Page 17 of Swordheart
“How long have you been disgracing your dear husband’s memory with this man?!” shouted Malva.
“I haven’t disgraced anybody’s memory! But he’s been here about an hour, I think.”
“What?!”
“You are laboring under a misapprehension,” said Sarkissternly. “I am the servant of the sword. Lady Halla is under my protection.”
“Are youraving?” Aunt Malva’s dressing gown flapped like wings. Cousin Alver had taken refuge behind her.
Sarkis angled his body as he reached the landing so that both he and his sword were between Halla and her aunt. Clearly he had identified the real threat, and it wasn’t Alver.
Halla could hear the sounds of the other family members stirring in the rooms off the hallway. Two cousins and Malva’s elderly sister. Halla felt no great affection for any of them, but their malice had been mostly in service to Aunt Malva, not to themselves.
“Stay in your rooms!” shouted Alver, trying to sound authoritative but squeaking a bit on the last word. He was still on the floor, which didn’t help. “There’s a madman in the house!”
“Roderick!” bellowed Aunt Malva. “Roderick, where are you?”
“Go past me,” said Sarkis, releasing her hand. “Down the next set of stairs. I’ll hold them off.” His lip curled as he looked at Alver. “Or… well, I’ll holdheroff.”
“She’s the dangerous one,” agreed Halla. She hastily fled down the stairs. Moonlight fell in a dozen diamonds across the front hall.
“Roderick,stop them!”
“Mistress Malva?”
Oh damnation,thought Halla. She’d been hoping that her aunt’s guard would be asleep himself.
“Are you in danger, Mistress?” The guardsman’s voice was depressingly alert. He barreled in from the back of the house. Judging by his attire, he either hadn’t been asleep or was an extraordinarily fast dresser.
“Yes!” cried Malva. “Yes, I am! This—person—is trying to abduct my niece!”
“I am not being abducted!” yelled Halla. “This man with asword is just breaking me out of my room so I can leave and—oh, hmm, when I say it like that, I suppose it does sound a little—”
“Roderick!”
“But I want to go! It’s not an abduction! Really!”
Roderick started up the stairs. There was a bandage across part of his face, probably where the bird got him. Halla hoped he took care of it. The bird’s wounds tended to fester. Then it occurred to her that Roderick was part of the reason she was trapped in her own home and made up her mind not to care if his wounds turned so septic that his nose fell off.
Sarkis muttered something under his breath and went down the steps two at a time. Halla flattened herself against the wall to let him pass, and he halted on the step just below her.
“It’ll go easier on you if you just surrender,” said Roderick. “I’m not looking to shed anyone’s blood.”
“I could say the same to you,” said Sarkis. “But I’d be lying. Bloodshed is beginning to seem like quite a fine idea. Starting with that clammy-handed fellow there.”
“Can’t let you do that,” said Roderick. Halla was probably imagining the note of regret in his voice.
“No, of course not,” said Sarkis. “Your duty does not permit it. Shall we duel, then?”
Roderick groaned.
“Kill him!” Malva and Alver stood at the top of the stairs, neither one quite willing to descend. Unsurprisingly, Aunt Malva was the one shouting for blood.
“Look,” said Roderick in an undertone, “this isn’t the best job, but it pays well. Do we really have to do this?”
“It seems we do,” said Sarkis. “Draw your weapon, man, and defend the honor of your liege’s house.”
“She’s not my liege,” said Roderick. He drew his sword anyway. The sound of steel ringing out of its sheath made Halla wince.
