A hard body slammed into Ren's side and he tumbled onto the ground, gasping for air. The world spun. He had dropped his sword. Head spinning, Ren shuffled backward in an attempt to find his weapon, grasping handfuls of leaves and dirt.

The man with whom he had collided rolled on top of Ren, straddling his hips and bearing down on him with his weight. It was one of the Lowlanders, the man who had sat on Anik's other side, hidden from Ren's view. He was large and strong, pinning Ren effortlessly as he reached back and drew a dagger from his belt.

Gasping, Ren raised his hands and gripped the man's wrist just in time to stop the blade from slicing into his throat. Frantically, he looked around. Where was his sword?

The man raised his other hand, fingers curling into a fist. Unable to defend himself, all Ren could do was turn his head away and clench his eyes shut. The punch rattled his jaw and he groaned, kicking his legs in an attempt to free himself. Letting go of the man's wrist with one hand, he reached back, trying to find something, anything, he could use to defend himself.

His fingers curled around a cold, jagged stone.

Gripping it tightly, he put all his strength into the strike and slammed the stone against his attacker's temple. The man went limp, falling half on top of Ren. Shoving him away, Ren scrambled back to his feet, staggering before he caught his balance with a hand against the trunk of a tree.

Ren stared at the man. His eyes were open, but his body was still. He was dead. Ren had killed him; he had really killed a man. Light-headedness threatened to make him topple over, and it wasn't just the effects of the poison this time. He couldn't take his eyes off the corpse.

A sudden light made Ren squint and he looked up to see that the torches were lit. The driver, still seated on the wagon, had drawn a knife, eyes wide with fear, but the fight seemed to have avoided him.

Ren glanced back at the dead man. His hair was ginger, like the man Anik had been talking to. His brother, then. That was who had been sitting on Anik's other side. The two Lowlanders had been brothers. A fresh wave of nausea overcame him and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Ren!” Niklas' voice broke through the silence and Ren whirled around, finally tearing his gaze from the body.

“Are you all right?” Ren asked, voice sounding hollow in his own ears. “What happened?”

Niklas was pale in the light of the flames. Anik's sword was in his hand. There was blood on the blade.