took a deep breath. “We need to take you to see Count Von Stemitz, Von Welf. There is something he’s got to tell you.”
Von Welf smiled a particularly unpleasant smile. “We’ll be seeing him soon enough. As soon as the bell in Saint Mark’s Square begins to ring continuously. His name is on the top of our list.”
There was a moment’s silence. Erik heard footsteps shuffling behind him; quietly, as if heavily armored men were trying to move stealthily across a tile floor. Two or three of the knights in the salon were coming up behind him and Manfred.
He was quite certain of their purpose, and had to fight down a savage smile.
In the distance a bell began to ring. “That’s early,” said Von Stublau, quietly, almost conversationally. “But it’s the signal. Such a pity that Petro Dorma ordered you killed. The evidence and report are on their way to the Brenner pass right now.”
But Erik was moving before the Prussian had finished the last sentence. He knocked Manfred aside with a thrust of his right arm and spun to the left, dropping to one knee as he did so. The poignard in the hand of the knight assigned to stab him in the back passed overhead harmlessly. An instant later, the Algonquian hatchet sheared through the knee joint in the knight’s armor.
The knight screamed and toppled forward. Erik rose up beneath him and added his own thrust to the topple, sending the armored
Von Welf smiled a particularly unpleasant smile. “We’ll be seeing him soon enough. As soon as the bell in Saint Mark’s Square begins to ring continuously. His name is on the top of our list.”
There was a moment’s silence. Erik heard footsteps shuffling behind him; quietly, as if heavily armored men were trying to move stealthily across a tile floor. Two or three of the knights in the salon were coming up behind him and Manfred.
He was quite certain of their purpose, and had to fight down a savage smile.
In the distance a bell began to ring. “That’s early,” said Von Stublau, quietly, almost conversationally. “But it’s the signal. Such a pity that Petro Dorma ordered you killed. The evidence and report are on their way to the Brenner pass right now.”
But Erik was moving before the Prussian had finished the last sentence. He knocked Manfred aside with a thrust of his right arm and spun to the left, dropping to one knee as he did so. The poignard in the hand of the knight assigned to stab him in the back passed overhead harmlessly. An instant later, the Algonquian hatchet sheared through the knee joint in the knight’s armor.
The knight screamed and toppled forward. Erik rose up beneath him and added his own thrust to the topple, sending the armored