Hawkmoon (The Hawkmoon Chronicles) by Unknown Page B

find but he had not come to hide.  Whoever came would have to announce himself. The hate between the Travellers and the Wampyrhii was centuries old yet there was a strange honour between them.  They knew each other as only bitter enemies could. The Travelling People  had suffered  more than most but no one knew as much about killing vampires.  Night came and went. Daylight   and the next four days were occupied gathering food , honing  blades and waiting. It came on the fifth night.
     
    The silence was broken by a long screech.  A winged form   flitted across the trees landing with a thump in the woods beyond. He started to assemble  his weapons. There was a leather webbing with  knives. This he strapped to his chest. The sword he drew from its scabbard was gleaming in the starlight. The previous Winter an elf had brought it to the camp. He handed to his father, nodded to Chatto and left.  Slipping the blade  in the sheath he  lifted the crossbow. It had been the favourite  weapon of their last Dhampir . Worn and rusted parts had been replaced.
    A tall shape stepped from the trees . Chatto felt a push at the edges of his mind.
    That is not part of the rules.
    Rules. There are no rules. What is this?  A lovely girl. What’s her name?
    Her name is Kesa, but you will never see her. This is where you die.
    The creature screamed, launching itself.. He had been trained to expect it, yet the speed of the monster was shocking.
    One moment he was a distance apart. The next he was standing close grasping him by the throat. Chatto reached for his sword ;the vampire ripped it from his grip and threw it in the bushes. Its face was altering shape. The mouth was expanding, lips peeling back over bloody gums. The teeth  were  elongating They did not meet because the jaws were widening, the chin dropping down Blood dripped from its open maw. It whispered in his mind.
    To come all this way… My beast could have killed you. Still. I can find your woman. It will not be a complete loss.
    As consciousness flickered he remembered his grandfathers’ words. Searching  for the  capsule with the tip of his tongue , it refused to come loose. Shadows darkened as the face of the vampire loomed closer.  In a final effort he pushed at the capsule with the tip of his tongue. It rolled free to be crushed under a molar. The taste was appalling. As the vampire drew back to strike, he spat. It reared back shrieking. Chatto pushed a dagger in its  eye.  To his astonishment the monster drew the blade with the eyeball attached and charged. . For as long as he could remember, the warriors of the clan had taught him.  His grandfather had been the hardest taskmaster.
    “If you take enough time  to think, you are dead. You must complete the move before you know what you have done. ”
    The elven blade came across and down. Its head rolled in the sand. He could hear the pounding of his heart. The thing at his feet began to shrivel and rot. In moments there was nothing more than   a bundle of cloth. A shout forced its way from his chest turning to a scream of triumph as it escaped his lips. Down the mountain his grandfather heard it and roared.

 
     
     
                                                     Mistress of Spies.
    He was solidly built, dressed in light armour .
    “Have a seat, Bashir” .
    Morah continued to read, squinting at the smaller script. Singing came from the open window. Every  tavern in the city was   straining at the seams. The officer sat waiting for the Director to finish. She was reading a report on him.
    “So captain, you have applied to join our little band?” Morah looked up from her reading. She was handsome more than beautiful…... She had clear skin and blue eyes. She seemed to have the components of beauty without the use for them. Her hair was short, as was her temper
    “Yes director. My father was a Ranger, it is a tradition in our family.”
    “You