The Betrayer's Bounty

Chapter I

A groan broke through my lips as the fist cracked across my jaw, flinging my head back. The voices snarling around me in their incoherent language faded in and out a little as my knees gave out and my dark hair hung in my face. The two men at my side suspended me over the muddy stones, and my assailant crouched in front of me. His dark eyes swept over my face, the white flecks in his beard visible as he leaned so close, turning my head back and forth. The greasy fingers released me after several seconds, his voice murmuring something in a Hrdonian dialect I didn't understand. They cackled, their cruel tones shivering down my spine.

"Let me go," I panted. "My soldiers know where you are. They're coming here now." Blood mixed with the rain water at the pubmaster's shoes and he swore under his breath before striking me again. The light reflected off the puddling water, sending swirls of glowing tendrils across his boots.

"Where did they take my girl, Lady Tib?" His eyes glittered. The childish nickname grated across my mind and I grimaced.

"Away," I snarled, lifting my head. "She won't spend another night in this gods-forsaken place." The steel force of his fingers clamped around my jaw, jerking me. A cry of pain managed to escape my lips.

"So, you fancy a broken arm instead of honesty?" His croney twisted my arm a little, drawing a choke from my lips. "You get one more chance—where are you taking my worker?" I pressed my lips together. The beefy man twisted harder and I groaned.

"What more could you possibly need from her?" I spat. "You have other women. She's only a child—!" The pain cut me off as his hand connected with my head again. The pubmaster stepped back, his chest heaving as rage flashed through his eyes. My knees hit the stones as he shouted something in Hrdonian at me.

"Break it." Horror pulsed through my blood and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"What's going on back here?" The new voice rang through the alley, piercing the rain. "We're running low on our ales!" The words faded as the figure drew into the lantern light. A beam of the orange glow sliced through the bottomless pit that darkened the newcomer's hood, revealing a pair of wide green eyes that flashed. The man's hand drifted to his armed side. "Byron..."

"This isn't your fight, pirate," the pubmaster snarled, and one of the other men yanked me back with a knife against my throat. "Get out of here before you see something you shouldn't." Those eyes narrowed, shifting toward my assailant. My lungs contracted. Rolf should have been here by now. Dread sank like stones in my stomach.

The flash of silver tore through the candlelight before I could blink. The pubmaster screamed, clutching his arm as blood immediately soaked through his sleeve and the throwing knife protruded from his flesh. The cloaked man materialized beside the men holding my arms. They staggered, and he threw one of them against the wall. Without hesitating, I twisted against the other, kicking him down and bending his arm until he uttered a cry. The cloaked man pounced as I raised the new prey a little, striking his face with force I had never seen in anyone but my Mysticene soldiers. The specter caught the croney by his collar as I jerked back with a gasp, turning that shadowed head on me. An emerald pendant glinted at his throat.

"Get out of here, Daria!" the voice from under the hood shouted, his hands throwing the man down. My head jerked up, eyes wide at the sound of my name. I turned as a new snarling sound erupted behind us. Byron the pubmaster pushed himself up, drawing his own knife from his boot, but I caught his wrist and twisted him down again. My gaze flipped up toward my rescuer.

"How did you find me?" I rasped, breath coming hard. The attacker turned to face me, taking Byron from me and hurling him against the wall. The light passed over his face for a moment, but my chest tightened as a gasp ripped through me. Those all-too-familiar eyes, Killian's eyes, locked on me. A light passed through them, and not a kind light.