I just kept shaking my head at him, despair beginning to sink in. “I don’t want your soul. Or your head. Just your friendship. I’m sorry for all the secrets and lies, but you have to see that they were necessary. Put down the sword, Christian.” I began removing my own weapons, throwing them at his feet. Was I feeling suicidal? A little bit, apparently. “Would you attack me when I’m unarmed?” I blinked away the tears in my eyes as I waited for his answer.

He stared at me unblinkingly. His body was shaking, but his hands were steady. Finally, he nodded. A great roar sobbed out of his throat as he lunged at me. Dragonsbane was swinging straight at my neck. I braced myself to roll out of the way when he suddenly froze. A large fist in his hair had stopped him. I followed the hand up to the great figure looming behind him.

Dom brought his other hand to Christian’s throat. It was still a great bear claw, dripping blood from the battle, and Christian swallowed hard just looking at it.

“Take his arms and pin him down,” Dom spoke through a mouthful of bloody fangs. I didn’t recognize the animal they came from, but I knew it wasn’t bear. Wolf, like his eye, I realized, as I studied him, trying to focus on anything other than the fact that my best friend had just tried to kill me.

Druids swarmed the slayer, pinning Christian against his will. Sweat broke out on his forehead, but he was silent.

Dom arched his back into the night, letting out an earth shattering howl. It was a victory roar, and it was met by countless other animal calls. Despite heavy casualties, the druids were clearly victorious.

As he straightened, I noticed the dark blood seeping out of his torn vest and down his body. He was badly wounded and ignoring it.

“Dom, you’re hurt. You need to call on your healers-” I started.

“Silence!” he roared. Now was not the time to be giving him orders, I saw. He turned back to the slayer. “Cam,” he barked at his 2nd lieutenant. Cam stepped forward, completely nude and obviously newly changed from some beast form. He handed Dom a fist-sized object I couldn’t make out. He gave me a hard look before stepping back.

Dom knelt beside Christian’s struggling figure. “You will not seek to harm Jillian or Lynn. You cannot. On pain of death.” It wasn’t until he was snapping the bracelet of bones onto Christian’s wrist that I realized he had been placing a Geas. The most powerful one I’d seen. The eleven druids touching Christian all lent their power to it. Dom had clearly planned ahead for this. Christian finally stopped struggling. He shut his eyes wearily, tears slipping down his cheeks. He said something to Dom, too softly for me to make out. It could have been, “thank you,” but I wasn’t sure.

“Take him away,” he ordered. Several druids obeyed, carrying Christian away. I watched silently.

Dom stood, and a team of healers descended on him. He let them, staring straight ahead. They stripped off his body armor, and I could see clearly the damage he’d taken. His body was covered in countless, deeply gushing wounds.

His neck was the worst. I gasped when they revealed it. It looked like someone had literally taken an axe to it. It had several huge gashes, as though they’d wailed on it like a tree trunk. The joke was on them. Dom’s neck was made of sterner stuff. Dom stood stoically while the healers worked away, mending it back to normal. It would be perfect again by morning.

As I watched them work, I realized that I was sitting on the ground, my knees clutched to my chest pathetically. No one came near me. Tears ran silently down my cheeks, and I felt utterly defeated. Having your best friend try to chop your head off will do that, I guess.

As the full extent of Dom’s wounds became clear, my numb mind began to work. This hadn’t been the clean ambush we’d been planning on. The necros had been fully prepared for battle. They had known Dom was coming, and made their best effort to kill him. They had clearly been warned.

Cam’s mind was apparently on the same track. “They were expecting us,” he was telling Dom. Dom merely nodded, his face a mask.

“Someone planned your assassination tonight. Half of their force came after you.” Cam’s voice was grim.

Dom smiled slowly. It was chilling. “That was no assassination. Let them come for me. All the better.”

As the team of healers continued to work, a tiger plowed through them, knocking several of the white-clad druids over in it’s haste.

The tiger shifted in a heartbeat into the naked form of Siobhan. Apparently she had recovered quickly enough for the battle. She hugged Dom tightly, unmindful of both his injuries, and the now scattered healers. “Thank the gods you’re alrig-,” she stopped as Dom pushed her away.

“Let the healers do their work, Siobhan,” Dom growled at her, not even bothering to look in her direction. “The battlefield is no place for that kind of behavior. For god’s sake, show a little restraint.”

She was visibly distraught at his put-down. I didn’t even self-examine myself for sympathy. I knew I had none where she was concerned.

“What will you do with him?” I asked Dom. I was dismayed at my still tear-filled voice.

He turned his cold gaze to me. “Any regrets yet about the company you’ve preferred for all these years?”

I shook my head at him as more tears slipped down my cheeks. He just watched me for a moment, stone-faced. Finally, he relented. “The geas will be hard for his body to accept. It’s nature goes against his most powerful instincts. We’ll keep him safely in custody until he acclimates.”