I dismounted, handed my reins to Oreg, whose gelding Pansy tolerated, and pulled the blankets aside to look at the dead men’s faces. I took care to keep the blankets arranged so the children couldn’t peek. I’d seen one of them before, but it took me a moment to remember where.

“Mercenaries from Tyrfannig,” I said, dropping the cover over the last man’s face. Tyrfannig was the nearest seaport town half a day’s ride to the south. Hurog bordered the ocean, but her shores were too rocky for ships to harbor in. “They must not have caught jobs with the merchants going south and decided to become self-employed.” Sometimes mercenaries didn’t see the difference between looting on a battlefield and looting from anyone they could. “I’ll see if anyone in Tyrfannig wants the bodies. Otherwise we’ll bury them ourselves, eh?”

“Yes, my lord.”

I started to turn away, then realized something about the wounds I’d seen on the bodies. “Who took them down?” Atwater was famed for his bow work and could use an ax on people as well as wood, but he’d never have taken on these bandits armed with nothing more than a knife. Yet the two bodies with the most obvious death wounds had been killed by a short blade, not an ax. I didn’t know about the third—and wasn’t about to examine the bodies more closely with all the children milling about.

“No, sir. My oldest boy, Fennel, saw them coming in time to warn us. I sent Rowan to you, and we waited. After a bit I tracked Fennel’s trail to where he’d seen the bandits. And I found them three dead, sir. And I found what killed ’em, too. You’ll never guess.”

As we’d spoken, Atwater’s wife had come out of the house with a little sprite of a girl about six.

“It was a girl,” the child caroled in satisfied tones. “A girl killed them bandits all by herself.”

Atwater’s left eyebrow buried itself in his hairline. His wife shrugged.

“My aunt could have killed them,” I said. “Why are you so surprised a woman took care of them?”

Atwater shook his head. “Maybe Stala could at that. But I’d be surprised if aman in this woman’s condition could have walked from where we stand to my home, let alone killed three healthy men with naught but a puny knife. Would you come look at her?”

Bemused, I nodded at Oreg. “Stay out here and keep the babes out from under Pansy’s feet, please?”

Tosten gave his reins to Oreg, too.

Atwater’s house was dark and close, insulated for winter with dried grasses and straw. I had to duck my head to avoid rubbing the ceiling.