Page 61 of The Warrior Priest
“I admit my housekeeper may have been a little overzealous in carrying out my instructions.”
“She did nothing that wasn’t by your order.” I hoped my plight would appeal to the more kindhearted of the four guards, but none looked like they cared enough about the young woman defying the man who paid their wages. I’d get no help from them.
Uncle Roderic ordered them to take me to the end of the street where his carriage was waiting. When I didn’t move, one of the swordsmen poked me with the point of his blade.
“I’ll never give you what you want,” I said as I walked. “I can’t. I don’t know how to make the pendant perform magic any more than you do.”
“Quiet,” he hissed. “We’ll talk later.”
The sword poked into my back, forcing me forward. Up ahead, the carriage rolled into view at the end of the street. Another guard opened the door. I wouldn’t be able to escape that way. My best chance lay in the narrow street with its overhanging roofs that were almost within my reach. All I needed was to find a way to get onto the roof, or somehow use it to my advantage. But there were no barrels or crates in that part of the street to push myself higher, and I wasn’t tall enough to simply jump up and grab onto the overhanging tiles without leverage. I wished I’d learned to use the wall as Rhys had, but it wasn’t a skill Giselle covered in training.
My window of opportunity shrank rapidly as we drew closer to the carriage. I needed to act fast.
I glanced over my shoulder as if to say something to my uncle, then pretended to stumble over my own feet. As I fell, I removed the knife from my boot and struck one of the guards in the thigh. As his step faltered, and before the others had time to react, I slashed him across the back of his hand. He instinctively released his sword. I grabbed it before it hit the cobblestones and rolled out of the way as one of the other guards plunged his blade down.
“Get her!” my uncle shouted.
One of the other three guards had already reacted, however, and charged at me without a moment’s hesitation or thought. He underestimated me. Just as Giselle said most men would, he assumed I couldn’t wield a sword, so he didn’t put any effort into coming up with a strategy. He thought one blow would disarm me.
I easily parried it, and the next. When he realized I was trained, he fell back, keeping his distance. My advantage of surprise had vanished. The uninjured guards regrouped, preparing to attack together. I could fend off two moderately skillful swordsmen, but not three well-trained ones.
While two kept me busy, the other came at me from the side. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and just had time to leap backward. The blade sliced through my flesh, but the cut was shallow. Even so, I sucked air between my teeth at the sting.
“I want her alive,” my uncle reminded them. “Don’t kill her. Cut her face instead.”
The three swordsmen came at me. I scrambled backward until I slammed into the wall. The breath left my body and my vision blurred, but I could still see the three blades rushing toward me, this time aimed at my face. I squeezed my eyes shut against the terror consuming me like a fire. I would not give my uncle the satisfaction of seeing my fear.
The sound of booted feet running on cobblestones preceded the whine of a steel blade being unsheathed. I opened my eyes just in time to see Rhys tackling all three swordsmen. He’d come from the other end of the street from the carriage.
One guard fell, knocking his head on the cobblestones. The second also fell but couldn’t get up with Rhys’s boot pinning him there while he dispatched the third with an effortless strike to the throat. The fourth man, the one I’d disarmed and injured, had retrieved the dead guard’s sword and now came at Rhys. He met a quick end, too.
My uncle shouted at the guard standing by the carriage to come to the aid of his fallen comrades. I pushed off from the wall, picked up a sword, and ran toward him. I expected Rhys to command me to stop, but he didn’t utter a word as I dashed to the side just in time to avoid the guard’s strike. While his momentum overbalanced him, I struck the back of his leg. He fell to his knees, shouting in pain.
“This is a private matter!” my uncle snarled at Rhys. “It’s nothing to do with Merdu’s Guards.”
Rhys ignored him. He spoke to the guard beneath his boot. “If you try anything, I will kill you.”
The guard quickly nodded.
Rhys stepped away. He looked at me, frowning with concern. “You’re hurt.”
“A little cut,” I said, touching my side. My fingers came away sticky with blood.
Rhys strode toward me.
“You’re lovers!” Uncle Roderic snarled.
“No,” I said. “Just friends.”
My uncle pointed at Rhys. “Wait until your order hears how you betrayed them. The brothers won’t want you as master after I tell them you break your vows while they suffer a life of deprivation.”
“It’s me you want! I’ll come with you if you promise to leave Rhys out of this.” I stepped toward my uncle, but my legs buckled and my head spun. My steps faltered.
Rhys caught me before I hit the ground. With one arm wrapped around me and his other hand clutching his sword, he helped me out of the street, past my uncle’s carriage.
Uncle Roderic’s cry of “Stop him!” was ignored. No guards came for us.
Once we were safe, Rhys sheathed his sword and scooped me up in his arms. I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder. The vein in his throat throbbed rapidly but steadily, and the familiar scent of him surrounded me. I relaxed. I was safe.
