Chapter 23

With his hand on the hilt of his sword, Gair slipped between two crofts at the edge of the woods and stopped abruptly. The footfalls behind him continued. Slower than his own had been, but not far enough behind for him to have time to really disappear.

A long row of wood was stacked just a few feet from one house and toppling over on the end almost to the wall of the other house. There was just enough room for him to slip into the dark shadows of it. He took his bow, quiver, and the satchel of food off quickly, slipping them out of sight under a bush. He lay his sword in the hollow between the fallen logs and climbed in after it. Clouds moved in over the moon, darkening the area further as he slid in and crouched low. The footsteps he’d heard following him grew louder, then stopped. Peering between the logs he saw the shape of a man’s legs, but wasn’t high enough to see the plaid. It might have been too dark out to see the colours clearly in any case. The feet shuffled around in a cir