Lair of the Lion by authors_sort Page B

mount stopped without warning, rearing halfheartedly. Trying to calm her horse, she peered through the heavy veil of snow.
    Isabella's heart nearly stopped. She caught a glimpse of something large, covered in snow, but still showing patches of golden tan and black. Eyes glowed through the white, icy crystals, eyes full of wicked intelligence. Her breath caught in her throat, and she froze, her hands falling to her sides as the horse sidestepped and began backing up nervously.
    The captain leaned over, caught the reins of her mount, and swung both horses around.
    "The animals are guarding the pass!" he shouted. "They're not going to allow you to leave."
    There was something very sinister about the way the large beast stood on the narrow ledge at the entrance to the pass, its eyes fixed on her. Its gaze was intent, targeting her, recognizing her. It was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.
    "It isn't the single beast you can see that you must worry about. Lions are pack hunters.
    Where there is one, there are many. We must take you back." The captain was still leading her mount. His voice jolted Isabella out from under the spell of the predator, and she reached forward hastily to retake control of her horse. The captain needed his hands free—
    his own horse was plunging and snorting nervously.
    It was nerve-wracking to ride nearly blind through the heavily falling snow, with her mount trembling and sweating in fear and the other animals bucking and snorting, blowing out great clouds of vapor in their terror. That peculiar, coughlike grunt would sound to their left, then a few minutes later to their right, then behind and ahead of them. Her escort was unnaturally quiet, eyes straining through the snow to catch glimpses of the elusive hunters.
    Isabella was just starting to breathe again when she felt the disturbance in the air. She looked up at the sky, expecting to see something predatory overhead, but only the white flakes floated down. All the same, she and the men were not alone. Something other than a pride of lions had followed them from the palazzo, and it was angry that they had turned back, heading away from the pass. She could feel intense hatred and rage directed at her, a black wall of evil bent on her destruction. Isabella couldn't identify what it was, but she felt it all the way to her bones.
    She began to shake, her body reacting to the intensity of that animosity. It was personal
    —she felt it. And something terrible was going to happen. She was helpless to prevent it, but she knew it was coming.
    Almost at once the lions began to roar again. The beasts were very close, and the sound was deafening. The horses panicked, bucking and plunging, rearing and spinning, and chaos reigned. The slope was icy, and the animals slid and crashed into one another, trumpeting in fear. Men fell into the snow and covered their heads to protect themselves from the slashing hooves. Isabella's mount whirled around and slipped on the steep grade, sliding dangerously and ultimately toppling over. She tried to kick herself free, but it was impossible with the folds of her skirts, and she hit the ground hard, the thrashing, fallen horse pinning her leg beneath it.
    The pain in her back was excruciating, driving the breath from her body and overriding any harm that may have been done to her leg. For a moment she couldn't think or breathe—
    she could only lie helplessly while her horse thrashed desperately, trying to regain its footing.
    The captain leapt from the back of his plunging mount and caught Isabella's horse's reins, yanking the animal up. The horse stood trembling, head down. The captain jerked Isabella up out of the snow, ignoring her inadvertent cry of pain, shoving her behind him, his sword drawn out of his scabbard. Pandemonium surrounded them, but the captain issued orders, and his men caught the horses that had not run free into the storm, and they stood, shoulder to shoulder, a solid wall of protection