Dax's POV
I've covered ground faster than this before, but never with this much riding on every stride, and by the time I clear the treeline, the clearing's already chaos—six men closing in from three sides, Sera moving fast and sure toward the nearest one, Caelum putting himself between her and a blade with more courage than I expected and less skill than the moment demands.
I don't think so. I've learned, these past weeks, that thinking is a luxury combat doesn't often grant, and my body takes over the way it did in the training yard the first day I put my hands on her, except there's nothing careful about this, nothing measured. I take the nearest attacker off his feet before he registers I've arrived, and the second one goes down just as fast. Somewhere in the periphery of everything
