Can you keep up?
I can hide, far more easily than you can. Instead of thinking of what I will do, you should think of what you should do.
There was little enough we could do. I remounted, kicked Myblack and caught up with the others. ‘We should try for more speed.’
Laurel gave me a look, but said nothing. Only a shift in Lord Golden’s posture betrayed he had heard me, but in answer Malta sprang forwards. Myblack suddenly decided she would not be outdone. She leapt forwards, and in four strides we led the way. I kept my eyes on the ground as we hurried along. It looked as if the Prince and his fellows had made for the shelter of some trees; I applauded their decision. I looked forwards to gaining the cover. I urged a bit more speed from Myblack and led us all directly into the ambush.
A mental shout from Nighteyes prompted me to rein to one side. Laurel took the arrow, dropping to the earth with a cry. The shot had been intended for me. Fury and horror blazed up in me and I rode Myblack straight at the stand of trees. My luck was that there was only one archer, and he had not had time to nock another arrow. As we passed under the downsweeping branches, I stood up in my stirrups, miraculously caught a firm hold and pulled myself up on the branch. The archer was trying to swing his arm to bring the arrow to bear on me, but the intervening small branches were hampering him. There was no time to think about consequences. I launched myself at him, springing like a wolf. We fell in a tangle of two men and the bow. A projecting branch nearly broke my shoulder without breaking our fall. It turned us in the air. We landed with the young archer on top of me.
The impact slammed the air out of me. I could think but not act. Nighteyes saved me the need. He dashed in, a rush of claws and teeth that swept the youth off my body. I felt our attacker’s surprised attempt at a repel against Nighteyes. I think he was too shocked to put much strength into it. I lay on the earth as they fought beside me, trying frantically to pull air into my lungs. He swung a fist but Nighteyes dodged and seized his passing wrist. The archer shrieked and launched a wild kick at the wolf. I felt its stunning impact. Nighteyes kept his hold but lost the strength in it. As the man wrenched his torn wrist from the wolf’s jaws, I found enough breath to act.
From where I lay, I kicked the archer in the head. I flung myself on top of the man. My hands found his throat as Nighteyes seized his right calf in his jaws and hung on. The man flopped wildly between us but could not escape. Nighteyes worried his leg. I squeezed his throat and held on until I felt his struggles cease. Even then, I kept a grip on his throat with one hand as my other found my belt knife. The entire world had shrunk to a reddened circle that was my vision of his face.
‘… kill him! Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him!’
Lord Golden’s shouts penetrated my mind finally as I held the knife to our attacker’s throat. I had never been less inclined to listen. Yet as the red haze of battle faded from my vision, I found myself looking down at a boy little older than Hap. His blue eyes stood out in their sockets, both in horror of death and for lack of air. Something in our fall had scraped the side of his face and blood stood out in fine rows on his cheek. I loosened my grip and Nighteyes dropped his leg. But still I straddled his chest and held my knife to his throat. I was not at all sentimental as to the innocence of young boys. We’d already seen this one’s bow-work. He would as soon kill me as not. I kept my gaze on him as I asked the Fool, ‘Is Laurel dead?’
‘Scarcely!’ The incensed voice was female. Laurel staggered over to us. A glance showed me her hand clamped tight to the point of her shoulder. Blood was leaking through her fingers. She had already pulled the arrow out.
‘Did you get the head out?’ I asked quickly.
‘I would not have pulled it out if I hadn’t been sure I could get the whole thing,’ she replied waspishly. Pain did not improve her temperament. She was pale but two bright spots of colour stood on her cheeks. She looked down at the boy I straddled and her eyes went very wide. I heard her take a ragged breath.
Nighteyes stood beside me, panting heavily. We should get out of here. The thought was sluggish with pain. Others may come. Those who follow or those who went ahead. I saw the boy’s brow furrow.
I glanced at Laurel. ‘Can you ride as you are? Because we must leave here. We need to question him, but this isn’t the time. We don’t want to be caught by those who follow, or by his friends coming back for him.’
I could tell by her eyes that she didn’t know the answer to my question but she lied bravely. ‘I can ride. Let’s go. I, too, have questions I’d like to ask this one.’ The archer stared at her, horror-stricken at the venom in her voice. He suddenly bucked under me, trying to escape. I backhanded him with my free hand. ‘Don’t try that again. It’s much easier for me to kill you than drag you along.’
He knew I spoke truth. His eyes went to Lord Golden and then to Laurel before his gaze came back to me. He peered up at me, blood leaking from his nose and I recognized his shocked look. This was a young man who had killed, but never before been in imminent danger of being killed. I felt oddly qualified to introduce him to the sensation. No doubt I had once worn that same expression.
‘On your feet.’ Fifteen years ago, I would have backed up the command by hauling him upright. Now I kept a grip on his shirt front but let him stand up himself. I was short of breath after our tussle, and not inclined to spend my reserves on a show of strength. Nighteyes lay down on the moss beneath the tree, unabashedly panting.
Disappear, I suggested to him.
In a moment.
The archer stared from me to my wolf and back again, confusion growing in his eyes. I refused to meet his gaze. Instead, I cut the leather thong that fastened the collar of his shirt. He flinched as my knife blade tugged through it. I jerked the leather loose, and roughly turned him. ‘Your hands,’ I demanded, and without quibbling, he put them behind him. The fight seemed to have gone out of him. The teethmarks in his arm were still bleeding. I tied his wrists tightly together. I completed my task and glanced up to find Laurel glowering at my prisoner. Obviously, she was taking the attack personally. Perhaps no one had ever tried to kill her before. The first time is always a memorable experience.
Lord Golden assisted Laurel into the saddle. I knew she wanted to refuse his help, but didn’t dare. Missing her mount would be more humiliating than accepting his support. That left Myblack to carry my captive and me. Neither my horse nor I were happy with it. I picked up the archer’s bow, and after a moment’s hesitation, flung it up into the tree where it snagged and hung. With luck, no one passing here would happen to glance up and see it. From the way he stared after it, I knew it had been precious to him.
I took up Myblack’s reins. ‘I’m going to mount,’ I told my captive. ‘Then I’m going to reach down and pull you up behind me. If you don’t cooperate, I’m going to knock you cold and leave you for those others. You know the ones I mean. The ones you thought we were, the killers from the village.’
He moistened his lips. The whole side of his face had started to puff and darken. For the first time, he spoke. ‘You aren’t with them?’
I stared at him coldly. ‘Did you even wonder about that before you shot at me?’ I demanded. I mounted my horse.
‘You were following our trail,’ he pointed out. He looked over at the woman he had shot and his expression was almost stricken. ‘I thought you were the villagers coming to kill us. Truly.’
I rode Myblack over to him and reached down. After an instant’s hesitation, he hitched his shoulder up towards me. I got a firm grip on his upper arm. Myblack snorted and turned in a circle, but after two hops, he managed to get a leg over her. I gave him a moment to settle behind me, and then told him, ‘Sit tight. She’s a tall horse. Throw yourself off her, you’ll likely break a shoulder.’
I glanced back the way we had come. There was still no sign of pursuit, but I had a sense of our luck running out. I looked around. The trail of the Witted led uphill, but I didn’t want to follow them further until I had wrung from this boy whatever he knew. My eyes plotted out a possible