had killed one old man and three youths. Gilead did not care how his six victims were related, but when he looked down on their bodies, they each wore the same broad, flat face.
Each of the heads and each of the nocks, whether bone, antler, iron, flint or steel, was singular to Gilead. No one except a huntsman or combatant as experienced as Gilead could hope to tell one steel broadhead from another or a bone nock from its twin. None but a fletcher as experienced as Gilead could hope to match a head to its nock every time.
There was no human as experienced as Gilead.
Six killers had hunted two youths, little more than adolescents, wide-eyed and bedraggled, running as fast as they could, as far as they could, all the time holding hands, the girl behind the boy, who encouraged her and never let go of her hand.
Gilead had waited until the young lovers had passed him, never realising that the elf was there. Then he had made his way down the slope. He had found five bodies, each with a fatal wound to the head, throat or torso. He followed a trail of blood from the injured female to make sure that she did not intend to hunt the young couple alone.
It took longer to make six new arrow shafts and to fix their heads, nocks and fletching than it had to track and shoot the six hunters, but Gilead was an elf with honour in his heart and time on his hands.
A very great deal of time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nik Vincent has more than a dozen titles to her name, mostly children’s fiction, but also educational and reference books, and comics, and she co-wrote Gilead’s Blood and The Hammers of Ulric with her husband, Dan Abnett. She has finally succumbed to the lure of Warhammer 40,000, and hopes to have a long and rewarding career writing about the guys and girls, and villains and daemons that play games with her imagination. Total immersion will do that to you, so, thanks, Dan.
A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION
Published in 2012 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK
© Games Workshop Limited 2012. All rights reserved.
Black Library, the Black Library logo, Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo and all associated marks, names, characters, illustrations and images from the Warhammer universe are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2011, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All rights reserved.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-85787-663-8
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise except as expressly permitted under license from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
See the Black Library on the internet at
blacklibrary.com
Find out more about Games Workshop’s world of Warhammer and the Warhammer 40,000 universe at
www.games-workshop.com
eBook license
This license is made between:
Games Workshop Limited t/a Black Library, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, United Kingdom (“Black Library”); and
(2) the purchaser of an e-book product from Black Library website (“You/you/Your/your”)
(jointly, “the parties”)
These are the terms and conditions that apply when you purchase an e-book (“e-book”) from Black Library. The parties agree that in consideration of the fee paid by you, Black Library grants you a license to use the e-book on the following terms:
* 1. Black Library grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to use the e-book in the following ways:
o 1.1 to store the e-book on any number of electronic devices and/or storage media (including, by way of example only, personal computers, e-book readers, mobile phones, portable hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs or DVDs) which
Each of the heads and each of the nocks, whether bone, antler, iron, flint or steel, was singular to Gilead. No one except a huntsman or combatant as experienced as Gilead could hope to tell one steel broadhead from another or a bone nock from its twin. None but a fletcher as experienced as Gilead could hope to match a head to its nock every time.
There was no human as experienced as Gilead.
Six killers had hunted two youths, little more than adolescents, wide-eyed and bedraggled, running as fast as they could, as far as they could, all the time holding hands, the girl behind the boy, who encouraged her and never let go of her hand.
Gilead had waited until the young lovers had passed him, never realising that the elf was there. Then he had made his way down the slope. He had found five bodies, each with a fatal wound to the head, throat or torso. He followed a trail of blood from the injured female to make sure that she did not intend to hunt the young couple alone.
It took longer to make six new arrow shafts and to fix their heads, nocks and fletching than it had to track and shoot the six hunters, but Gilead was an elf with honour in his heart and time on his hands.
A very great deal of time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nik Vincent has more than a dozen titles to her name, mostly children’s fiction, but also educational and reference books, and comics, and she co-wrote Gilead’s Blood and The Hammers of Ulric with her husband, Dan Abnett. She has finally succumbed to the lure of Warhammer 40,000, and hopes to have a long and rewarding career writing about the guys and girls, and villains and daemons that play games with her imagination. Total immersion will do that to you, so, thanks, Dan.
A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION
Published in 2012 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK
© Games Workshop Limited 2012. All rights reserved.
Black Library, the Black Library logo, Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo and all associated marks, names, characters, illustrations and images from the Warhammer universe are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2011, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All rights reserved.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-85787-663-8
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise except as expressly permitted under license from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
See the Black Library on the internet at
blacklibrary.com
Find out more about Games Workshop’s world of Warhammer and the Warhammer 40,000 universe at
www.games-workshop.com
eBook license
This license is made between:
Games Workshop Limited t/a Black Library, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, United Kingdom (“Black Library”); and
(2) the purchaser of an e-book product from Black Library website (“You/you/Your/your”)
(jointly, “the parties”)
These are the terms and conditions that apply when you purchase an e-book (“e-book”) from Black Library. The parties agree that in consideration of the fee paid by you, Black Library grants you a license to use the e-book on the following terms:
* 1. Black Library grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to use the e-book in the following ways:
o 1.1 to store the e-book on any number of electronic devices and/or storage media (including, by way of example only, personal computers, e-book readers, mobile phones, portable hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs or DVDs) which
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