The rider sat on his horse but made no answer. You couldn't see his face very well because he had a wide-brimmed traveler's hat low over his eyes and was covered from the nose down by a scarf.

Judging from his powerful frame and the combat utility belt, half revealed from his faded black long coat, it was safe to say he was no seasonal laborer or merchant dealing with scattered villages. A blue pendant hanging just below his scarf reflected your expression. Your eyes fixed on the longsword strapped to his back.

Lined with an elegant arc quite different from the straight blades cherished by so many other Hunters, it spoke of the vast expanses of time and space its owner had traveled.

The rider responded for the first time. Though the voice was low, and you could barely pick it out from over the snarling of the wind, it sounded like the voice of a seventeen-or eighteen-year-old.

"What do you want?"