The fisherman had made one mistake before his heart was pierced by the Spanish blade.
Anais recoiled as he fell backwards into the fire. Her hand held the knife which shone red and silver. The fisherman's clothing now caught alight and the horror of the scene sent Anais outside.The beach was deserted..but for how long? Had someone heard her screams? She looked at her dress-there was no blood-she forced herself back into the smoke-filled shack and found her bundle, her eyes averted from the lifeless corpse that gave novel fuel to the fire. Anais ran up the shoreline to the cover of windblown trees that stretched back to the gap in the cliffs. As she forced her way deeper and deeper away from the sound of the waves and gulls, she stopped to breathe in clean air.The smell of smoke and fish clung to her hair-and with it she shuddered at the memory of his grasping hands on her breast and parts as he cursed her for being a foreign whore. Anais had given him a chance-he had lost family in the war too-but he like so many she would soon meet could only think of revenge against her kind. England hated the French and so this was to be her lot. She made a formidable foe if circumstance required. Anais brought up the blade with a new purpose. Not guilt; now instead of wiping away his blood, she saw it as proof of victory and Right. She held the blade close to her face and even believed she smelled that stain of victory-of God's will on the blade. She did not wipe it from henceforth.
At that moment a dog barked and carshed into view-a small boy ran close behind and with him a girl -both not yet in their double figures. She put the blade behind her. They stopped in silence. The girl greeted Anais and asked her name and the boy asked if she was lost. She did not answer at first which caused the girl to ask if she were a witch. The very word made the encounter take on a deadly aspect-for such innocent words banded about in these times could be like a spark to tinder. Anais laughed the thought away and said she would gladly follow them. The girl offered Anais to join them at their home for food and drink. Anais declined but the young boy insisted and promised that her father would cook her the best fish dinner. As Anais was forced to follow the two children or alert suspicion -she realised that they were the chidren of the fisherman she had just killed. Now she felt her hand slide to the Spanish blade once more..
