noted how Juhkar’s arrowhead tracked steadily from left to right, then stopped.
The tall man loosed his arrow and immediately sprinted from cover, Vaelin close on his heels. The smoke swirled around them then parted to reveal a stocky man lying on the ground, hands clutching at the arrow jutting from his shoulder. Seeing them he let out a furious snarl and Vaelin recognised the man who had bound him in Kehlbrand’s tent after the murder of the Jade Princess. Mouthing curses, the stocky man raised a bloody trembling hand towards them, then died as Juhkar stepped forward to put his second arrow through his throat.
“Down!” Vaelin said, shoving the Gifted aside as a large silhouette loomed out of the smoke, sabre raised for a killing stroke. The blade whistled close to Juhkar’s head as he ducked, then grated on Vaelin’s blade as he turned it aside and thrust at the Stahlhast warrior’s face. The man was swift, however, dancing back, sabre angled to parry another thrust. Vaelin feinted a swipe at the man’s arm, then whirled to the right in a crouch, the sword sweeping in a broad arc to bite deep into the Stahlhast’s leg.
Vaelin left the man yelling and bleeding, pulling Juhkar along as they fled into the smoke. He could hear shouted commands above the flames, accompanied by the dull thrum of bowstrings. Arrows snapped the air as they ran, finding refuge behind a tumble-down hut the flames hadn’t yet reached.
“Where?” Vaelin asked Juhkar in a whisper but the Gifted’s answer was swallowed by a rumbling crash of thunder. A second later Vaelin felt the damp kiss of moisture on his skin and looked up to see dark clouds roiling above the drifting smoke.
“That old Tuhla bastard!” Juhkar cursed, nocking another arrow to his bow. Rain began to fall in thick sheets, the smoke soon thinning to a wispy mist. Fortunately, the rain was so heavy it provided a measure of continued cover, Vaelin watching a trio of Stahlhast sprint heedlessly by their hiding spot. Even so, with the flames now diminishing to a dull orange glow, it was clear their time here was over.
“Make for the ridgetop,” Vaelin told Juhkar. “I’ll guard your back.” The tracker didn’t seem to hear, eyes lowered once more as his gift brought fresh prey.
“Leave it,” Vaelin hissed, reaching out to restrain him but it was too late. Juhkar’s head snapped up and he was gone, charging off to be swallowed by the shifting grey curtain of unceasing rain. Vaelin grunted in annoyance and ran in pursuit, hearing the snap of a bowstring some yards ahead. He rounded a corner to find Juhkar back-pedalling and frantically attempting to nock another arrow to his bow as a Stahlhast woman advanced on him, sabre moving in rapid arcs. Beyond them lay the body of an elderly man in patchy leather armour. Juhkar had made sure with his first arrow this time, spitting the fellow through the neck. As the old man coughed blood and shuddered to stillness the rain ebbed into a thin drizzle.
A shout of frustration again drew Vaelin’s gaze to Juhkar, finding him on his back, bow raised like a staff as he made ready to ward off the Stahlhast’s killing stroke. Vaelin snatched the hunting knife from his belt and sent it spinning towards the warrior, the blade finding the gap below the rear of her helm and sinking up to the hilt.
Vaelin hauled Juhkar to his feet, pushing him towards the upper end of the village. The rain had stopped altogether now, the unnatural clouds fading to bathe the scene in unwelcome sunlight. He glimpsed Stahlhast on all sides as they ran, arrows thrumming the air around them. Patches of smoke still drifted between the blackened houses, providing sufficient protection for them to make it to the well.
Eresa and Shuhlan stood back to back in the centre of the village, the muddy earth around them littered with half a dozen Stahlhast corpses. A lone horse stood nearby, shivering in distress as it nuzzled at the trampled body of its rider. As he and Juhkar neared the scene, Vaelin saw a Stahlhast charge towards Eresa, thrusting with a lance. She ducked under the weapon’s narrow-bladed point and clamped a hand to the wielder’s forearm. A bright plume of sparks brought tears to Vaelin’s eyes and when he blinked them clear he saw the Stahlhast lying dead, smoke leaking from a blackened steel arm guard.
“Go!” Vaelin shouted. “To the horses!”
Before either