Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,42
Maud, holding her daggers, and snarled, right into Ilemina’s path.
“No!” Maud screamed.
Lady Ilemina stopped.
Maud almost collapsed with relief.
Rational thought returned to Ilemina’s eyes. “Oh my,” she said.
Helen raised her daggers. “Don’t hurt my mommy or I’ll kill you.”
“It’s okay, my flower,” Maud managed. “We were just practicing.”
Ilemina laughed. “That is beyond adorable. No need, little one. I surrender. Your mother and I are quite finished, and you’re very frightening.”
She glanced up and Maud read her eyes. Ilemina knew they had gone too far. The fight was over.
“This is Lady Ilemina,” Maud said. “Lord Arland’s mother. We must give her every courtesy.”
Helen lowered her daggers, put her legs together, and bent her knees in an ancient vampire bow.
Ilemina laughed. “My goodness.”
Helen straightened.
“Are those your daggers?” Ilemina asked.
“Yes.”
“Are they sharp?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think they are sharp enough to cut a cookie in a half?”
Helen paused. “Yes.”
“Come show me.”
Helen turned to Maud.
“Yes,” Maud said. “Be polite.”
Ilemina offered Helen her hand. Helen put her daggers away, took Arland’s mother’s hand, and walked away with her. “What kind of cookies…”
Maud slumped over. Suddenly Karat was there, holding her up. Maud retched, spat out blood, and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.
People were staring at her.
“Everything hurts,” she murmured.
“No shit,” Karat said. “Look at yourself.”
Maud glanced down. Cuts and slashes crisscrossed her armor, so many of them, it was no longer black. It was blood red. Across the field, Ilemina handed Helen a cookie. Her armor was crimson as well.
Karat gently lowered Maud to the grass. “The medic is coming. Just sit here and rest a bit.”
Konstana thrust into her view with field med unit. “Here.”
“Are you going to poison me?”
“Shut up and take the pain killer.” Konstana held the unit up. Maud pressed it against her neck. A stab and then a cool rush flooded her body, lifting the pain.
“Drink this.” Karat stuck a glass pitcher under her nose. Mint cordial. Of course. Maud gulped.
“Where the hell did you learn to fight?” Konstana asked.
“At my parents’ inn.”
“Humans don’t fight like that.”
“I couldn’t let her kill me,” Maud said. “I couldn’t leave Helen.”
Karat stared at her.
“You’ll get it when you have your own,” Konstana told Karat.
Maud leaned back against the stone. She didn’t win. But she didn’t lose either. The day was looking up.
Every step hurt. Maud walked down the hallway, trying not to wince, aware of Karat hovering by her side.
The medic had arrived and quickly confirmed three cracked ribs. He offered a stretcher. Getting onto that stretcher and being carted off would undo everything she’d just fought for. She had sparred with Ilemina. She hadn’t lost. She had to be seen walking away from the fight without any help.
It took another agonizing quarter of an hour before Lady Ilemina retired, and the older sentinel had come to collect Helen, who still had some scrubbing to do. Maud made it through by sheer will, but walking hurt like hell, and her will was quickly growing thin.
Two middle-aged women strode past them, eyeing her red armor. An awful lot of people had found an excuse to either cross or walk through the hallway. Word of her match with Ilemina had gotten around. They probably filmed it, Maud reflected. When it came to violence, the vampires filmed everything.
The harbinger on her wrist chimed. She glanced at it, and the harbinger tracked her eye movement, projecting a holoscreen over her wrist. It flashed and focused into Arland’s face. The beginning of a spectacular shiner swelled around his left eye. A long, ragged cut crossed his right cheek. His eyes blazed. He bared his teeth. She’d seen that look before on his face and recognized it instantly. Battle rage.
“Are you alright?” he growled.
“Are you?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Karat grabbed her wrist and raised Maud’s arm so she could look at the screen.
“Don’t you dare show up here,” she hissed. “She’s walking on her own power and we have an audience. What the hell happened to you?”
“Otubar,” Arland snarled.
What?
Karat swore.
Maud took her arm back. “You had a fight with your mother’s consort?”
“We had a spirited practice,” Arland said. “I’ll find you as soon as I’m done speaking with my mother.”
“Don’t say anything stupid,” Karat barked, but the screen went dark. Karat rolled her eyes. “What is happening in our House?”
They made another turn and walked into a room filled with medical equipment and curved cots surrounded by metal and plastic arms bearing an array of lasers, needles, and what surely had to be tools of torture. The door blissfully hissed