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found Shade already sitting in her usual place, eyes closed. He watched her, she could have easily left all of them; she was still young and strong. Sensing Ben Adhem close by Shade opened her eyes.

'Are you still all right to go through with this?' Shade asked.

'I think there is still a lot you have not been telling me, you have watched Kerdred's soldiers and what they have done to other villages, do you think you should go ahead with the plan?' he replied.

'I think my plan is too kind for them,' answered Shade bitterly.

'I am therefore, not only all right about it, but pleased and if I do not get to live another day at least we will have tried,' smiled Ben Adhem.

Shade went to prepare herself, everything else seemed to be ready. She strapped her leg up from calf to thigh giving her a quite convincing limp. She then tied her hair back and wrapped it in a scarf. One of the women came in and began applying make-up that made Shade look quite sickly, a few red 'spot' marks and a bit extra shadow under the eyes and she was done. The children had been told 'Sadie' was going to be dressed up for their afternoon meal as later she was going to tell everyone stories about witches and wizards. When the children saw her they thought she looked great, just like an old hag.

They all sat around the big table, the adults trying hard to keep the conversation light. Shade stood at the far end behind Ben Adhem stirring the huge pot of game stew. They all raised their cups, including the children and drank a toast to 'Sadie'. Shade then began filling plates with the delicious stew. The thundering of horses hooves became louder and louder. When the eleven soldiers arrived everybody reacted as expected. Some of the women grabbed hold of their children, one old woman gave a very convincing screech. Two of the older men made a gallant attempt at standing up quickly. Ben Adhem gestured for the two men to sit down.

'Welcome friends, would you care to join us, we would be happy to share our meal with you,' said Ben Adhem.

The leader of the soldiers laughed and spat on the ground, 'I've got some bad news for you old man, we do not share, we only take,' he said.

Shade realised the leader was a man named Cayan, she had met him in Kerdred’s castle all those years ago. Cayan slid down from his horse followed by all the other men. He walked over to the table and grabbed a plate, taking a mouthful of the food.

Turning to his men he laughed, 'Well the women might be ugly but the food is good'. He turned back to the table, 'Well?'

The villagers looked at each other and began to get up and move away from the table, one of the old men was a bit too slow for Cayan's liking and he sent him sprawling to the ground with a kick. Cayan's men laughed as they took over the seats.

'You!' One of the soldiers said, after tasting what was in the cups and spitting it out, 'bring us some ale'.

The men began eating what was left on the plates, soon they were shouting at Shade to fill them back up again. Cayan sat at the top of the table with his back to Shade, she managed to keep her face down when she refilled his plate. The ale arrived quickly and it was not long before they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Their attention began to turn to the women, especially the younger ones, they were shouted over, pushed from one soldier to another, groped. There was a few arguments starting as to who was going to have first go with the women. Cayan laughed and grabbed hold of Shade pulling her to his side.

'Who wants this hag?'

Shade turned and bent so her face was right in front of his.

'Hello Cayan,' she said drawing a knife from under her apron.

She slit his throat before he realised what was happening. His eyes stared in shock, not only from realising what had just happened, but recognising Shade smiling back at him. She turned and faced the other soldiers, there was a couple of seconds of disbelief at an old hag standing there with a knife covered in blood. The spell was broken when Cayan's head went thump into the remains of the stew. Almost as one they stood up and reached for their swords, Shade just smiled.

'I hope you enjoyed your food, I added a little something; it should start working about now.'

The men looked at each other, a couple began to hold their stomachs. The one closest to Shade made an attempt to reach her, but fell across the table, dead. The old man who had been kicked stood behind him, a plank of wood with nails sticking out was in his hands. Around the table the men began to scream in agony, it didn't take long. When it was over Shade walked over to Ben Adhem and spoke so everyone could hear.

'Sorry about that slight change of plan, it wasn't that he called me a hag, I just don't like being grabbed like that.'

Ben Adhem roared with laughter, the tension was broken. Two of the children were asleep on the grass, the other two were just sitting with vacant looks on their faces.

'We had better get all this tidied up before the drug the children had in their drinks wears off,' said Shade.

One of the babies strapped to the back of her mother began to cry.

'You look after your little one, it will not take us long to get ready,' said Ben Adhem.

What he said was true, the large grave had already been dug. They stripped the bodies of anything they thought might be useful, hauled them into the back of a cart, attached a couple of horses and went down to the small coppice not far away. The pot and plates were taken to the stream and washed out thoroughly.

With the cart needing two horses and the wagon needing four horses, there were five horses left. Shade and four of the other women took the horses, Ben Adhem and the pregnant woman took the reins of the wagon and one of the men took the cart. That left five women, two men, four children and two babies to ride inside the wagon. That wasn't going to work, so two of the children would have to go on top of the supplies in the cart and the babies were strapped to the back of two of the women who were riding, that was better. Apart from that, everything else went like clockwork. They were ready to leave by nightfall and were just deciding which animals they should tie to the back of the wagon, a couple of goats and a cow or just the goats, when Shade turned to address them all.

'My name is not Sadie, but Shade and I am Kerdred's wife,' she said.

There was not a lot any of them could think of to say.

'Guess you two didn't get along then,' said one of the old ladies. 'Think we should just take the goats,' she added turning to Ben Adhem.

Shade smiled and walked over to the table where the men had died, taking out her knife she carved SHADE into the table in giant letters. Looking back she checked none of the children could see, she opened the sack she was carrying and placed Cayan's severed head onto the table next to her name. She closed her eyes and an owl which had been in a nearby tree took to the skies. Their path west was clear, it was time to go.

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Kerdred sat half listening to the usual moans and groans of the town’s people. He was sitting to the side of the large hall; it was Cain who dealt with the day to day running of Brinkton. Kerdred was bored, agitated and worried all at the same time. What was Hylaw doing? Word had arrived over a week ago that he'd left Landra with an army. Kerdred had sent men to watch their progress, why was he heading North West? At least that meant he could stay in contact with Tremlin. Something didn't feel right, even the witch hadn't made an appearance in his dreams lately. What was he missing?

A kerfuffle at the hall entrance caught his attention. Two soldiers, one carrying a large sack, strode past the others waiting and up to Cain.

'We need to talk to you and Kerdred, alone,' said the one carrying the sack.

Kerdred stood up and walked over to the men, he could see by their faces this was important.

'Come with me, Cain dismiss everyone else,' he said, pleased at having something to do.

From the hall entrance another argument erupted, this time three bedraggled men made their way to Kerdred.

'We need to talk to you,' said Jed earnestly.

Kerdred and Cain looked at each other, at the two soldiers with the sack and then at the three men, who looked dirty, tired and wild eyed.

'All of you follow me,' said Kerdred.

They entered a room just off the main hall and Kerdred and Cain sat down at a small table.

'You two first,' said Kerdred.

The one carrying the sack took a step forward. He didn't quite know where to begin, so he put his hand in the sack and pulled out Cayan's head.

Kerdred asked calmly, 'What about the rest of his men?'

The soldier cleared his throat, 'All dead,' he said.

Kerdred nodded again, 'Do you know who was responsible?'

The soldier nodded his head slowly, 'Shade'.

'WHAT!' Kerdred nearly knocked over the table as he abruptly got to his feet. His expression turned dark and menacing. 'And what makes you believe that it was Shade?'

'The name Shade was carved in large letters next to Cayan’s head.' Feeling awkward under Kerdred’s gaze, the soldier began fumbling with the sack, dumping Cayan’s head back in.

Cain reached out for Kerdred’s arm, he snatched it away. He wanted to kill Shade; he wanted to hold Shade. He didn't know how to cope with the different emotions racing through his mind. Clenching his fists he forced himself to sit down again.

Cain forced himself not to look at Kerdred, this news was the last thing he wanted to hear. Turning to the other three men, he asked them to tell him their news. He hoped it was concerning something Kerdred could handle, something to distract him, a skirmish, a run in with Hylaw's soldiers, even a bit of rebellion from some villagers would be fine. Jed, Burrell and Decker began to tell of their ordeal. Cain noticed Kerdred’s hands on the table, he was clenching and unclenching his fists as their story progressed. When the witch in their dreams was mentioned Kerdred’s fists tightened and didn't move, then began to shake. When Jed was halfway through telling how Kerdred had been mocked in the circus performance Cain stood up, stopping Jed mid-sentence.

'You two men can go,' he said to the two soldiers with the head.

When they had left, Cain sat down again. Jed, Burrell and Decker stood not knowing quite what to do.

'I think we should have a little break, get yourselves down to the kitchens for something to eat. I will send for you later,' said Cain.

Once Cain was alone with Kerdred, he waited. Cain was probably one of the few people who was not afraid of Kerdred. Cain was older than him by three years, they had first met when he was eight and Kerdred was five. Over the years they had developed a strong bond between them. Cain the much calmer, logical one, Kerdred the more excitable and volatile. When Shade was

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