Iron Princess

Three } Enemies & Friendly Traps

[ Krystal ]

My ambush attack against the Naato scum hadn't gone according to plan.

Sprinting through the forest, my husband and his men by my side and our enemies close on our heels, I missed the presence of Amber and my other Shields. If I'd have been with them, taking on twenty-five Naato wouldn't have been an issue. Together we'd faced more. Accomplished more. Achieved more. My husbands' men had fought bravely, but they weren't Kaiseo warriors.

That had been my mistake.

I lead the group to an outcropping of rocks and we hid behind them as we caught out breaths to take refuge from the arrows the Naato archers had let fire. His men were glaring at me, whilst my husband sat slumped against the rocks breathing heavier than everyone else, his hand clutching his side.

"What were you thinking?" One of his men hissed at me.

Taehyung shook his head. "We can question her later, we need to think of a way out."

I inched around the rock to peer around it, lurching back as an arrow skimmed past where I'd peeked. My heart slammed into my throat and I let out a puff of air.

"They've got us trapped." A voice whispered behind me.

I turned to see they had followed close behind me, all of them having witnessed the near miss with the arrow. I parted my lips to tell them my plan to wait for them to come to us when I realised what we were stood on and my eyes widened in horror as the group lurched under our feet.

"We need to–"

My warning was swallowed as the ground beneath us caved and we all fell into the dark chasm beneath. I braced for impact and grunted as the jolt of the landing seemed to rattle my bones. Striking the ground hard I rolled with the others through the darkness, deeper into the tunnel until my head struck off a protruding rock and starbursts exploded in my vision. I had only a moment to suck in a mouthful of stunned air before unconsciousness claimed me.

Everything hurt when I came around. Slowly I flexed each limb, testing to make sure nothing was broken before I raised my hand and touched it to the back of my head, wincing at the sting.

"The wound is shallow; you won't need stitches." Came the translators voice.

I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the darkness and made out the shapes of my husbands' men around me, all huddled in the tunnel looking as worse for wear as I did. Sitting up with effort, I waited until the spinning stopped and I was sure my voice would be steady before I spoke.

"We all made it?" I asked.

"Yes." The translator answered grudgingly.

"What is she saying?" One of the others asked.

"She's asking whether we all made it."

"The Savage is probably hoping one of us died."

I hid my grin behind a wince as I climbed to my feet. The others watched me warily and I could see they were guarding the way we had fallen, probably expecting our enemies to have climbed in after us. But even the Naato wouldn't have been that stupid.

"Did you know this was here?" The translator asked, clearly voicing the question they'd discussed whilst I'd been unconscious.

"No. This is a trap set by our soldiers to keep trasspassors' prisoner. I didn't know it was here until it was too late. It activates when too much weight is applied on top of it – to capture and eliminate large groups." I told the translator as I began to pace the tunnel.