He had to save her.
Kieran was speaking to the pair in even, steady tones but War couldn’t hear what was being said. Not that it mattered. He began looking around frantically for a way into the rear of the stable yard, but the area was fairly self-enclosed. He didn’t know Castle Questing well enough to know if there were any additional entrances but he assumed so. He ducked away, rushing back along the wall towards the kitchens which, if he remembered correctly, butted up against the stable yard wall.
Perhaps there was a way in that way.
“War!”
He heard his name, turning to see Alexei coming from the hall, waving at him. Other than a few daggers, War wasn’t armed, but Alexei was. The knight from Vilnius always wore his broadsword, in every situation. He even slept with it. War rushed the man, reaching out to unsheathe his broadsword when he came within range.
“I need your weapon,” he said, extreme urgency in his tone. “Go to the mouth of the stable yard and stay out of sight. I will need you.”
Alexei’s relaxed expression instantly morphed into one of great concern. “What is happening?”
War didn’t have time to explain. “Annaleigh is in trouble,” he said. “Go to the mouth of the stable yard and stay out of sight. When I need you, I’ll shout.”
Alexei was wise enough not to ask any questions. He’d served with War long enough to know that this was a moment to simply follow orders, and he did. As he ran over to the entry to the stable yard, War, with Alexei’s broadsword, raced to the rear of the kitchen yard where it joined with the stable yard. As he’d hoped, there was a small gate between the two.
Quietly, War lifted the latch. Unfortunately, the iron gate had a sticky hinge and the gate creaked as he opened it. He paused a couple of times, hoping a break in the noise wouldn’t make itsound as if the gate were being opened to those who might be attuned to such a thing. The last thing he wanted to do was tip off whoever held Annaleigh captive, so after a few breaks in the opening of the noisy gate, he slipped into the stable yard.
War was in the shadows, away from the torchlight, so Kieran didn’t see him as he continued to converse with the men who held Annaleigh. War couldn’t see her from this angle, but as he frantically looked for a way into the stables other than the main entry, he saw a small servants’ door cut into the side of the south wall.
With great stealth, War slipped up to the door and opened it with the ultimate care. Fortunately, this door made no noise as it opened and War slid into the stables, his gaze fixed on two men at the entry, facing Kieran.
At this point, he could hear what they were saying. There were demands for a horse. Kieran offered to get them horses, but he had to be allowed to come into the stables. The men began to back up, away from the enormous knight, and the man dragging Annaleigh heaved her into his arms, but he almost dropped her. War found himself wincing as the man held Annaleigh precariously and awkwardly. He could see her head and left arm flapping uncomfortably.
Moving with extreme care and silence, War crept along in the shadows, dropping to his knees to stay low when those shadows no longer covered his movements. Now, the men were threatening to throw Annaleigh over a mountain. War could hear them. Kieran was telling them how unwise that would be. The men began to back up further, their backs to War, and as Kieran approached the entry cautiously, War knew he had to act now and act swiftly.
The Vilnius sword began to arc.
The first contact he made was with the man who seemed to be doing all of the negotiating. War didn’t even go for a simplekill; the skills he’d learned at Blackchurch came into play, the nuances of situations where heavy force was used or light but deadly force. At the moment, it was heavy force, for he sliced through the man’s shoulder and neck, completely separating his head from his body.
As the first man’s head went sailing into the air before hitting the ground in a burst of blood and tissue, the man holding Annaleigh screamed like a woman, but not for long. War’s sword carved into that man as well, only he skillfully took off the top half of the man’s head rather than the whole head because he didn’t want to chance cutting Annaleigh. The way the man was holding her was too close to his shoulders.
Therefore, half a messy head went sailing into the straw.
Annaleigh and the man hit the ground.
War was on Annaleigh faster than he could draw another breath. He scooped her into his arms and rushed from the stables, still holding Alexei’s sword. He was in panic mode at this point because she was in his arms and he was desperate to get her to safety. But he could hear Kieran calling behind him and he slowly came to a halt just shy of the stable yard entry.
Breathing heavily, and protecting his burden, he turned to the big knight.
“War,” Kieran said, his features full of concern. “All is well, lad. It was just those two and not an entire army out to get her. She’s safe now.”
War was struggling to calm down but he wasn’t doing a very good job. “She’s injured,” he said. “I have to find the physic.”
Kieran could see that War was terrified. He’d never known the man, a Blackchurch-trained knight, to be anything other than cold and calculating in battle, but this… this was something different.
Emotion was involved.
Blackchurch had never covered things like love.
Kieran could see that, as plain as day. He put both hands on War to steady him before taking a moment to examine Annaleigh. She was still unconscious, with a wound somewhere on her bloody head. He didn’t have time to search it out. Turning towards the gatehouse, he began bellowing the alarm. His voice carried all over the compound so men began running in his direction, no questions asked.
One of those men was Alexei.
He charged into the yard, his eyes wide on War with a bloodied lady in his arms and a bloodied sword.
“My God,” he hissed. “War, what happened?”
