From Darkness Won - Jill Williamson [128]
“I don’t know how to wear that.”
“You need the backplate,” Averella said. “Help her, Noam. It will protect her baby.”
Averella darted toward another man with an arrow in his thigh. She worked on him until Noam and Gren approached. Noam was carrying a sword and a shield bearing the Mahanaim crest. Gren wore the black knight’s breastplate and helm, and she held a sword of her own. Averella grinned. “But take off the helm for now, Gren, so you do not look like a target.”
Gren obeyed.
Just as Averella finished the man’s leg, someone yelled, “Iamos! Help me next!”
Averella met Gren’s amused gaze and smiled.
“Not until you put this on,” Noam said.
Averella turned to see Noam holding up a bronze breastplate and helm. “Where did you find that, Master Fox? It is lovely.”
“On a dead man.”
Averella winced. “Then I suppose he will not mind.”
She allowed Noam to fasten the breastplate over her shoulders and under her arms. As the battle raged around them, no one seemed concerned about the women and the man who moved from body to body, helping those who stood a chance at life and leaving those who did not.
A squawk pulled her gaze upward. Gowzals circled the Mahanaim watchtower. Averella pulled on her helm and ran inside the double doors, stopping to pick up a discarded sword on her way.
Averella crossed the vast foyer of the Mahanaim stronghold, darting around drum pillars on her way to the grand staircase, Gren and Noam at her heels.
They had climbed to the sixth level when Gren collapsed on the landing, gasping and clutching her side. She let her sword clatter to the marble landing and pulled off her helm.
“I’m sorry,” she said, panting. “I need to stop. Just a moment, please?”
“Of course.” This was far too strenuous activity for a woman in Gren’s condition. “You should wait here, Gren. Your baby…”
“I will be fine… in a moment.”
Noam stepped up to Averella. “Might you take this opportunity to inquire as to Sir Rigil’s whereabouts?”
“An excellent suggestion, Master Fox. Thank you.” Averella removed her helm and sat on the top step beside Gren. She closed her eyes. Sir Rigil? Where are you?
We are outside the front doors, my lady. A battle has waylaid us. Please have patience.
Averella opened her eyes. “They are still in the battle.”
Gren had already put her helm back on. “I am ready.”
Noam helped Gren stand. Averella put her own helm back on, and they continued up the stairs, at a slower pace this time, for Gren’s sake. Averella urged herself to be patient, but she felt like a horse before the jousting flag lifted.
The experience brought a memory to mind. Climbing these very stairs behind an old man named Carlani as he led her to Macoun Hadar’s chambers on the eighth floor.
She paused on the eighth floor landing and peered down a dark corridor. Macoun Hadar lived down there. The second door on the right. How could she know such a thing?
Memories flooded her suddenly. A wrinkled old man touching her face. Great pain. Being tied up. Jax. A lecherous man named Khai. A basket full of trinkets, fabric, and hair. His coarse fingers on her neck, his words, a humming threat.
…tell me what you know of the prince’s plans…
“My lady?”
She glanced up, for Noam’s voice had come from above. He and Gren stood on the landing between the eighth and ninth floors.
A chill gripped her as the understanding set in. The man in the tower was Macoun Hadar. Had to be. The man she must kill. Her old master. She released a shaky breath and continued climbing. “Coming.”
They made their way to the tenth floor, then down the corridors to the tower stairs. Two guards lay slain at the foot of the stairwell.
Noam stretched out his arms to stop the ladies. “Perhaps someone has already come to deal with this man, my lady.”
“Perhaps.” Averella stepped around him. “But I will not rest until I know for certain.” She lifted a torch from a sconce on the wall, pinched her skirt in the same hand, lifted her sword in the other, and started up the stairs. Her thighs ached from the ten levels she had climbed. This flight of stairs would likely take