Nameless by Tamara Leigh

Author:Tamara Leigh [Leigh, Tamara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

EM HAD NOT BELIEVED fighting astride among her strengths, but neither was it a weakness, as evidenced by how swiftly she moved between offense and defense, the slaver’s sword at the end of her hand feeling more a part of her than the fingers turned around the hilt.

To sooner aid Dougray, she must put this man down, then—

“Fall back, Em!”

Dougray was near, meaning the one whose thrust narrowly missed piercing her side was the only one left to fell. And she who had thought she wanted to ensure never again he served the merchant, longed to do as Dougray ordered—let him be the one who deprived the slaver of limb if not life. But she had come this far, and his blood was on her blade.

“Fall back!”

Chancing exposing the back of her neck, she bent forward and thrust her blade beneath her opponent’s sword arm. She felt the tip penetrate leather armor at the same moment steel clashed overhead.

Dougray was here, keeping the blade from her. Then her mount turned to the side, forcing her to release the hilt.

Yanking the reins to bring the horse around, she saw the slaver fall forward over the palfrey’s neck and his sword drop from one hand while the other gripped the blade piercing his armor. Not only did he bleed beneath the arm but the belly.

Em met Dougray’s gaze beyond the bloodied blade he held. Anger there, quite possibly toward her, but she did not care. What mattered was he had made her escape possible, and he lived.

Fear of losing him to the slavers had driven her to leave the safety of the trees where she had watched him fight for her with the savagery of Vitalis. She had known he would not welcome her aid, but had he died trying to save her, life hereafter would be emptier than ever thought possible. But now that fear was behind her, fatigue was before her.

Gripping the saddle to steady herself, she realized she perspired so greatly her clothes were damp. Though she parted her lips to thank Dougray for coming for her, she blurted, “I could not leave you!”

Great draws of breath added to his height and breadth one moment, took from it the next, then his anger receded and he returned his sword to the scabbard on his saddle. “You should have, Em.”

“Of what benefit?”

He frowned, and she tensed at the possibility he feared what was behind her words—perhaps the same as she feared.

He shifted his regard to the slaver they had defeated, then the others. The leader whom Dougray had overwhelmed before coming to her aid had also gone still, while the one who escorted her behind the thicket no longer sat upright. Though he was on his back, she guessed he but sought to escape further notice, heart pounding in anticipation of a death blow.

“What of him?” she asked, the abused slave wanting him dead so he could never again engage in the trade of humans, the Em of old flinching over ending the life of a defenseless man.

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