Our swords clashed only three times before it was all over. He met my blade in a high guard and we both twisted around, each trying to gain leverage to break the bind and land a strike. Surprised by my mastery of the blade, and all too aware that he was outnumbered, he started backpedaling and trying to strafe around to place me between him and Thalia's blade. But Thalia and I knew one another so well that she darted past me and struck at him.

  He blocked her thrust towards his chest then swatted blindly at my throat-high slash. Our blades clanged and sparked in the air and I managed to control his blade and shove it aside. Just like that, the fight was already over. Thalia laid her blade against the ranger's throat and ordered him to yield.

  He gritted his teeth and let his sword drop to the forest floor without further fight.

  "Once the king figures out what you're doing out here, he's going to cut off your heads," the ranger growled. Thalia was binding his hands with rope as he spoke. I was surprised at how quickly he'd given up, but I guessed the shock of our attack had caught him off guard. We were a pretty formidable pairing as well, even without the benefit of surprise.

  "We'll deal with that when the time comes," I replied, my eyes locked on the woman who had been his prisoner. She was standing up, rubbing her wrists where the rope had chafed them raw. "Are you alright?" I asked her.

  She nodded, her eyes wide and grateful. "Thank you," she said softly, her voice shaking. "I didn't think I was going to make it out of there alive."

  "You're safe now," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We won't let anyone hurt you."

  The ranger sneered at us from where he was tied up. "You're making a huge mistake," the ranger said. "You can't trust her."

  I ignored him, turning back to the woman. "Do you have a name?" I asked her.

  She hesitated for a moment, as if unsure of whether or not she could trust us, but then she nodded. "My name is Zoe," she said.

  "If we let you loose will you try and kill us?" I asked bluntly.

  Zoe shook her head adamantly. "My fight is with the shadowfolk who roam these woods. They wiped out my clan, and many others. If your fight is with them, than today we are allies."

  "A moving declaration. But what about tomorrow?" the ranger demanded.

  Zoe glared at him. "When the shadows are gone I will leave this kingdom behind. You have my word. Too much of my people's blood has been spilt here for me to linger. I will have my vengeance or I will meet my death. Either way, my fight is not with you," she said, looking me in the eyes.

  Something in those dark eyes of hers...I believed her. And apparently I wasn't the only one.

  "Well, Zoe, we should get moving," Thalia said, glancing around nervously. "We don't want to hang around here for too long."

  I nodded, agreeing with her. "Luca, can you scout ahead and make sure the coast is clear?"

  Luca nodded, vanishing into the woods with the ease of a cat. He was proving surprisingly useful, and he was small and fast enough that I wasn't too worried about him.

  He was exceptionally skilled with a bow and arrow. I would have to ask him why when we had time to talk one-on-one. "You're with me, Zoe," I said. "Alistair, can you take the ranger?"

  "I have a name," the ranger said in a prickly voice.

  I continued to ignore the ranger as Alistair approached him, a smile on his face. "Hello again, William. Long time no see, you prickly bastard. Listen. You can make this easy or you can make it hard, but either way you're getting on that horse with me."

  "You're working for them?" William asked incredulously.

  "Worse. I'm working with them, old friend," Alistair said. "They're doing something vital. On the king's orders. We just can't tell the king the specifics. There may be traitors in his inner circle."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  William rolled his eyes, but Alistair's approach seemed to have softened him a bit. "Whatever your purposes out here may be, you would do well not to trust the raider. She is as vicious as they come."

  "The same could be said for you. You've slaughtered more of my people than I've killed of yours," Zoe accused coldly.

  William shrugged the accusation off, as if it didn't bother him in the slightest.

  We mounted up, with Zoe riding on my horse behind me. Alistair helped William get on his horse, since his hands were still bound, and it was difficult for him.

  As we talked, I could feel everyone's eyes on us. We might have won this battle against the ranger, but he was just one person. The Shades were an entirely different ordeal.

  Zoe wrapped her arms around my waist. She was taller than she looked when I first saw her, her hair pinned to the back of her head. Her face was smeared with dirt, her face framed by strands of wavy hair. She smelled surprisingly sweet, like jasmine. She clung to me tightly, clearly still shaken from her ordeal. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for her.

  Luca ran up to us, panting. "All clear, milord," he said.

  "Good work, Luca," I said, patting him on the back. "Let's move out."

  We rode hard, with Alistair leading the way and the rest of us following closely behind. Zoe's arms were still wrapped around my waist, and I could feel her body shaking with each gallop of the horse.

  "Are you okay?" I asked her, turning my head slightly to look back at her.

  She nodded, but I could see the fear in her eyes. "I'm fine," she said. "Just a little shaken up."

  I could understand that. Being kidnapped and held captive by a ranger was not exactly a walk in the park. Still, I wasn't stupid. I knew that if William was targeting her, it had to be for good reason. "Where did he find you?"

  She sighed, her grip around me tightening. "I was around the castle," she said.

  "You were there when the raid happened?"

  "I didn't want to be," she said, her hands tightening around the fabric of my shirt. "Please don't take me to the king. I didn't want to do this."

  "Why would I take you to the king?" I asked.

  "Because he's going to want answers," she replied, her voice trembling. "And I don't know if I can give them to him."

  I could sense the fear and desperation in her voice, and I knew there was something she wasn't telling us. I couldn't blame her. If I was in her situation, I wouldn't be particularly forthcoming.

  She hesitated, her grip around me loosening just slightly. "I'm not sure if I can trust you," she said.

  "We just risked our lives to save you," Thalia spoke up from behind us. "I think that earns us a little trust, don't you?"

  Zoe didn't respond for a moment, but then she took a deep breath. "I think the king is behind the attacks."

  I bit down a snarky response. This was, of course, what a prisoner would say. I didn't know why I had expected to gleam actual information from her.

  She sighed. She could tell I didn't believe her.

  "But hear me out," she pleaded. "You look at me and see a filthy raider. But I was a servant until a short while ago. In a house up north. My lord...he's one of the dark wizards responsible for the Shades that plague your lands. I always knew he was a powerful, scary man, but then the king arrived with his entourage. Some time around a few months ago, perhaps, and I overheard them talking."

  My blood ran cold.

  "I wasn't supposed to," she said. "If I'd been caught, my master would've killed me straightaway. But I couldn't help myself - I had to know what was going on. And what I heard was...terrifying."

  "Go on," I said, urging her to continue.

  "They were talking about the Shades, the attacks on the kingdom," she said. "And the king, he was...he was behind it all. He wanted to create chaos, sow discord among his enemies. He said he didn't mind losses as long as he won at the end. He said something about how it would help him expand his influence to other kingdoms."

  "That's a bold accusation," I said, trying to keep my voice level. I wasn't a particularly big fan of the king, but these accusations were outrageous. "How do you know he wasn't just discussing ways to stop the Shades?"

  "Because he was talking about how he was going to use them to his advantage," Zoe replied. "He said that his army would be ready to swoop in and take over once the Shades had weakened his enemies enough. And then he said...he said something about a secret weapon."

  "A secret weapon?" I asked, intrigued. Our conversation had been carried out in whispers. I was glad. I didn't want anyone else to hear what she was saying.

  "I didn't hear anything else," she said. "I tried to hide...and then, months later, the attack on the castle happened."

  "And you were there."

  "I had to be. He would've killed me otherwise. My entire clan was forced out of our homes, given weapons, starved, and led into your lands. Anyone who wouldn't fight, he struck down with his dark magic!"

  "The king?"

  I could feel her shake her head behind me. "No," she replied. "My master. The wizard."