A GREAT RAGE seared me.

Throwing off caution, I reached into the bottom of my mind for the darkest of my Misfit Talents to stun the Herder.

But before I could summon it, an arrow hurtled through the air to bed itself in the center of his sunken chest. He sucked in an agonized breath and clawed at the wooden stave, trying vainly to withdraw it. Then his eyes clouded and he collapsed, blood bubbling obscenely from his lips.

I disengaged my probe with a scream, almost dragged to my own doom by his swift spiral into death. Panting, I stared down at him in astonishment and, for a moment, silence reigned in the village clearing.

“The Herders will kill us all for this,” a woman wailed, shattering the stillness.