Page 48 of The Warrior Priest
I tried to gasp in air, but the rope was too tight. The edges of my vision blurred and I felt my body weaken.
Rhys attacked. Not with his sword, but with a knife. I wasn’t sure where he’d pulled it from. His boot, perhaps. By the time that thought registered, Rhys had plunged the knife blade into the constable’s thigh.
He roared in pain and clutched his thigh, releasing me. He hadn’t seen it coming either.
Rhys caught me as I fell. I sucked in air, my body filling up in desperate need, but my sore throat protested. I choked and coughed as pain raked at my throat. It felt like I was swallowing nails.
Rhys untied my hands and removed the cord from around my neck, then he scooped me up. He cradled me against his chest, as I had cradled him a week ago on the temple’s tower. His heart beat erratically, his breaths came short and fast.
“Jac,” he whispered in my hair.
I clung to him, my fingers scrunching the tunic at his back. I wanted to stay there all night, enveloped in his arms, feeling the muscles twitch as they slowly unwound.
But I knew I could not. “You can’t be seen here.” My voice came out as a rasp, but Rhys would have heard it. Even so, he didn’t release me. His arms tightened again.
“Rhys,” Andreas said sharply. “We have to go.”
Vizah emerged from the shadows, leading four horses, but it was Giselle who filled my vision as I pulled away from Rhys.
She inspected the wound on my neck. “I have a salve for that.”
Vizah brought Andreas and Rufus their mounts. “Next time, one ofyouhold the horses.”
“You didn’t miss much,” Andreas said. “Rhys did it all.”
Vizah gave the reins of a horse to Rhys. The big man laid a hand on Rhys’s shoulder as he studied him. “You don’t have to do it alone.”
Rhys acknowledged him with a curt nod, but he watched me. His gaze suddenly narrowed. “I think someone’s coming.”
I heard it too. A horse. No, not one. Dozens, as well as the unmistakable rumble of wheels rolling over cobblestones.
Rhys released me, pushing me toward Giselle. “Take her to the Cat and Mouse. I’ll come when I can.”
Giselle grabbed my hand and pulled me away into the park while Rhys mounted but didn’t ride off. He turned to face the newcomers. Pain flared in my throat again as I gasped in more deep breaths. I stumbled, but Giselle helped me to maintain my balance. She tucked me into her side and half-carried me further into the park where she pressed me back against a large tree trunk to rest.
Uncle Roderic’s voice demanded the release of the constables. It must have been his carriage I’d heard, with his usual retinue of guards accompanying him on horseback. “What is the meaning of this? I was told there was a prisoner! Where is she?”
“This brother attacked us, sir!” one of the constables cried. “The girl escaped.”
“I know it hurts,” Giselle hissed in my ear, “but we have to run.”
“I can’t,” I managed. “No breath.”
“Master,” I heard another familiar voice say. “That isMasterRhys, of Merdu’s Guards.” It was the high priest, and he sounded furious.
I leaned back against the tree trunk and closed my eyes in relief. The high priest would protect Rhys and the others. He wouldn’t allow my uncle to arrest servants of the god.
“I don’t care who he is!” Uncle Roderic shouted. “He interfered in city affairs! Arrest him!”
“No!” the high priest said. “He does the god’s work.”
“I said arrest him!”
“Take your men and leave, Governor. If you do not, then every warrior priest will come for you, and when they have finished with their vengeance, Merdu will banish your souls to the pit. Not even the merciful goddess will want to save you and your men.”
I suspected it was the constables who backed down before my uncle. He’d never had much time for religion, and I doubted he believed in an afterlife. He wanted to win in this life and win at any cost.
“Search the vicinity,” he ordered.
