Here's an extract.
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Stooped in
a thicket of green leaves, Fedir waited, slowing his breathing, his gaze fixed
on the grassy bank opposite, about fifty paces away. His left hand gripped his
bow, and the gloved fingers of his right
held a nocked arrow in place on the string. His battered old linen satchel, and
his slim leather hunting quiver with just four arrows in it, were strapped
securely aslant his back. At any moment, his target would move into view, into
a gap in the Summer foliage that surrounded Fedir. It was late afternoon, after
the greatest heat of the day, and the sky was vivid blue, patched with puffy
white clouds, with just a slight breeze: a lovely day to be hunting in the
forest. This particular prey, however, was not one that Fedir had been hunting
for: this was sheer opportunity.
Fedir took
one slow, quiet breath. He could hear his own heart thumping. He had never
killed a human before.
Another
breath. Any second now.
Another
breath.
A slight,
black-haired, tawny-skinned youth, apparently near Fedir’s age of eighteen,
wearing on his back a large leather backpack, a bagged bow and a leather
quiver, walked into view in the gap between the leaves through which Fedir was
peering, crossing the bank from right to left. Fifty paces with a clear path
between him and the target: not a difficult shot, but Fedir would probably only
get one chance at it: if he missed, then, depending on what the arrow hit and
how noisy the impact was, the youth may well realise that he was being hunted.
Fedir tensed his muscles, lifting the bow and beginning to draw it even as he
tracked his target’s progress from right to left across the small gap, all in
one arc, moving smoothly but carefully lest he betray himself by making the
bushes rustle. He had only a couple of seconds before the youth would be past
the gap and out of sight —
The youth
sat down. At this shifting of his target from up to down, instead of right to
left, Fedir faltered, his aim broken, slacking some of the tension on his
bowstring. The youth had parked himself on the near end of a low, mossy,
half-mouldered log that lay aslant the bank. He was still in profile to Fedir,
but now a smaller target – almost folded in half as he perched on his low
seat. However, he was stationary: perfect.
Fedir
tensed his muscles again, his feet still planted firmly on the leaf litter. He
had the luxury of taking his time to aim, now. Anyone from his village could
make this shot.
Suddenly
Fedir’s left wrist buzzed and throbbed as though it were inflamed. His arm spasmed, almost dropping the weapon. He gasped, crouched, half dropping and half
placing the bow and arrow on the ground, unnocking the arrow as he did so, tore
off his left glove and fumbled at the straps of his bracer to see what insect
was stinging him and how much damage it was doing.
The leather
bracer dropped to the leaf litter, and Fedir yanked back his sleeve. There,
blooming black on the pale underside of his left wrist, was a shape like a
many-pointed star. It looked very like a tattoo. As Fedir watched, wide eyed,
its edges became crisper, clearer, until within a few seconds it was clear,
every edge and tip of every ray perfect and sharp. There was no swelling of the
skin around it, as there would be around a fresh tattoo, but the black had a
hint of red to it, like ink mixed with blood.
Oh no.
No. That
was impossible.
Fedir rose
from his crouch to the gap in the leaves, and positively hurled his glance
around the clearing in the forest, looking to the trees on either side, the
grass and small bushes in front, the grassy, tree-topped bank beyond, the sky
above and the leaf litter at his feet, even over his shoulder into the thicket,
hoping against hope that somehow there was someone else nearby, someone he had seen without realising he’d seen them,
someone who wasn’t the enemy …
But his
brain told him that there was no one else around, and his gut told him that
this black-haired boy was it.
His
soulmate.
––––––
When this book finally lets me finish it, it will be published at Smashwords.com, and from there will be distributed to various other online booksellers.
