She heard another stealthy figure before the column arrived. She heard the column pass, and did not move.
There, again. Another figure. She smiled to herself without moving her lips.
Another figure passed.
Only when Helgaer was absolutely sure the last man had passed, did she move.
The rearmost of the rangers didn't realise he was dead until it was too late for him to do anything about it.
Helgaer lowered him gently to the ground before pulling her dagger out of the underneath of his chin.
The second did not hear the death, but realised something was wrong. He was less surprised when he died, but no louder.
Helgaer faded back between the trees. She waited, but heard nothing.
If she pursued the first rangers, she would end up too far from the cliff. She caught up with the marching column, risking exposure to get a good look at them. Ten men marched behind their leader.
She raised the crossbow, hesitated, then placed it gently on the ground, untied her sling, slipped a good stone from a pouch, then felled the man in the rear.
The stone was still in the air as she was snatching up the crossbow.
It was not a good shot, and he did not die immediately.
She heard him, but was too far away to see anything after the bolt struck.
She was disappointed to not hear panic. She heard immediate, disciplined, warnings and orders.
That made her frown, but she was not going to retreat now for any reason.
She heard the first two rangers running back, no longer trying to hide themselves. That was easy. The second heard the first one die, but Helgaer attacked him too quickly and strongly for him to have any chance.
She let those kills be noisy. She wanted them to hear her now.
Six dead was a start, but only a start.
She let them hear her running towards the bandits' trail. She ran along it, towards the camp, until she was sure they would find it. Then she disappeared into the forest again.
There was one voice shouting in rage, but he was disciplined and he was giving orders. That would be the voice of Captain Ellisar Koda. Helgaer's fists clenched before she forced herself to relax.
They spread out as they ran between the trees, moving slowly by Helgaer's standards but quickly by what she was expecting from soldiers. She could not work out their numbers from the noises they were making, but if there had been four more on the other side of the road, that meant thirteen, maybe more. She had heard that Ortliners considered thirteen to be an inauspicious number. She smiled at that thought.
There was more shouting as they found the trail. Captain Koda spread his men out before advancing only as quickly as those in the trees could run.
Helgaer heard soldiers move towards her. Then she saw them.
When they had passed, she slipped after them, any noise she had to make to catch up covered by their own clumsiness.
The next man died as easily as had the first. She tried to be silent, but his comrade was too close.
She did manage to duck behind a tree before being seen.
The soldier shouted a warning. The other men responded. Helgaer heard them running back and into the woods, closing on her in a wide circle but closer together this time.
She hesitated only a moment.
The soldier managed to block her first strike with his round wooden shield, but reeled, his feet tangling in the undergrowth. These men wore open-face steel helmets and steel scale armour, their feet and hands covered in steel but their arms and legs clad only in leather. There was no easy place in the torso to insert a sword, so Helgaer cut the man's throat as he fell.
Then she disappeared back among the trees, barely in time before the soldiers arrived.
"Find him! A bonus to the first man to see the bastards!"
Helgaer gritted her teeth, but resisted the urge to turn back to the fight.
Instead, she recovered the crossbow from where she had cached it.
She crept towards the road, circling behind the soldiers. She heard what sounded like commands, but nothing loud enough to make out.
She did not have to wait long before hearing Captain Koda's voice raised in more commands. She could not quite hear what he had to say, but she heard them moving more quickly. They began jogging along the trail.
She crept after them. Nearly being caught once had made her more cautious. Walking through the woods with Camille had made her more alert. So instead of stepping out in front of the rearguard, she saw a glint of light on steel before they saw her.
Her heart nearly stopped. At least two soldiers were in position between her and the track, crouching among the undergrowth. Their eyes were moving, but nothing else.
Helgaer stayed perfectly still, trying to breathe deeply but gently, until she was sure she had not been seen.
If there were men this side of the track, she had to assume there were men the other side.
The bulk of the soldiers were still jogging towards the camp-site, their noise fading away. But without being able to see them, she could not assume they had not left further guards. Going back into the forest so she could follow the main group would leave her vulnerable.
Very, very slowly, she raised her crossbow.
She waited until the sound of running men had faded to nothing.
This shot was good. The soldier saw her as she was firing, but did not have time to make a sound before the bolt caught him just under the edge of his helmet, between his eyes.
His comrade rose with a shout, leaping towards Helgaer. Two more erupted from the other side of the track.
Helgaer met the first one squarely, leaping aside at the last moment so she could deflect his thrust before cutting at his wrist with her dagger.
Her blade glanced off his gauntlets, but it bought her the time to stab him through the leg with her sword. She opened his throat with her dagger as he howled in pain.
The other two did not slow down, although one had to leap clumsily over a low bush, holding him back.
"Vreelander bitch," the other snarled. He came at her fast but carefully, his shield held up and his sword looking for any opening.
She ducked behind a tree, moving slowly. He leapt to the other side, missing her completely as she reversed direction to charge the second man, who tried to block her charge with his shield. She took him off his feet, throwing him backwards.
The first man lunged at her, leaving him open for her to cut at his knee, bringing him down so she could easily remove his head.
The final guard had fallen back against a tree, his head hitting so hard he was barely conscious. Helgaer cut his throat without remorse. That meant at least seven left.
She reloaded the crossbow before jogging lightly along the track, feeling her wound beginning to throb but not with the sharp pain of a fresh tear. She kept her dagger ready to block, eyes wide and ears aching with the effort of catching every possible clue around her.
Ahead of her, she heard the shouting of men in combat. She broke into a run.
She had nearly burst into the camp site before she saw the soldiers.
One man was lying on the ground, at the head of the track, with an arrow through his neck. Another had been struck in the leg, but dragged to safety behind a tent. He was snapping the shaft with his hands while two crouched with him, on guard.
As the soldiers saw her, she saw three more men stalking from the trees on the other side of the clearing.
Helgaer and Captain Koda saw each other at the same time. He was wearing a crest on his helmet and plate steel pauldrons on his shoulders, but was otherwise dressed like his men.
The clearing was large enough that Helgaer could not see his face in detail, but she could recognise the frustrated stalk–and the gleaming, unbloodied blade–of a fighter who can not get to grips with his enemies. That meant Camille was still alive.
Helgaer smiled as she raised her crossbow. Koda and his men leapt to the sides. The bolt hummed harmlessly past them.
That still only made five standing. Helgaer laughed as she added that up.
She had been about to run back into the woods. Instead, she threw the crossbow aside before drawing her sword. Her heart was singing.
The two closest men had rushed her, relying on speed to avoid the archer. One fell with an arrowhead sprouting from his chest.
Koda's man did not make the mistake of misjudging her for her sex. He made the mistake of being angry. He over-committed, unable to block and dodge as her sword accelerated towards his wrist. He avoided her blade but stumbled, unable to leap clear because there was a tree where he wanted to be. She slashed at his knee with her dagger, then cut hard at it with her sword as he fell between the trees. He screamed, his knee useless. She stepped away, into the clearing, leaving him to bleed or crawl away.
Koda and his surviving men had run for the safety of the cliff face, looking for shelter from the archer on the cliff edge above them. This was the terrifying Captain Koda and his men?
Helgaer moved into the clearing, away from the cliff, to where Camille could see her easily. Her wound was throbbing, making her move slowly and casually so it would not be obvious.
Captain Koda laughed scornfully when he saw her. "A Vreelander bitch. All your kind are filth. And there's only two of you, aren't there? Who's your friend with the bow? Another of you barbarians, or an Ortlin traitor? You're wearing our armour."
Helgaer said nothing as she studied him, settling her blades in her hands. The two soldiers by Captain Koda held their shields above their heads. Helgaer almost wished she had kept the crossbow.
Captain Koda spat towards Helgaer. "Silent, eh? Afraid your voice will shake?"
"Captain Ellisar Koda." Helgaer's voice was as hard and flat as granite.
Captain Koda sneered at her. "Oh, so you have heard of me, then. Bet I haven't heard of you."
"No. I don't suppose you have."
"So what it is? Revenge? Or are you hunting the great Ellisar Koda on a dare?"
Helgaer shook her head. "Oh no. You are not a great man. Great men have honour."
Captain Koda's face flushed red. "And what do you call being too cowardly to fight openly? You skulked in the trees and now you only show your face because you're covered by an archer even more cowardly than you."
"Cowardly? Men are stupid enough to face superior odds when there is a better option? I must remember that. I fight to my rules, and fourteen of your men are dead." Helgaer looked around, at the man lying among the trees trying to staunch the bleeding from his knee, and at the man just visible on the other side of a tent, his leg now bound and sword in hand. "Still only fourteen, but he will not be walking again."
"Tell me, Vreelander bitch, how quick is your friend? Do you think he will be able to hit one of us when we rush you together?"
Helgaer glanced at the two other soldiers. There was no hesitation to be seen. They were prepared to rush her, and they were certain they would succeed. They were no longer holding their shields above their heads.
She lifted her sword to point at Captain Koda. "You. Just you. You will not be shot. I do not care about your men, they were merely getting in my way. My argument is with you. Come and meet me, Captain Ellisar Koda."
Captain Koda burst out laughing. "Oh! You wish to play with me? I have a better idea. We rush you, then the Ortlin army sweeps these woods and kills every hunter, bandit and rogue we can find."
The three men shifted. Helgaer shot a glance at the man with the leg wound. He looked quite prepared to charge her as well.
Before the soldiers could move, an arrow hummed across the clearing. The soldiers, focused on Helgaer, had no time to react. The man closest to the hidden archer took a little while to die, after the shaft pierced his chest from the side.
Captain Koda screamed with rage. The other soldier threw up his shield. Camille stepped out of the woods, stringing another arrow.
"Another bitch?" Captain Koda was almost incoherent.
"I will not shoot you, Captain Koda," Camille called out. "Your men I will hunt down like rabbits."
The three remaining soldiers threw themselves forwards, all charging at Helgaer.
Helgaer leapt towards the injured man, her wound screaming with pain but her mind refusing to listen to it.
Captain Koda and his last able-bodied man skidded as they tried to change direction to follow her.
The maimed soldier led with his sword, his shield held low and the light of death in his eyes.
Helgaer's Vreelander boots gripped the ground better than Ortlin military wear. The soldier, expecting to die, pierced only air with his lunge before his throat was opened by Helgaer's dagger.
Camille was faster than the soldiers had given her credit for. Captain Koda's last standing man fell with an arrow in his neck.
Helgaer skidded only slightly as she stopped, but nearly staggered from a tearing pain in her belly as she turned and raised her sword to finally cross blades with Captain Koda.
He rushed, swinging his sword like an axe. She blocked the tip of his sword against the quillons of hers, but her dagger had no chance to strike at his arm or face before he had leapt away, out of range.
She followed, flicking her sword towards his wrist. He twisted his arm out of the way and brought his shield around hard towards her sword arm. She slipped to his left, lifting her elbow above his shield and dragging her sword after it, slashing at his head. He ducked, twisting as he leapt away from her.
They began circling each other warily.
"I know you're hurt," Captain Koda said when they had space between them. "How long do you think you can last?"
Helgaer said nothing, her face calm as she studied him.
He cut experimentally at her head. Her sword flicked his away.
He probed again, slashing backhanded at her torso. She lunged, her sword humming around at his head while taking his sword on her waist, trusting in her cuirass, which flexed but was not cut. With his shield held low, he jerked backwards away from her blade, then cut strongly at her left arm as her sword continued its swing away from him. She blocked with her bracer, his sword cutting through the top layer of leather before grating off the thin steel plates embedded beneath. She cut at his sword arm, the point of her dagger skipping off his steel bracers but opening a deep cut on his arm behind them.