“What are you doing!?” Thomas shouted as Dermot held him back.

Izzie armed her bow and aimed for the space just under the woman’s armpit and between the ribs where she could puncture the heart and give her a swift, painless death.

Once she found the spot she released the arrow, hearing the whoosh of air before the dull sound of it impacting on the body.

Then the pleas went silent.

And Thomas was looking at her as if had just hammered the nails into Jesus’s hands and feet herself.

Izzie said nothing as she placed her bow back over her head and went back to her horse.

“We need to keep going,” Dermot reminded them and they all set off again, keeping silence as they progressed through the village, coming across more and more charred bodies.

Flies buzzed around them, the smell of rotting flesh getting too much for Thomas who emptied his stomach just as they left the village.

“Gowan Hill is only a day and a half’s ride from here,” Iagan told them all, reminding them of their duty to protect the people so that this didn’t happen again.

Izzie looked over her shoulder and found Iagan slapping Thomas on the back, pushing him onward. But Izzie just shook her head; he should not be with them. He was going to get himself killed and then she would have the blood of a religious man on her hands.

The blood of murderers was one thing but that of a pure, holy person was another matter. Then she would be condemned for eternity.

Life on the road was rather uneventful with only simple villagers passing them; some were coughing and hunched over, others were selling items off a cart and then others hurried past them in fear of the approaching band of thieves.

And then others begged Thomas to pray for them and he was adamant on blessing every single person causing them to stop every ten minutes.

“Just let him do it, lassie,” Iagan said, coming up beside her as she took a drink out of her water skin.

Wiping her mouth on her sleeve she fastened the top to the water skin, “If he wanted to bless people he should have stayed in the monastery,”

“It makes him happy,”

“And when he sees more dead bodies, will that make him happy?” She snapped at Iagan; she didn’t mean to be harsh but she hated stopping. She was given a job to do and she was going to do it to get that royal pardon.

No one was going to get between her and freedom.

“I’m going to ride ahead, when he can separate himself from the mindless hoard, then you’re welcome to come and join me,” she informed Iagan before she kicked Casey onwards.

Izzie didn’t look behind her as she hurried off, her hair bouncing against her back, as Casey cantered off and she knew that it would be hours before Thomas was able to drag himself away from his fans meaning she would have some time to herself.

She had always been a loner; she never liked being in a group.

And she took the time to find a watering hole and bathe.

Being surrounded by men she wasn’t about to risk it in their presence so she found a fair sized river with no one around and started to strip; leaving her clothes and weapons with Casey, who was grazing on the grass, she dived under the water.

It was freezing cold and she wasted no time in cursing at her shivering skin but she loved the way she could feel all the grime and dirt wash away.

Her hair untangled in the water and she ran her fingers through it; of all the feminine things she had given up to avenge her family and become an expert warrior she couldn never relinquish her magnificent hair. She envied it too much to cut it and it just continued to grow and grow.

Izzie lay on her back, swimming lazily in the river when she opened her eyes and realised that the sun had drastically changed in the sky.

Hours had passed and surely the others would have caught up with her by now; swimming back to the side she pulled herself out and started to get dressed.

Casey looked up at her before shaking her head and going back to eating.

Izzie simply laughed at her as she pulled on her boots and rinsed her hair out away from her clothes.

Leaving her cape dangling over the hind of Casey she fastened her weapons back on and leapt up into her saddle.

Pushing Casey on Izzie found the road once again and carried on when she found a man running towards her, fear on his face.

“What is the matter?” Izzie asked him but he simply let out a gasp when he saw her there and she thought that he had been so terrified that he wasn’t looking at what was right in front of him.

He pointed over his shoulder in the direction ahead of her and Izzie pushed Casey on at a gallop and the closer she got to the problem the more and more frightened people were running away.

Looking at the sky she saw smoke starting to build.

“Oh no,” Izzie gasped as she pushed Casey harder and an old tavern and whorehouse come into view; careening around the back she came face to face with a group of royal guards who were grouping villagers together, shouting and screaming at them being infectious and sinful.

Swiftly removing the bow from her shoulder she grabbed an arrow from her quiver and started to shoot the guards, remembering Brandon’s words to only disable them.

Changing tactics she aimed for the backs of their legs and their arms instead of going for the kill shot . . . which was new for her.

It didn’t take long for the guards to return fire, figuring out where the arrows were coming from.

Jumping off of Casey’s back, she removed her sword from her sheath before slapping Casey on the hind and telling her to run off.

She didn’t want her horse being hurt because then she would forget all about what Brandon said and she’d kill them all.

Clocking eyes with her first guard she ran at him, blocking his sword attack with her own and jabbing her dagger in the side of his thigh. Pulling it back out she kicked him in the same place to bring him to his knees before she butted him in the head with her sword handle, knocking him unconscious.

She made her way through the small group of guards; some went for her head whilst others went for her feet and some were content to remain at a distant and simply shoot arrows at her.

But Izzie had learnt a valuable skill and knowing when she was about to be hit, helping her to avoid the arrows and swords that were heading her way.

She had just butted another soldier over the head, his body falling to the floor and taking another guard with him, when the sound of a different arrow caught her ears and it was coming from inside the trees rather than in the courtyard where people were still tied up and screaming at her to help them.

Closing her eyes briefly she dropped her dagger and reached up and caught the arrow that was a mere inch from her nose.

Looking in the direction it had come from she saw a woman standing there in a long red dress with blonde hair, bow still raised and staring at her in shock.

Izzie was shocked when her mind jolted her back into action when a guard came up behind her; kicking out behind her she caught him directly in the mid-section, winding him, before she shoved the mysterious woman’s arrow into the inside of his thigh. Removing it, she wrapped her hand around his leg and flipped him over until he landed on his front.

Izzie turned back to face the mysterious woman and found her gone.

Had Izzie imagined it? No, surely not, why would she imagine a woman archer?

Izzie quickly dispatched the last guard and started to free the people that had been unfortunate enough to be caught.