Spook's: The Dark Army (The Starblade Chronicles) by Joseph Delaney

would be able to use the moon and stars to guide me. If they were in a narrow column, I still might miss them, but I had to try.
    Suddenly I heard the sound of approaching boots; after a moment of panic I hid behind a tree, summoning my gift of invisibility once more and holding my breath. A Kobalos patrol was marching towards me in single file – a long column of armed warriors. Then I saw that two guards at the rear were in charge of four female prisoners. The women were dressed in rags and chained together by their left ankles: I realized that they were purrai.
    The patrol marched past no more than thirty feet from where I was hiding. As the women followed, one stumbled and fell to her knees. One of the soldiers kicked her in the belly with his boot and I heard the air whoosh out of her mouth. She groaned and collapsed forward onto her face.
    The Kobalos warrior shouted something at her in Losta. He sounded angry – probably because he and his companion were being left behind with their prisoners. Then, suddenly, he drew his knife and slashed the woman’s bare shoulder. She screamed and struggled to her feet, the blood running down her body to drip onto the grass. The soldier slapped her hard with the back of his hand and her lip began to bleed. Tears were streaming down her face as they moved away.
    They headed off towards the kulad, the woman’s sobs gradually fading into the distance.
    I began to breathe again, but I was shaking after witnessing the brutality of the Kobalos. How could the soldier cut a bound and defenceless woman like that? This would be the fate of all human females if the Kobalos won the war.
    I should have done something to help, I thought, even though I knew I’d have had no chance against two armed warriors. I’d have ended up in chains too. But I would do anything to prevent myself falling into that situation. If they attempted to chain me I would fight to the very limits of my strength. It would be better to die in that way than to end up as a slave of the Kobalos.
    Would Tom have intervened had he been with me? I wondered. He still hadn’t recovered from his ordeal, but I felt sure that he would have done something. The patrol had moved on, leaving just two warriors with the prisoners. Tom would have drawn the Starblade and attacked them. Now those four slaves would spend the remainder of their lives being mistreated. Their only hope was for humans to win the war.
    I waited another ten minutes and then began to continue through the wood, moving away from the kulad. Glancing back, I could still see its threatening tower.
    Emerging from the trees, I gazed out onto the plain. Scattered across the ground were the bodies of dead warriors and horses. I had come out a hundred yards from the place where the Kobalos had attacked. Nothing moved out there on the plain, but the enemy might be watching unseen from the trees. I had encountered the patrol of foot soldiers, but what about the mounted Kobalos warriors – where were they? No doubt they had pursued the remnants of Prince Kaylar’s forces, but now they could be on their way back to the kulad.
    It would be easy to spot me out here, even my gift of invisibility might not be enough. But I had to risk it. So after a moment or two studying the stars, I set off towards what I judged to be the eastern horizon.

TOM WARD
    WE RODE IN darkness at barely a trot, for many of the horses carried two riders: a cavalryman and an archer. I was glad of the slow pace – I still had little strength or energy.
    After several hours the moon rose, and in the far distance we saw the tower of Kartuna rising up above the pine trees like a dark fat thumb.
    Then we spotted something else: a lone figure walking directly towards us.
    I can often recognize people by their walk, and knew immediately who it was. ‘It’s Jenny!’ I told Grimalkin.
    ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘but I fear for the others.’
    I galloped forward to meet Jenny, leaping from my horse, and then