Watched the dragon circle high into the morning sunlight, beating its vast wings, breathing out fire, shrieking out a song. At last, long after it had vanished into the horizon, they crept onwards. Tobias saw it and felt it every moment, watching him. They went on bent over, crawling through ragged undergrowth, painfully vulnerable. The sound of wing beats, dragon song in the air. Hot faces, as though they already burned with dragon fire.

“There,” Grav said after a long time crawling. “There. Over that ridge. His camp.”

Tobias closed his eyes.

“I’ll go and scout it out,” said Raeta.

Tobias let out a sigh of relief.

There was a tumble of rocks nearby, the remains of an old rockfall from the heights. Or from where dragon claws had torn and rent the earth. They found a sort of cave there. Landra found faded marks on the cave walls, letters carved in Itheralik. “Amrath’s soldiers,” Raeta said, “perhaps. When He crossed into Ith. Or deserters from His army, running back to Illyr.” She took off her pack, her cloak, left everything but her knife with them in the cave. “If I’m not back in an hour,” she said, “then …” She smiled at them. “You’ll have to kill him anyway.”

She came back in much less than an hour. Yes. His camp. “Four tents,” she said. “Perhaps twenty people. Most of them armed soldiers. Nothing much seemed to be going on. I didn’t see him.”

“No dragon?” Imagined it curled up like a watchdog, outside Marith’s tent.

She snorted. “No.”

“He’ll kill you,” said Grav.

“I told you to stop being so bloody melodramatic.”

Tobias considered Grav for a while. Sat on the other side of the cave looking at him. Went up close to him. He’s shown us to Marith’s tent. So his job’s done.

He stuck his sword into Grav’s chest.

Grav gasped like a fish and was dead.

Landra cried out. Raeta cried out. Soft. We’re on an assassination mission here, you two, Tobias thought. He felt sick.

“Extra couple of hours, he had, thanks to you,” he said to Landra. Could hear the tremor in his voice.

She looked down at her hands. “Yes.”

Neither of them helped him drag Grav’s body to the back of the cave. He wiped and swiped his hands on the scrub outside the cave.

Landra came over after a while, gave him a torn bit of her skirt to clean himself up with.

“I had to do it,” Tobias said. She didn’t say anything. She was squeezing her vile bit of yellow cloth.

“We’ll do it tonight, then,” said Raeta. Her voice sounded strange. Heavy. There was a roughness to it. Like sawing wood. Her eyes flashed. “Tonight.”

Here we are again, then. One more day to live.

The day passed forever and much too quickly. They sat in the cave, stared at the walls, tried not to gag at the smell of Grav’s blood. I really shouldn’t have stabbed him, Tobias thought. I’m sorry, man. Nothing personal. Honest. Look, you’d have done the same thing to me. Probably with more relish.

The sun set. Through the mouth of the cave the sky was liquid gold.

“Pretty,” said Raeta. “Not much different to yesterday. Bit more cloud.”

Tobias stared at the sky waiting for the light to fade. Fucking hell. Fucking hell.

“Come on, then,” said Raeta. She drew out her knife and Landra drew out her knife.

“Leave the swords and the armour,” Tobias said. They both nodded. Too heavy. Too noisy. Don’t need armour, fighting stuff. Defensive stuff. Landra’s face was flushed and eager. It seemed to take forever, just to walk out of the cave.

Did this for a living, once.

Fucking hell.

“This way,” said Raeta. They crept towards the camp. Crawled on their bellies the last bit, like worms. Like maggots, Tobias thought. Lay on their bellies in the dark watching soldiers and servants moving around, murmured voices, an evening meal being prepared. Marith and Thalia came out of their tent briefly, spoke to someone, went back inside. Tobias’s body tensed and his heart screamed in his chest. A servant went into the tent a little later, carrying a bottle. The camp began slowly to settle for the night. Clouds over the moon. Tobias’s body was aching and his leg hurt like shit.

The camp silent. Most of the torches were extinguished.

A few heartbeats left to live. Landra’s eyes shone in the dark.

“Now,” Raeta whispered.

Crawling fear all up Tobias’s back, stomach in knots, his bowels churned up to mush. Through the camp, bent low like animals, knifed two guards round the campsite perimeter, knifed two guards dozing outside Marith’s tent. Stopped with a hiss. Raeta reached out. Pulled open the door curtain. Slipped inside. A servant sleeping in the main chamber. Raeta slit the poor bastard’s throat in his sleep. Dim lamplight on fine worked metal tableware, a stand with armour, a table with a pile of papers and maps. A scatter of wine bottles and a smell of alcohol. The air stung like knife blades. Shadows moved in the corners like birds. Raeta hissed through her teeth. It did not somehow sound like a human sound.

Go back! Go back! every part of Tobias’s body was screaming. Too fucking easy. We’ll all die here. Put out his hand to pull Landra back, run away out of here this place is dying this place is death.

Raeta smiling, knife glinting in the lamplight, pulling back the curtain to the inner chamber. Something in her hands, in her body, as she moved that rippled like blood.

And there he is, Marith Altrersyr King Ruin King of Darkness, lying sleeping naked as a baby with his chest showing silver-white. Like a fucking target. White skin shouting “stab here.” Easy. Too easy. Oh gods. Oh gods and fuck. Beautiful Thalia asleep beside him, hair like a waterfall, perfect arched curve of her arm. Strained to see her perfect arched curved bubs. But still the terror in Tobias: go back! Go back!

Raeta smiled and her smile was reflected in her knife blade. Her eyes and her teeth were huge and sharp and she wasn’t quite a human thing.

Landra raised her knife.

One heartbeat left to live.