Free The Bloody North (The Fallen Crown) by Tony Healey Page B

thankful to be out of the snow. The night was a deep blue colour, lit starkly by the bright moon. Away in the distance, the icy peaks of the Great Mountains shone, wispy clouds passing their faces. The stars winked in and out against the glare of the moonlight, and overhead an owl circled once, twice, and was gone.
    His eyelids were getting heavy and he could feel himself slipping when he heard it.
    Snap .
    Rowan came to attention, eyes wild and alert, hand ready at the hilt of his sword.
    Snap.
    He didn't move, dared not do so in case it was not a friendly – animal or otherwise – approaching where he lay.
    Snap.
    Rowan looked left and right, eyes searching for any hint of movement. Any sign something was there that hadn't been earlier.
    Nothing. Just the dark trunks of the trees against the midnight blue, the white snow under the light of the moon.
    Snap.
    That was it. He couldn't just lay there, pretending to be asleep. Rowan sat up, hand still gripped around his sword. Ready to pull it free at a moment's notice. Where only seconds before he'd been at the cusp of sleep, Rowan was now wide awake. Alert to every sound around him. Listening to the breath of the night itself. He got slowly to his feet and felt the point of a blade at his back.
    "Stop."
    He held his breath.
    "Hand off your sword," a female voice growled.
    Rowan did as he was told, mind reeling as to how he'd been snuck up on without hearing them approach. The blade jabbed at his back as he put his hands behind his head. "I won't try anything."
    "I know you won't," the woman said. " But I'll take this, just in case, eh?"
    She reached around his waist, released the buckle on his belt and his sword clanged to the granite. In other circumstances, a woman going so close to his prick might have i nduced an enthusiastic response but not this time. His mind raced to find a way out of it.
    "Who are you?"
    She landed him a blow to the back of the head. "Shut your mouth. No questions," she snapped. "Gailan! Get the fuck up here!"
    The twigs and detritus under foot snapped as a man ambled up from beyond the trees, a big grin on his face. The firelight made him look devilish, standing there with his thumbs jammed into the hem of his trousers. "Got him, then."
    " That I did. See what else he's carrying, will ya? Don't worry. He won't try anything. If he does he'll get this blade 'twixt his buttocks."
    Gailan guffawed. He stepped in close, felt around Rowan's clothes. His fingers found the moneybag and he yanked it free, opened it, face delighted by the contents. "He's rich. Lookit that."
    He he ld it out for the woman to see. "A fair amount. How's a rambling rose like you come across that kind of money?"
    "Earned it. During the war."
    She laughed over his shoulder as if she were a disembodied spirit sent to torment him. "The insurrection, huh? So you're one of those. A Royalist."
    "No. Just a man finding his way," Rowan said. "And I'd take you two for a couple of shithead bounty hunters, less I'm mistaken."
    "Just a man and a woman making a living," she said, unchastened. "So you'll be Rowan Black, would you? On the run for murdering a Captain of the guard, committing high treason and resisting arrest . . ."
    "Listen. The money. Keep it. Take it. I'll go on my way," Rowan said levelly. "It'll save a lot of bloodshed."
    "From who? You?" sh e laughed again. He'd not seen her face. Just her voice and the point of her weapon digging into his back. Gailan busily counted the contents of Rowan's moneybag, oblivious to their exchange.
    "I'm giving you a choice," Rowan said.
    She pressed the blade in tighter, piercing his skin. He heard her take a step back. "Turn around. Let's get a good look at the notorious Rowan Black."
    The woman was decidedly past her best, but attractive in a dangerous way. Dark hair pulled back, brown eyes and full lips. A scar ran up her chin, another met it from behind one ear. She'd seen some action, that was for sure, and she regarded him in the same