Scarlett Emberheart's Arc

Chapter 4 of 14

Scarlett had walked back from the arena gate to a rented room above a shop in the market town, boots heavy, sword still on her hip. She unbuckled the top strap of her breastplate and sat on the edge of the cot. Before she could lie down, a fist hit the door three times. She opened it with the sword in her left hand. Two guards stood on the landing in crown livery. Between them stood Sir Konic in black plate trimmed with gold, a red cape at his shoulders. He did not ask to come in. He walked past her, and the guards followed. Konic set a folded paper on the small table. It bore the broken wax of Aldric's seal. "You fight under an exiled prince," he said. "Tell me where he is." Scarlett stayed by the open door. "The charter takes his seal," she said. "The marshal read it and passed me through. Where he sleeps is not on the form." Konic's jaw tightened. He picked up the paper, turned it, set it down again. "He is a traitor to the crown. You carry his mark. That makes you one too." "Then strike my name from the book," she said. "You cannot. You know you cannot." He looked at her for a long moment. He knew the charter as well as she did. He had read it before he came. "No," he said at last. "I cannot. You will be allowed to compete." He smiled then, small and thin, and stepped in close as if to shake her hand. The punch came under the smile. His gauntlet drove into her chest below the loosened strap. The wind went out of her. She hit the floor on one knee, sword clattering flat. The guards did not move. Konic crouched so his face was near hers. "You are a traitor tonight," he said quietly. "The only reason my men do not open your throat on this floor is the prince. Give me his room and you walk into the arena tomorrow with a clean name. Keep him hidden and you walk in marked." She could not speak yet. She shook her head once. Konic stood. He picked up the folded paper with Aldric's seal and slid it inside his cloak. "Then you keep him alive with your silence," he said, "and you keep yourself alive the same way. Until one runs out." He walked to the door. The guards followed. He paused on the landing. "Sleep if you can, knight. You fight in the morning." The door shut. Scarlett stayed on the floor, one hand flat on the boards, the other pressed to her chest, and listened to their boots go down the stairs into the market town below.