Free Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier Page B

never, in the past, have done more than attempt to herd
    away a few head or light a small fire somewhat too close to one of my watchtowers. He knew he could not match me in battle and that any action he took would bring about swift and deadly retaliation. But he covets a parcel of land I hold, bordering his own most fertile area, and has long schemed to acquire it.
    He tried once to buy the disputed territory from me, and I turned him down. Well, he found another use for his silver pieces."
    Eamonn took a mouthful of his wine, wiped his hand across his mouth. His expression was somber.
    "We began to hear of lightning raids by an unseen enemy. There was no damage to the guard towers, no sacking of villages or burning of barns. Just killing. Highly efficient. Imaginative in its method. First an isolated post, where two lay dead. Then a bolder ambush. A troop of my guards patrolling the western margin of the marshlands taken, all of them. A nightmare scene. I will spare the ladies the details." He glanced quickly in my direction and away again. "Not cruel, exactly. There was no torture. Just. . .
    extremely efficient and—and different. There was no way to tell what we were dealing with. No way to prepare. And my cottagers, my farmers, were in a state of sheer terror. They thought these silent killers some Otherworld phenomenon, creatures that could appear and disappear in a flash, some hybrid of man and beast, devoid of any sense of right or wrong." He fell silent, and I believed his eyes saw an image he wished he could erase from his mind.
    "You would think," he went on finally, "that on our own territory, backed up by Seamus's men, we would have no difficulty in expelling any invader. My men are disciplined. Experienced. They know those marshes like the back of their hands; they know every forest path, every place of refuge, every potential trap. We divided ourselves into three groups and sought to isolate the enemy in one particular area where we believed his force was concentrated. There was success at first. We captured many of my northern neighbor's men and thought the threat all but over. It was strange, though; our prisoners seemed nervous, always looking over their shoulders. I suppose I knew, even before that point, that the attacks were not made by a single enemy. My neighbor's silver had bought him a force he could never have mustered himself, a force such as none of us here has at his disposal."
    "Who were they?" asked Sean, who was hanging on every word. I sensed his excitement; this was a challenge he would have relished for himself.
    "I saw them only once," said Eamonn slowly. "We rode through the most treacherous area of the marshland, returning to our main camp with the bodies of our slain. It is not possible to mount an attack in such a place. I had not thought it possible. One false move and the ground will shiver and shake and swallow, and all you will hear is the little ripple of the water as it takes a man under. It is quite safe, if you know the path.
    "There were ten of us," he went on, "riding single, for the track is narrow. We bore the bodies of our dead across our saddlebows. It was late afternoon, but the mists in that place make day seem like dusk and dusk like night. The horses knew the way and needed no guidance. We kept silence, Page 30

    not allowing our vigilance to lapse even in that forsaken place. I have good ears and sharp eyes.
    My men were handpicked. But I missed it. We all missed it. The smallest pipe of a marsh bird; the croak of a frog.
    Some little noise, some signal, and they were upon us. Coming from nowhere, but rising each at precisely the same instant, one to each of us, taking his man from the horse, despatching him neatly and silently, one with a knife, one with the cord, one with the clever thumb to the neck. As for me, my punishment had been selected especially. I could not see the man who held me from behind, though I used all the strength I had trying to break his grip.