“Ouch!You can put me down.I’m awake,” she said in a hoarse voice.
“You couldn’t have just told me,” he muttered, helping her slide down his front.He held her steady and watched her rub her left temple.“You okay?”
She studied her fingers and offered a wan smile.“No blood.That’s a good start.”
“Can you stand on your own?”
In reply, she toddled a few steps and almost fell.“Might need a bit of help.”
“That, I can do.It will be easier if you can balance.If I carry you, I don’t have enough hands to open the different rooms.I can’t hear through the doors,” Ellard said in a low voice.
“Have you seen any of the reivers?”
“Heard some the other way.I think it was a mess room or a galley of some sort since I could smell food.”
“I could do with some food,” Gweneth said, her voice hopeful.“The stuff in the tubes looked nasty.”
“We’ll check this way first.See if we can find any reivers on their own to increase the odds in our favor.”
Gweneth nodded then winced.“Next time, I won’t pinch you.Not straightaway.”
“Good to know you learn from your mistakes.”
A snort emerged as he slipped his arm around her waist.
A voice sounded from in front of them.“Cal, that you?”
Ellard glanced at Gweneth and found her more alert.He signaled with his hand, indicating she should go low and prayed she understood.She jerked her chin, her muscles tensing as the clomp of boots came closer.
“Cal, that you, aye?”
Ellard waited and cursed under his breath when the footsteps halted.They needed to move.Now.
As one, he and Gweneth flew around the corner, driving into reiver’s chest.Both of them.The reiver toppled back with a shout of surprise, and Gweneth slapped a hand over his mouth.
“I told you to go low,” Ellard muttered.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I signaled with my fingers.”
“Oh, I thought you had a cramp and were stretching them.”
“But—” Ellard snapped his mouth shut.She didn’t train with his soldiers.They hadn’t known each other for long, so he couldn’t expect her to read his mind.“Next time I make this signal.”He demonstrated with his fingers pointed at the floor.“It means go low.If I make this signal,” he pointed at the ceiling, “it means go high.”
“Very well.”Gweneth tilted her chin, more alert than earlier.
The Scothage male moaned, and Gweneth punched him hard in the face.His moan cut off, and his head lolled to the side.Still breathing but unconscious.
Ellard sent her a look of respect.
“What will we do with him?”
“Drag him into one of these rooms,” Ellard said.“Tie him up and move on.”
“Let’s do this.”She opened the door to the closest room, scanned it, and backed out.“This one will work.”
Together, they dragged him inside, Gweneth found an abandoned plaid tunic on the floor and hacked it into strips.Five mins later, they’d trussed the male like a fat pig-bird, ready to roast.
