Happily Ever Afters: A Four Kingdoms Novella by Melanie Cellier

Author:Melanie Cellier [Cellier, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction & Literature
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Published: 2016-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9 - Sarah

I don’t like knives. I avoid fights. I hate blood.

But I also know my duty, and I couldn’t leave Evelyn to face our attackers alone. Ava must have read the determination in my face because she leaned out of the doorway to pass me a knife. A quick look passed between us, and I knew that it was killing her to huddle in the doorway and let us protect her. But she knew her duty, too.

I tried to stop my hand from shaking and guiltily felt relieved when Evelyn angled herself in front of me.

The first attack came so quickly that I could hardly follow it. I felt sure I was about to be cut down when suddenly my attacker was disarmed. Evelyn stepped away to deal with the other assailants, but I stayed frozen in place, my terrified gaze fixed on the now unarmed man in front of me. I wondered if I should step forward and attack him, but my feet stayed firmly in place.

He glanced at his sword, lying some way down the street and then at the queen and count behind me. Finally he transferred his gaze to my shaking hand.

He obviously decided I wasn’t much of a threat because he abandoned his sword, instead charging unarmed towards the narrow doorway. For half a second I stood frozen. And then my body responded automatically. I took one step forward and thrust my knife straight ahead of me.

The blade buried itself in his stomach with a sickening sound and an even worse sensation. I let go of the hilt and stepped backwards, my eyes wide and my whole body trembling.

The man looked down at my knife and then up at me in surprise. He reached forward as if to grab me but instead collapsed onto his knees and then down onto his side.

Blood began to pool around him, and I felt myself start to go faint. I swayed once and then steadying hands gripped me from behind. I recognised them as Ava’s. I took two deep breaths and the blackness receded.

I turned towards her gratefully, but my eyes once again passed over the injured man on the ground. My stomach heaved uncontrollably and when Evelyn returned from dispatching the final man, instead of proudly standing guard over Ava, I was vomiting into the gutter.

Not my finest hour.

Still, the praises Evelyn and Ava heaped on me were almost enough to make me forget the groans of the man I had injured. Anhalt remained silent, his expression rather sullen, and the other two seemed to have almost forgotten him.

I hadn’t, however, and I kept a sharp eye on him.

I was hoping we would move away from the location of the fight since the smell of blood kept making my stomach heave. Evelyn, however, was reluctant to leave the small amount of shelter offered by the shop doorway. Instead she whistled loudly in a complicated pattern, and I was just able to hear an answering whistle from beyond the crossroads.

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