Free One Battle Lord’s Fate by Linda Mooney

against her chest. The boy closed his eyes, knowing he was finally safe. Knowing it was okay to stop running. To stop being afraid.
    Paxton backed away and bent over with his hands on his thighs as he dipped into an inner well, hoping for a few more bits of energy to go back in after Atty. A large hand grasped his shoulder, and he glanced up into the Battle Lord’s face.
    “She’s still in there,” he managed.
    Yulen turned to the child. “Case. Look at me.” It was an authoritative voice. One the boy knew well. The Battle Lord could see fear uncurling inside the young man as he lifted his face to see Yulen bending over him and his mother. “Case, did you see Atty?”
    He nodded. “Uh-huh. Sh-she found me. She told me to run.”
    Yulen glanced up at the place where they had emerged from the woods. “Where is she?”
    Case shook his head. “A wolfen was chasing me. Almost got me, too. She was facing it down when she told me to run.”
    A strange look came over the Battle Lord’s face. “Did you see her fire at it?” he asked in a tight voice.
    “No, Sir. I heard her firing. And I heard something scream. But that was all. She told me not to look back, so I didn’t.”
    Danna hugged her son more tightly. “I was so worried about you.”
    “I’m fine now, Mom. But Atty’s still back there.” The boy looked up at the big man looking worriedly at the tree line. “She said the compound was south, about a mile away. I ran all the way until the Lieutenant found me.”
    “A mile?” Yulen glanced at Paxton for verification.
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “Sir, I’m going back in to see if I can find her,” Paxton said.
    The Battle Lord shook his head. His red-gold hair hung loose over his shoulders. A breeze blew it away from his face.
    “No. Let’s give her a little while to make it back by herself.”
    “But, Sir, what if she’s injured and needs our help?”
    The look Yulen shot the man was enough to make Paxton take a step back in surprise. “One hour, Warren. If she hasn’t returned in one hour, we’ll take a squad in after her.” He looked down where Danna continued to clutch her son. “I’m glad to know you made it back in one piece, son,” he said softly. “Next time, though, take a buddy with you, or wait until you’re a bit older.”
    “I’m sixteen, Sir,” Case snapped back peevishly.
    A partial smile creased one corner of Yulen’s face. The side without the deep scar. “How well I remember my sixteenth year. But, trust me, Mr. Abalam. You’re not seasoned enough to go off hunting on your own so far from the compound, much less to the east. Heed my order. Take a buddy, or give it another couple of years.”
    Making an abrupt about-face, Yulen headed back for the compound with the three soldiers following in his wake. Danna helped her son to his feet before they did the same.
     
     
    Chapter Nine
    Scratches
     
     
    Half an hour had barely crawled by when Yulen decided not to wait any longer. It wasn’t like Atty to take this long to return to the compound, especially if she hadn’t gone out specifically to hunt. She had found the boy and sent him packing. Surely she would have followed him back as soon as she could to make sure he had made it.
    He threw down his pencil and got up from the table where the paperwork he had been putting off lay scattered. He hadn’t taken a half dozen steps toward the big double doors of the main lodge when Paxton entered the room and spotted him. Yulen felt his skin tighten as if someone had stretched it over his bones when the Second hurried toward him.
    “Atty?”
    “Just cleared the barrier. I sent Mastin for Dr. MaGrath.”
    Yulen was running at that news. Atty was back but injured. Otherwise Paxton wouldn’t have had a reason to send for the doctor.
    His feet pounded the dry ground as he ran through the main street leading from the main dining hall to the front gates. Already he could see the agitation in his men as they learned the seriousness of