Riley stepped into the clearing, staying just within the shadows of the towering trees. His eyes swept over the scene before him—an ambush in progress, and a dire one at that.
"Haha! Can you believe it, boys? The famed Maiden of Milfwood, right here in our grasp!" a gruff voice boomed. The speaker was a broad-shouldered man with a cruel grin carved across his face.
There was lust and excitement in his eyes as he looked at the woman that was about to fall on their lap.
He stood with confidence, clearly the ringleader of the unruly crowd of thugs around him. Nearly two dozen men flanked him, forming a rough circle around their prey.
At the center of it all was a woman—tall, proud, and devastatingly beautiful.
Her long dark hair clung to her sweat-drenched skin, and her once-elegant purple dress was torn and dirtied, clinging tightly to her form.
