Swiftsword

By Yvonne C.

Many years ago Julill Mortag, mother of Jargo, went by another name, Swiftsword.

She was a fierce fearless fighter. She fought alongside those who fought for those who hadn’t the power to fight for themselves. She loved and was loved in return. But Swiftsword was a name she could only use at night; a name that set her free but freedom for some is short lived. For Julill comes from a world of duty and responsibility; a world in which those who should have the most power are the ones who are truly powerless.

Julill spurns this world and yearns for the freedom a life lived under the name Swiftsword would grant her, but there are dark forces watching over her – forces that have plans for her, have had plans for her since the day she was conceived. Swiftsword is not the name they have chosen for her.

Julill struggles to reach for the life she yearns for; the dark forces do their utmost to draw her away from it. Good forces strive to keep them back but in the battle of good versus evil it is not always certain that good will triumph.

Book five of the Free Land Chronicles details the life of Julill Mortag, mother of the infamous General Jargo Mortag, from her comfortable upbringing as the eldest daughter of good King Senovar and secretive night existence as Swiftsword, fearless fighter and lover of the gypsy mercenary Valorian, through to her downfall at the hands of weak-willed Lord Karlos Westfallen and eventual exile from her home and hasty marriage to Captain Kamen Mortag.

From wilful young girl to the mother of five children; from pampered princess to the wife of a farmer/soldier, Julill is not one to be beaten by life’s vast changes.

Her life is no longer what it was but there is still a smouldering fire within her, ambition to be more than she is. If she cannot be Swiftsword she will be something else. If she cannot be free then she will have power. And she will have vengeance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yvonne C.
• Release date: Oct 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311112682

Yvonne C.

Yvonne Carsley is a writer from the Northwest of England. She writes fantasy fiction and poetry under her own name and erotic fiction under her pen name of Blue Sapphire.Print copies of her work are available on Lulu.comAnd you can follow her blog on Wordpress...https://wordpress.com/stats/day/awriterswords32692851.wordpress.comand add her on Facebook if you like.She also enjoys digital photography and has work listed on...http://www.redbubble.comShe loves to write and read, admires particularly the work of Stephen King and Diana Gabaldon, and enjoys films and music.She likes cats, both big and small.She is an unashamed Trekkie and would love one day to go to a convention dressed as a Vulcan ambassador. Though at only 4foot 11inches tall it'll have to be a mini Vulcan ambassador!

Book preview

SWIFTSWORD

(Book five of The Free Land Chronicles)

YVONNE C. CARSLEY

Swiftsword

(Book five of The Free Land Chronicles)

Ebook (Smashwords Edition)

Written by Yvonne C. Carsley.

Published by Yvonne Carsley.

Copyright Yvonne C. Carsley 2014. All rights reserved.

All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

OTHER WORKS BY THIS AUTHOR

CHAPTER ONE

King Senovar stared at himself in the mirror. Not bad for an old man, he thought. He was still trim, his skin firm from years of exercise, his muscles nicely toned. There were some wrinkles on his face but that was to be expected. He was getting on and had experienced a great deal of worry. His hair was grey but at least he had not been visited by the curse of baldness as his own father had been. Though he was amazed that he had not started tearing his hair out. He certainly had cause to.

He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. Julill, why must you make everything so very difficult?

She scowled and shrugged. Don’t know what you mean, she muttered.

I’ve been talking to your mother. She says you refuse to wear the green dress.

It makes me look stupid.

It’s a very grown-up dress. I thought you’d like it. It’s made of twelve different kinds of silk. It took fifteen seamstresses to get it just right. Your mother says you look every inch the true princess in it. The spring ball is in a few months and she’s hoping you’ll wear it then.

So that I can be paraded like a prize cow in front of all those so-called eligible men? Julill scowled again. Why not just let them weigh and measure me, or they can squeeze my udders to see if they’re firm enough.

Julill–

I hate that stupid dress. I told mother I wanted a horse for my birthday but instead she buys me a dress that leaves barely anything to the imagination.

Julill. Senovar rubbed at his temples, feeling the beginnings of another headache. He got them frequently these days, usually whenever Julill’s name was mentioned. For when it was it usually meant trouble. You’re fourteen. You’re becoming a woman and you must be seen at court–

Shown off, you mean.

Yes, if you prefer. In two years you’ll be eligible for marriage. Potential suitors must be able to see you and you must see them.

Why? It’s not as though I’ll have a say in who I marry. Why must I exhibit myself when you’ll make the final choice?

You’ll have a say. Your mother and I won’t see you married to someone you truly don’t like.

And what if I don’t like any of the suitors?

You can’t hate everyone.

Can’t I?

Senovar stared hard at her. Was that a threat?

Three daughters he had, Julill being the oldest and the most troublesome. He saw the look that passed across her face whenever the words marriage, husband or babies came up. He sighed, knowing that when the time came to marry her off it was going to prove difficult.

Julill was so judgemental and critical of others. She even spoke out against her sisters, pointing out all their failings and often making fun of them. She was a very independent girl, preferring her own company to that of others. Even as a child she had played alone. And now caught in that gap between child and woman she was proving herself incapable of change.

She spent hours alone riding through the countryside, often slipping away from her bodyguards and there were nights when she did not return and search parties were sent out. Dozens of people charging about the land, fearing the worst, only to find her stretched out under a tree watching the stars, oblivious as ever to the worry she had caused. Oblivious or perhaps just not caring?

Though he was loath to admit it she was a selfish girl. She did not give a damn about others: what they said, what they did or how they felt. She ignored authority, had no respect for those who only wanted to keep her safe and totally disregarded her mother’s pleas to behave more ladylike.

Any man who asked for her hand and got it was going to find himself with quite a task on his hands. Julill ignored his wishes and he was a powerful king. Only the gods knew how she would react to a lesser man. How would a future husband deal with a wife who rode off without telling him, disappearing for hours, maybe days at a time? He sighed again.

It would have to change. She would have to change, whether she wanted to or not. She was no longer a child. She no longer had the luxury of just doing what she wanted. She was a princess. It was time she started acting like one.

You’ll wear the dress, Julill, and do so with a smile and you’ll dance with all the eligible men when they come to court. You’ll dance and laugh at their jokes, no matter how unfunny they might be. You’ll behave as is befitting to your station in life and you’ll cease all this foolishness. No more running about, climbing in trees and sneaking out at nights. Oh yes, I know all about that and it shall stop, now. Do you understand?

All too well, father.

He noted the switch from papa to father, something she did when she was exceedingly angry. He turned away from the mirror and came to stand before her.

Julill, he said softly, placing his hands on her shoulders and sighing when she stiffened under his touch. Growing up is hard, for everyone. Don’t you think I struggled against it when my father told me I had to grow up and behave like a true prince? Of course I did but in the end I knew he was right. I had responsibilities. If I’d been a farmer’s son or a fisherman’s son then I could’ve done what I wanted, but I wasn’t. I was the son of a king. You’re the daughter of a king. You too have responsibilities.

A responsibility to sit at the feet of some leery-eyed man and bear him squawking sticky-fingered children.

Is that what this is all about – babies? Are you frightened? Hasn’t your mother explained about…all…that…that…the way of things? he fumbled.

We had that talk years ago, papa. I know all about the mechanics.

So what’s the problem? Your mother and I will make sure your husband is an honourable man who’ll treat you well–

And expect me to bear children. Just as you and mother do.

Well, naturally.

What am I supposed to do with babies? I don’t like them. I can’t stand the awful noises they make and the mess…so much mess for something so small. And what happens when they’re old enough to walk and talk? They’ll want to talk to me and what am I supposed to say? I’ve nothing to say to a child.

Julill, darling, you’ll be fine. Your mother was afraid when she had children but she rose to the challenge and look at what she gained – three beautiful healthy daughters.

And four stillborn sons.

Senovar stared down at her, his heart beating fiercely in his chest. Everyday he convinced himself he had forgotten those times. Everyday he told himself that his dreams of the night before had been green and pleasant and not filled with the sight of dead babies wrapped in bloody cloths being taken out of the birthing chamber. He pretended he had forgotten his wife’s agonising screams of pain and her soft whimpers of despair afterwards. Time and time again he told himself that those deaths, though sad and terrible, were all in the past but then along came Julill. Oblivious as always to the pain she caused, she wrenched those memories up through his thoughts and left them hanging in the air in front of him.

Yes, well…those were…unfortunate times but not every woman suffers that loss. There’s no reason to believe that such a thing would happen to you.

If it did I wouldn’t bother to try again. To carry that weight around for nine long months, vomiting in corners and being unable to get comfortable at nights and at the end of it all you have to show for it is some shrivelled up doll of a child wrapped in a bloody blanket. What a complete and utter waste of time and energy; time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere, on more important things.

Julill. He sighed again. There are no guarantees in this world. Your children will be healthy or they won’t. You’ll be pleased with your husband or you won’t. Either way you’re a daughter of royalty and you have a duty to carry on our line. You’ll dance at the ball. You’ll wear your dress and when the time comes you’ll marry the man your mother and I choose for you. He gave her a light kiss on the forehead and gently squeezed her shoulder. It won’t be so terrible. You have great wealth. You’ll live in a good home, a home you can make your own and you’ll want for nothing. He kissed her once more and then left her alone to stare moodily out of the window.

I’ll want for nothing, she muttered to herself. Except a better reason for living other than to be some man’s prize brood-mare.

----

Later that night, when everyone had retired to their bedchambers and the palace was seemingly silent, Julill quickly dressed herself in black trousers and tunic, tied up her long red hair and wrapped a black scarf around her head. She wrapped a portion of it around her face, leaving only her distinctive green eyes uncovered, and then crept from her bedroom.

She moved on noiseless feet, slinking like a cat, hugging the walls and slowly poked her head around a corner. Two guards stood at the end of it. Tall men dressed in bulky armour that gleamed with a recent polishing. They had short swords hanging from their belts and helmets on their heads. They stood with their meaty arms folded across their wide chests, and stern expressions marked their faces. Their watchful eyes moved over every surface and Julill pursed her lips.

More and more guards were being conscripted into palace duties and her personal retinue of bodyguards had increased by ten in as many months. She smiled thinly. Her parents could surround her with a thousand guards but she would still find a way to outsmart them. She relished the challenge and found more and more inventive ways of slipping through their ever-increasing net. Her latest little trick was one she had not yet had the chance to use and, fingering the pouch tied to her belt, she decided that tonight seemed the perfect opportunity to do so.

She pulled back into the shadows and reached up for one of the many paintings that hung on the palace walls. She pulled it down with a forceful tug, wincing at the loud noise it made when it thudded to the floor. She wanted to attract the attention of the guards not wake the entire household. Fortunately, the ploy worked. One of the two guards came immediately to see what was going on. He rounded the corner, his sword held out in front of him, but she was ready.

Her hand had dipped into the pouch and pulled out a handful of a dusky-pink sand-like substance. She had it held up to her mouth and when the unsuspecting man rounded the corner she blew hard. The powder plumed out, surrounding his head with a nebulous pinkish cloud and in a second the man toppled face first to the floor. He began to snore almost immediately and Julill smirked as the second guard came rushing to his aid. Blowing a second handful of the dust in his face, he soon joined his partner on the carpet.

She dragged each of them in turn into one of the empty bedrooms, sweating and straining with their weight, and closed the door softly. She then locked it and left the key on a small table by the door. Then, with a small smile of smug satisfaction, she made her way out of the palace and across the grounds. She scaled the high wall surrounding her home and nimbly dropped down the other side. Then she was off and running, sprinting across the land with rising excitement clutching at her insides. Her heart was beating wildly and her stomach was full of fluttering butterflies. Her eyes sparkled like jewels and there was a wide smile of pure happiness on her lips.

If her parents could see her right now they would not have recognised her at all. Their daughter did not smile so rapturously, she did not get swept away by excitement or skip so lightly as though she was in the grip of true love. This Julill, running so ecstatically across the grass, would have been a stranger to them; a worrying stranger if they had known the reason for her happiness.

Luckily for Julill they did not for if they had her bodyguards would be tripled and she would never again be allowed out of her room, let alone the palace.

She ran on and plunged into the trees lying ahead. She swerved and weaved in and out of the looming many-limbed silent sentinels and did not stop until she was deep into their territory. When she did stop it was to stare upwards and cup her hands around her mouth. She hooted softly three times and smiled when she received the expected answer. Then, from out of the leafy canopy, a long thick rope descended. She grabbed it and gave a little tug. Swiftly the rope was drawn back up and she sailed through the leaves. Strong hands gripped her in the dark and pulled her up onto a solid wooden platform. She gasped as those arms encircled her body and a strong mouth locked onto hers.

Valorian, she gasped, feeling that mouth move down her neck. I’ve missed you.

And I you, he murmured in reply, my wild-hearted princess.

They embraced for a long time, running their hands all over each other’s bodies, sucking hungrily at each other’s mouths, than Valorian pulled back, reluctantly, and drew Julill along the platform until they stood in the light of the moon.

She turned to gaze at the only man who did not fill her thoughts with contemptuous loathing.

He was tall and handsome, extraordinarily so to her mind. He was quite lean, long and dark of hair, smooth shaven, quite boyish in appearance though he was seven years older than she and he had the most amazing brown eyes she had ever seen. They were so warm and expressive, full of tender feeling and quiet pain. She longed to hold him and kiss him and make that pain go away. She yearned to touch every part of him, to run her fingers gently across his skin and soothe away all his little hurts. She wanted to enfold him in her arms and keep him safe from the world and all its miseries.

She knew that when with him she was not herself. When they were together she felt soft and feminine, like a typical woman. He made her feel weak-kneed and starry-eyed. He caused her heart to beat faster, her hands to sweat and her stomach to churn. She hung on his every word and gazed at him as though he was a god and she a wet soppy little girl, but she did not care.

With anyone else she would have despised herself for feeling such weakness but with Valorian she did not mind feeling weak. She did not mind feeling girly and vulnerable because she knew he would never take advantage of that. She knew his feelings for her were true and that he respected her. He loved her strength, her cleverness and her beauty and whenever they were together or with the others he treated her as an equal. He valued her words and opinions and was not afraid to tell her if he thought she was wrong or being stupid. He spoke honestly with her and trusted her with secrets he had told no one else.

They had met the previous year and though Julill would never admit such feelings to anyone, even under threat of pain and death, it had been love at first sight.

Valorian was a mercenary who led a band of twenty men and women. Skilled fighters every one. They were capable of wielding any weapon, were strong both physically and mentally and possessed a rigid code of honour. They fought to protect those too weak to protect themselves and for payment took enough for food and supplies but no more unless it was offered.

Valorian was a sword-fighter and knew how to handle anything from a short sword to a sabre. He was a very intense fighter and did not stop until his enemy was put down. He preferred them to surrender but did not shy away from killing if there was no other choice. He was not the cleverest of the band, or even the strongest, but he had a very commanding presence and a persuasive voice. He was fair, always listened to both sides of an argument, and never made decisions lightly. The band was his family and he was the father: wise, loving and just. The band protected each other and would die for each other if called on to do so, and had done so in the past.

Though the band never exceeded its number of twenty the members had changed over the years. Some had died; others had simply grown tired of fighting. Valorian had been with the group since the age of ten and when Julill had first met him it had been after one of his missions had gone horribly wrong.

His group had been protecting a small band of travellers who had been at the mercy of marauding werewolves. The information given to Valorian stated there were three werewolves. There had actually been eight and one night the convoy had been attacked and only nine of Valorian’s group had survived. All of the werewolves had died.

Julill had been riding through the forest that night and had discovered the bedraggled remains of Valorian’s group huddled around a small fire. They had been covered in blood and weary from running. Valorian himself had been near death. A chunk of his shoulder had been torn out. Julill had tended to him.

She had connections with a local witch and bought, begged and stole any potion or herb that would help the band recover. After five days Valorian had opened his eyes and Julill had fallen instantly in love with him.

The band had grown up again over the next year and Julill had become one of its most valued members. How horrified her parents would have been to discover that their daughter was a fighting mercenary. How horrified they would be to discover she was doing more than just climbing trees when she slipped away from the palace at nights.

It amused her to wonder what they would say if they knew that Valorian had taught her how to wield a sword. It amused her to wonder what they would say if they knew she had used that sword to cut off a man’s head. What would they say if they discovered that in parts of their kingdom there was a young woman walking about going by the name of Swiftsword – a woman who beneath her black clothing and concealing scarf was a princess, a potential queen, a girl barely out of puberty? They would not believe it if told. They would not be able to comprehend just why she would do such a thing.

That was one of the reasons why she loved Valorian so very much. He understood why she did what she did. They understood each other’s hearts without even having to speak of their reasons.

She looked up at him, as they stood bathed in moonlight, and placed her hands on his chest to feel the strong beat of his heart. He looked down at her and smiled softly. He pulled the scarf from around her head and loosened her hair. He twirled a strand of it around his fingers as they stood together in comfortable silence.

Julill did not normally allow people to touch her hair. It made her uncomfortable in a way she could not explain, but with Valorian it was different. With him there was never any sense of unease or discomfort. She allowed him to do things to her she would have killed another man for attempting.

He touched her hair, kissed her, caressed parts of her body no one else had ever seen and hugged her often. Not even her parents were allowed to hug her. When they tried she froze or pulled away. She did not like people crowding her space. She liked distance between herself and others at all times, but with Valorian it was often she who initiated close contact.

She sighed as he bent his head to slide his lips up and down her throat and wished, not for the first time, that she had not been born a princess. A princess had power in many ways except the most important one. She could make decrees, pass laws, order a man’s death and imprison his family but she could not choose her own husband. A common farmer’s daughter, a seamstress or a serving maid working in the home of a king could marry the man of her choosing if he was available to her but a king’s daughter had to marry whomsoever her parents chose for her. And Julill knew what sort of a man they would choose: another prince, a lord, someone of noble or royal blood. Some pompous weak-chinned snob of a man. A man with connections but little honour. A man who paid others to do his fighting rather than pick up his own sword. A man she would despise in every possible way.

Had she already been a queen she would have chosen her own husband. She would have been forced to overthrow her own council to do so but she would have done it. But as a princess she did not have that option. If her parents died before she turned sixteen then that would be an entirely different matter and certain dark thoughts had been forming quietly within her mind. Certain thoughts that at the moment she was not quite aware of, except as a vague niggle at the back of her mind.

She had just over a year and a half of grace until she would be expected to marry. She leaned in closer and laid her head on Valorian’s strong chest. A year and a half in which to do as she pleased. And she was going to make the most of it. She would continue to fight at Valorian’s side and who knew, she thought, maybe she would be killed on one of their missions. Maybe they would die together, die fighting side by side, and then thoughts of upcoming marriages and babies would no longer have any meaning.

For a moment she wondered what it would be like to have Valorian’s baby.

He had never expressed a desire to marry and have children, but then again they had never really spoken about such possibilities. Was it something he dreamed about? He often talked about family, about how the band were his brothers and sisters but what of true family: mothers and fathers, wives and children?

Valorian?

Urm? he murmured, running his hands up and down her back.

If you stopped fighting what would you do instead?

I’ll stop fighting when I die, he said bluntly.

But what if you had a family?

I have a family.

I mean a wife, children. Would you stop fighting if you had them?

No. I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t. In fact I’d have greater reason to fight if I had a wife and child. I’d be fighting for them.

I see.

Why do you ask, my wild one? he asked, staring down at the top of her head.

Just curious.

Really? He gazed out over the trees, looking at the other platforms.

It had been Julill’s suggestion that the band build platforms high in the trees. For safety’s sake and to be able to see everything from one spot. There were twenty-one platforms in this particular forest. One platform for each person to call their home and one large one used as a communal meeting area. Small shelters had been built on the platforms. Small thatch-roofed shelters big enough to sit up in and tiny fires burned beside them, offering much-needed heat and light. For someone accustomed to grand palaces and soft feather beds Julill seemed surprisingly at home in such bare circumstances and he marvelled at the way he always seemed to forget she was of royal blood.

Julill seemed a natural born hunter and fighter. She rode a horse as though she had been born in a saddle and did not complain when it was cold and wet. Valorian had known a few girls who never ceased complaining if so much as a speck of dirt marred their perfect features. He had known girls who nearly died if a single strand of hair slipped out of place, girls who only seemed to care about their outward appearances.

He liked to look at pretty girls, those who took the time to look nice every now and then, but girls who cared so much about their outer appearances that they totally forgot about their inner-selves were not to his taste. All they cared about was preening and strutting about and they were as hollow eggs. Break through the pretty shell and there was nothing on the inside worth speaking about.

Julill was so very different. She was beautiful on the outside, beautiful in a way that seemed to require little or no effort, but beneath that pretty exterior there was so much more.

Valorian believed himself immune to the charms of women but when he had woken up after that disastrous mission nearly one year ago everything had changed. When his eyes had flickered open and the thirteen-year-old Julill had gazed down on him he had loved her instantly. She had been dressed as she was now: all in black like a shadow, the lower half of her face concealed, her flame-red hair hidden beneath her scarf and only her eyes showing. He had fallen in love with her eyes – her dark-green emerald eyes. Twin orbs of shining intensity that had blazed from her face like beacons: beacons leading a man to safety or luring him to his doom – he had not yet decided which. But whichever they were he had been caught in their glare and could not escape. He did not want to escape, though he suspected that if he did not try he would be led into dangerous places, where only pain and misery waited.

Julill was a princess. He had known that from the very beginning. She was a princess; he a hired mercenary. They had no possible future together, and he too had had thoughts about the possibility of her dying while on one of their missions and how would he explain that to her parents?

Common sense told him to end their relationship but he could not. He would not.

Julill did not fight with him solely because she loved him. She fought because she believed in their cause. She believed in standing up to protect the oppressed and the frightened. She burned with a need to be more than just a pretty princess watching the world go by from the top of her ivory tower. If he ended their relationship she would continue to fight regardless, and how could he possibly ask her to stop? How could he order her to ignore her heart’s calling? A princess she might be but he had never seen anyone wield a sword with such natural ease. She was a born warrior. She had the soul and skill of a natural fighter. It was just bad luck her being born into the wrong family.

So while common sense and cold logic told him to end this madness and make her go home, something far deeper and infinitely more important told him to still his mouth. He would not want her to sway him from the course he had chosen so why should he try to sway her? People had to choose their own paths in life, regardless of where such choices might take them.

But what of her questions regarding family? Was it just idle curiosity or was she hinting at something else? Did she want to marry him, be his wife? What would it be like to have her as his wife, to have her as the mother of his child? A child of their union would be something to behold. A child with its mother’s fiery red hair. A strong child raised to be as honourable and brave as its parents. What would it be like, he thought? To take that child and teach it to hunt and ride, to watch it grow, to watch over it as it slept and watch its eyelids flicker as it dreamed.

That was the dream though, he thought with a sigh. Julill would be married to some strange man of high birth in over a year’s time. She would be taken far from him, maybe even across the sea to lands he could not reach and he would remain here, high in the trees, a forgotten warrior fighting other people’s battles, living with the memory of the time when he had loved a princess with hair like fire and eyes like jewels.

He suddenly crushed Julill to him, wrapping his arms around her, and buried his face in that glorious hair. He held tightly to her as though fearing that a sudden gust of wind might snatch her away and he sighed tiredly as her hands stroked his back.

I want you, he whispered deep in his mind. I want you now and for all time.

Valorian?

What? he mumbled into her hair.

When do we next ride out?

In a few hours. The others are getting their things together. When the sun rises we’ll mount up.

Then we have some time?

Yes. He pulled away suddenly and looked down at her. Time for what?

I think you know. Julill reached up and pulled her tunic up and over her head. She tossed the garment to the floor and stood bare-breasted in the weakening moonlight.

Valorian bit his lip and tentatively reached out with a shaking hand. He gently cupped Julill’s left breast in that hand and felt the heaviness and warmth of it against his palm. He squeezed it softly and was rewarded with a soft moan of pleasure from her partially open mouth. He retracted his hand and swiftly removed his own tunic. Then he once more crushed her to his chest, loving the feel of her bare skin against his.

A small voice piped up in his mind, warning him that this was something he could be put to death for should the king ever discover it. But that voice was easily squashed as Julill’s eager hands dropped to the waistband of his trousers and began tugging.

As the moon faded from the sky, Valorian slowly lowered himself down between Julill’s thighs and eased himself through her most intimate barrier, bringing from her mouth a tiny cry of pain and a great long shuddering sigh of pleasure. And as the sun began to peep over the horizon, Julill wrapped both her arms and her legs around him, and as they moved together faster and faster she wondered what would happen if she fell pregnant because of this one act. She wondered what her parents might say, what the whole country would say, and found that as always she did not care.

----

One hour later and the group were ready to ride out. Each man and woman was dressed from head to toe in black, only their eyes uncovered. There were others apart from Julill who did not wish their faces to be recognised for one reason or another. Each member of the band had a past that they wished to leave behind and secrets they desired to keep. Only Valorian knew that Julill was a princess and only she now knew why he fought so strongly to keep others from harm. That secret he had finally shared as they had finished their lovemaking and now she knew that whatever else happened in her life from this point on she would love only him and no one else. Ever.

Alright, he called. Let’s move out.

With Valorian leading and Julill at his right side the group moved out of the forest, travelling two abreast, one hand on their horse’s reins, the other resting on whatever their choice of weapon. Their eyes roamed over everything. Every tree, branch and leaf was memorised and marked. Every print on the ground, whether made by man or beast, was noted and stored in their thoughts. Every sound and smell was filed away for future reference. Nothing went unnoticed because one missed detail could mean all the difference between living and dying.

Once clear of the forest, the horses broke into a steady gallop and after twenty miles of riding in silence the band reached their destination – a tiny village no more than a mile in diameter. There were a few small houses, an inn and a set of stables. Hardly anything much worth fighting over yet it was home to one hundred people and it was under threat.

Werewolves had taken a liking to the place and had made a sport of chasing the villagers as they attempted to leave their homes each morning. Valorian had determined that there were three wolves, all female and that they had not yet begun feeding. The chase had been going on for weeks though so they must have worked up quite an appetite by now and that hunger would make them harder to dispose of. He believed his group could manage it though. As long as they obeyed his orders to the letter, which he knew they would.

Valorian dismounted as the group reached the inn and bade the others to wait while he went to speak with the village elders. In a few minutes he had returned and the group set about readying their weapons and taking up their positions: ten took to the higher ground, climbing up into trees and onto roofs; ten took to the lower ground, hiding behind water troughs and standing in the shadows of open doorways. Valorian and Julill took the most vulnerable spot, standing on the porch of the tiny inn with the full glare of the sun in their eyes. There they waited.

One full hour elapsed, then two, then three. Then there was movement.

Walking through the centre of the village, walking with cocky arrogance that revealed their true natures, were three blonde-haired women. They were tall and muscular and their overly large teeth gleamed in the light when they grinned. Their honey-yellow eyes fixed on Valorian and Julill and they bowed mockingly.

You’re new to this part of the world, friend, said the central female. Have you come to play with us?

We have indeed, Valorian replied, hefting his sword, but as a man who believes in fair play I shall give you one warning. Leave now and never return to this place and you shall live to see another morning. If you refuse I promise you that you shall die here today.

Ooh, the female shuddered. I’m so scared. Please Mr Human. Please don’t hurt little me. I’m just a little girly girl. She grinned nastily and suddenly there was a terrible squishy squelching sound.

Avert your eyes! Valorian yelled as the woman underwent her grisly change. Don’t look at them!

To look on a werewolf in mid-change was to go mad. The sight of a human-like figure practically turning itself inside out to unleash the animal within was not a sight that most people could withstand and those unfortunate to have witnessed it did not stay sane for long. If at all.

The mercenaries closed their eyes and not a single one of them was tempted to peek. Then when the first snarl split the air the group attacked. Those in the high places, using longbows and crossbows, sent down a rain of silver-tipped arrows that the werewolves dodged easily. Few arrows came close to the mark but one werewolf was hit on the shoulder. The beast did not slow but the howl of agony it emitted brought a grim smile to Valorian’s lips.

The werewolves raced through the centre of the village. They were a hair’s breadth from Julill when Valorian raised his hand in the signal and the other mercenaries lunged out from their hiding places and began slashing with their swords.

One werewolf was taken down almost immediately but the other two swerved at the last minute and raced away. Valorian and Julill gave chase and caught up with one of them, which turned on them in a flurry of raking claws and snapping teeth. But, working together, as though they were one mind and not two separate, they took the creature down.

They slashed, chopped and cut with rhythmical strokes, their blades humming and whirring as though they were musical instruments. The werewolf screamed and howled in pain and fury but still fought with ferocious energy even as it was beaten down. Then finally Julill drove her sword into the creature’s heart, forcing it through tough thick layers of skin and muscle. The animal gave out one last cry and fixed its yellow gaze on her, a look filled with such glaring malevolence that her breath stopped for an instant, and then it was done.

The creature lay still in a rapidly expanding pool of crimson blood and Julill averted her eyes as it began to change back into its human form. The change went uncompleted and what was left rotting on the ground was neither animal nor human but a mixture of both. Valorian and Julill quickly walked away without a backward glance and gave chase for the final werewolf.

It appeared to have vanished but Valorian was not so easily convinced and he was right not to be as with an ear-splitting shriek a figure leapt down on them from a roof above their heads. The creature was back in its human form but as the naked woman pushed Valorian to the