Page 69 of Betrayal from Beyond
“I don’t know. There are other men staying there. Some of them are foreign, I think. They very obviously do not want anyone getting close to the place. Someone is always on watch. I have been chased off several times.”
“Niall.” Warning rang in Gyda’s tone. She sprang out of her seat and surged past him.
He looked up to see a large man stalking toward their table. Planting herself in his path, Gyda snarled up at him. “Where is she?”
“Out of my way,” the behemoth growled.
Was that aRussianaccent?
“That’s one of them,” Dalton said. He stood. “He’s one of the men from the farm.”
“Tell me where to find Petra Scot,” Gyda hissed at the man. She barely came up to his shoulder, but she faced him without a qualm. “Tell me now and we’ll allow you to leave. You won’t have to go down with her.”
Niall stood, but the man growled at Gyda again and roughly pushed her aside, shoving her into the next table. Shouts of protest arose, but the brute ignored them. Without preamble, he stepped forward and swung a meaty fist at Dalton.
The teacher, caught by surprise, stumbled back and fell into his chair.
Stepping around him, the assailant pulled out a blade. Wordless, his expression fierce, he aimed a slicing swing at Niall’s throat.
Startled by the swift escalation, Niall dodged, but it was a close call. Crouching, he pulled his own knife from his boot and came up, thrusting for the assailant’s kidney.
The man jumped aside, more agile than Niall had expected, given his size. He struck the table where they’d been seated, gripping it with both hands for stability as he knocked into the back of the chair Dalton had landed in.
The teacher looked back, grabbed his tankard, and slammed it into the brute’s knife hand, loosening his grip on the blade.
The big man roared. Knocking the tankard aside, he spun, grabbed Dalton by the scruff of the neck, and lifted him into the air like a kitten. Kicking the chair away, he slammed Dalton’s face down onto the table.
The other patrons were becoming aware of the situation. Some slipped out of the taproom. The tavern keeper came out from behind the bar holding a cudgel. She stood back several paces, and a few others spread out on either side of her. The men at the next table were hooting and cheering and pawing at Gyda.
The brute had left his back exposed. But even as Niall lunged, the man lifted Dalton again and flung him at Niall.
With a gasp, Niall twisted to avoid skewering Dalton. The teacher hit him hard, and they both went down in a tangle of limbs. Trying to suck in a breath while pushing Dalton away, Niall glared up as the assailant stepped toward them. He had regained his blade. Menace written in his face, he raised it high.
Metal flashed over his shoulder. The behemoth stopped, his arms suddenly flung wide. He gave a shout and turned asGyda skipped backward—and Niall saw the neighboring table’s sausage knife buried high in his back.
Shockingly, it didn’t stop him. Niall scrambled to his feet as the brute went after Gyda. The man swung a long arm and clipped her, his knife leaving a thin slice of crimson across her arm.
The men from the other table were finally scrambling out of the way. Gyda tripped over one of them and stumbled to one knee.
The brute reached for her, but he suddenly stopped, frozen in place.
Niall, finally back on his feet, stumbled over to see Gyda’s own blade, etched in Nordic runes, pressing into the fabric between the man’s legs.
“Give over the knife or I will cut off your prick,” she snarled. “Then I will buy a round of ale for the room and we will all watch and laugh while you bleed to death.”
Niall snatched the blade from the man’s hand. The behemoth did not move or resist. “Damn you to hell,cyka,” he growled at Gyda.
Definitely Russian. And judging by Gyda’s expression, she understood the insult.
Some of the men circled around them were shouting encouragement at Gyda, while others moaned in sympathy for the brute.
They were at a stalemate. Niall didn’t know how—
Thunk.
Dalton struck the man on the head with the pewter ale pitcher. Hard. The assailant’s eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the floor.
Gyda glared at the teacher.
