Betrayal Read Free Page A

manor. They had been allowed through unharmed, and the attack had been unleashed after they were out of earshot.
    Captain Forseth and the surviving men would be soon riding back into the ambush, with a small compliment from the manor, at best.
    Nisero stopped and turned about.
    He spied a dozen figures spread across the field behind him, and charging in his direction. None were on horse back. They weren’t converging, but were rather spreading out. Still, they drew close.
    Nisero fell to his belly and lay flat in the spotty grass with the loose, fallow soil underneath. He suspected they were not keyed onto his position, but were just sweeping over the ground in the direction he had fled, hoping to overtake him.
    A man charged by, raising dust with his hard steps as he passed without pausing. Another man passed farther away on the other side, thundering through the field and sucking air in deep, wet gasps.
    Nisero raised his head a span and turned to look about in every direction. He lost sight of figures now beyond him, but still heard their retreating footfalls as they themselves thought they still pursued.
    The lieutenant took to his feet and paced back in the direction of the road. He did not have a clear sense of the time that had passed since the attack, nor the distance he had covered. He might be too late to usurp the second ambush. He wasn’t sure if he was close enough to hear it.
    He thought it might be wise to swing wide and cross the border of the manor grounds. And from there, retake the trail beyond the attack point. If he was lucky, he could warn the others before they fell into the trap.
    Nisero did not feel particularly lucky this night.
    Nisero scanned for a sign of the road ahead. As he lost his sense of direction in the cloudy darkness, he saw two more shapes approaching from ahead of him. Nisero dropped to his knee and gripped the hilt of his sword.
    “Over here. I think I saw something.”
    “Then take care and stay quiet.”
    Nisero gripped his sword hilt tighter.
    They spoke in the tongue of the kingdom and held no accent except that of any typical men from the central plain. They didn’t even have the twinge of accent that sometimes snuck into the speech of mercenaries that were well traveled. These were citizens of the kingdom, unless the rabble had worked hard to put on a flawless, central accent. Even if they had reason to do so in some places, they would not likely maintain it sweeping a field in the pitch darkness, and it would be difficult to do so after the sweat and fire of an intense battle.
    Not from the eastern kingdom , Nisero thought. Not bandits from beyond one of the other borders. This attack came from within our own people. An assault on a foreign heir to the throne, but also the Elite Guard of the King himself. This is an act of civil war as much as banditry. Wholesale assassination. Who are you?
    “Must be nothing. The others are still running out beyond this point toward the far tree line. He may have outpaced us.”
    “He’ll have no friends. We just need to find him.”
    “Was it the lieutenant? That’s not good.”
    “We won’t know until we identify the other bodies.”
    “He’s going to kill us.”
    Nisero breathing quickened. Who? Do they speak of me or their disappointed master?
    They drew close enough that he could see the lines of their dark clothing. They had removed their helmets and carried them on their hips. One man had a beard. The other had a sharp nose and long hair.
    Nisero determined to draw his sword in a full swing. He’d slice through the one with the long hair. The lieutenant thought he could open the man’s belly laterally and take off the end of his nose before coming down on the second man. He’d hold his blade to the second man’s throat and press him for information until he spoke, or bled out.
    One more step for a better angle, scoundrel , Nisero thought.
    They turned around. Nisero decided it would take two strikes now, but he could