She huddled the cloak closer around her and hurried her steps, feeling the hunter ease his way nearer to her. It was like a blank space in the mass of people she had hoped to lose herself in. Sweat rolled down her back under the cloth, but if she so much as pushed the hood back he would spot her. She couldn’t take that risk.

She couldn’t remember how long she’d been running. There were a lot of things she couldn’t remember. Who she was, for starters. She knew her own name — part of it, anyway. She knew why the hunter wanted her, too.

She didn’t know how she’d lost her memory, or why she couldn’t speak.

She dodged sideways into a little alley running between two stores and leaned against the wall, panting. A shadow fell over her, and she jumped, staring up wide-eyed at the dark figure in front of her.