Blades of the Banished - Robert Ryan Page 0,3

someone was out there, but he had to investigate. He edged his way around the outside of the camp. The ground was mostly hardened dirt, and he saw nothing until he came to a patch of loose sand. There, even in the dim light, he spotted a clear boot track.

It was not his own, nor Erlissa’s. Casting his searching gaze about, he soon saw others. They were of a type that he had come across before. The stride was ungainly. The tracks deep. The boots iron-shod. Undoubtedly, they were left by the enemies that he most feared: elugs.

He stood a moment, paused in thought. Even as he studied one of the imprints its sharp edge collapsed, the dry sand falling into the deep indentation of a heel.

The tracks were fresh, only minutes, perhaps even seconds old. The knowledge sent a chill up his back and prickled the hair on his neck.

2. The Hunted

Lanrik turned and sprinted back to Erlissa. Gripping her shoulder, he shook her awake. He feared she would be dazed, but she came out of her trance-induced stupor with clarity.

“Elugs,” he whispered urgently.

He did not need to say more. She reached out and took hold of her staff. Using it to help her, she tottered to her feet.

They stood there for a second, their gaze searching the darkness outside the rim of their camp. The bright blade of Conhain glittered beneath the stars.

From their left, a whistling sound broke the silence and a dark shape flashed through the air near them. It was an arrow.

Lanrik took Erlissa’s hand and together they dived to the ground a few paces away. There was little cover there, merely an outcrop of rock barely a foot high and a dozen wide. But a crack ran down its center, and it offered some protection from all sides. They would make do with it.

The horses were not far away, but the empty space between was a killing ground. No matter how fast they ran they could never reach them, let alone saddle them, without being cut down by arrows.

There would be more than one elug, but their enemies had only fired one arrow. That gave him hope. It seemed there were not so many that they wanted to storm the camp, and perhaps only the one archer.

They waited. It was hard and uncomfortable where they were, but it seemed to provide enough cover that the archer could not see a target. Lanrik looked at the horses. It was not safe to raise his head very high, but he needed to keep an eye on them and watch that the other elugs did not change their mind and charge the camp.

He heard another arrow wing through the night. He ducked his head and the shaft smashed into the rock several feet away. Wood shattered and shards flew everywhere.

He cursed, but saw nothing for it but to wait. They could not reach the horses, nor could they abandon them. Not in this land so far from home, and especially not with the task of saving Aranloth that they had set themselves. If they managed to do it, they would need to escape quickly.

And yet, he realized grimly, to wait was only to put off the inevitable. The elugs already knew that. Come daylight, he and Erlissa would be in a worse plight. Their attackers had not ventured into the camp for that reason. If the archer could not pick them off in the dark, he would have a better chance during the day. Not only that, a runner had likely been sent for reinforcements. When they came, swords would accomplish whatever arrows had not.

Lanrik studied the night and made his choice. The hunted must turn into hunter. He whispered his intentions to Erlissa. Fear gleamed in her eyes, but no refutation came to her lips. She understood the situation, and she trusted his Raithlin skills.

He slowly slipped out from the crack of rock and onto the barren ground near the edge of the camp. He hoped those skills were enough. What he did now was perhaps the most dangerous part of his plan. Once free of the campsite, he would be able to move more freely and choose the best cover that the sparse land allowed. At the moment, with the archer’s eyes no doubt seeking out any sign of movement, he might easily be seen.

But he took care to avoid that. He moved in the opposite direction to the horses, for the elugs would anticipate,