From Darkness Won - Jill Williamson [134]
The torchlight faded, but she could see a pale glow from the tower room window now. Three more merlons and she would be there. As she slid her left foot out, a sharp pain stabbed her right hand. She turned back to see the gowzal’s teeth barred.
She swatted at it and shuffled her feet until she was able to shift her hands again. A gowzal flapped in the air behind her, blowing puffs of stale wind over her face. She waved a hand at the creature. Her foot slipped and she fell.
Heat flashed over her body. She screamed, clutching the merlon with both hands. Pain spiked in her left hand. She knew a gowzal had bitten her again, but she held tight and pulled herself up until both feet were firmly planted.
Gritting her teeth, she inched around the tower, sliding her hands one at a time, establishing a firm grip with one before letting go with the other. She finally reached the window, grabbed on to the sides, and dove inside.
She landed on her side. A bird squawked. The one in the cage on the pillar. Across the room, Macoun Hadar lay motionless on the cot. Apparently, his mind was out of his body at the moment.
She should kill him now. But she had left her sword out in the stairwell. She glanced around the tiny room but did not see anything she could use as a weapon. Could she strangle him?
Averella pushed up and ran to the door. She lifted the lowest bar first. It was heavy and the left end was wedged tightly into the slot. She banged up on the bar with her fist to loosen it. It rose enough that she was able to lift it free.
Something pinched her ankle. A gowzal on the floor hissed. She kicked it. “Go away!”
It fluttered back a step and watched her.
Averella set the bar against the wall. The second bar, level with her waist, came out easily. She set it with the first. She felt another pinch on her leg. There were three birds at her feet now. She shook her skirt. “Leave me be!”
“Averella?” Sir Eagan’s voice was muffled by the thick door. “What is happening?”
“Gowzals,” she cried.
She could not reach the third bar. She raised onto her tiptoes and pushed up with her fingertips. The right side shifted a bit. She bounced on her toes again and shoved. This time, the left side lifted.
A gowzal nipped her shoulder. Another her leg. Her hand. They were everywhere now. Where had they all come from? She screamed and grabbed one of the bars she had removed. She swung it at the birds.
“Yârad!” a man said.
The birds scattered to perch around the room. Averella spun around to see Macoun Hadar sitting up on his cot.
“What brings you back to my tower, my lady?”
“I… How did you know I was here?”
He nodded to the gowzal in the cage. “My eyes called me back. Besides, you weren’t exactly quiet.”
Averella stared at the caged gowzal. “You found someone to enter the bird after all.”
“I would rather have had you.”
Averella spun back and pounded the board in her hands up against the bottom of the last bar. The bar jumped out of its slots and fell onto her arms. The door pushed in and struck her foot.
Sir Eagan stuck his nose inside. “Step back, my lady.”
Averella obeyed, and the door swung in. “He’s awake.”
Sir Eagan entered the tower room, sword in hand. “Wait in the stairwell, Averella.”
But the door slammed shut. “My eyes tell me you worked hard to get into this room, my lady,” Macoun Hadar said. “You must not leave in such a hurry.”
Sir Eagan twirled his sword and stepped between Averella and Macoun. “Her efforts were to let me inside. Neither of us have come for a pleasure visit.”
“If you have come to kill me, you must know that you will fail.” Macoun lifted his palm to Sir Eagan. A tendril of light flew from his hand and coiled around her father, binding his arms against his sides. His sword clattered to the floor.
Macoun held up his other hand to Averella. “And now, my lady, you will experience one of those things