Tam readied himself as Lina got closer, standing up and lowering himself to a thicker branch that would be able to withstand the full force of the long leap he’d need to make to reach Lina in one bound.
Lina still led at the front of her group, walking quickly, and occasionally turning behind her and looking at the troops in order to tacitly reprimand them for their slowness.
When Lina reached within about fifty paces of Tam, he decided to make the leap. He pushed hard with his legs, launching his massive body high into the air, arching silently between the branches with the cloak flapping behind him, then crashing to the ground with a resounding stomp.
Tam had decided to simply pick Lina up and kill her while on the run. He kicked up a great spray of dirt as he started his run, scooping up Lina in his arms and zipping off into the distance.
The troops were slow to react to this sudden appearance, unready and unprepared. Only Anton and Vasile were quick enough on the draw, raising their longbows and drawing their arrows out of the quiver, as the shape of a running Tam shrank in their view. With no time to pick their placement, Vasile and Anton both let their arrows fly.
But before the arrows could even reach their mark, Tam began to slow and stumble. The two arrows landed on his back just as he began to fall. The little vampire he’d been carrying had wrapped herself around his neck like a shirt collar, raised her head-covering just enough to expose her mouth and drained the blood out of him as fast as she could drink.
When she was done, she removed the two unnecessary arrows and held them out to Vasile and Anton as they ran towards her. “Your arrows,” she told them. She pushed the body aside and kept on walking, as the troops hustled to catch up with her again.
Constanta approached Crina, who she saw sitting in the midst of a group of people seated on the ground in the arena conferring quietly. She tapped her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear: “I have something to tell you.”
Crina excused herself from the group and stepped off to the side and asked Constanta, “What is it?”
“A woman named Sorina told me yesterday that she saw Nicoleta being kidnapped, and she overheard the vampire saying something to her,” Constanta explained, “‘I’m freeing you.’ That’s what the vampire told Nicoleta.”
“Now why did she say that?” Crina asked rhetorically, a sly smile spreading across her face.
“The vampire knew Nicoleta, from before,” Constanta added.
“Do you know if they made it out?” Crina asked.
“I don’t,” Constanta admitted, “But if they didn’t, I’d think Nicoleta would be back in here. Wouldn’t she?”
“You should’ve told me earlier,” Crina whispered, “The loose debris of dissatisfaction has been piling up here since before I arrived; all it has needed is a light to flare up into fire. I’ll spread the word amongst those who are with us. Be prepared for anything.”
Constanta admonished facetiously, “But Sorina said Dragomir doesn’t want word to get out about this.”
“I bet he doesn’t,” Crina laughed.
The troops arrived near the dry streambed and the exposed boulders, which signified the entrance to the coven. Lina surveyed the area, trying to decipher the arrangement of the cave beneath the ground. She began to draw lines in the dirt to indicate first where the passageway from the entrance proceeded, then where the Great Hall opened up, eventually able to find the holes in the ceiling, and roughly map out the layout of the room below. All of this was done in complete silence, and afterwards, she quietly whispered instructions to Vasile and Flaviu, explaining the dimensions of the room below.
After this was all completed, they rolled forward the barrels of gunpowder and the cannons, and began to put everything and everyone in position. When it was ready, Lina stepped forward and prepared to enter the coven alone. She pushed through the shrubbery and rapidly lifted up the great boulder that covered the entrance, moving so swiftly that she was able to leap upon the vampire that stood guard even before he was able to raise his sword.
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