The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch Page A

me, are you a Yun apprentice?’
    Raim smiled. ‘Yes . . .’
    }

div.shading-50-whiteor from side to sideCC f‘GRANDFATHER, I’VE FOUND ONE!’ the boy shouted.
    All of a sudden he was surrounded by people, jostling him between them like a gutball. In one instant he was being pulled at by a dozen young boys asking for advice, the next he was in amidst strong-armed merchants, like the young boy’s grandfather, evaluating him for a good bet.
    ‘How’s your sword arm?’
    ‘Not feeling a little weak in the shoulder?’
    ‘Don’t eat that Erudine crap, you’ll feel sick for the bout.’
    ‘I’ll give you a hundred gold pieces if you let the other boy win.’
    He knew apprentices often experienced a whirlwind of attention during the festival, but he never realized it was as bad as this. He felt trapped. Khareh was the one who normally got all the attention and Raim liked it that way. Khareh might embrace it, but Raim could currently think of nothing worse. He tried to push his way through the crowd to escape, but wherever he moved the hungry throng followed.
    ‘Quick, follow me!’ said a whispered female voice. A hand pressed on his back, then slid round to his elbow to lead him away. He whipped round just in time to see the girl’s dark brown eyes urging him to follow her before she disappeared into the crowd.
    Erdene.
    A new kind of adrenaline fuelled him now, his heart speeding up to a thousand horse strides a minute in his chest. He caught sight of her again, and doubled, trebled his effort to get to her, finding a path through the crowd that had seemed so impenetrable before.
    She ducked down an alley, and just as he entered it himself he saw her twist down into another. This part of Kharein, behind the market stalls, was a maze of cramped, darkened streets barely wide enough for a single person to move. He turned sideways to fit down the alley she had turned down, then stopped abruptly as a hand grabbed his belt and pulled him backward.
    He tumbled into a small courtyard, a welcome square of space after the tight alley and hungry crowd. A line of freshly washed linens hung from a cord across two windows above them, motionless in the still air.
    Or maybe the air only felt so still because he was suddenly aware of how close he was to Erdene. Close and alone.
    He turned round to see her pulling the veil down off her head, strands of long black hair falling across her face. She pushed them off her forehead, threw her head back,and laughed. ‘Gods, did you expect that? All those people clamouring for us. I guess the other apprentices have been through this before, so that’s why we don’t see them out and about so much before the duel.’
    Raim struggled to form any suitable kind of reply, his mouth suddenly completely dry. She didn’t wait for him to speak, though. ‘Do you have any idea when they’ll call us in for the fights? Last year it was at the beginning of the Festival, so maybe this year they’ll make it the closing event . . . I hate to be kept waiting, don’t you?’
    His mouth tried to form words like, ‘Yes, the wait is horrible,’ but instead he ended up mumbling something vaguely affirmative.
    Erdene didn’t seem to notice. She leaned back against the wall, and when she looked Raim in the eyes, he was surprised to see them glistening. ‘I’m so worried about the fight,’ she said, biting her lower lip. ‘I don’t know a temporary settlementmSVwad if I’m ready for Jendo. It’s his third try and . . . I want to be Yun. I want to be Yun more than anything.’
    ‘Jendo is a good fighter, but he has his weaknesses,’ Raim said, grateful she had finally picked a topic that would loosen his tongue. On this subject, he could talk for ever. ‘He’s steady, but he’s not very creative. You can trick him – use feints, deflections. Come at me now.’ He beckoned her over.
    She blinked the moisture from her eyes, as if weighing up the decision. Then she pushed away from the wall and