Though once I might have balked at so casual a plan of murder, I was no longer a sheltered girl with no knowledge of the cruel world. I had seen examples enough of man’s depravity these past months to know that righteous self-preservation was the logical response to such a crisis. And so I gave a swift nod, while Tito murmured his assent.

But even this brief delay appeared to have enraged our assailant. He was moving toward us at a quick pace, his blond mustachioed lips-all that we could see of his face-twisted into a sneer as he shouted, “Get down, now!”

“Pray, do not harm us!” Rebecca cried in a high voice unlike her usual hoarse tones. “I am but a poor washerwoman. My boys and I have nothing of value. By the saints, let us pass in peace!”

“You have horse and wagon,” he retorted, waving his crossbow in a threatening manner.

Then the man’s sneer softened into what I assumed he intended to be a magnanimous smile. Lowering the weapon so that it pointed to the ground, he grandly added, “Don’t be afraid, lady. You give me horse and wagon, I let you go.”

“Don’t believe him,” Tito hissed, clutching the seat back and peering between us at the bandit. “He’ll make us lie in the dirt, and keep the others at bay with his crossbow as he kills us one by one with his knife.”

“I know,” Rebecca murmured, and then called out, “May the saints bless you, sir. You may have our horse and cart, and welcome to it. Yah!”

With that harsh cry, she whipped up the brown mare. The horse gave an angry snort and leaped into motion, jerking the wagon forward. I made equal haste to slide down onto the boards at our feet, allowing Rebecca room to crouch low as she flailed the reins and drove straight toward the bandit.

In the instant before I shut my eyes and commenced praying, I saw his jaw drop in shock. Then, his lips twisting in outrage, he whipped his crossbow to his shoulder again and fired straight at us.

I heard the distinctive thwang as bolt left bow, and I flattened myself as best I could against the splintered boards. A heartbeat later, I simultaneously heard a sharp cry-Rebecca’s or Tito’s, I was not certain-and the crack of splintering wood as the bolt passed through the wagon.

And then I heard the most gruesome sound of all… a harsh scream and a series of soft thuds before Rebecca jerked the mare to a halt a few mere inches from the fallen tree.

Quiet reigned for but an instant, broken by the mare’s angry whinny and Rebecca’s gasp of pain. I unfolded myself from my safe spot at her feet to see her grasping the upper portion of her left arm.

“Bastard nicked me with his arrow,” she cried in surprise, while I sagged in relief to see that she’d not been pierced in a more vital spot. The splintering sound of wood I’d heard had been the bolt lodging itself in the wagon’s sturdy rear panel. Tito was staring at the lethal projectile with wide eyes, and I guessed it had come flying within inches of where he’d lain.

“No, pay me no mind,” she protested as I would have examined her wound. “We must be sure the scoundrel is dead.”

Tito needed no further urging to action. With a warrior’s cry, he plucked his knife from his tunic and, brandishing the blade most threateningly, leaped from the back of the wagon. I clambered from my own seat and followed after him, wishing in desperation I had a weapon of my own to wave about.

I soon found, however, that I did not need any arms. The bandit lay crumpled on the road a couple of wagon lengths behind us, his spent crossbow dangling from his hand. Knife held high, Tito approached the injured man, halting a few feet from him.

It was apparent that the bandit’s wounds from where he’d been trampled by horse and wagon were mortal. His lower body twisted at an unnatural angle from the rest of his torso, while bright blood frothed from between his lips. The impact had knocked the helmet from his head, finally revealing his face.

Unexpected sadness swept me as I saw he was not the older warrior that I had pictured from his weapon and posture. Rather, he was a man just past the flush of youth. What evil within had driven him to his murderous life, I could not guess, though I wondered if he regretted his choices in the face of imminent damnation.

Tito appeared to feel no such comparable sorrow. “Ha, you fiend, you got what you deserved,” he cried, grabbing the crossbow from the man’s slack fingers. “I shall finish you off, so that you do not prey upon honest citizens ever again.”

“Then I… bless you… as savior,” the bandit sputtered, teeth bared in a bloody red grin as he raised a weak gloved hand in parody of a consecration.

Shaken by that response, Tito lowered his knife and glanced at me uncertainly.

“Don’t you see?” I murmured, clutching his arm. “In his condition, a swift death would be a blessing. It would be far crueler to leave him suffering here, easy prey for the carrion eaters and whatever other beasts wander these woods.”

“Better we leave him, instead,” Tito replied, though now his bravado rang false. “He would have let us suffer.”

“But we are not like him.”

“Fine, you kill him,” Tito cried, face darkening as he pressed his blade into my hand.

My fingers closed reflexively around the fancy hilt, but my stomach lurched as I stared down upon the dying man. Though I had been involved in more bloody confl icts than any other young woman of my station could possibly imagine, I had wielded a weapon only in my own or the Master’s defense. And never had I inflicted a killing blow upon anyone. But when simple humanity decreed that a merciful blade was the kindest action, I stood frozen in indecision.

Strong fingers abruptly pried the knife from my grasp.

“This is not the work for innocents,” Rebecca decreed. “You boys are too young to suffer such a stain upon your souls, no matter that it is to bring release to one who does not deserve it.”

I saw in some shock that she had stripped off her wimple to bandage her injured arm. Thus uncovered, she revealed for the first time a glorious crown of red hair-a stark contrast to her black brows-elaborately braided and wrapped about her head. As she knelt awkwardly beside the bandit, sunlight gleamed upon those fiery locks. The reflected light bathed her plump face in an almost saintly glow, which lent her a certain beauty I might not otherwise have seen.

“Quickly, make your last prayers and repentances,” she commanded with stern calm, cutting the man’s jerkin laces to bare his breast and pressing the blade tip to his heart.

She placed a beefy hand across his eyes and added, “You will be free of your suffering in but a moment, and perhaps God shall show greater mercy to you than you did to others.”

“No,” he gasped and reached up to pull her hand from his face. “I am… soldier. I see… death come.”

“As you wish.”

Not being a soldier myself, I could not bear to watch what followed but shut my eyes to block the sight. Still, I could not help but hear Rebecca’s soft grunt as she shoved the blade home, nor could I block out the sound of the bandit’s last groan. I waited until the shuffling noise that accompanied his body’s struggle with death had ceased before I dared look again.

By that time, the bandit lay still, and Rebecca was cleaning the knife blade in the dirt. She crossed herself; then, rising with an old woman’s awkward moves, she heaved a weary sigh and handed the knife to Tito.

“We’ve no time to give him a decent burial. Carry him away into the trees, and hurry back. We must move the log blocking the road before we can continue our journey.”