Her intention was to prevent the younger woman from being injured too badly, but such was not allowed to her. Not soon after she'd loosed her arrow, a brown wolf on a chestnut mare strode in between her and the target. She drew a shield and blocked the flying arrow. Alma was briefly dismayed at the sight, though her thoughts were on her flaxen-haired companion. She glanced at her and saw that the tan coyote had taken to climbing trees. The coywolf followed suit, placing her bow in her mouth and making her way up a different tree, just in time to avoid a charging warhorse.
Dirt and debris rose up from the ground, blocking her view for just a moment. Alma took this chance to pull an arrow from her quiver and aim in the direction she thought the wolf was in. By chance, she'd managed to catch the she-wolf on the side that did not display the shield. She made a slight adjustment to her aim, then released the arrow. It buried itself in the woman's leg, causing her to turn and catch sight of the new position Alma had chosen. A flash of metal from the woman's hand blinded her, followed by a sharp pain in her shoulder.
Somewhere in the background, she heard Emmanuelle's yelp. Unfortunately, she was too busy trying to ignore her own pain to pay attention to her friend. She could barely keep her balance; any moment now she was going to fall. The wolf was waiting for her to do just that - a certain death by horse hoof awaited her on the ground. The coyote gritted her teeth and jumped to another branch, which swayed precariously under her weight. She dug her claws into the bark, hoping she might stay alive long enough to protect her clan. One hand still held her bow, but she couldn't use it while her perch was so unstable.
Sensing this, the wolf approached and drew her sword. There were no more limbs for her to escape to. Alma made a split second decision to jump once more, and landed on the ground in a crouch. In the process, she had dropped her bow. She didn't have enough time to pick it up before the sound of approaching hoofsteps told her she was in danger. Alma slid out of the way and behind a tree.
That action caused a sharp pain in her shoulder, twisting the dagger in her wound. With a grunt, she pulled it out and threw it at the horse's face. The horse reared in response to the approaching projectile; she did not have time to see if it had actually hit before she stumbled up and ran. Her footsteps led her to another tree, upon which she climbed up and took shelter. She had lost her bow. While she still had arrows, she was essentially weaponless. Alma was starting to think she wouldn't actually be able to kill this soldier; she'd have to settle with distracting it so her clanmates would have one less enemy to fight.
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