The second knight could stand it no longer. Sliding from his horse, he tried to break through the lines of warriors to reach his dying comrade. Another warrior held up red-glowing hands. The knight clutched at his own armor and fell to his knees, gasping as the metal began to grow hot to the touch. He tried desperately to undo the lacings and the fastenings that held the armor in place, though he knew quite well it was hopeless. He cast one silent, pleading glance toward his fellows.

“God is mercy! I’m not going to sit still and watch this!” cried a knight, and spurred his horse forward.

One of the enemy reached down to his belt and drew from a leather pouch what appeared to be a small, feathered dart.

An ordinary-looking dart, Prince Marcus had told them. Such as you might see in any tavern game. The dart pierced a woman’s throat. It was thrown from a distance of five, maybe six hundred paces.

Troeven drew in a breath to shout a warning.

The warrior threw the dart.

The knight gave a cry, and his head jerked. He stiffened in the saddle, hung there a moment, and then toppled off the horse. He landed on his back not far from where Troeven was standing. The man’s eyes stared at the heavens, where, presumably, his soul had sped. Between his eyes was a bloody, gaping hole. The dart had pierced the back of his helm, gouged its way through his brain, and exited out the front of his head.

Troeven let go his breath in a whistling sigh.

A veteran of many battles, Troeven had seen arms hacked off shoulders, hands sliced off wrists. He’d seen skulls cleaved in two—whole men cleaved in two, entrails spilling over the ground. Over the years, he’d become hardened, inured to the sights and the sounds and the smell of death. Or so he had thought.

This was different. This affected not only the mind, but the heart and the soul, turning them all inside out and wringing them.

The young knight who had spoken of demons slid off his horse and dropped to his knees. He began to pray fervently, his voice broken and anguished. No others followed his example, but several blessed themselves. All of them edged closer together.