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beast seemed highly amused by my predicament. I reached up to the ties by the juniper tree and loosened the knot. There were a few other horses in the campsite that these assassins could use, but my steed was the fastest of the bunch.
    They only consequence I didn’t like about my plan was that I would leave several of my attackers alive. It was a poor precedent to set in my new lands. First impressions were important and I guessed that this tribe was either a supposed ally or enemy of my father’s.
    I really needed to murder all of them.
    “Run fast you fucker.” I had only trained this horse for a few years but he knew that when I said those words he better move or receive a severe beating from my riding crop. He didn’t care that I wasn’t on his saddle, fear and memories overtook the animal and I almost couldn’t roll out of his path when he sprinted northward like his tail was on fire.
    “She is escaping!” Several voices shouted out from the east and south.
    “Get the horses from the wagons!” A woman’s voice screamed. Commotion sounded as the group ran back to the caravan and mounted their steeds. My horse was long gone by the time I counted nine other riders chase after him.
    “Fools.” I lay on the grass and sighed. My problems weren’t over but at least I had a few minutes to breathe.
    There probably weren’t any more kidnappers lurking about, but if there were I didn’t want to risk another confrontation without a weapon, preferably a bow, in my hand. I began the long crawl back to the caravan. By the time I made it I had recovered from using my magic enough to stand and search through the weapons without gasping in pain.
    I found a long bow and a quiver of arrows a servant had used for hunting. The pull was a bit light, but I was stronger than most. I saddled one of the remaining horses, checked to see if anyone by the caravans was still alive, and then rode up toward the pavilion.
    Corlintha’s sword lay next to the bodies of the two kidnappers I had immolated. I leaned out of the saddle, picked it up, and then continued the rest of the short journey to the tent. I confirmed that Corlintha was dead before I pulled her sword belt off of her body and buckled it across my waist. She had been my private guard for the last eight years and I hadn’t expected her to meet her end out here in the wilderness. It was slightly ironic since the silver-haired woman had been more excited about making this trip to my father’s lands than I.
    Everyone else in the pavilion was dead as well. There were a few plates of food and assorted bottles of mead that lay untouched by the attack. I grabbed one of the jugs and took a long drink from it. Then I looked down at Corlintha’s body and took another drink. Did the mead taste better because I was still alive? Did it taste better because I was about to kill more? Perhaps it wasn’t important.
    I mounted the horse and tested the draw of the bow while atop. The weapon was meant to be used while on foot but I could make it work while on horseback. Then I pointed the steed to the north and kicked it forward. Perhaps I should have covered my head, so that I would be harder to spot from a distance. But no, I wanted them to see me coming.
    At least I wasn’t bored anymore.



Chapter 4-The O’Baarni
     
    “Surprised to see me?” An armored hand wrapped across my throat and sharp claws dug into the sides of my neck. She stepped around to the front of my chair, obscuring the view of my tribunal. The dragons that had once been painstakingly etched into her green armor in beautiful detail were now distorted, gruesome shapes that twisted across the dull, melted surface.
    “Yes!” I gasped out and her grip tightened around my throat. She lifted me up a few inches and my arms strained against the chains tied to the chair.
    “Good!” she hissed. She reeked of both cooked and rotting flesh. The stench was strong enough to make my eyes water and my stomach turn. Half a