“Hey!” he yelled, surprise turning into aggression. He reached for the dagger at his belt and lunged toward her.
Not the smartest move, Robin admitted to herself. Through the open door she could see a bed, a desk, and a chair in the empty room behind him. The man was outnumbered ten to one but still chose to attack.
Typical of a Chendas soldier to assume superiority in combat.
Robin lifted her short sword with ease and blocked the man’s attempted stab. Throwing her weight into a small jump, she rammed into him with her opposite shoulder, shoving him backward into the empty room.
He stumbled, losing his balance and falling onto the floor, exactly where Robin wanted him.
Stepping nimbly backward, Robin grabbed the door handle and pulled it closed as she returned to the hallway.
“Find a way to lock this from the outside,” she said, transferring her grip on the closed door’s handle to Liam.
While the entire interaction had only taken a few moments, the soldier’s cry had been heard deeper in the monastery. Two ofthe doors further down the hallway opened up, revealing several concerned faces.
This would have to do. Their element of surprise had run its course.
Robin lifted her short sword and ran forward, hoping the intimidation would help before the surprise disappeared.
One of the soldiers, the nearest one two doors down, made the smart decision to slam a door in her face. But the open door at the end of the hall, the one that was perpendicular to the hall itself, remained open. That would be the makeshift barracks. Three men poured out of it, pushing the first man forward.
With no other choice, the man in front grabbed the dagger from his waist and dodged to the side as Robin attempted to hit his head with the pommel of her short sword.
She missed.
Her own men surged around her, meeting the other two soldiers in the cramped hallway.
Robin used her sword arm to block an underhanded stab of the dagger. Aden, reaching around her, landed his fist against the man’s chin. Her opponent stumbled backward, his head slamming against the stone wall. Cornered and hurt, he raised his dagger, swinging wildly.
Using the tight space to her advantage, Robin stomped on his foot, glad that he was wearing simple leather shoes and not fully outfitted in firm boots.
As he instinctively leaned forward at the pain in his foot, she hit the side of his head with the pommel of her sword as hard as she could.
He dropped to the ground.
When she turned to face the others, she found two more bodies on the ground and her men advancing into the barracks. Shouts came from within.
Robin ran the final few steps to the open door. Just as they had planned, her men moved as a single unit, skirting the perimeter of the room and forcing its five other inhabitants to circle up near the center. The two groups stared each other down, swords and daggers drawn.
When Robin stepped inside, she quickly slid off to the side, leaving the door open for the Chendas soldiers to escape through.
“We are under attack!” one of the soldiers yelled toward the open door. Robin could not tell if these were Chendas men or Iseldan soldiers. The room they were in now had several beds lining the wall. The soldier who had his own sleeping quarters was likely a higher rank.
Lane led the attack from her men, rushing toward the soldiers with a yell.
To their credit, the soldiers attempted to put up a good fight. Robin noted by their fighting style that these were Chendas men. When one of theirs was the first to fall, they quickly backed themselves out of the room into the hallway.
“We are under attack!” one of them yelled again.
Lane led the bandits in pursuit, with Robin falling into line after them back into the hallway.
More soldiers were pouring toward them through the inner courtyard, blocking them in the hallway.
Robin’s men kept pushing, but their progress slowed as only two or three men could fight in the narrow hallway at a time.
“Gautho is in the front courtyard!” a high voice called, loud enough to be heard above the rising shouts and grunts of the fight.
“To the general!” called a much deeper voice.
