Page 37 of Keeper of the Word

Elanna smiled in the darkness. Good. Tolvar had listened.

Gus said something too muffled for Elanna to make out, then, “Night, m’lord.” His footsteps trailed off, then the corridor was silent.

Elanna stood at the door, picturing Tolvar standing outside on guard. It reminded her of when Daved had hidden her in a closet so the brunt of their father’s abuse would be taken out on him.

Thecreakof a floorboard sounded behind her.

Elanna turned. Out of the darkness, hands shot out, one covering her mouth, the other shoving her to the floor. The faintest yelp escaped her as her captor withdrew a knife and straddled her.

The cold steel of the knife dug into her throat. A foul odor from the man’s hand stung her nose.

“Shhh. Go to sleep for good, little starling. The fox has greater schemes than ye.”

Stars! He means to kill me.

Flickers of visions Seen surged through her.

The first was a flash projected down the distance of the future.A red-headed man. A gruesome scar.

Then, the vision blinked backward to mere moments ahead of this very instant.

Tolvar tries the door. It is locked.

Stars.

With the knife pressed against her, she froze. In the dark, Elanna could not make out much of the man’s face, but she pierced his eyes with her own. Enough that she knew he sensed the heat of the starlight behind them. Enough that he gave pause.

Unable to look away from her eyes, the man’s grip loosened onthe knife for a split second as he shifted his body uncomfortably. Elanna wriggled one arm free. She batted her fist against his forearm, and the knifethumpedto the floor.

Elanna dug her fingernails into the man’s arm as he strained to grab the knife. But his other elbow pinned her shoulder while that hand stayed firm on her mouth. She couldn’t scream, couldn’t get out from under him, but she managed to kick the foot of her bed.

“Lady Elanna?” Tolvar’s voice came from the corridor.

The knife too far from reach, the man shifted again and grasped both hands around her throat, cutting off her air.

Tap. Tap.“Lady Elanna?” Tolvar’s voice seemed far away.

The man’s grip tightened. Elanna kicked the bed again. ’Twas impossible to concentrate on anything but his calloused hands.

The knob of the door jiggled.

She could no longer hear the rain outside. Only a buzzing in her ears. Pressure in her head.

“Elanna!” Tolvar yelled. He pounded on the door. “Elanna! Let me in!”

Her arms and feet went limp. Somewhere in the painful tunnel of darkness she drifted further and further into, the pounding on the door kept her from blacking out completely.

“Elanna!” Tolvar’s voice sounded like it was underwater now.

Her eyes closed. Her heartbeat slowed.

There was nothing.

Suddenly, the man’s weight was thrown off her. Air rushed into her lungs as his fingers broke from her neck.

She gasped, taking in huge breaths, the pressure gone, but the pain very much real.

She was vaguely aware of two shadows fighting. One shoved the other into the wardrobe, the pitcher and basin smashing to the floor. The other kicked his thigh and then punched him square in the face. Someone made anoofsound. He recovered and swung two quick jabs. The man staggered back into the wall but shook it off, drawing a knife.