The familiar noises pursued her. Pounding footsteps. They turned as both Leonin and Davi pushed Remin back, and Davi even launched himself at Remin’s legs, trying to knock him over while Leonin and Ophele raced for the doors. But Remin was soquick,all too soon she could hear him coming up from her left and even as Leonin was yanking her forward and out of the way, she snatched up her skirts and accelerated, bounding past him for the final twenty paces to slap her hands against the huge double doors.
“There!” she said triumphantly, turning. “Look, Remin, if they hold you ba—”
“Neverleave your guards!” Remin exclaimed. “Why did you do that? Do you know who might be behind that door? I told you, always stay in arm’s reach of your guards.”
“But—but I thought we were close enough,” she stammered, crushed. “I can run, too—”
“You’re not supposed to run off by yourself. You’re supposed to learn to run withthem,”he said flatly. “This is not a game. There is no base.”
“I know, but—”
Her nose was starting to sting and she looked quickly away, grateful that Leonin started talking. She didn’t want to cry,that felt like it would only prove Remin’s point, but she wasn’tuseless.
“Perhaps we ought to begin with that, then, my lord,” Leonin was saying. “It’s unrealistic to focus too much on stopping you. Our opponents in Segoile are likely to be less skilled and more numerous. We will not be attempting to hold off the Duke of Andelin.”
“Thank the stars,” muttered Davi.
“We’ll try that, then,” Remin agreed after a moment. “No weapons. Just keep me from laying a hand on her.”
That was what he wanted anyway. The least possible danger. It felt like she had failed a test, and it felt like she hadn’t even had a chance totry.Silently, Ophele moved behind Leonin and Davi, glancing resentfully up at the tall posts and beams lining the dining hall. She would have liked to climb up there andthensee if Remin could lay a hand on her.
“Ready?” he asked, moving back a few paces to give them a sporting chance. “Mind that skirt, wife.”
They lasted longer this way, at least. It was a child’s game compared to the business of swords, but Davi and Leonin formed a shifting, flexible wall around Ophele, moving to deflect Remin away rather than confronting him directly. Ophele was quick to dance back whenever he lunged toward her, and after a little while she thought she even spotted a pattern in how Leonin and Davi were moving, the way their hands turned outward to push her back a split second before they stepped. It wasn’t something she could reason through while she was trying to move, but once she had spotted it, it felt easier to focus on Leonin and Davi and stay with them, without being distracted by Remin.
Maybe that was the trouble? Maybe she was payingtoomuch attention to him? It was hard not to, he made such a racket when he was pursuing, and sometimes he even randomlyshouted as he charged and made her freeze, so she had to stumble backward.
Why, he was doing that onpurpose!
Ophele had only an instant to appreciate his cunning before he did it again, lunging forward with a shout that made her backpedal automatically with fright, and then someoneelsestepped on her skirt and she tripped and the next thing she knew, she was ricocheting between all three of them like a small ball rattling between tenpins. For a minute, she didn’t know which way was up.
“Stars, Ophele!” She heard behind her, and big hands dug her out of the pile of limbs and sat her up, Remin’s horrified face swimming above her.
“Ouch,” she said thickly, shaking her head. She had smacked her nose hard enough that her eyes were watering, and when Remin turned her hands over, both her palms were badly scraped by the flagstones. From the feel of it, her knees were in similar shape.
“I’ll get some water.” Davi shook his head and rose. “Bloody buggering hell, those skirts are a menace, I’m so sorry, my lady.”
“It’s all right,” she said, touching her nose and wondering if it was bleeding.
“Let me see,” said Remin, tilting her head back. “Anywhere else hurt? It’s no small thing to get tackled by three men in armor.”
“I’m all ri—” She let out a squawk of protest as Remin pushed her skirts up over her knees, ignoring their audience. Blood was trickling from long scrapes on both knees.
“This is why I didn’t want to do this,” he said savagely, producing a handkerchief and carefully wiping away the blood streaks. “Guard work isn’t like soldiering, we’re not used to maneuvering around someone to protect them,lookat this—”
“They’re just scratches,” she protested, pinching her poor nose. “I can do it, next time I’ll—”
“There won’t be a next time,” he retorted. “Davi and Leonin can borrow one of the pages until they learn not to fall on you.”
“But there’s only a few weeks left!” she exclaimed, trying not to yelp as he blotted at her bleeding knees. “I candoit! I have to learn not to trip them, don’t I? I’ll be careful, I prom—”
“I said no,” he snapped. “Look at this! One fall! They’re going to think Ibeatyou! I won’t have you getting knocked about—”
“It’s not as if it’s the first time!” she shouted back, and his mouth shut with a snap. All three men were staring at her with a strange, helplessly fury, and Ophele only belatedly realized what she had said and lifted her chin. “Well, it isn’t. And if someone wants to kidnap me, I don’t think they’ll mind knocking me about. Remin, you can’t—”
This was the last thing he wanted to hear, she knew it.
“You can’t protect me from everything,” she said. “I have to learn this by myself.”
