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could follow them it'll be no great trick for the pair behind us to come up on us if we sit
here like rabbits."
"If they're that close, they'll know I'm carrying gold." Bentol put his hand on his sword hilt.
"Maybe. We can't help that now." The heavy gait of Bentol's dnu would give away the
weight of his saddlebags, but that was the least of Aranur's concerns.
"Look, I'm carrying enough money to chase the slavers all the way to Breinigton and back
if necessary. Letting a couple of raiders follow us like nightshades is stupidity itself. Even if
Gamon were here ''
"But I am here," Aranur returned quietly. "Not Gamon. We pooled our savings with you
because you offered and only the moons know why you did that; your miserly ways are
known all over the south coast. But you did offer, and we did accept. The money is ours
now, not yours alone. With it, and with or without you, we will get our sisters back."
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r r
The trader said nothing, though he glowered at the tall, lean man who faced him in the
saddle. Aranur's quiet assurance and calm readiness spoke of more ability even than the
worn sword in his scabbard and the two knives that rode so easily in his belt. Even at rest,
there was a tension about him a taut patience, like the long second before a cat leaps or
the instant in which a wolf waits to attack. Bentol shivered. There was in Aranur's eyes a
flash of gray colder than a shade of death, an anger that merely blanketed the storm of
violence he could unleash. And Bentol knew it well. The trader glanced down at his hands
and clenched them in a futile fist Aranur's hidden rage was more than enough to make
him hesitate before he spoke again.
Aranur, seeing that the merchant would not go back on his word, nodded shortly. "We'll
deal with the raiders when they
54
Tara K. Harper
catchup," he said as he slapped the reins across the dnu's neck. "Let's get going. This is a
lousy place to defend."
Glancing back before he led the others through the thick brush, the gray-eyed leader
allowed himself a moment of concern. Still no sign of his uncle, but the old man knew the
sorts of tricks his nephew would pull on a few raiders and should have little trouble
tracking Aranur into the brush. He wheeled the dnu around. ' 'We'll look for a good
position along the next half kilometer.''
They galloped away from the river, Aranur's eyes searching the land for a good spot to set
the raiders up for ambush. "Here." He raised his hand and brought them to a sudden halt
in an unexpected hollow. "We'll wait for them to catch up. Rhom, go out on that side; I'll
cover this one. We'll move out and flank them before they reach us or split up to surround
us. Bentol, Tyrel, we'll be felling back to you as they come hi. We want them alive, Rhom,"
he added as he dismounted and flung the reins at his cousin.
The boy swung down immediately, grabbing the leather straps and leading both dnu into
the hollow. Aranur might accuse his young cousin of being too eager for action in the sport
fighting ring, but he could not fault the boy's speed now. The lanky youth already had one
dnu bedded down in the shadow of a rocktree and was working on pushing the other into
as good a position on the other side of the thick bushes. Rhom disappeared almost silently
into the brush, the black hair not hidden by his worn warcap hi sharp contrast to the
yellow grass he stepped through. Aranur looked after him for a moment, then shrugged.
He had a feeling the quiet stranger could take care of himself.
Aranur faded into the brush away from the other man, his trail-hardened body shifting so
that he blended nearly invisibly into the bushes. He could hear the stamping of the dnu as
his cousin made the last beast lie down behind him, then they, too, were quiet. He moved
on. The click bugs fell silent, then started up again almost immediately as he passed, so
smoothly did he cross the ground.
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r r
He was guessing mat the raiders would split up a kilometer out. It was a favorite tactic of
theirs; also, they would have lost the men's trail in the tracks of the raiders being chased.
But if the raiders had left a few men behind to waylay Aranur's group and prevent mem
from following, were there really only two?
WOLFWALKER
55
The tone pursuers could have circled west from downriver and left others to wait for the
group there. The tall man frowned, skirted a thombush, and came eye to eye with a
stickbeast. The stilted creature stared at the long, lean man for a minute, two of its lanky
skeletal limbs holding a beetle to its mouth, then it stalked into a bush and melted into the
wood of the growth, camouflaged almost perfectly.
As he climbed above the trail, the crest of a small hillock hid him behind its grasses. There
was no tree with thick enough branches to support him, so he wriggled deeper into the
earth, making a small depression for his narrow-hipped body as he wedged himself into
the rise. The plains rolled on into the forest to his right, and he worried again about
Gamon. But what trouble could his uncle run into that he could not handle? The old man
had been an Ariye weapons master for twenty years already he would see through any
raider tricks in a hot second, especially since he was already looking for trouble
backtracking die stranger Rhom. But there were always worlags, badgerbears, and other
things. Aranur shook off his concern with a frown. He had no doubts about his uncle.
Gamon was as woods-wise as the best of them, and still better in fighting than most of
those. He would be catching up soon.
The ground rumbled slightly with pounding hooves. The vibrations grew stronger, but he
waited, not daring to move to shift the pebble that was gouging his hip so sharply. He
could hear the smooth drumming of a dnu's six legs hitting the earth: only one rider. The
ghost vibrations he had felt must have been the second rider a ways off, closer to the river,
over on Rhom's side. The raiders had split up, searching for the trail. He crouched, ready
to spring as the man passed. There, he could almost smell the sweat of the running beast.
He tensed and
Leapt out and down. His timing was perfect. He hit the man fall force and knocked him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]