< previous page page_280 next page >

Page 280
stopped. Geoffrey applied the spur again, but it was too late to avoid the oncoming mob. He could do no more than back his horse into a break between two buildings, pass his reins into the hand that was holding Joanna, and unsheathe his sword again.
In an ordinary way such a mob, armed only with knives and snatched-up makeshift clubs, was no danger to a mounted man with a real weapon in hand. Usually the destrier would fight too, with death-dealing hooves and snapping teeth, but Orage was too tired to lift and slash with his front hooves. Indeed, Geoffrey expected the poor creature would drop dead of a burst heart at any moment. Worse, Geoffrey could not swing his sword freely because of Joanna. Had he known they would need to stand and fight, he would have seated her pillion behind him. While he still thought they could escape in front of the mob, of course, he wished to hold her before him so he could protect her with his body. Also he feared she would not be able to hold on alone.
Howls of glee greeted Geoffrey's defensive move. He ground his teeth and then tightened his arm as he felt Joanna shift in the saddle. "Loose me." Her voice was thin, but clear. "Loose me, I wish to take hold of your ax. Defend your right. I will defend your left."
Geoffrey's mouth opened, but nothing came out. He knew in extremity a woman might try to defend herself with her knife, but the perfectly collected manner in which Joanna reached down, looped the leather thong of the ax over one wrist, and hefted it in both hands left him voiceless. She was worse than her mother! Even in Ian's worst tirades about his headstrong wife he had never accused Alinor of seizing his weapons.
The sword on one side, the ax on the other, made the leaders of the mob hesitate. In that one quiet instant, Joanna's eyes took in the markings on the weapon she had lifted.
"Geoffrey!" she cried, "Beloved! You are safe!"
No single remark could have been further from the truth or more ridiculous. As if to underscore the wild inaccuracy, before Joanna's last word was quite out of her mouth, the

 
< previous page page_280 next page >