that Briac had managed to pin both of Catherine’s arms behind her. Catherine struggled as he pressed her against the tree, kissing her, one of his hands tugging at her waistband.
“No!” Catherine said, ripping her head away from his at last.
“It’s all right,” Briac told her, his words barely above a whisper. “I’ve wanted you all year…”
He pushed his lips against hers, and his hand disappeared beneath her waistband. Maud felt her feet speed up as she moved down the hill toward them.
Catherine twisted her head back, then swung it forward. Her forehead cracked into his nose. He cried out and let go.
“Get off me!” she yelled, pushing him.
Briac was stunned by the head butt, but only for a moment. In the next instant, he hit Catherine across the face, his open hand making a loud crack as it connected with her cheek.
Catherine fell to the side, but Maud saw at once that this was a feint. Halfway through the fall, her hands took hold of Briac’s shoulders and her knee came up into his groin with enough force that he gasped and stepped backward, clutching himself. Catherine came after him, shoving him down onto the ground and hitting him about his head. Briac raised his arms to fend her off, and she took the opportunity to bring her knee into his groin again.
Maud had stopped walking. Catherine was fighting back ably and did not need help. Of course not, she thought. The girl is almost a full Seeker.
As Briac rolled over on the ground, Catherine drew a knife from the small of her back and cut the waistband of his trousers. She ripped the material down, exposing his underclothes.
“How do you like it?” she whispered, out of breath.
The boy clutched himself and watched her from the forest floor as she stood and brushed herself off. He didn’t try to get up as she jogged away.
After some distance, Catherine caught sight of Maud and came to a stop. The Young Dread realized she was standing completely in the open, and her right arm was cocked back, a knife blade still clutched in her fingers, ready to throw at Briac Kincaid. Catherine looked surprised.
I have surprised myself, the Young thought. These apprentices can take care of themselves. We Dreads must keep ourselves apart.
In one fluid motion, Maud tucked the knife back into its place and turned, continuing on her original path south, toward hunting. But Catherine’s footsteps were following her now. When the Young Dread did not turn or change her pace, she heard Catherine coming faster, and then the girl was at her side.
“You were going to help me?” she asked, walking along with the Young Dread. “Why?”
Maud glanced at her. Up close, she was struck by the girl’s resemblance to one of the other apprentices, a girl named Anna. Of course, that must be Catherine’s older sister. They had the same light hair and the same blue eyes. But Anna was more like every other apprentice—she lacked Catherine’s inquisitiveness.
Catherine said, “I thought you weren’t supposed to interfere in fights between Seekers.”
“You’re not a Seeker yet,” Maud replied evenly.
“I can handle myself.”
“I’m sure Briac Kincaid understands that now as well.”
“I’ve never liked him,” the girl said, almost conversationally, keeping up with Maud. “We’re supposed to put aside family grudges while we’re here—you know, the estate’s neutral ground. But I shouldn’t have let him get so close.” Catherine examined her hands. One of her knuckles was bleeding. She put it to her mouth as she glanced around the forest, then let out a small, joyless laugh. “You’d be surprised at the different people you meet in these woods.”
“You will be sworn soon, and free to go where you will,” Maud told her.
“But how much of a Seeker will I be?”
The Young Dread wondered what the girl meant, but she was not inclined to ask. Already she’d inserted herself too much into this apprentice’s life, made herself too accessible. The Dreads must keep separate. That was the oath of the Dreads: to uphold the three laws of Seekers and to stand apart from humanity, so their heads were clear to judge.
“My family’s athame has been missing since…a hundred years or something,” Catherine went on, as though Maud had invited her to elaborate. “The estate is missing tools we’re supposed to have for training. So how much of a Seeker will I be when I take my oath? I’ll be half of what Seekers used to be. Less than half, since I’ve got