Murder of the Belvedere Eye

Chapter Five

5- Lady Harlen

Lady Harlen had a bland and common face. I could not recall much about her demeanor. She was the type of woman who did not have to work at shielding her emotions.

I looked for the goat herder. I meant to ask him for directions to Lady Harlen’s room. But he was gone. There was a stark line where his goats had stopped grazing.

Then a mail shirt clinked. I turned as a man came out from a tree along the road. I must have walked right past him. He wore black robes over his mail and had a small iron cap on his head. In his hand, he held a provincial dagger. Four others came out. All five were large men, armed, and dressed in black robes.

Who approaches?” I called out. I had the small knife I used to split seams and drew it. The blade was shorter than a sparrow feather and as narrow as kindling.

“Your doom,” the closest man said.

He lunged with the dagger. I turned to run.

They circled me.

“You won’t scamper off,” the man hissed. He dove in with his dagger. I struck his fist. He did not falter. His jab caught me in the chest.

He swished his blade. I ducked to the side. I stuck him below his ribs. The others fell on me like a pack of dogs. All I could do was cover my neck and fall to my knees. Their strikes flayed my back. Some foul creature slashed at my fingers. Someone reached down and pulled at my arms. A dagger plunged up to the hilt between two ribs. A stab aiming for my belly hit a pocket, and the coin waterfalled out. The sound halted the attack.

“Street Cat spilled his beans,” one of the men said. Then the night was cobalt blue.

There was no sound to it. One of the men above me was gone. Another silent blue flash and another was missing. My assailants stood. The pain crushed me to the grass. I could feel life pouring out of me. I was entering a tunnel backward, my vision narrowing. I fought to watch as a line of blue light disappeared from another man. Footsteps approached as the remaining men fled. The sound of the steps seemed near, but the boots looked like they were a league away. I rolled onto my back. I watched a man with a dark beard in glittering silver robes point a finger. From the tip of his hand light erupted twice, there and gone quicker than a snap.