The noblewoman snatched the sword from the older woman’s hands. The elder mourner snarled in cheated outrage, but one look from the noble and she shrank into sullen submission.
“Lift him.” The noble nodded to the two breathless boys who had led the charge.
The two teenage boys roughly pulled the soldier from the ground and held him upright. Everson’s brown face was bloodied, and he could barely stand of his own accord. He viewed the strange woman through a haze of pain as she stepped exceedingly close to him, as if observing him from a normal distance was not assessment enough. He very nearly expected her to sniff him.
“An Indiran soldier…” she murmured lightly. A small smile played about her lips. The peculiar stone embedded in her forehead seemed to pulse with a faint light. “Perhaps
