambies had somehow distinguished the rebels from Mother’s soldiers, and they were only attacking the enemy.
    The giant beasts crushed the enemy soldiers with their hooved feet. It didn’t take long for the force of the drambies’ strikes to knock out their shields.
    The Turk from before was