[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
bug he was about to squash. Here, fool, have your justice. Then he let out a
fierce cry and swung his sword at my neck in a mighty arc.
I stood my ground and his sword clashed against mine with a loud clang. At the
impact, I swung underneath, but Norcross parried as if his sword had no
weight.
He was a skilled fighter. I could see that from the first blows. I had learned
well in the Crusade-I was certainly frightened of no one-but it flashed
through my head that he was far more experienced than I... a knight! And a
killer of women and children.
Norcross grunted and swung his sword fiercely, as if to cut me in two. I
leaped backward, the blade slicing by with a loudwhoosh.
Norcross swung the weapon in a continuous motion and charged at me again. I
breached my sword to take the blow and forced his to the floor. We stood
Page 86
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
there, eye to eye, our swords pinned. You fight like a woman. He grinned.
Then he butted me in the forehead and sent me reeling.
I caught myself on the bed, Estella scampering out of my way. He charged
again, this time hammering his sword twice at my shoulders. Somehow I blocked
both blows.
Sparks flew from the clash of steel on steel. The chilling clang of death
reverberated in my ears.
I swung back. Norcross blocked it with ease. He stood up my sword almost
effortlessly. Then, as he pushed it downward, it grazed across my arm, taking
a slice of flesh. I let out a howl. Singeing pain sliced through me. The wound
ran red on my forearm.
Know the feel. Norcross grinned assuredly. That will be your neck a moment
from now.
He came at me, swinging his mighty sword back and forth. I blocked it two,
three times, but the weight was overpowering.
I felt my arms growing weary. Each blow I found myself parrying late. I was a
mere instant from having his sword plunge through my chest.I wanted to kill
him. I wanted him to die. But I was losing. Any moment might be my last.
Finally, he forced me back into a corner. Frantically, I swung one last time,
and he blocked me with ease. He was laughing, knowing he had me. His stale
breath was in my face. The smell of his sweat tormented me. The awful sneer on
his face could be the last thing I ever saw.
Go to your grave knowing that I fucked your wife. I shot my seed into her, and
when I finished, she asked for more.
My sword was slipping in my grip. His was closing on my neck, inches from
slicing through the bone. With my free hand, I reached into my belt.My knife
there...My last chance.
Norcross's eyes were fiery and determined. Listen close, fool. That is the
last thing you will ever hear.
For Sophie... for Phillipe! I yelled in his face.
In that instant, I shoved the knife upward into his chest. I felt sinew tear,
bone crack, but he did not move a muscle in his face.
I pushed the knife harder and harder, but his gaze bore down on me.
Incredible! He continued to press his blade into my neck.
Then Norcross opened his mouth as if to add one last thought. This time a
stream of blood rushed out. I saw his hands loosen on the sword. Then he took
a step backward. A stagger, actually.
I pushed him away, my knife buried deep in his chest.
Estella screamed as if the knife were sticking in her.
Norcross was trying like a drunken man to regain his balance. He wobbled, then
he fell to his knees. He looked up at me, disbelief in his eyes, cupping his
own vitals in his hands. Then he keeled over dead.
Page 87
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I felt overcome, at first with relief and then with sadness. I had avenged
Sophie and Phillipe, but I realized there was nothing for me now.
I picked up my sword. I had to get out of here. I took Estella by the hair.
She had set me up. She'd nearly cost me my life. I held her pretty head back
and ran the tip of my sword across her neck. Do not shout or call out. Do you
understand?
She nodded, terror in her round eyes.
You are most lucky, I said, forcing a smile, that I am agentle -fool.
Chapter 58
EXHAUSTED, AND AFRAID that Estella would sound the alarm, I staggered from the
fallen knight's room. I was now a murderer.
I took my staff and sword and was able to climb down the ramparts from an
undetected spot near Norcross's chamber. The moat was dry, and I crossed it on
foot.
From there, I ran. Ran in the shadows through the darkened streets of the
surrounding village. Ran until I found the woods.
My arm hung like a roast sliced open. The wound was bleeding profusely. I came
upon a stream and cleaned it as best I could and tied it with a strip of cloth
from my tunic. I was an outcast again, a criminal now, not just a deserter
from a far-off war but a murderer-a killer of a noble. No doubt Baldwin would
come after me. I needed to put as much distance as I could between me and
Treille. But where would I go?
I hid in the woods, keeping off the main roads. I was hungry and cold, but the
knowledge that I had avenged Sophie and Phillipe warmed me inside. I felt
vindicated, restored. I hoped God forgave me.
Just after first light, I heard a loud rumble. I hid in the brush as a posse
of armed riders, dressed in Baldwin's colors, galloped by. I didn't know where
they were heading. Veille du P`re? Sweeping the roads and villages?
I headed east, tracking the main road, through the deepest part of the forest.
I avoided any travelers I saw. I didn't know where I was going. My arm ached
and throbbed.
A day out, I came to a fork in the road that I now knew well. I had passed
here on my recent journey to Treille.
To the east lay my old village, Veille du P`re. A day's trek. My inn was
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]