HECTOR BAYES

The pump of the horse bucking under me was all the adrenaline I needed as I shot out the stone castle gates with half the royal army hot on my heels like a bat straight out of hell.

“Faster soldiers! Taste their blood! Avenge your pound of flesh!” I screamed, pumping one raised claw in the air as the riot of soldiers chanting back echoed in the space between my ears.

”For your wives! For your children!” I commanded, the image of Nola’s porcelain face rising unbidden under my eyelids and the soldiers heaved in response, howling as we breached the village center.

I allowed a gasp to...