Page 12 of Golden Queen
"We could accompany you," the man added eagerly. I slid my eyes back to him warily. "It's very dangerous to be outside alone for a woman in this part of the city."
"No, thank you," I said icily. "I'm also meeting others. They'll be along very soon." I hoped they would believe the lie and be deterred from their plan, whatever it was.
The man made a show of looking up and down the street before turning back to me. "I see no one here. Perhaps your friends were waylaid. Let us see you back to safety—"
"I said no," I cut him off, letting my tone convey the message that I was serious. "Now, kindly fuck off and leave me alone."
"What language for a princess," said a grating voice from the shadows at the street corner.
I heard shuffling footsteps, and then a tall man in long black robes with wide sleeves stepped out of the shadows. He leaned heavily on a cane held in front of him. Most of his face was hidden beneath the wide cowl of a hood, but I could see the outline of a white beard and deep creases running down his long, pale face.
I did not wait to see what else he said. I turned and lunged off in the direction of the brothel, keeping my sword in my hand as I pushed my feet across the paved surface of the road. I heard a shout and a muttered curse at my back, but I thought I had surprised them enough to give me a good head start.
I ran as quickly as I could, not daring to even look behind me as the sound of my own boots slapping against the road filled my ears.
As I passed by a line of identical white houses, I saw with horror that there was a man standing in the middle of the street, as though waiting for me. I darted to the left, sliding through a gap in a stone wall.
I came out into a sizable courtyard that even had a few tall trees. I prayed that I would not be trapped inside a walled garden. This side of Antevemer was much nicer than the other side, where the slums stretched away for a mile or more.
I kept going, racing across the courtyard, feeling my lungs begin to seize and burn. I dared not stop, and still dared not look behind me, since I knew the man from the road was giving chase. I could hear the sound of pursuing footfalls right up until I ran off into the grass.
I kept running and running, passing small houses, a park where several stone benches sat grouped around a central depression in the ground, and still I pushed on. As I passed by another row of houses, I saw a thick hedgerow.
I hesitated, slowing my pace as I judged the obstacle in my path. I was unsure if I would be able to scale the hedge, or whether it would be thin enough to push through.
I finally dared to look behind me and saw the big man in the cloak, Gudren, running past the stone benches. I moved, turning left, sliding along the hedge towards an opening in the row.
Gudren didn't stop. I heard him crash through the hedge, thinking to cut me off. I turned back towards the houses instead of through the opening and hoped he would not realize I had doubled back.
I ran again, but I slowed as I reached Antevemer. I quieted my footsteps as I peered up and down the street. I saw no one. I took off again in the direction of the brothel, keeping to the grassy areas in front of the houses where I could so that my steps did not make as much sound as they would on the road.
I made a mistake, though, as I reached the place where I had seen the man waiting. I slowed cautiously, looking for him, when I should have kept running at full speed. He leaped out from behind a house and grabbed me.
I swung out with my sword. He was too close, and I couldn't get any power behind my swing. He took me to the ground, face-first. He smelled horrible, like stale urine and onions as he pushed my face into the grass. I saw his rough brown coat hanging down in my peripheral vision and heard his muttered command, "Stay down!"
My hand had fallen from my sword. I madly scrambled in the grass trying to find it, nails digging into the damp earth as I searched.
The man's weight left me suddenly. I took my chance. I thrust my hand into my pocket and pulled my dagger out as I pushed myself up from the grass.
I turned and thrust at the same time, feeling the blade sink up to the hilt in his chest—like a hot knife through butter. I had only a single moment to marvel at the way the mellitrium had gone so easily through bone and muscle before the man was clasping my upper arms with his hands and I met his startled gaze. His strange black eyes were wide and intense.
"Fuck," he said, matter-of-factly. He looked down at his chest. "Fuck," he repeated, drawing the word out on a breath. And then matter-of-factly again, "That is in my heart."
He groaned and sank to his knees, and I...I tried to catch him.
I could not have said why I tried to catch my attacker or why I tried to soften his fall as sudden, deep regret pulsed through me.
I went down with him, his hands still on my arms, and mine now clasping his forearms.
When my knees hit the ground, I put my hand out and felt something soft, something covered with fabric. I looked down to see a man in a rough, brown coat lying on his back, staring sightlessly up at the night sky. The stench of stale urine filled my nostrils.
I looked back at the man in front of me. I couldn't understand. My mind quite literally whirred in all directions, trying to find some purchase with which to grab onto so that I could understand what had just happened.
The man pitched forward. I had to scuttle away to keep from being pinned beneath him as he fell to his side next to the smelly man in the rough, brown coat.
I stood, finding my sword. It only took me another heartbeat to understand what had happened.
The man I had just stabbed in the heart had pulled my attacker off me and killed him. He'd put a knife through his eye. I could see the ruined socket clearly in the lamplight from the white house behind me. And for his trouble, I had killed him. I put a mellitrium dagger in his heart.
