The Last Apprentice: Grimalkin the Witch Assassin by Joseph Delaney

Author:Joseph Delaney [Delaney, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure / General
ISBN: 9780062082077
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Published: 2012-04-17T05:00:00+00:00

He who eats with the Devil needs a long spoon. He who walks with a witch should also keep his distance.

I CAME TO a halt and sniffed again. The creature was approaching from the south and was on our trail.

Thorne sniffed, then smiled. ‘The bandits are between us and our enemies. That should prove interesting! They’ll be wetting themselves!’

We ran on, and soon we heard a distant bestial roar, followed by screams and shouts of fear and anger. The drunken men would stand no chance against our enemies, but they might slow up the pursuit a little.

I glanced back at the boy; he was breathing heavily with the exertion of the run. Whatever his level of fitness, his confinement would have weakened him.

I halted again, handed the sack to Thorne and grabbed the boy. He flinched at my close proximity but did not resist as I hoisted him up onto my shoulder. We continued north at a slightly slower pace. My weakness had not returned, but my stamina was not as good as usual. I tried to put all doubts about my fitness to the back of my mind, but they nagged at me like rotting teeth. I pushed them away and tried to be optimistic. So far my bouts of weakness had not occurred at moments of immediate danger. Despite Agnes’s concerns that my body might be permanently damaged, I still hoped to make a full recovery.

By late morning we had slowed our pace to a fast walk. We seemed to have left the kretch behind, though without doubt it still followed us. Now a threat lay ahead. We were following a dirt track through a narrow treeless valley with low hills on either side. Twice I had glimpsed figures on the skyline. We were being watched.

I halted and eased Will back onto his feet. ‘How far to the castle now, boy?’ I asked.

‘Less than an hour. My father’s men already provide an escort,’ he said, gesturing up to the summits of the hills.

‘I’ve seen them already,’ I told him. ‘No doubt they will already have sent word that you are in the company of witches.’

Ten minutes later we saw dust on the horizon directly ahead. It was a man on horseback, galloping straight towards us. I sniffed concern but little fear.

‘It’s my father!’ Will exclaimed as the rider drew closer.

The knight wore light chain mail and was mounted on a dappled mare. He had no helmet but carried a sword at his hip and a shield slung across his shoulder. He halted his horse in front of us, barring our path, and drew his sword, pointing it right at us.

‘Stand back and allow my son to step forward!’ he commanded.

The knight was of middle age and, to my judgement, slightly overweight. He was no real threat to either me or Thorne. No doubt he had declined physically since the deeds of his younger days, but he still had courage. Not many men would dare face two witches with a mere sword.

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