“My father taught me that a man is only your enemy until he falls.”
She nodded. “Your father sounds like a wise man,” she said, and wrung the excess water from the shirt, then began to clean the soldier’s face and chest, looking for the wound.
“He was. My name is Hadrian, by the way.”
“Miranda,” she replied. “Pleased to meet you. Thank you for saving our lives. I assume the Nationalists defeated Lord Dermont?”
Hadrian nodded. “It wasn’t much of a battle. We caught them sleeping.”
Pulling up the soldier’s hauberk and tearing back his tunic, she wiped his skin and found a puncture streaming blood.
“I hope you aren’t terribly attached to this shirt,” she told Hadrian as she tore it in two. She used half as a pad, and the other half to tie it tight about the man’s waist. “Let’s hope that will stop the bleeding. A few stitches would help, but I doubt a needle could be spared for him right now.”
Hadrian looked the man over. “I think he’ll live, thanks to you.”
This brought a shallow smile to her lips. She dipped her blood-covered hands in the bucket and splashed water on her face. Looking out across the square, she muttered, “So many dead.”
Hadrian nodded.
Her eyes landed on Carat, a hand went to her mouth, and her eyes started to tear. “He was such a help to us,” she said. “Someone said he was a thief, but he proved himself a hero today. Who would have thought that thieves would stick out their necks? I saw their leader, Polish, shoot the sheriff.”
Hadrian smiled. “If you ask him, he’ll tell you you’re mistaken.”
“Thieves with hearts, who’d have thought?” she said.
“I’m not so sure I would go that far.”
“No? Then where are the vultures?”
Hadrian looked up at the sky, then, realizing his own stupidity, shook his head. “You mean the looters?” He looked around. “You’re right. I didn’t even notice until now.”
She nodded. Hadrian’s medallion reflected the sunlight, catching her eye. Miranda pointed. “That necklace, where did you get it?”
“My father.”
“Your father? Really? My older brother has one just like it.”
Hadrian’s heart raced. “Your brother has a necklace like this?”
She nodded.
Hadrian looked around the square, suddenly concerned. “Is he …”
She thought a moment. “I don’t think so,” she said. “At least, my heart tells me he’s still alive.”
Hadrian tried to control his racing thoughts. “How old is your brother?”
“I think he’d be about forty now, I guess.”
“You guess?”
She nodded. “We never celebrated his birthday, which was always kind of strange. You see, my mother adopted him. She was the midwife at his birth and …” She hesitated. “Things didn’t go well. Anyway, my mother kept an amulet just like yours and gave it to my brother as his inheritance the day he left home.”
“What do you mean things didn’t go well with the birth?” Hadrian asked.
“The mother died—that sort of thing happens, you know. Mothers die all the time in childbirth. It’s not at all uncommon. It just happens. We should probably look for other wounded—”
“You’re lying,” Hadrian shot back.
She started to stand but Hadrian grabbed her arm. “This is very important. I must know everything you can tell me about the night your brother was born.”
She hesitated but Hadrian held her tight.
“It wasn’t her fault. There was nothing she could do. They were all dead. She was just scared. Who wouldn’t be!”
“It’s okay. I’m not accusing your mother of anything. I just need to know what happened.” He held up his amulet. “This necklace belonged to my father. He was there that night.”
“Your father, but no one …” He saw realization in her eyes. “The swordsman covered in blood?”
“Yes.” Hadrian nodded. “Does your mother still live in the city? Can I speak to her?”
“My mother died several years ago.”
“Do you know what happened? I have to know. It’s very important.”
She looked around, and when she was sure no one could overhear, she said, “A priest came to my mother one night looking for a midwife and took her to a boardinghouse, where a woman was giving birth. While my mother worked to deliver the baby, a fight started on the street. My mother had just delivered the first child—”
“First child?”
Miranda nodded. “She could see another was on the way, but men in black broke into the room. My mother hid in a wardrobe. The husband fought, but they killed his wife, child, and another man who came to help. The father took off his necklace—like the one you wear—and put it around the neck of the dead baby. There was still fighting on the street out front and the husband ran out of the room.