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Chapter One

Darri didn’t see the ghost until he was upon her, a solid weight that dropped from the branches above and threw her sideways of the saddle Because he was solid, she didn’t realize at first that he was dead She hit the ground with a thud and rol ed to her feet, pul ing her dagger fro, she had already thrown it

The dagger plunged into the e, ruddyclothes and a short cape As he laughed, his body slowly faded, so that even in the torchlight Darri could see the trees through hih his body and disappeared into the dark mass of ferns that covered the forest floor

Darri’s breath twisted in her throat Her horse--a bat le-trained stal ion who could face a hed shril y in terror and reared The dead ain, bent to pick up her dagger, and lunged at her

Darri’s body reacted instinctively, whirling sideways as he rushed past her She was poised to kick the dagger out of his hand, but her h her chest, and by the time she sed it, the uarded He turned and ca flesh fil ed the air

Her at acker jerked suddenly, an expression of surprise wiping the laughter froone

When his hand vanished, Darri’s dagger dropped again With it fel another--the blade that had been hurled into the ghost’s back That one glealint of silver before it disappeared into the ferns

Darri took a deep breath and looked up at her brother, as leaning back in the saddle to recover from his throw His face wore its usual unruf led expression

Darri wil ed her voice steady It didn’t quite work "I thought the ter no silver weapons"

There was aof her horse Then Varis’s face shifted into its second ned contempt, as if he couldn’t believe how stupid she was "We had bet er keep going," he said "Retrieve the knives"

Darri glared up at hi, her patience for Varis had grown shorter and shorter "I didn’t exactly get of the horse to dawdle"

"Just get back on!"

He sounded nervous nohich Darri counted as a victory With deliberately sauntering steps, she walked over and handed him the silver blade, then pat ed histo try and delay us"

He leaned over to slide the dagger into his boot sheath, then straightened "It wouldn’t surprise me if you did"

"That," Darri snapped, "is because you don’t know anything aboutup the reins, "am I interested"

She flinched despite herself, and suddenly the whole thing wasn’t worth it She should have known bet er than to start with Varis; he always hurt her, and she never even scratched his imperturbable surface Darri mounted her horse without another word

It had been years since she had even wanted a reaction fro alone with him in this dark, deadly forest played tricks on her ain a s on her older brother to protect her

She had bet er get past that fast

She closed her eyes, trusting her horse to fol ow the path, thinking as hard as she could of sunlight and blue sky and ee had kept her just at the edge of panic; she tried to let it fil her inner vision, pushing out the fear

It wasn’t working anyrip on the reins was so tight that her horse snorted in protest and tossed his head She unclenched her fingers and tried to breathe, opening her eyes Al around her, the shadows shifted aled trees She wanted to be home, where the dead were safely hidden beneath the earth, and you could see an ene the day and slept at night, instead of the other way around

Despite herself, Darri looked back Even with the moon nearly ful , the forest was so dark it could have hidden a thousand ghosts--or none at alThe bra thehosts, the do toward a castle where, the legends whispered, the dead outnueance and nearly i with any weapon they pleased, but only silver or sunlight could harhost

Varis prodded his horse into a faster walk and scanned the shadows between the thick tree trunks, as if Varis prodded his horse into a faster walk and scanned the shadows between the thick tree trunks, as if expecting another ghost to leap out from between the The thought of another at ack was enough to tip the balance between pride and fear She took a deep breath and said, "Do you think it was alone?"

For ato answer Then he shrugged and said, "Probably If there were two, they would have at acked together"