Free Faery Born (Book One in the War Faery Trilogy) by Donna Joy Usher Page A

hold their attention. I took a deep breath and then sprinted towards them. The lead goblin laughed and moved into a fighting stance. But I had no intention of engaging him.
    I leapt up, sailing over their heads as I ran through the air. I had enough time to hope they couldn’t see up my skirt before I landed in a crouch. I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or not when the four of them took off after me as I sprinted for the shortcut to the field.
    I gained some ground on them as I zigzagged through the trees; their height and bulk made them slow and clumsy. I changed my direction and slowed my pace as the hill became steeper. Trying to maintain my footing and not make any noise took up most of my attention, but I could hear them off to the side. I stopped behind an oak, hugging its vast trunk to stop myself slipping as I peered around its girth.
    I could see two shadows moving slowly as they searched for me. Where were the other two?
    I was starting to fear that I had misjudged my trajectory when a hand clamped over my mouth. I tried to break away but an arm wrapped around my waist holding me tight. I screamed into the hand and then bit down onto the soft skin.
    The hand disappeared as a man swore softly behind me. Eyes open wide, I lifted my sabre and spun towards my attacker. As I turned, a bed of leaves slipped from underneath my feet, sliding down the steep slope. I had a moment to feel surprised as I danced from one foot to the other, trying to regain my balance. My outflung arms clasped that of my attacker and he pulled me to him, but it was too late.
    ‘Your weapon,’ a gruff voice said.
    I threw the sabre away from me and then we were tumbling down the hill in a jumble of limbs. He cradled me, wrapping his body around mine, but sticks and stones still crashed into me. I buried my face in his chest and held him tight. Finally we slowed, rolling to a stop at the edge of the field.
    I opened my eyes and took my first breath since we had started to fall. I lay on my back with him on top of me, my legs entwined through his. He lifted his head and captured my gaze with his midnight-blue eyes. All of a sudden I was totally aware of every inch of his body pressing into mine. I had to remind myself to breathe.
    ‘Aethan.’ My voice cracked slightly as I whispered his name.
    He lifted a hand towards my face. ‘Is that… goblin?’ he asked as he pulled a lump of flesh from my cheek.
    For a second I had forgotten how I must look. My dress was ruined, my hair a mess and I had blood and gore all over me. ‘Possibly,’ I said, wriggling to get out from underneath him. This was not how I had wanted him to see me.
    He held me down for a second longer and I had the absurd thought that he might kiss me. All right, so maybe I wanted him to kiss me. But he didn’t of course, and I flushed with embarrassment as I clambered to my knees.
    There was no chance he would want to court me now after having seen me like this. I felt stupid for thinking that and stupid for caring and stupid for forgetting about the goblins.
    And as for those goblins, well, it wasn’t possible they hadn’t heard us sliding down the hill, and Aethan and I had both tossed our weapons. We were defenceless.
    He leant down and pulled a dagger from his boot.
    Okay, so I was defenceless. I pushed my hair, which had totally escaped Sabby’s ministrations, back behind my ears, wincing at the feel of it; matted with twigs and blood, and I’m sure the occasional piece of goblin.
    The lead goblin emerged a few seconds later. The other three weren’t far behind. I scanned the ground and picked up a branch, thwacking it against my hands a few times, partly to check it wasn’t rotten, but also to make myself feel tougher. It didn’t help much.
    ‘Keep moving,’ Aethan said to me. ‘Don’t let them pin you down.’
    I had a second to think how weird it was that I felt like we had done this before – it felt very natural to be facing off against the goblins