In the stillness of the night, Lewis Hargrove watched his foggy breath rise in the cold air. His eyes scanned the darkness as he leant against the balustrade, which ran along the rooftop he was standing on. Beside him, a bow carved from yew rested in the snow that had collected on the flat stone over the past few days. Rubbing his gloved hands together, he tried, with little success, to warm them.

Running a hand through his messy blonde hair, the seventeen-year-old looked down at the narrow street below, watching as a pair of guards, who were having an animated conversation, wandered past. With a sigh, Lewis looked across at the other rooftops as the voices faded away. All the surrounding rooftops looked deserted. But then, that was nothing new. If it wasn't for his job, he would have believed them to be empty.

As an archer in the city guard, Lewis knew that there was at least one other archer somewhere on the rooftops across the street. It had been part of the Grand Council's idea when they proposed the addition of archers to the city guard that their uniforms would allow them to become almost invisible in the darkness while they patrolled the rooftops at night.

Out of the darkness, there was a short, sharp whistle from the building opposite. Looking across the street, Lewis saw someone materialise out of the darkness. Standing on the rooftop was Arron Somerville, Lewis' patrol partner, his hand scratching at his dark hair. Even though Arron was almost a year younger than him, they had joined the guard around the same time. They had become good friends while they trained together. After finishing the year of training, they were paired up for the majority of their patrols.

‘All clear?’ Lewis called across to him.

In the darkness, Lewis could just make out Arron shaking his head. ‘There was a girl a couple of streets over who was heading this way. Has she come past?’

‘I haven't seen anyone other than a couple of guards since we split up. Why?’ Lewis asked as he picked up his bow, slipping it over his shoulder. Following the balustrade for a few paces, Lewis stepped out onto the thick planks that acted as a bridge over the street.

‘Just wondered,’ Arron replied as he walked towards the bridge that Lewis was crossing. ‘It just seemed a little odd; she looked like she was in a rush to be somewhere.’

‘Could you blame her? It's freezing out here. She probably just wanted to get home quickly,’ Lewis suggested, rubbing his hands together again as if to prove his point.

Before Arron could think of anything else to say, a flash of red in the distance caught Lewis' attention. At the far end of the street, a figure in a blue dress had appeared, hurrying down the middle of the street. ‘That's her,’ Arron said quietly as the figure passed an oil lamp that hung on the wall of one of the buildings.

In the flickering light, Lewis saw that the flash of red he had seen was her hair as it fluttered behind her in the gentle breeze. Every so often, she glanced over her shoulder, checking if there was anyone following her. Stepping closer to the edge, Lewis watched as she passed under the bridge, unaware of the two archers above her.

‘What do you think?’ Arron asked as he watched her disappear down the right-hand fork where the street divided.

‘Leave it,’ Lewis replied. ‘She probably just wants to get home.’

Sighing, Arron pushed a patch of snow into the street below, sitting down on the edge of the roof so that his legs hung over the side. Fishing a small pocket watch out, Lewis flipped open the cover, tilting it so that he could see the time in the weak light from the nearest lamp.

‘It’s almost three. We should probably be moving on in case The Commander comes along and finds us sitting around.’

‘I guess, Arron began, breaking off when there was a shout from the street below. Dressed in dark clothes, a group of five men ran past. When they reached the fork in the road, they skidded to a halt, turning towards each other.

Leaving Arron where he sat, Lewis moved quickly along the edge of the roof, trying to hear what the men were saying. He had only made it a few steps when two of the men started arguing loudly.

‘How the hell do I know which way she went? If he hadn't knocked me into the stall back there, I might have been able to keep up,’ one growled, jerking his thumb in the direction of one of the others.

‘I wouldn't have knocked you into that stall if you hadn't run into me, you idiot,’ the accused man snapped.

‘Enough!’ a third shouted. ‘You two go left; the rest of us will go right. We can't let her get away, or he'll have all of our heads.’

In the street below, the group separated and headed off in their assigned directions. As they passed an oil lamp, Lewis saw a silver knife stitched into the sleeve of their coats. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold ran down his spine. Bounty hunters had managed to get inside the city. Turning, Lewis found Arron standing right behind him. ‘Cover for me; I have to try and catch up with her before they do.’

‘Why don't I go and you cover for me?’ Arron argued.

‘I know the streets better than you; I'll be faster,’ Lewis called over his shoulder, already setting off across the snowy rooftop. He thought he heard Arron shout something as he ran away from him, but he didn't look back.

Jumping across the small gap between two rooftops, Lewis skidded in the snow, just managing to keep his balance. Without stopping, he sprinted across the icy bridge that led to the roof of the building that divided the street. As he ran, he tried to look over the balustrade on his right. From the years he had spent in the city helping at his grandparent’s bakery, he knew that the street led into three narrow alleyways. If he didn't catch up with the girl by then, he might not be able to find her before the other bounty hunters arrived at the other end of one of the alleyways.

In the street below, Lewis heard a loud, bark-like laugh. At least he had caught up with the two bounty hunters. Leaving them to their joke, Lewis jumped across another small gap, sliding in the snow again. As he tried to regain his balance, he saw a flash of red passing one of the oil lamps. The girl he had seen earlier was now running. She must have heard the men behind her.

Lewis looked down as he sprinted along the edge of the building, watching as he overtook her. Looking back in front of him, he saw the next building towering above him. He only just managed to stop in time to avoid crashing headfirst into the stone wall as he skidded in the snow. Breathing heavily, he looked around. The nearest bridge would take him back towards the two men. If only the rooftops weren't so slippery, he could have jumped to the opposite rooftop.

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Perhaps he could still make it.

Adjusting the bow on his back to make sure it wouldn't fall off, Lewis took a couple of steps backwards, preparing himself. With a deep breath, he sprinted towards the edge of the roof, pushing off as hard as he dared, not wanting to slip.

Just as he thought he was about to make it, he saw that the edge of the roof was higher than he had realised. He closed his eyes as his chest collided with the metal gutter that ran along the edge of the building. Flailing as he fell, Lewis managed to grab hold of the drainpipe with one hand. It slowed his fall slightly before he landed on a metal roof that covered a short section of the alleyway with a huge crash.

Letting out a groan, he rolled over in the snow, mentally checking himself for any serious injuries. Other than a lot of bruises that promised to show up in the morning, everything seemed to be in working order.

Lewis looked down at the alleyway. Standing a dozen paces away was the girl he had been trying to catch up with, her mouth hanging open slightly as she stood stunned in the middle of the alleyway.

‘Are you...alright?’ she asked tentatively when she had recovered from the shock of seeing Lewis fall out of the sky.

‘I'm fine,’ Lewis replied as he lowered himself off the metal roof and onto the ground. ‘You aren't though. There's a group of men looking for you, and I'm guessing it isn't for a good reason.’

‘Don’t worry, she already knows that,’ whispered a cold voice from behind Lewis.

Out of the darkness, two men appeared behind the girl, one of them roughly pulling her against him as a knife appeared in his hand. When Lewis tried to move towards her, the man behind him grabbed him by the neck, his calloused hand using more force than necessary as a knife appeared in his other hand.

‘Easy now, kid,’ the man behind him growled. ‘We just want the girl. Don’t struggle too much, and you can walk away from here.’

‘What do you want with her?’ Lewis demanded, trying to work himself loose from the man’s grip when he saw movement on one of the rooftops out of the corner of his eye. ‘Bounty hunters have no business in Tristan.’

‘This is the business of the castle. They have no need for simple city guards like yourself for this,’ he replied. Pointing his knife at the girl, he continued, ‘She is a suspect in the murder of King Sebastian Vandemark and the theft of a valuable amulet.’

‘Do you need any more proof?’ The bounty hunter holding the knife to the girl’s throat asked as he reached down the front of her dress, pulling out an amulet on a thin gold chain, the chain breaking in his hand.

‘If it is as you say, then it is my duty as a city guard to apprehend her,’ Lewis explained quickly. ‘I will be the one taking her to the castle, not you.’

Taking advantage of the lapse in concentration of the bounty hunter behind him, Lewis wrestled himself free. Ducking, Lewis was just in time to avoid an arrow that shot from the rooftop, where he had seen movement. In surprise, the other bounty hunters looked over their shoulders.

Pulling an arrow from his quiver, Lewis leapt at the man who was holding the girl. As the three of them went tumbling to the ground, he drove the arrow into the neck of the bounty hunter with one hand while the other tried to pin the hand that held the knife to the ground. Between them, the girl kicked herself free from the tangle of limbs, scurrying out of the way.

When the bounty hunter beneath him went limp, Lewis scrambled to his feet, the bloody arrow still clutched tightly in his hand. Frozen in shock, the third bounty hunter keeled over as an arrow planted itself in his back with an audible thud.

Wiping the blood off his hands and on to his black coat, he relaxed his grip on his arrow. Taking the knife from the dead bounty hunter, he held it out to the girl. ‘Are you alright?’

‘I'm fine,’ she replied, mimicking his earlier reply as she eyed the knife wearily. ‘Where are the other two?’

‘I don't know,’ Lewis admitted as he saw Arron climb down from the rooftop. ‘I thought I told you to cover for me if The Commander turned up!’

‘I thought you would have been at least a little grateful,’ Arron smirked. ‘I did just save your life, by the looks of it.’

‘Was what that man was saying about King Vandemark true?’ Lewis asked, rolling his eyes as he turned away from Arron.

Silently, she nodded, fear in her eyes. ‘It wasn’t me; I swear.’ There was something in her voice that made him believe her. Before Lewis could question her further, the two remaining bounty hunters raced out of the dark alleyway behind Lewis, shouting when they saw their fallen friends. Drawing his bow, Lewis notched the arrow he was still holding and fired it at the man on the left just as he went to draw his knife. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arron do the same. The charging bounty hunter crumpled to the floor as the two arrows struck him in the chest.

Spinning around at his cry, the girl swung her fist at the other bounty hunter, knocking him sideways with surprising force as he lunged for her. Dazed, he staggered sideways. He slipped on the icy cobbles and fell, his head striking the wall of the house. When he didn’t move, Lewis put his bow on his back.

‘We need to get back to patrol,’ Arron said quietly, breaking the stunned silence.

‘You go; I should hide these bodies before someone comes along,’ Lewis replied. ‘If The Commander comes along, tell him I thought I heard something and was checking up on it.’

‘But aren’t we supposed to report any disturbances first?’ Arron pointed out.

‘I didn’t want to report it before I was sure,’ Lewis explained. ‘It could have been nothing, and I didn’t want to waste the guard’s time. Besides, if what they were saying is true, then I’m already going to be up for trial for helping a criminal escape.’

‘You don’t need to help me escape; I’ll just be going,’ the girl interjected.

‘There are bounty hunters out looking for you. It isn’t safe to be on the streets, definitely not at night,’ Lewis said before turning to Arron. ‘Are you going to help me with these?’

‘But how do you know you aren’t helping a criminal escape?’ She asked as she watched Lewis and Arron drag one of the bodies behind a low woodpile.

‘If you had just killed King Vandemark, then I doubt I would still be breathing, especially after giving you that knife,’ Lewis reasoned, nodding towards the knife in her hand.

‘I guess so,’ she sighed. ‘I’m Emily, by the way.’

‘Lewis. This is Arron,’ Lewis said, introducing himself as they dragged another body around her.

‘What’s this?’ Arron asked as he picked up the amulet that had fallen on the floor when its chain snapped.

‘It’s nothing,’ Emily said quickly, grabbing it out of the palm of his hand and tucking it out of sight. ‘I need to get going.’

‘Not a chance,’ Lewis said, starting after her. ‘I don't know about you, but people I know don't have groups of men trying to kill them.’

‘Well, you don't know me!’ she snapped. ‘Now where can I find Charles Hargrove?’

‘He owns the bakery near the market,’ Lewis answered, glancing at Arron with a frown. What did she want with his grandfather?

With a nod, she turned on her heel and stalked off towards the end of the alleyway, stopping when she reached the end and looking in both directions. In the darkness, Lewis saw her shoulders slump. Slowly, she turned and strode back towards him.

‘Which way is the market?’ she asked, biting her lip.

‘You don't know the city, do you?’ When she shook her head, he continued, ‘I can take you to the bakery in the morning.’

‘It can't wait until the morning,’ she complained.

‘It will have to. I have to finish my patrol. Besides, there won't be anyone at the bakery until then. You can't go wandering around the streets until then if there are bounty hunters looking for you. If they don’t kill you, the cold probably will,’ he said firmly as he took in her royal blue dress.

‘Fine,’ she sighed. ‘But what am I going to do until then?’

‘She could wait at our place, and then when we finish our patrol, you can take her to the bakery,’ Arron suggested, as if she wasn’t there. ‘I can cover for you if The Commander shows up while you take her there and we can meet up further along the patrol.’

‘Good idea,’ Lewis replied. ‘I'll catch up with you later.’

With a nod, Arron turned away, running and jumping up onto the log pile as he climbed back to the rooftop he had come from. When he had disappeared, Lewis turned to look at Emily.

‘Come on, it isn't too far from here,’ Lewis said as he turned towards the narrow alleyway, beckoning for her to follow him.