“I said, understand?” the intruder repeated. Obviously, he wanted a response. She tried to speak but her mouth was dry with fear. Finally, she managed to say, in a voice that was barely above a whisper:
“I understand.”
Again, she heard a slight sound of movement. Then to her relief, she realised that the man was moving away from her.
“Make sure you do,” that horrible voice continued. She heard the soft click of her door latch as he carefully lifted it. He was going, she thought, and relief flooded through her. The hinges squeaked as the door opened, then he spoke again.
“Don’t look after me. And don’t try to follow me. I’ll know if you do. And the Stealer will come for you one dark night.”
She shivered. The faceless threat of the Stealer, the horror of the very name, made her blood run cold. The door closed quietly and the presence, whoever it was, was gone.
For at least twenty seconds, she lay motionless, paralysed by fear. Then, slowly, fear began to be replaced by anger. She wasn’t a helpless child, to be frightened by a voice in the dark. She was an apprentice Ranger! She had been trained to use her saxe, her throwing knife, her bow and her sling. She had been trained to fight without weapons if necessary. She was a member of a proud and highly skilled Corps. And she was its first female member! If she were to lie here now, quaking under the blankets at the sound of a croaky-voiced foreigner who didn’t dare show his face, and who threatened her with some vague character out of a horror story, she would be letting down the Corps. And she would be proving that all those doubters (and she knew there were many) who said a girl didn’t have what it took to make it as a Ranger were right!
It was the last thought that galvanised her into action. She swung her legs off the bed, bringing the saxe out from under the pillow. She was already dressed. The cold night air had seen to that. She started for the door, then hesitated. Her sling and the saxe’s scabbard belt were looped over the bedhead. Along with the scabbard, the belt held her shot pouch, with twenty lead shot nestled inside. She scooped both up, putting the belt over her shoulder and sheathing the saxe as she did so. The sling remained in her right hand, ready for action. As she opened the door, her left hand was scrabbling in the shot pouch for one of the smooth, heavy lead projectiles.
She loaded the shot into the sling and made her way softly down the stairs, placing her weight to the sides, close to the walls, to minimise movement and creaking. In the tap room she glanced round quickly. The window was gaping open, its simple lock bent and distorted. That was how the intruder had entered, she realised. The front door was also slightly ajar. She hurried across to it now, went to throw it open, then hesitated.
Her heart was racing and she realised that it would be foolish to plunge headlong out the door. The intruder could be watching and waiting to see if she had followed him. Instead, she opened it a crack and slipped through the opening, staying close to the wall, in the dark shadow of the low-hanging eaves.
She glanced around the street, eyes straining for some sign of movement. Nothing. She cursed quietly. Had he escaped in the time that she was lying, quaking in fear, under the blankets? She didn’t see how he could have. She hadn’t taken that long to gather the resolve to come after him. Her eyes raked the shadows of the street and she thought she saw a blur of movement forty metres away, in the narrow alley between two houses.
As she did, she felt a stabbing pain in her stockinged foot as she trod on a sharp stone.
Gasping in pain, she bent over to seize her foot in a reflex action—and saved her life by doing so.
Something heavy whirred over her head and thudded into the wood of the door frame behind her. Now she could see her attacker more clearly. He was a dark shape in a gap between two houses and as she watched, his arm went back, preparing to throw another projectile.
Her training clicked into place. She straightened up and reacted to the threat without thinking. Arm back, step forward, then whip the sling over and through. The lead shot flashed away on its journey and, a fraction of a second later, she saw the man’s arm jerk forward as he threw in his turn. Instinctively, she dropped flat to the ground.
The shot, with the extra impetus of the sling to propel it, hit its target first. She heard an ugly, meaty smack and a muted cry of pain from her attacker as it struck home. Then the dark figure staggered, threw out his arms and crashed over on his back. A second later, the projectile he’d thrown slammed into the door behind her, a metre and a half above where she lay prone.
She rose, her eyes intent on the dark shape on the ground. Automatically, she loaded another shot into the sling and moved towards him, placing her feet carefully, making as little noise as possible. She felt horribly exposed as she moved into the open street, where the pale moonlight suddenly seemed to be as bright as day. She followed a curving path as she approached him, looping out to the right, then coming back in. That way, if he was foxing and suddenly sat up, she wouldn’t be where he expected her to be.
A part of her mind wondered at the effortless way she had carried out the sequence of actions. Responding to the attack, dropping flat, now moving in a half circle to approach him, the sling dangling, ready for use, from her right hand and slightly behind her. They were all things that had been dinned into her head over and over again in her lessons with Will.
The man didn’t move as she got closer. She paused a few metres away. She could see no sign of movement, no sign that he was still breathing. She realised that at close range, the sling would be useless. She stuffed it quickly into a pocket and drew the saxe. The soft whisper of steel on leather and wool was strangely comforting.
She circled round him, staying out of reach of his arms and legs, and moved closer. She knelt by him and she could see the wound on his forehead. His eyes were wide open and staring and she knew he was dead.
For a moment, she was numb with horror. Then her stomach lurched as she realised that she had killed a man. She wanted to be ill but she controlled herself with an effort, and sat back on her haunches to study him. She had reacted instinctively when she hurled the shot at him. It was an automatic reaction—and one of self-preservation and self-defence. She hadn’t had time to think of the possible result. The man had already tried to kill her with the first missile he had thrown. He was about to throw a second. If she hadn’t retaliated, it was she who would be lying dead now. She remembered how his second missile had whizzed overhead, remembered the vicious thuds as both missiles had slammed into the inn doorway.
It had been him or her. As she considered the fact, remembering how he had threatened her and tried to terrify her to gain her silence, and then twice tried to murder her, she found she couldn’t regret her actions. She had done what she had to do.
He was dressed all in black. A black woollen skull cap. Black trousers tucked into black felt boots, and a black woollen shirt under a short, waist-length cloak with a high collar. A black leather belt around his waist held a long, curved-bladed dagger in a sheath. He had dark hair and a dark, drooping moustache—uncommon among Araluan men—and his skin was swarthy.
Under the cloak, she could see a leather strap crossing his chest diagonally. She moved the cloak aside with the point of her saxe and revealed a flat leather satchel hanging by his left side. It was impossible to remove it easily, encumbered as it was by the cloak and the fact that he was lying on the strap where it crossed his back.
She slipped the saxe under the strap and sliced easily through it, then tugged the satchel clear.
Inside were a few personal effects: a few coins and a small, short-bladed knife that might be used for eating, an iron spoon, a flint and steel. Her interest was piqued by two cross-shaped items. She took one out carefully and examined it. It consisted of a heavy brass disk, with four blades set around its circumference at right angles to each other. The blades were approximately eight centimetres long. Their edges were smooth but the points were razor-sharp.