Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
Tisera
This time I wasn’t inside the carriage, but riding in the footman’s position, standing on the back, hanging on to a heavy bar with one hand as the vehicle moved from the main road to the rougher track heading north.
I kept a warry eye out. No one should know the Heir Apparent was out of the capital, but that didn’t stop me from being cautious. Prince Victor had managed to sneak out of the palace for an afternoon in the countryside with his love, and I was their only guard.
His logic had been sound: a massive contingent of men might have been safer but would have drawn much more attention. As it was, any passerby would think him only some fancy noble with his wife, not the crown prince.
Still, I didn’t like this one bit. I had a bad feeling about this excursion. From within the carriage came Veora’s giggles and sighs. It seemed the two of them couldn’t wait to be together.
The carriage pulled off the road where a grassy field nestled between the road and a burbling brook. On the other side of the road were farmer’s fields, flat lands with no one about for miles except herders and plowmen. Rising from the far side of the brook was a pleasant woodlot. Overall, it seemed a fairly innocuous and safe location, but still, I was on edge.
I jumped off the carriage, sword out and ready as I walked the perimeter of the site. I was in full battle armor, a chain mail shirt with full sleeves and a four-segmented skirt which fell to the knee, for easy movement. Over that I wore a breastplate and back-plate, pauldrons, and bracers, with a helm covering my head. On my legs were padded leggings under sturdy steel greaves on my calves and winged poleyns over my knees. It was heavy, but I’d trained for years in this and even heavier armor to make sure I could go for hours without tiring.
The carriage driver laid out blankets and pillows, along with the extravagant lunch, while the two lovebirds remained in the carriage for now. Only once everything was prepared and I’d given the all-clear did they come out.
Veora’s dress was already undone and loose on her. She was flushed and giddy as she pulled up the shoulder of the dress, which had slipped down exposing some skin. She and the prince sat on the blanket, ignoring the food, returning their attentions to each other. The carriage driver made his way to the other side of the carriage so the two would have some privacy and I… patrolled.
The afternoon wore on as the prince and Veora intermixed play with food. I remained vigilant, trying to ignore the grunts and moans and sighs and cries.
Something — a flash of movement within the shadows of that woodlot across the stream — caught my attention.
I peered more intently and saw it again.
It might have been some wild deer, but I’d still check it out.
The brook rose to my knee at its deepest, but I managed to avoid sloshing through it by hopping from stone to stone. The opposite bank was higher, so I grabbed a low branch from a tree to pull myself up. Once on the other side and within the confines of the quiet woodlot I put a tree to my back and listened.
Birds chirped and wind tousled the leaves and branches above me. It seemed like a perfect summer’s day. Quiet…
Then came the soft snap of a twig, barely audible, but caught by my keen hearing.
My sword was already out, but I drew my long parrying dagger in my left hand as I listened more intently.
Someone or something was out there… more than one. Four… no… five creatures made their way slowly and quietly toward the stream. Deer didn’t move like that. Not even wolves moved in such a formation.
No, these predators were of the human variety. And that… most likely… meant bandits: an opportunistic group hoping to rob a nobleman. I couldn’t fathom a political attack all the way out here, with all the secrecy we’d maintained.
I grinned behind my helm. Today was about to get a lot more interesting.
I’d always been quiet and careful, even in heavy armor. I darted from one tree to another, closing distance with whoever was out there.
I caught another flash of movement…
Close.
The time for stealth had passed. I strode forward with all the subtlety of a charging bull, toward a small clearing where three men held crossbows, all pointed at me.
I didn’t want to alert the lovers, so I kept my voice low when I said. “Hello, boys.”
The thrill of the fight filled me. I stood poised and ready, my eyes and ears piqued for any movement.
“We don’t want to kill you. We just want whatever them nobles got on ’em. Surrender and you’ll survive.”
“That seems a fair deal, so I’ll make it back to you: Surrender and you’ll survive.”
One of the men laughed. But the two others didn’t. That told me who the newbie was in the group. One of these three still thought this was going to be an easy fight, a game. The other two were the ones to watch.
Pure energy, like a raging fire, filled me as our stand-off grew more and more tense. If they hadn’t fired already, they were waiting for something. Most likely that would be one of their companions out in the woods attacking me from behind.
The rustle and crunch of some groundcover behind me was the only warning.
I spun, sword out, and took the man who’d been sneaking up on me clean across the throat. I darted back into the woods as he fell. A geyser of blood, spurting from his neck, splashed over my shoulder as I ducked behind a tree.
Crossbow bolts thudded into the tree behind me as one passed by into the woods beyond.
One down, four to go.
I spotted the fourth moving in the shadows. He was trying to avoid the fight and get to the prince and Veora. That wasn’t going to happen.
The other three were still reloading their crossbows, not a quick weapon, so I took that time to run after the fourth.
He heard me coming and turned, setting himself for a fight. He had a sword — which looked rough, not well cared for — and a wooden shield. He wore heavy padding and a helm, but not much else in the way of armor.
“Stop this and I’ll let you live,” I hissed as I drew close and paused for an instant to gage his reaction.
“You’re a woman?” he said, then laughed.
That was not the right answer.
I lunged in low and sliced the inside of his thigh before quickly returning to my ready stance. I cocked my head, hearing the other three crunching through the woods behind me. I had to end this quickly.
“Fuck!” the man swore and as a reaction slashed wildly at me.
That had been what I’d hoped for. I caught his heavy downward slash, stepping in. He didn’t know how to properly defend himself and he’d shifted his shield to the side for his attack. So, he was wide open for my dagger, which I sunk to the hilt into his arm-pit under his sword arm. I drew my dagger out quickly and a gush of blood followed. The man screamed, but I’d punctured his lung and there was little force behind the death-cry. Just in case he still had something left in him, I hacked off his sword arm as he slowly collapsed.
A crossbow bolt hit me, a glancing blow off my helm, which was incredibly lucky, but still made my head ring. I dove to one side, but not before another bolt hit me low in the back. Since I’d been diving it too was mostly a glancing blow, but it tore a small chunk out of my armor and my side before it left. That’s what I got for staying in one place too long.
Pain sparked through me as I hit the ground and rolled away. Yet, with a battle-haze upon me, I hardly felt it. What little I did feel only served to spur me on, turning the fire inside into a raging inferno. I rolled quickly to my feet and charged in at the remaining three before they could reload.
Two were experienced and tossed their crossbows aside to draw swords. The last one — the one who’d laughed — tried to reload.
I roughly hacked the crossbow from his hands, then flicked my sword up across his neck. He seemed extremely surprised as he died.
The other two both seemed to know how to hold themselves in a fight, spreading out to either side of me. They both wore patchwork armor — they’d seen tough times, clearly — but their swords were well tended and sharp. It wouldn’t surprise me if these last two were veterans of the last war. Perhaps their mercenary company had disbanded and they’d drunk away their earnings? I didn’t really care. They’d made the poor decision to attack the people I protected. They’d pay for that.
Both tested me, lunges from either side, I deftly danced and blocked their tentative strikes. They could clearly see I was no one to be trifled with.
“It’s her,” the one said. “The woman from the Dragoons!”
That’s right.
“Yeah, so? I don’t care if she is as good as any man, she can’t take the two of us together.”
We’d see about that. I’d already killed three of their comrades.
“And she’s wounded,” the other said, considering.
That was true, and I was losing blood. I couldn’t afford to let this fight draw out… so, I charged one of them, turning my back on the other for an instant. Hopefully, I’d be fast enough to have one clean engagement with this one before they were both on me again.
My slash was wild, meant to keep him back as I got to the other side of him, but he was quick and managed to not only block my sword, but knock it down and away. I brought it back quickly, but not quickly enough. His sword came down on my sword arm and crunched against my chain mail. My arm gave even as I struck him as well, a blow to his left side. We both staggered away from the encounter with a grunt. My sword arm was half-numb and growing weaker. I didn’t see any blood welling up from under the chain links of the armor, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t done significant damage.
I retreated a bit farther into the woods and ducked behind a tree.
“Get her!” This a cry from the wounded one. “I got her sword arm!”
He had.
So, I put my dagger away and moved my sword to my left hand. It was a very good thing my father had trained me relentlessly in sword-work with both hands.
The man came crashing through the forest. I spun out from behind the tree and caught his sword on mine, flicking it out and away to one side. But what I hadn’t seen was the dagger he’d gotten out and held in his left hand.
I reached up with my weak arm and caught his arm as it descended, but I had little strength and only succeeded in slowing the blow, redirecting it a bit so the main force hit my pauldron, not my head. The narrow blade skittered over my shoulder and down the chain on my already wounded right arm. It caught on a link and bit into armor and flesh. A line of fire seared along my arm. It wouldn’t be deep, but it would weaken me all the quicker.
I brought my sword up, hacking into his right side, but he flung himself away at the same time with a cry.
Then the other one, wounded and staggering, came in again. I raised my sword to block his, but the blades met at an odd angle and my blade was knocked from my grip. Luckily, he was over extended, and his sword came down too hard sinking into the earth.
My right arm was next to useless, but I stepped in and punched him with it. It would only daze him, doing no real damage, but I used that time to pull out my dagger with my good arm, slashing it across his throat. He gurgled and fell back, lifeless.
The other man roared as he came at me, sword out. The blade hit the flare at the bottom of my breastplate and dented it thoroughly, but then slid off to one side.
Wounded as he was, he was quick and brought his sword up to block my slash with the dagger.
Then he tackled me, knocking us both to the ground. He was on top of me, but I kicked and rolled, turning the tables to straddle him. I’d lost my dagger, but my left fist would do well as a weapon. I hammered it down into his face three times before he tried to lift his sword. His attack was weak, his arm at a bad angle. I knocked the blade away with my bracer, then punched him again, harder. He groaned and went still, but he wasn’t dead, still breathing hard.
“Do you yield?” I asked, my voice raw and hissing.
“I do,” he said, though his nose was broken and he sounded like he was choking on his own blood.
I got up, slowly, unsteadily. “I see no need to kill you, but you’ll die soon if that wound in your side isn’t tended.
I found my sword and dagger, plucking them up. My right arm was bleeding and useless, my side throbbed with agony, and my gut — where my armor was dented — felt like someone had punched me. But overall — with five on one — I’d fared well.
As I staggered away, the man breathed, “By the gods, she’s a demoness!”
I grinned.
Damned right.
The coachman was cleaning up the picnic as I sloshed through the stream, not able to skip so lightly across the rocks this time.
He looked up at me as I strode toward him. “By the gods!” he hissed. “You?—”
“Are well enough. Just clean up quick and hurry back to the city. I could use a healer in due time, but most of this blood isn’t mine.”
He blinked at me and nodded, redoubling his cleaning. We were soon on our way.
The lovers were laughing to themselves inside the carriage. They would never know what had happened to me nor what had almost happened to them.
And that was how it should be.