Traitor's Moon

his opponents’ faces. “Master Radly of Wolde, who makes these bows, won’t sell them to anyone who can’t do that.”
    A man named Ura held up a carved boar-tooth shatta. “I wager you can’t do that again!”
    Side bets were exchanged. Alec took his time fitting an arrow to the bowstring, waiting for a puff of wind to die down. A familiar calm settled over him, as it always did when he gave himself up to the bow. Bringing his left arm up, he drew and released in one smooth flow of motion. The chosen wand shivered as his arrow nicked the tip neatly away. He nocked a second shaft, then a third and fourth, sending each unerringly to their targets. Amazed laughter and a few low grumbles burst out among his competitors.
    â€œBy the Lightbearer’s own Eyes, you are as good as they claim!” Orilli exclaimed. “Come on, Ura, meet your bet.”
    Alec accepted the prize with a modest smile, but couldn’t help looking around to see if Klia had witnessed his victory.
    She wasn’t there.
    Nazien lay dozing on the moss now, but there was no sign of her anywhere in the glade. Or of Emiel, he realized with a stab of alarm.
    Stay calm
, he thought as he excused himself from the games and walked over to Beka, who was talking with Nyal.
Her horse is still here, so they can’t have gone far
.
    â€œShe took a walk with Emiel over that way,” Beka told him, pointing to a trail leading down through the trees. “Klia complained of the heat, and Emiel offered to show her some shady pools downstream. I tried to go along with an escort, but sheordered us to remain here.” The look in her eyes suggested that she was much less happy about the situation than he’d first supposed.
    â€œHow long have they been gone?”
    â€œSince just after you began your archery contest,” Nyal replied, squinting up at the sun. “Half an hour, perhaps a little more.”
    Alec’s sense of uneasiness returned in force. “I see. Perhaps I’d enjoy seeing these pools.”
    â€œI’m sure you would,” Beka replied, keeping her voice low. “See that you keep out of sight.”
    The track led down a steep slope through wide-spaced trees. The stream that watered the glade crossed it, then tumbled down through a series of deep basins. Two sets of boot prints showed clear along the soft bank, and Alec followed them, reading the story they told. Two people had meandered along the water’s edge, jumping across the narrow watercourse several times and pausing at the larger pools, perhaps looking for fish.
    Rounding a bend in the stream, Alec caught a bright flash of Haman yellow between the trees. He approached softly, intending to ascertain Klia’s whereabouts and discreetly withdraw.
    What he saw as he came closer, however, made him abandon all stealth. Klia was thrashing on the ground beneath Emiel, who crouched over her, hands locked around her throat. Klia was tearing at the man’s hands, heels kicking up clods of damp moss as she struggled to free herself. Water streamed from her hair, soaking the upper part of her tunic.
    Alec charged, knocking the Haman away from her. Emiel came down hard on his back.
    â€œWhat was your plan, then?” Alec snarled, bending over him, one hand on his dagger hilt. “Were you going to dump her in the water and claim she got lost? Or that some animal had killed her? Do you have beasts that strangle here in your forests?”
    Gathering a fistful of the Haman’s tunic, Alec dragged him to his feet with one hand and drove his other fist into Emiel’s face twice, as he let loose all the pent-up hate he felt for the humiliations and insults he and Seregil had endured. Blood spurted from the man’s nose and welled in a shallow gash above his right eye. Twisting in Alec’s grip, he swung back wildly, catching Alec on the side of the head. The pain only fed his anger. Grabbing Emiel with both hands, Alec slammed him into the nearest tree. Momentarily stunned, Emiel collapsed in an awkward heap.
    â€œSo much for Haman honor!” Alec snarled, pulling off Emiel’s sen’gai. Shaking the long strip of cloth loose, he bound the man’s arms behind his back, then yelled for Beka.
    Emiel groaned and tried to rise, and Alec kicked his feet out from under him. He drew back his fist again, welcoming an excuse to strike, but was stopped by a rasping croak behind him.
    Klia was on her