Read Online From Darkness Won by Jill Williamson - Free Book Online Page A

spine. He crouched, hand on Ôwr’s hilt, and listened to the crunch of leaves, the rustling of vines, every sound muffled through his steel helm.
    A man screamed. “She bit me!”
    “Stop her! She’s getting away!”
    Footsteps rained over the ground. Achan peered under the vines. A woman ran his way. He could see her from the waist down only, her red skirt a flutter of fabric as she ran. Mere feet from his location, she tripped and fell, skidding over the leafy grass and into the stand of a trellis. Her blonde curls tangled over her face.
    Achan ran to her and grabbed her arms, but she screamed and crawled away. “Leave me alone!”
    He recognized her immediately. It was Duchess Amal’s second eldest. “Lady Gypsum. It’s Achan. Prince Gidon, I mean.” It was still difficult for him to claim that name. He smiled and held out his hand. “May I offer my assistance?”
    She grabbed his hand. “Your Highness…” She panted and he pulled her up. “There are bad men…” She glanced back the way she’d come. “They are coming. They took me, and I…”
    Achan bent down and spotted two sets of legs, one closer than the other.
    “My lady,” he whispered. “Your dress will give you away should these cretins think to crouch as I have. There is a trapdoor here.” He scanned the ground. “Somewhere.”
    “Yes, under the marker.” She stepped to the next row and reached up to the trellis where a piece of faded, frayed cloth was tied. She crouched underneath it and ran her hands over the grass. Her finger hooked around something, and she pulled. The next row away, the trapdoor popped open.
    “I see her! Who’s got her?”
    “Hurry, my lady.” Achan grabbed her hands and lowered her into the hole. Her dress billowed on the grass like a tent. “Have your feet found the ladder?”
    “Yes. You may let go now.”
    He released her hands and started to tuck her skirt down the hole, but her quick descent dragged her dress with her. “How will you see, my lady?”
    She smiled and Achan saw Duchess Amal’s beauty in her young face. “This is my home, Your Highness. I know my way.”
    “Arman be with you then.”
    She frowned. “You are not coming?”
    “You there?” A man’s deep voice yelled. “Have you seen a little lady?”
    Achan kicked the trapdoor closed. A burly man dressed in black armor stood on his row at least ten yards away. Achan ducked under the trellis on his right, and under the next few trellises, hoping to lure the man away from the trapdoor.
    “Soldiers!” a voice yelled in the distance. “Retreat!”
    Likely Sir Caleb come to fetch his headstrong prince. Achan stopped, listening for the big man’s footsteps. He squatted and looked toward the castle. Sure enough, a dozen or more sets of b lack boots charged into the vineyard near the trapdoor, which was now rows down from his position.
    Achan spun slowly on his toes and met a set of thick legs. The man in black armor stood over him, swinging a mace above his head. Achan popped to his feet and reeled backwards. He tried to draw Ôwr, but stumbled. The man sent his mace flying.
    Achan ducked, yet the mace struck his helm on the left side, just above his ear. Pain exploded in his head. He hit the ground on his back, nauseated. Trying to get up, he bumped against a trellis. Sick. Dizzy. Unable to sit. Death was coming. Yet… Where had the man gone?
    Achan rolled to his back. The sky spun above him. Strange to see it from below now. He sucked air through his nose so he wouldn’t vomit.
    His vision blurred. He should bloodvoice someone. Tell them of Lady Gypsum. Hot pain swelled over him like a wave in the delta. He held his breath. Was he burning? He reached up to feel the fire, but his hand did not move.
    He finally released a long breath. The pain overtook him, darkening his vision like a door closing out all light.
     

P A R T 2
     
     
     
    VRELL

4
     
    “Are you sure it’s wise, m’lady?”
    “What are you so worried about,