s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

66
choked. Chimquar hooked her fingers up his nose as she ripped his head back
and pressed the cold blade of a stiletto against his exposed throat. Bakran
froze.
From the edge of her eyes she could see the legs of her audience of farmers
and Euzadi. In accordance with custom, none of Bakran's warriors had
interfered with their fight. Now many voice muttered angrily around her in
Euzadi. Farmers'
voices praised the Euzadi warrior that now held Bakran helpless. Chimquar
thanked her god that the day before
Maruic had accepted her as a warrior of his tribe and an outlander no longer,
else Bakran's men would have intervened to aid their leader and Chimquar
doubted she would have lived out the morning.
"Begone, you pack of mongrels!" She ordered the Euzadis roughly. "Go! Return
and Bakran dies. Obey and I'll return him to you when my business here is
done."
The nomads departed. Farmers disarmed Bakran and bound his hands. Chimquar
released him then to three sturdy fellows to guard. As she moved away Bakran
cursed her.
"Bastard! You'll pay for this. You'll pay in blood!"
Chimquar turned, her lips curving into a sneer. "I would not bet on that,
Bakran."
Many villagers, grateful for Chimquar's intervention, followed her into the
hills to seek the herbs and roots she required. They finished at nightfall.
Then Chimquar took her herbs and captive to the Euzadi camp. She restored
Bakran, humiliated and angry, to his followers.
* * * *
In the Darkness, Hunting: Tales of Chimquar the Lionhawk by Janrae Frank
67
Page 29
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
In the days that followed, Azkani and Jerono led the old seer's entourage in
making the weapons that Chimquar had need of. They wrought arrowheads and
spear points of silver, seasoning the metal in a sorcerous brew, which
Chimquar prepared. They wrapped spells around the weapons as they joined heads
and points to the shafts that would bear them.
All the while Chimquar could not suppress her doubts about how well she
remembered after a score of years away from the temple of Aroana spell-craft
not usually taught the ha'taren, but reserved for the bradae who were called
the priests.
* * * *
Chimquar, a group of warriors, and several of Azkani's disciples gathered at
the edge of the camp. Maruic and Jerono stayed close to her. She ordered out
the others in twos and threes according to their abilities. Each carried the
spell-
shrouded weapons and a horn to summon the rest of them.
"I expected Bakran." Chimquar turned her horse east to circle the camp
accompanied by Maruic and Jerono. "He seizes every opportunity to compete with
me."
Jerono hung back rather than become involved in a potentially explosive
discussion between his friend and his chieftain.
Maruic snorted. "Bakran and his followers sulk in their tents and wagons."
That disturbed Chimquar. "That's all they'll do?"
"I have his word not to trouble the villagers."
"I don't trust him. Bakran is "
In the Darkness, Hunting: Tales of Chimquar the Lionhawk by Janrae Frank
68
"No!" Maruic cut her off angrily. "Bakran is Euzadi. My people are not
oath-breakers!"
Chimquar moved away from Maruic, refusing to beat herself against the wall of
his anger. "Maruic," she asked abruptly, "why do you always choose to
accompany me like this? Is it distrust or dislike?" There was no sarcasm in
her words.
"Because you are the best of my warriors," he told her simply. "You honor your
word." He regarded her a long time, his expression unreadable. "I do what is
best for my people.
It is a custom, Chimquar, that the best warrior in the tribe rides beside the
chieftain that the young may emulate him."
"Yet, you cannot forget that I am a woman," she said without
bitterness surprising herself.
"That is true," Maruic admitted. Mutual honesty dissolved the wall of anger
and dislike between them.
So you set me as an example to your people and gave
Bakran good reason to view me as a threat.
"Gods all Nine!" She renewed the distance between them.
A blaring horn overrode her next thoughts. She turned her horse, digging her
heels into its sides.
A man and a horse lay beneath the terrible foreclaws of the gigantic dragon.
The dragon's roar set the horses to fighting their riders in vain attempts to
bolt and flee. A
warrior mastered his horse, readied his lance, and charged.
The dragon swatted the lance aside and tore flesh from the horse. The warrior
went down with his steed, yet managed to roll clear at the last moment and
escape on foot as the dragon ripped the horse apart. Another prepared to
charge.
In the Darkness, Hunting: Tales of Chimquar the Lionhawk by Janrae Frank
69
Page 30
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Stay back all of your!" Chimquar's shouted command halted the fool. "Encircle
the creature, but stay out of its reach!"
The Euzadi warriors responded automatically. The dragon lunged, dragging a
retreating man from his saddle. Two of his companions started to attempt a
rescue.
"Get back! Damn it, get back!" It twisted Chimquar's insides to allow the
dragon its latest prey, but to attack in a mindless chaos of individual
efforts would be tribal suicide.
"Circle it," she ordered, pressing her heels to her mare and setting the
example. "Keep moving. Don't give it an easy target." The best military mind
in all the realm of Shaurone already saw the means of slaughtering the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]