The Shadow Knight
The rage still burned, demanding greater payment for what had been taken.
"Difficult choice, isn't it?"
The voice came from shadows beneath the gibbet. Kaelen's hand found his knife hilt; he'd acquired a proper sword from the second group of Inquisitors, but the blade felt wrong in his grip. The knife had become more natural, more honest in its simplicity.
"Show yourself," he commanded.
A figure emerged: elderly merchant by appearance, though something in his movements suggested that age was costume rather than truth. His cart stood half-hidden in roadside brush, loaded with bundles that could have contained anything.