"Fall back!" the Prince roars again and again.
All around me, bodies fall. Spears splitting skulls, arrows ripping bellies, heads rolling. Blood paints the snow faster than I can blink. And the Lycans haven't even reached us yet. They give chase, swift and merciless, cutting down the stragglers as we race back towards Velryric's gate.
Velryric's impossibly high walls might give us a fighting chance to reform and make a stand.
If we ever get there.
My ear perks and I turn just in time to miss an arrow meant for my head. It cuts my cheek instead and flies past, ripping into Thadius' skull.
He's dead before he even hits the ground.
A soundless scream tears from my throat as my horse gets speared beneath me. I am thrown hard into the ground, bile and dirt filling my mouth, and my ears rings.
The world around me is wrapped with chaos and I scramble to my feet, searching for my fallen sword.
