"Tricky!" Meili cried, her voice lost in the clamour of the battle.
She ran to the door of the carriage. When she could see neither Tricky nor the enemy soldier, her legs gave way, and she dropped to her hands and knees.
She scrambled out and across the carriage boards on her hands and knees, crawling her way to the edge of the platform, she looked down.
"Tricky," she pleaded, tears streaming down her face as she reached for him.
He had knocked the bandit from the carriage where the man had landed on his back in the dirt. The dog was crouched on the man's chest biting and snarling.
The bandit was feeling for his weapon on the road with one hand, protecting his face with the other, while Tricky tore at the man in a crazed fight for their lives.
The bandit shouted as he tried to push the dog off his prone body, his hand reaching closer to where his weapon lay, just out of his reach.
Meili's adrenalin surged as she realised her dog was about to lose his life.
