Elsewhere

heard by a great number of the town’s citizens. She would have to be quick, careful and above all quiet.

But de Baard was only mildly concerned as she stepped from the shadows and entered the alley which led to the rear of the house. She could kill quietly if need be. It would be good to execute again…she’d grown soft. Perhaps it was for the best that she would leave Gwaynn Massi behind. He made her weak…perhaps she would return one day and finish the job…kill him, cut off his cock, and keep for herself what he denied her.

de Baard smiled. It was a pleasant, heartwarming thought. ‘Yes, it was definitely something to consider; a souvenir from a far off land.’

When she reached the rear of the house she noticed another light twinkling through the window in the back door…which undoubtedly led to the kitchens. The porch in the rear was smaller, painted a soft white and seemed to glow in the light of the half moon. She climbed the stairs, very, very slowly, freezing at the slightest creak or groan from the wood. In her soft, silk slippers, she could move almost soundlessly. It would take keen ears indeed to detect her approach. No one did. de Baard gracefully moved to the right side of the door and stood, her back against the wall of the house and then she carefully peeked inside. She spotted the candle sitting in the middle of a large, sturdy oak table. She could also see red coals burning in the nearby stove and wondered with a little trepidation if someone was preparing to cook something, but after several anxious moments no one appeared.

‘The time is now.’ She thought to herself and carefully began to move the handle of the door. She moved incredibly slowly, revealing the great patience necessary to be a first rate Executioner. The door was not locked, and de Baard had a suspicion that very few of the doors in the town of Colchester would be locked…small town…small town ways. The latch on the door clicked softly, barely audible even to de Baard who was anticipating the sound and she smiled. She began to push the door in ever so gently, again patiently. She pushed for five….ten….fifteen full minutes, the door only occasionally giving the slightest creak, and then she was inside. A light snore came from a room directly off the kitchen.

‘Servants,’ de Baard thought as she padded quietly to the open door of the bedroom. There was a small fire burning in the room and it was exceedingly hot inside. On the bed de Baard could just make out a pair of lumps…a man and a woman by the looks of them. The man’s breathing was slow and steady, the breath of deep slumber. The woman was emitting the snore, which was still soft and very regular. She stepped quietly into the room on her silk black slippers and walked lightly across the floor until she stood silently over the woman. de Baard pulled her right kali silently from its sheath. She made no sound but the woman stirred and opened her eyes in any case. It took a moment for the old woman to focus in the darkness, but de Baard, dressed all in black, was almost invisible in shadows of the room. By the time the woman realized a black shape was standing over her menacingly, the razor’s edge of the Executioner’s sword had already sliced through her neck and windpipe. de Baard paused to watch as Raisa’s eyes bulge out…all traces of sleep gone from her expression. The woman tried to rise, but de Baard held her down momentarily, but then panic gave the wounded woman uncommon strength and she threw her attacker off quite easily. Raisa sat up terrified and needing air. She tried to breath but nothing would come. Her hands went instinctively to her throat and blood poured over her fingers. She thrashed her head once, then tried to stand, her vision popping with white hot flashes. She staggered into de Baard, who with a quick angry thrust, drove her kali through the woman’s heart and the struggle stopped almost instantly. de Baard held her and even gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she gently lowered the dead woman to the floor. Unbelievably the man in the bed was still sleeping soundly.

de Baard wiped her bloody hands on the woman’s night gown, unaware that she also had a bright swath of red across her cheek. She walked slowly around to the opposite side of the bed and stood near the sleeping man. de Baard smiled. How the fool was still sleeping she couldn’t imagine, his wife had put up quite a fuss before the end. She shrugged and crept slowly forward, but as she moved a single board gave a loud groan. Without warning the man shot up to a sitting position. de Baard, though startled, did not hesitate. She rammed her kali through the man’s soft belly and then up into his chest cavity. Her victim gave a small cry of pain and surprise then coughed up blood as de Baard tried to jerk the weapon from his body. The point of the kali was stuck, probably on a rib and it took several attempts to free it from the dying man, and all the while the man hissed and moaned loudly instead of dying like he ought. de Baard whispered a curse and finally yanked the weapon loose. She slit the man’s throat and then for good measure drove her kali into his chest once again. Finally he was still.

de Baard stood elated and slightly disgusted. The man voided while dying and the smell was horrendous in the heat of the room. She quickly moved back to the door and out into the kitchen just as heavy footfalls thundered across the ceiling and then down the stairs.

“Raisa?” a loud voice called in the darkness and de Baard instantly recognized it as the fool Cobb. She smiled to herself and backed into the shadows near the foot of the stairwell and waited.

She didn’t have long. The idiot pounded down the stairs, clearly concerned, but not very cautious. She struck just as he reached the landing. She attempted to gauge where his neck would be and she swung her kali hard enough to slice through skin and bone, plenty hard enough to remove the fool’s head. The weapon sliced into the large man as he flew past and without even slowing the idiot crashed into the masonry wall at the bottom of the stairs. His bulk overturned one small table and his head struck with a satisfying thud, then he was still. de Baard paused for only a moment, listening to the night sounds. Outside she heard a dog bark from far off in the distance, but from the room upstairs…nothing.

‘So close,’ she thought eagerly.

‘Just the bitch left now,’ de Baard thought, picturing the one armed Samantha cowering in terror. The Executioner smiled, feeling the warmth of killing start in her groin and spread in waves throughout her body.

XII

It was already dark when Gwaynn appeared in the courtyard of the bailey directly in front of Tarina Grace. He immediately collapsed to his knees and waves of hunger gripped him, causing his stomach to clench and knot, like a muscle cramp. The distance he Traveled was by far the largest he’d yet accomplished, but it was the manipulation of Time that truly drained his body of energy. He was not entirely sure how long he’d held Time motionless as his projected self searched through first the bailey and then through the hospital tent for Samantha. In a panic, he even went so far as to search quickly through Manse’s defenses, moving along the lines of the levee in the hopes of spotting her. But in the end he only found the Tarina and Traveled, knowing she would be able to tell him Samatha’s whereabouts, as well as that of the Executioner Huntley.

He struggled to his feet but his legs were shaky and weak and he immediately collapsed once more before the astonished Tarina.

“Soldier!” She yelled at a nearby guard. “Run and bring food…a lot of food…now!” She snapped her fingers as he lingered, eyes on his King. The soldier jerked and then ran off to do her bidding, wondering just what was happening.

“The battle?” Grace asked, fearing the worst, as she squatted and helped Gwaynn to his feet.

“Nearly won…” Gwaynn stammered fighting to catch his breath. His heart and lungs were pounding far worse than after his ten mile runs back on Noble. “Sa…Sama…Samantha...” he finally managed to push the word out but was unable to continue for several more seconds.

“Samantha’s fine,” Grace said and frowned.

A few moments later Gwaynn had sufficiently caught his breath to speak. “Where…where is she?”

The Tarina frowned. “I sent her to Colchester with the rest of the wounded,” she explained. “I expect another attack from the Temple Knights at any time. Why they didn’t follow up on the early success I’ll never know. Could be the biggest mistake of the war,” she added, but then stopped as she felt him weakly shaking her arm.

“The wounded?”

Grace smiled. “She took a spill, but she and the baby are fine. Is the army coming? We’ll lose Manse if they don’t arrive quickly.”

Gwaynn shook his head and tried to stand but his left knee crumpled beneath his weight. He would have fallen again without the Tarina’s support. She led him to a long bench that ran the length of the southern wall of the bailey. He sat gratefully, then doubled over as a massive cramp ripped through his insides; when it passed he straightened up as much as he dared.

“Cyndar Huntley…where is she?”