Excerpt: The White Stones

Kestrel went to draw her sword, but Rhiannon put her arm on Kestrel’s shoulder and mouthed ‘your bow’ at her. In a moment of horror and fascination she realised that Rhiannon meant to catch the pair of Council Guards by surprise; they were close enough that Kestrel was sure that she would hit where she aimed.
She slung her bow off her back and drew an arrow; she could hear Coal slowly drawing his sword as to not make enough of a sound to alert the two armed Guards ahead of them. She drew the bowstring taut, and aimed along the arrow; neither of the Guards were wearing helmets or heavy plating along their necks, so she selected a guard and aimed an arrow at the back of his neck.
A fleeting thought passed through her head that this was a cowardly thing to do, shooting at someone’s back, but she dismissed it quickly found her mark and loosed the arrow. There was a slightly wet sound as the arrow slid through the Guard’s neck, in one side and out the other, almost immediately blood started pouring from the wound; she had caught one of the main veins in his neck. The man grasped at his throat in blind effort to stop the bleeding, but his brain shut down and he collapsed and bled out next to his companion.