Free In Camelot’s Shadow: Book One of The Paths to Camelot Series (Prologue Fantasy) by Sarah Zettel Page A

your assailant has gone. He may be nearby and waiting.”
    That broke through her grief and she looked up at him with stark terror in her eyes. Gawain berated himself inwardly for frightening her further, but she did not protest as he raised her to her feet and led her to her mount. The lady’s horse, fortunately, had not bolted, evidently deeming it a safer thing to stay with her mistress, rather than brave the dark forest.
    The lady suffered him to help her onto the horse’s back. She huddled in the saddle. The moonlight showed him fair skin and regular features, and a lock of waving hair that had come free from a braid that was as thick as a man’s wrist, but it also showed him skin gone far too pale.
    And if you stay here staring, Gawain, she will succumb to the cold as well as her shock
. The early spring night was almost as chill as a winter’s day. Trusting the mare to hold steady under her mistress, Gawain went back and retrieved the bow from where it had fallen. He gave it into her hands, and she clutched it like a talisman, which was what he had hoped, because it would keep her from trying the reins. No doubt she could ride well enough, but her eyes had turned glassy and staring. There was no telling if she could guide the animal in the state she was now, nor where she might attempt to lead it. He also retrieved the vanished sorcerer’s knife.
    There was no point in leaving a weapon lying where it might be taken and used by any who passed.
    “Now, Mistress Horse.” Gawain took hold of the mare’s bridle and stroked her neck. “Shall we be friends you and I? Your good lady is in need of aid from us both.”
    The horse seemed to find this a reasonable request under the circumstances and remained quiet. Gawain looked again to the dead man on the ground. It was unseemly to leave him this way, but he must help the living.
    What story is this?
he wondered as he caught up the reins of his stallion, Gringolet. He had no answers, nor would he until the maiden had more fully recovered herself. It stank of magic, all of it. He’d set the sorcerer’s head on a platter, if he got his way, and that of Harrik’s witch beside it. The thought of Harrik reminded him afresh of the urgency of his errand though, and Gawain grit his teeth.
    God grant we find your friends soon, my lady
. Gawain glanced at the sky where the stars shone down clear and brittle. The moon had almost set.
For I must be gone come the day, but I would not leave you alone
.
    Gawain led the horses down the high road, the half-frozen mud muffling their hoofbeats and their breath making silver clouds in the deepening dark.
    Euberacon, shrouded by night and magic, watched the rider hoist the weeping woman onto the horse and lead her away. The glittering light of moon and stars gave him a clear view of the device decorating the shield hanging from his horse’s saddle bow.
    Well, my Lord Gawain, what do you think of the prize that has fallen into your purse? Is it not lovely and rare? Does it not fill your heart with tender and possessive thoughts?
    Under Euberacon’s watchful eye, Arthur’s captain turned down the forest road, leaving behind the dark trails of prints from himself and his beasts. Euberacon smiled briefly, and then turned back to the dead man. There was profit yet to be taken from this night’s work. The deep gouge in Euberacon’s chest where the knight’s spear had stabbed him was painful and the exposure of his ribs made him feel a little dizzy and weak, but it would close soon enough. The source of Euberacon’s life was no longer in his heart, and those who sought it there were bound to be sore disappointed. There was no reason to hurry home. The heart and eyes, the tongue and left hand, these were things not to be wasted. Euberacon drew his second, sharper knife and bent to work.
    In the light of the setting moon, Gawain could barely make out the tiny roadside chapel where he had taken shelter for the night. It was a rude and