He carried two curved blades, the weapons known as sabers—similar to the one the haizda mage had used against me back in the County.

The pair waded into the river, coming together at the halfway point. There the water just covered their ankles. For a moment they halted and stared at each other as if weighing up the opposition.

Then Kauspetnd shouted something in a loud voice. I couldn’t understand a word of it, but the tone seemed to be mocking. He finished with a braying laugh, which displayed his sharp white teeth.

His human opponent called back to him, and once again I didn’t understand what was said, though anger and defiance were evident. I realized that they had both used Losta, the language shared by the Kobalos and these northern lands.

Then the human rushed forward, his boots splashing in the water, and struck out at the Kobalos warrior.

The assassin deflected the blow with his saber and spun away gracefully, raising it to meet the next attack. Again he parried the blow and spun away. For a moment they faced each other once more, and then the champion of Shallotte launched his third attack.

It was to be his last.

This time, instead of waiting in the same defensive position, Kauspetnd leaped forward to meet his human adversary halfway. One saber flashed, and blood spurted upward. Then the human gave a cry, which was echoed by a groan from those watching on the bank. He fell facedown into the water. Downstream, the turbulent water turned red as it washed his blood away.

26

The Sign

“I’VE seen enough for now,” said Grimalkin. “But I’d like to be a little closer next time.”

As the body of the human champion was dragged away, she led me back to our camp. The sky had been heavy with gray clouds, but now it was breaking up into tattered fragments scattered by the wind and lit to orange flame by the setting sun.

Jenny turned from tending the fire and looked up at me questioningly, but Grimalkin spoke first.

“Go to bed now and get sleep. We need to be up at midnight,” Grimalkin said, looking directly at me. She clearly expected to be obeyed without question.

Anger flickered through me at her presumption. The land and people here were strange to me, and I was forced to defer to her greater knowledge. But she sometimes expected obedience without question, withholding information until she considered the time right to reveal it.

“Aren’t we going to eat first?” asked Jenny.

I sympathized with her. I was hungry too and had been looking forward to supper.

Grimalkin didn’t reply, so I broke the silence.

“Why must we sleep now?” I asked. “What are we going to do at midnight?”

“There’s something you should see. It’s important. After that, we can eat while we talk,” she replied before turning to the girl and smiling. “There will be supper, but it will be a late one.”