Page 97 of Beds and Blades

Right.

Mercenary first. Vision care later.

I stayed down. Down had been the instruction. Down was also, as it turned out, where my body had developed a strong personal interest in remaining.

I found my glasses by feel, sweeping one hand through dirt and dry grass until my fingers brushed the familiar shape. They were in two pieces. The bridge had snapped clean, and one lens was webbed with cracks like a frozen puddle stepped on.

“Of course,” I whispered.

Then Flavia’s bowstring snapped.

The first arrow hit the sellsword high in the shoulder. He cursed and twisted, more angry than slowed. The second arrow struck lower, in the gap between two plates of stolen armor, and that one made him stagger.

Gaius reached him before he could recover.

The sellsword swung hard, a brutal sideways cut meant to open Gaius from ribs to spine. Gaius leaned back just enough for the blade to pass in front of him, then drove his horse in close and struck down with his sword.

Metal shrieked. The sound bounced off the old stones and vanished into the arch.

The red eyes in the dark did not blink.

The sellsword stumbled, but he was not done. He caught Gaius’s next blow on the edge of his own blade and shoved back with strength that did not need much skill to be dangerous. Gaius’s horse sidestepped. Dust kicked up around its hooves. The sellsword lunged after him.

Flavia’s third arrow took him in the thigh. His leg buckled.

Gaius was already moving. He swung down from the saddle rather than trying to fight from above. The sellsword roared and came at him again, sword raised.

Gaius stepped inside the swing.

I had watched Skip do that same impossible thing. He moved toward the danger instead of away from it, closing the distance so the weapon lost room to kill him.

Gaius slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest. The sellsword reeled back.

Gaius’s sword flashed once, low and efficient, and the man’s injured leg gave out beneath him. He dropped to one knee, armor scraping over stone.

For half a second, everything became very simple. Gaius above him. Flavia with another arrow drawn. The young woman on the ground, bound and shaking.

The red eyes watched from the mouth of the ruin as if this were entertainment.

“Yield,” Gaius said.

The sellsword spat blood onto the old stone and tried to bring his sword up again. Gaius knocked the blade aside with a hard, ringing strike.

The sellsword reached for the knife at his belt. Gaius caught his wrist, twisted, and drove his sword into the side of the man’s neck.

The sellsword’s eyes widened. His mouth opened, but only blood came out. Blood ran dark red over the edge of Gaius’s blade and down into the dust.

Gaius leaned closer, his face set and grim.

“Burn with Druven,” he said through gritted teeth.

Then he pulled the sword free. The sellsword collapsed. Flavia ran toward the young woman.

A voice came out of the ruin.

“Earth woman.”

My vision was blurry, but I could see the two red dots glowing in the darkness. It was speaking to me.