They were two hours past the Keshian roadblock on the highway between Ylith and Crydee. They had easily passed to the west of that position and moved quickly into the foothills of the Grey Towers mountains. They had executed Martin’s plan without a hitch, crossing the King’s Road from Ylith to Crydee and getting high into the mountains. They made a cold camp there and rested until sunrise. Now they’d been hiking for several hours and Martin sensed something was amiss.He listened to a faint sound from behind them and indicated that the four hunters from Ylith should move to either side of the trail, out of sight. He moved as quietly as he could back the way they had just come. It was nearing noon, so there were few hiding places around the trail. The trees were not particularly dense here, but a few clumps of brush and some tightly packed large boles provided him with cover.Martin was perhaps half a dozen yards down the trail when a familiar voice said, ‘If I were a Keshian assassin, you’d be dead, my love.’Slowly turning, his expression one of exasperation, he said, ‘Beth?’She stepped out from behind a nearby tree trunk.
