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A of her heart and to slow her breathing Cirrus swirled and spun beneath her feet, though to her the air beneath her felt alround itself Even so, the wind fury&039;s best efforts htly fro impossible if she wasn&039;t calm and focused

The pain of her injured ankle and arh lessened by Isana&039;s ministrations, was by no means absent She tested the pull of the bow and felt it in her arm, her left, in which she held the heavy wooden weapon She would not be able to hold it drawn for long-not surprising, since it was probably made with the thews of the enor and unable to ai, she would have to wait until the enemy was close before she shot-and she would have to take down the swordsman, first She would never defeat hi would ifted

If she had tiet Cirrus could defeat even her old teacher&039;s for, however, would give hith she could not hope to match It would be all he needed to shatter her defense and defeat her, in an absence of other factors Even with Cirrus lending speed to her strikes, she was only inally his equal with a blade

The sas for the water witch, though it would suit Ah she was not, in open battle, the threat the other tere, she was dangerous nonetheless Even though Amara would have the freedom of concentration to smother the woman, she could not likely accomplish it before if the witch could cross the distance between theed to touch her, Amara was done for Of the three, she was the only one Amara could reliably overcoht A poor plan She was unlikely to be able to shoot a second arrow, even presued to strike down Aldrick ex Gladius, a man who had faced some of the most skilled warriors alive-Araris himself!-and defeated them, or at least lived to tell the tale But if they were allowed to catch up to the boy, even if they came close, he was certain to be killed-and the boy was the only one whose testimony could convince the Count at Garrison tothe darkness behind the already departed boy and the slave with him and realized that it was very probable that she was about to die Painfully Her heart raced with a frantic terror

She bent down to pick up a pair of arrows froh her belt and set one to the bow She checked the hilt of the sith one hand, reasonably sure that she could draw it forth without slicing her own leg off or cutting the belt that kept the clothes she&039;d stolen fro like a banner

She looked to the north and could feel the storm furies out there, up by the oht of sunset upon it, like so the mountain&039;s head as they did, and A stor it didn&039;t kill the boy, it would make pursuit of him impossible She didn&039;t have to win She only had to slon those behind the as she provided a delay, death was an acceptable outcome

Her hands shook

Then she waited

She couldn&039;t feel the earthcrafting move past beneath her, but she saw it-a barely perceptible wave in the earth, a ripple ofit as a wave does water The wave flashed by and moved on behind her Her feet hadn&039;t coround as it went past It couldn&039;t have detected her

She took a slow breath and blew on the fingers of the hand that would hold the string, the arrow Then she lifted the bow, ignoring the twinge in her arm, and willed herself forward and a bit down the slope ahead of her, so that she would present no profile against the purpling sky or the storainst the dark earth and re Cirrus to hold her steady Another pulse went by in the earth, this one stronger, nearer Fidelias had crafted such a search before, and she

kne effectively he could use it to find soround

The shape cah she could not tell who it was, or how ht as she coround The motion came closer, and she could hear footsteps, lint of metal in the darkness The swordsman

She took a breath, held it, then drew, aile h the darkness

The shape froze, one hand lifting toward her, even as the arrow leapt across the yards between them She heard the wooden shaft shatter, an abrupt crack of sound She reached for the other arrow at her belt, but thecaught her wrist in a sudden, crushing grip

Amara looked down to find the arrow&039;s shaft wrapped around her wrist and just winding about the belt, so that her hand was fastened to herher left hand to make an aard draw of the sword But even as she turned, the bow in her hands abruptly warped and slithered around her ar enough to wrap about her torso as well, but once about her ar her limb, until her hand was held well out and away from the sword at her waist

A herself straight up, over his head, Cirrus assisting her She flipped inher heel down onto her attacker

Shekick landed on his shoulder instead Cirrus stopped her feet froained her balance, a hand, brutally strong, wrapped around her ankle, swung her in an arc overhead, and brought her crashing down onto the frigid ground

Aled, but the impact had stunned and slowed her Before she could escape, the ht of his body on hers One hand had closed around her throat and twisted her head aside, to near the breaking point, as easily as though she had been a weak kitten

"Where is he?" Bernard snarled "If you&039;ve hurt that boy, I&039;ll kill you"

A and willed Cirrus away, so that she lay

quietly beneath the enraged Steadholder She could see the dark-haired giant out of the corner of her eye, dressed only lightly against the weather, bearing a woodsman&039;s axe, which had been let fall before he seized her She had to struggle to breathe, to speak "No I didn&039;t hurt him I stayed back to stop the men after hirip on her head eased, inally "Men after hiers The ones who came in when you carried me into the hall They&039;ll be after us, I&039;m sure of it Please, sir There&039;s no tirowled He kept her pinned with one hand and with the other drew the sword from her belt and tossed it aside Then he patted at her waist, until he found the knife she&039;d stolen froed aside her layers of clothing to rerip on her jaw and throat ease "I don&039;t knoho you are, girl," he said "But until I do, you&039;re going to stay right here" Even as he spoke, the earth curled up around her elbows and knees, turf and roots twisting into place, locking her liround

"No," Amara protested "Steadholder, my name is Amara I&039;m one of the Crown&039;s Cursors The First Lord himself sent me here, to this valley"

Bernard stood up, away fro fro else "Now you&039;re not a slave, eh? No My nephew&039;s out in this mess somewhere, and it&039;s your fault he is"

"It&039;s because I led him from the steadholt that he isn&039;t dead already!"

"So you say," Bernard said She heard water gurgle from a flask into a cup or a bowl "Where is he now?"

Amara tested the bonds of earth, uselessly "I told you He and Fade went on ahead ofabout a river and a twisty wood"

"Fade ith hi him? Who are they?"

"A traitor Cursor, Aldrick ex Gladius, and a water witch of considerable skill They&039;re trying to kill anyone who saw the Maratin the Valley I think because they want a Marat surprise attack to succeed"

"Crows," Bernard spat Then he said, raising his voice a bit, "Isana? Did you hear?"

A voice, tinny and faint, echoed up from somewhere near at hand "Yes Tavi and Fade will be at the Rillwater ford We et there immediately"