Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [136]
She reined in a good distance from the camp, slipped from the saddle, and tied her horse to a tree.
She tilted her head, listening. Surely she would hear the hoofbeats of Ware’s approaching army. Nothing. She still had time.
She ran down the hill, her gaze fixed on the large tent at the south of the camp. It was lit within, but she could see no movement. Did Kemal sleep with a lantern burning to protect him? It wouldn’t surprise her, since his men were being killed one by one under his nose. She stopped to catch her breath as she drew near the clearing.
Two guards in front of the tent. Two in the rear.
But the side facing her was unguarded. Her hand tightened on the hilt of the dagger. She prayed that she had to use it only to slit an opening in the tent.
She dropped to the ground and started crawling slowly out of the underbrush toward the tent.
Golden eyes, waiting…
Only a few feet more.
She froze. One of the guards had spoken.
No threat. They were laughing, talking casually.
She started crawling again.
She reached the tent and drew a deep breath. Her heart was beating so hard, it was shaking her entire body.
No, she realized in panic. It was the vibration shaking her. She couldn’t hear the hoofbeats yet, but she could feel them. Ware was coming.
But he was not there yet. Just a few minutes more.
She sliced through the fabric of the tent.
Don’t let them hear it.
Please.
She carefully drew back the torn flap and looked inside. The lantern hanging in the center of the tent provided little light; most of the tent was in shadows.
Kemal was lying on cushions facing her only a few yards away.
Shock made her go rigid. Was he awake?
He didn’t move or call out. He must be asleep.
Her glance flicked around the tent. There it was.
The carved chest bound elaborately in brass. She had seen Kemal take the banner out of that chest many times.
She braced herself and slowly wriggled through the opening. She lay beside Kemal.
The vibration was heavier, shaking the pillows on which Kemal lay.
He would wake, she thought in agony.
He was moving. He suddenly rolled on top of her!
The impact made her drop the dagger. She struggled desperately, fighting against his weight, finally squirming out from under him. On her feet, she reached for the dagger and glared down at him.
Kemal was dead.
Rigid with shock, she stared into the sightless eyes.
A ripple of blood was seeping from the wound in his chest. Blood everywhere. On him, on her.
She could feel the sticky dampness on her face and hands.
She shuddered, unable to look away from those dead eyes.
Kadar?
A shout outside the tent broke the spell. Ware had been sighted. If she was found here when they came to summon Kemal, she would be butchered. She ran to the carved chest and threw open the lid.
No banner.
It had to be here. She knelt and rummaged desperately beneath the armor. The banner was gone.
Another shout.
Kadar must have taken it. There was no other explanation.
The clash of sword on sword.
She could not stay here. She dashed toward the slit she had made in the tent wall.
“Aiii!”
She glanced over her shoulder. One of Kemal’s guards stood in the doorway of the tent.
She stopped, frozen.
She expected him to rush her, sword drawn.
He stood staring at her with the same horror as she stared at him.
She suddenly realized how terrifying she must look covered in Kemal’s blood.
“Assassin,” he screamed. He turned and ran from the tent. “Devil murderer!”
He thought she was one of Sinan’s followers. Kadar had clearly done his work of terror well if the guard preferred to face Ware’s soldiers than to face her.
But that didn’t mean the next soldier who came into the tent would be as cowardly. She dived through the slit in the wall of the tent and wriggled outside.
A horseman thundered toward her.
She rolled to one side and barely escaped the horse’s hooves.
By the saints, if she wasn’t killed by Kemal’s men, she would be lucky not to be killed by Ware’s soldiers.
The encampment was a melee of fighting men. Moonlight