In Which Lynde Takes A Prisoner

From the diary of Dulcie, Crown Princess of Bentlefay:

I do believe that it’s finally all over. The surprise attack came last night, and they did have something up their sleeves after all, but thanks to Lynde they failed, and Bentlefay was saved. Although when I think about it, Bentlefay has been saved by so many people – Tom Crowder and the Dumcruckles in the north, Nicholas Rafe in Marshweather’s court and every soldier who raised a sword last night. And now Lynde. I suppose it’s some measure of the worth of a nation when so many of its citizens are willing to fight for it. Marshweather’s men folded like scraps of paper, by contrast.

We knew from Rafe that it would be sometime in these few days, so we had a great many scouts fanning out around the capital to get the best warning. The call came just before dawn – not that we’ve been sleeping very well in the first place. Lynde was at my bedside before I was fully awake, and told me to get into riding clothes. I asked if we were going somewhere, not being very intelligent at that hour, and she said she hoped not, but I would move most swiftly in riding clothes and if we did have to flee I’d be all ready. She was wearing leather armor herself, and looked magnificent, with her hair tied back by a black leather band.

I got dressed and splashed some water on my face, and then we composed ourselves to wait. It was the eeriest feeling to sit and do nothing while men fought and fell within earshot. I realized I had never heard arrows shot before – I mean, of course I had seen tournaments and target practice, but when hundreds of men loose hundreds of arrows within a few seconds, it makes the deadliest sharp hiss. I stayed just inside the window, so I could hear, but in the lee of the wall, so if anything came in I’d be in shelter. Lynde kept moving, from the window to the door on the perimeter of the room, and for someone so large I was interested to see that she didn’t make a sound.

It seemed like hours that we waited, but only because we were waiting, you know – they told me afterward that the fighting part didn’t even last an hour, and the men who were fighting thought it seemed like seconds. I suppose that’s how time works in anyone’s mind. In any case, the shooting had stopped and the sword fighting was going on – horrible loud clashing, except when it thudded and you knew someone had been hurt – when there was a scuffling sound at the door. I started toward the door to answer it, although when I thought about it later, of course anyone with a right to be there would have knocked, and that’s how Lynde knew there was danger.

She was at my side in a moment, and pushed me up back against the wall with her hands on my shoulders. “Stay right here,” she breathed with her lips next to my ear. “You are safest with me, but if I am overcome, be ready to run.” And before I had a chance to nod, she was back across the room again without having made a sound.

Dawn was well under way now, and you could see pretty decently in the room although it was still rather dim. I heard the scuffling again, and then a sort of rhythmic fretting sound, and then the latch popped up and the door swung slowly into the room. It was still too dim to see anything but a shape, and in any case he was dressed in black with a hood over his head. Lynde was waiting just inside the door, and she let him get fully into the room before she kicked it closed behind him and just leaped.

I am too stupid about fighting to know exactly what went on, but there was a great deal of thrashing about and grunting. It came to me that I’ve never really seen Lynde fight before, any more than I’d heard arrows – of course I’d seen her practice, but that had been quite good-natured and all in sport, and whoever lost got up and shook hands and said what they would do differently next time. This was real intent to harm on both sides, and although she never shouted or seemed angry, I thought there was an underlying rage in Lynde, and if this man didn’t die today at her hands it certainly wasn’t because she didn’t want to kill him.

The man was large – as tall as Lynde and broad in the shoulder, and he seemed strong in proportion, but she got him to drop his dagger almost immediately and from then on in it was bare hands. It only lasted a few minutes but when they stopped he was face down on the floor, with his hands behind his back and Lynde sitting on them. She nodded at me, so I came away from the window to look at him, and she pulled away his hood so we could see his face.

(continued here)