out but unwilling to give up what she had clutched to her chest. None of them was more than seven years old.
Selik ordered his men to stop before riding in alone, looking around for any local men or women who might have intervened. Apparently, though, this end of the cobbled main road into the heart of Erskan was deserted.
The two boys ignored him as he reined in and dismounted but the girl stared at him, not sure if he was saviour or robber. He stepped smoothly between them, shielding the girl, his cloak billowing, giving her assailants no sight of her. His hood he kept well forward. He had no intention of showing them his face.
‘Must we steal from our sisters to survive?’ he slurred through his partly paralysed mouth.
‘She won’t share,’ said one of the boys, his eyes sunken into a face gaunt with hunger.
‘But does she have enough to share, I wonder?’ asked Selik. ‘And would you have shared with her, eh?’
He turned his head to see the girl, dirty-faced with short black hair and tiny ears, weighing up whether or not to run. He held out a hand. ‘Stand by me, child. They won’t harm you.’
Reluctantly, she did so, her hand small and fragile in his fingers. He smiled, happy she couldn’t see what it did to his face.
‘Now,’ he said gently. ‘Show me what you were so keen to have to yourself.’
The other hand came away from her chest to display her prize. It was bread, a filthy crust, but there wasn’t enough to satisfy one of these tattered children and what there was came covered in dirt and speckled with lurid mould. That they would fight over this . . .
‘I tell you what,’ he said, trying to mask his disgust. ‘Why don’t you give me that and I’ll fetch food enough for you all?’
The girl gaped in amazement but the boys, who had been shifting about nervously, unwilling to desert any potential scrap to eat, frowned in concert.
‘Why would you do that?’ asked the other boy, a freckle-faced lad with filthy light brown hair and dried snot on his upper lip. He wasn’t dressed in rags, it was just that his clothes had been worn too long. They were shabby, but not in tatters.
‘Because you are hungry and we can spare food for the three of you. And because I am a good man, following a just cause.’
‘Who are you then?’ asked the girl, simultaneously tightening her grip on his hand and proffering the repulsive crust.
Selik accepted it and began walking back towards his men, his horse following obediently behind him and the children. ‘Well, young lady, my name is Selik and I am in charge of a group trying to help people like you and your parents and all your friends. We’re called the Black Wings. Have you heard of us?’
The girl shook her head. So did the two boys who walked the other side of him. Selik felt a grim satisfaction.
‘Ah well, never mind. But I tell you what. In order for us to help you and all those you love get better and for there to be more food, when I give you something to eat will you tell me where some people are?’
The girl shrugged but nodded.
‘Thank you. What’s your name?’
‘Elise,’ said the girl.
‘A lovely name for a lovely girl.’
‘Why do you wear a hood?’ one of the boys asked abruptly.
Selik stopped and glared at him, and saw the boy shrink back. His face might have been effectively hidden but the glint of his one good eye wouldn’t be.
‘Because when you fight evil, sometimes you get hurt. And now my face frightens little boys and girls and they think badly of me,’ he said, fighting to remain calm. ‘Now then, your food.’ He clicked his fingers at the nearest rider. ‘Devun, give some dried meat and some of that spring fruit you found to each of these three. They are hungry and their need is greater than ours.’
Devun raised his eyebrows but unclasped a saddlebag and fetched out some wrapped packages. Giving each one a sniff as he produced it, he passed on three to Selik. The Black Wing commander unwrapped them and showed the contents to the children; two contained strips of dried meat, and one soft fruit, turning to overripe.
‘Now, this food will last you a while if you’re careful, and I don’t want to hear that you have fought over it.’ He let his gaze linger on