CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Her ears listened as she watched from her perch in the tree, like a predator marking its prey. She pulled off her hood to get a better view.

The gathering of 5 men - all of whom looked like bounty hunters - was so unfamiliar to her. They did not know she was above them, under the fig tree they were camped under for the night. She blended so well with the darkness that reigned in the treetop that even the fire that was lit amid the men to ward off the wild animals and keep them warm could not reveal her.

Two fingers of her right hand caught on an arrow of the quiver of arrows that hung over her back, and she also clung to the bow that was still crossed.

Her gaze circled over the weapons of the others. Some had clubs, others had hammers, and one had a sword. And then there was that thick shackle hanging from an even thicker chain that lay in the middle of them. She wondered what they were up to.

She watched until her attention was drawn to two other male figures coming at them from the