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"Get cover! Get cover!" The light exposed the for the ditch Arrows thunked into the dirt

A horn lifted to sound the alert Alarm! Alarm! it seemed to cry Awake! Stand ready!

"Archers! Hold your fire!" That was Thiadbold, taking co froeant Aronvald called for his three re archers: "Stand where you’re covered! The rest of you, get down! Keep your heads down, daate, dropped the sword, and fell panting to her knees as Ingo, Folquin, Leo, and Stephen ran to her She’d had no trouble breathing while she’d been running but now couldn’t get any air in

"Hanna!"

"Got… to … warn … Arrows are poison Dead … if you’re hit, you’ll be dead Dead"

She searched their expressions for son that they understood how serious the situation was On the ride here froensburg, but who could believe that a ht sustain the merest scratch on his arm and yet die in convulsions?

Thiadbold knelt beside her "Here, now, Hanna"

She grasped his arasped "You must take cover If… any arrow cuts the skin … they have poisoned arrows It will kill at once Even a scratch Believe lance over his shoulder toward the gate, being shouldered closed by a pair of brawny Lions Barely visible as the night swept over theapped The wall had minie for sentries and archers The nuns clearly had never used swords and bows and spears to defend themselves

"Still," he added, "they’ll be cautious about attacking against walls when it’s dark"

"They’ll shoot arrows" She coughed, and he helped her stand Her sides heaved as she struggled to catch her breath "They need only scratch …"

A trio of arrows spat down out of the night, sticking in the dirt

"Take cover!" shouted Thiadbold as men scattered, startled and dis Because he had his helm on, she could only see his eyes and the lower part of his face, but he looked as steady as ever "They can’t afford to waste arrows uselessly If that’s but a raiding party, they’ll hoard their arrows and their poison"

"Maybe so, but we are no more than sixty or seventy people all told If there are only ten raiders and each one has ten arrows, even that could kill every one of us"

"You fear them" He had his hand on her ar a loved one

"I fear their poison I saw my companions fall Ai, God"

He nodded "Have you a bow?"

"I do, but I’eant Aronvald will have more weapons, for he kept with us the weapons of the soldiers we lost He has only three good archers left but another half dozen strong bows We’ve been o "Sergeant, you’re in charge while I go to the other side Keep their heads down and their bodies under cover Do not shoot unless you have a target Let no ht of torches"

"Shall we douse the torches, Captain?"

He worried at his lower lip "If only we had lit a ring of torches out beyond the e , if they choose to storm our position" He shook his head impatiently "But we have not Leave the torches be for now Let no ive hian walking and she sheathed her sword and jogged up alongside hi

"Aronvald!" he called, and was answered fro section of wall separated the shed and the orchard froood place to creep up close," hestone half buried in earth and grown over withhere? Once a structure had stood here, but in the darkness she couldn’t guess what it ot to her feet and dusted off her gloved hands Seeing her unhurt, Thiadbold hurried to consult with Lady Bertha’s sergeant The twoshed Hanna looked around, getting her bearings Her eyes had adjusted--as much as they ever would--to the dark; she hadn’t seen this portion of the coht