Page 27 of Fang & Fury

He pivoted before tearing out the throat of another.

A blade bounced uselessly off his flank before his claws ripped down a man’s chest, opening him up.

Fern fought her way in, swinging that axe as if her life depended on it. And it did.

Kayla followed. And as warriors came at Ailsa, her heart kicked with excitement. Aye!

Her body moved without her telling it to. Suddenly, she wasn’t out of breath or tired from her sprint down from the broch any longer.

The noise faded. All she could hear was the thumping of her own heart.

This moment was the only thing that mattered.

The ripping sound of flesh, the grunts and cries barely broke through, as she drove her fingernails into a warrior’s eyes. The man screamed filth at her, yet Ailsa merely sliced him across the throat with her nails.

His abuse cut off with a choked gurgle.

Kill.

Maim.

Rend.

The words thundered in a battle cry inside her.

Gods, how she loved this.

She wanted to keep going, keep killing.

However, she was vaguely aware that the path had cleared before her, and the clag-doo was now bounding through the open gateway.

“Ailsa!” Kayla shouted, an edge of panic to her voice. “Stop!”

In a haze, Ailsa glanced her way, blinking when she saw the horror in her mentor’s eyes.

Fingers flexing at her sides, she looked down at the man who now lay on his back, blood pouring from his ruined eyes and throat.

She couldn’t make her feet move.

All that warm, sweet blood.

Stillness settled deep in her chest, and then the hunger whispered … stay.

She dropped to her knees, her hands reaching for him.

Aye, she’d stay. She’d feed.

A hand fastened around her upper arm and yanked her to her feet. “Snap out of it!”

Kayla. For a small woman, she was fearsomely strong.

Snarling, Ailsa rounded on her mentor, but she was already propelling her forward, toward the gates. “Run!”

And they did. They stumbled over the bloodied corpses Darach had left.

Outside the fort, they raced down the slippery causeway, toward the dense line of conifers that ringed the crag on which the fort stood.

Darach was disappearing there, a black streak in the distance.