The Oathbreaker's Shadow **SAMPLE COMPLETE**

Part 14 - Chapter 7.2 **END OF SAMPLE**

Raim’s stomach flipped with dread as she dragged him outside. But to his surprise, she said, ‘Don’t worry, I haven’t come to punish you – although you were doing an incredibly dangerous thing just then. The situations the Prince gets you into.’

He followed her back towards the city, pausing at a water pump so he could wipe his face. They entered the city through the main gates, and into the jostling market.

‘Mhara – how could the sage teach Khareh how to conjure?’

Mhara scoffed as if she hardly believed the magic to be real. But she had been in the royal yurt and seen it too, with her own eyes. ‘I have no time for legends. No doubt he thinks he is a precious commodity. But to me, his magic is nothing.’

‘So you don’t believe he is a sage like out of the old stories.’

‘No, I am sure they died out long ago. He should have stayed in Lazar, where oathbreakers like him belong.’ Suddenly, she broke out into a rare smile. ‘You know, Raim, you have been my best pupil. There is no doubt that you are the most promising apprentice the Yun has ever had. No need to blush, it is true. Your skills are far beyond your years.’

Raim beamed back, relieved that his antics hadn’t got him kicked out of the Yun apprenticeship the day before his test. ‘Khareh is already preparing all the celebrations for tomorrow. I tried to tell him that I hadn’t actually won yet, but he wouldn’t listen.’

Her smile slowly faded. ‘You should be wary of Khareh,’ she said, after a long silence.

‘He’s my best friend.’

‘I know.’ She seemed to stare straight into his skull. ‘Has he made you his Protector?’

Raim shook his head and broke away from his mentor’s uncomfortable scrutiny. ‘But he will.’ He paused, then added, ‘And I would be honoured.’

‘Do you remember when I told you about the Absolute Vow?’

Of course he remembered. How could he forget? It was the defining moment of his life, when he first realized that his greatest ambition – becoming the Khan’s Protector and leader of the Yun – could actually come true. But it unnerved him to remember it now. Mhara obviously still held reservations about Khareh. Did she still not trust him to make the right decision about his own future?

The conversation had taken place three years ago, when he was long settled into his Yun apprenticeship. They had been riding together, Raim on Pouri, an old but experienced mare and Mhara on Crear, a magnificent black stallion. They were returning from archery practice. Raim was learning to synchronize the release of his arrow with Pouri’s gallop, so that all her hooves were in the air at the time of the shot. It would improve his aim immensely. And he had succeeded that day, so Mhara was pleased with him. They would’ve continued to train long into the dark, but his ring had broken.

The ring was vital. He wore it on his thumb. The string on a Yun bow was too taut, the tension too strong, to be maintained by human fingers alone, let alone the fingers of a thirteen-year-old boy. To supplement their strength they used a ring with a curved hook protruding from it, like the talon of a bird of prey, which they wore on the strongest digit – the thumb to pull back the string. His was just made out of crudely sewn strips of leather – a hunter’s ring really, not made for the challenge and rigour of warfare. He eyed Mhara’s ring with envy and excitement. It was made of a precious white metal and richly engraved with symbols from her tribe and the khanate. One day, he would have a ring like that too. But for now, they had to return, so he could mend the leather talon, which had snapped off the circular part of the ring.

He thought she must have caught him staring at it, for she rotated her ring slowly as they meandered back to camp with their horses. ‘Straighten your back more,’ she said, commenting on his technique. ‘And adjust your feet so your toes are just balancing on the stirrup. You need to be as nimble as a dancer when you shoot.’