Gunner’s Apprentice

"Two sentries. Kip was going to have to kill two sentries, silently, before they could raise any sort of alarm. The light was weak – the sun still hidden by the mountains – but Kip put on his green spectacles, and bent the temple tips tight around his ears. He was lying on his stomach, hidden in the bushes, and the sentries were a good sixty paces away, over open ground, up a gravel trail. Suicide.

She’s going to die at dawn, Kip.

Kip balled his fists. It was a terrible plan. It was the only plan."