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Without warning, the road twisted and redoubled
in an S-curve. Karamy and I spurred our horses and
rounded the first bend in one racing burst of speed,
swung round the second, and were fairly in the trap
before we knew it.
It was the agonized whinny of my horse, and the
jolt of my body automatically righting itself from the
plunging of the animal beneath me, that made me
realize we had ridden straight on a chevaux-de-frise.
I yelled, cursing, shouting to Karamy to get back, get
back, but her own momentum carried her on; I saw
her light body fly out of the saddle and disappear.
The others, rounding the curve, were fairly on the
barrier already, and the place was a scramble, with
riderless horses milling in a melee of curses and the
screaming of women and the thrashing of feet. I was
out of my saddle in a moment, thrusting Gamine's
mount back from the stabbing points fixed invisibly
against the dark barrier in the road, shouting to
Evarin and Idris. Evarin leaped to my side, and I tore
madly at the barricade. Idris bore down on me,
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mounted. "Go round," he shouted. I plunged through
the underbrush at the side of the road, with hasty feet
twice snaked by long creepers. Past the barrier, the
road lay open and deserted and Karamy lay there in
a shimmer of crumpled silk, motionless.
"Gamine, Evarin," I shouted, "no one's here!
Karamy is hurt."
The head and shoulders of Idris' horse thrust
through the thick brushwood at the edges of the path.
"Is she dead?"
I bent, thrusting my hand against her breast. "Only
stunned. Her heart's beating. Get down," I ordered,
and Idris scrambled, monkey-fashion, from the sad-
dle. I lifted the woman in my arms, but she did not
move or open her eyes. Idris touched my arm.
"Put her across my saddle."
She was a limp dead weight in my arms, and as I
laid her on the saddle she stirred and moaned. Sud-
denly, behind me, Idris cried out.
"What?" I asked sharply.
"I heard-"
I never knew what Idris heard. His head vanished
as if snatched away by a giant's hand; a rough grip
collared me, choking fingers clawed at my throat, a
thousand rockets went off in my head, and I lay
sprawling in the brushwood, eating dust, with an
elephant sitting on my chest and threatening hands
gouging at my throat. My last coherent thought,
before the breath went out of me, was --
"I'm waking up!"
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CHAPTER SIX
BUT I WASN'T. When I came to -- it can only have been a
few seconds that I was unconscious -- it was to hear
Evarin snarling curses, and Idris barking incoherent-
ly with rage. I heard Karamy shriek my name, and
tried to answer, but the steely fingers were at my
throat, and with that weight on top of me I hadn't a
chance. The fall, or something, had knocked Adric
clean out of me, I was fuzzy-brained, but I was me;
I was an innocent bystander again.
I could just see Evarin and Idris in the road, casting
wary glances into the thick brushwood. Above me, I
could barely make out the face of the man who was
holding me pinned to the earth with his body. He had
the general build of a hippopotamus, and a face to
match. I squirmed, but the threatening face came
closer, and I subsided. The man could have broken
me in two like a matchstick
Around me in the thicket were dozens of crouching
forms, fantastic snipers with weapons at their shoul-
ders, weapons that could have been crossbows or dis-
integrators -- or both. "Enter Buck Rogers," I thought
wearily. I was beginning to feel faint again, and old
welter-weight on my stomach didn't help any.
Just as I thought I'd burst, he moved, stubby fingers
knotting a gag in my gasping mouth; then the in-
tolerable weight on my chest was gone, and I sucked
in air with relief The fat man eased himself
cautiously away, but I felt a steel point caress my
ribs. The threat didn't need words.
I could see the Narabedlans gathered in a tight little
knot in the road. The snipers around me were still
holding their weapons drawn, but the fat man com-
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manded in a whisper "Don't fire. They're sure to have
guards riding behind them."
The voices died away to a rasping mutter, and I lay
motionless, trying to dig up some of Adric's memo-
ries that would help. But the only thing I got was a
memory of my own football days, and a flying tackle
from a Penn State halfback that had knocked me ten
feet. Adric was gone, clean gone.
The Narabedlans were talking in low tones,
Gamine the rallying-point around which they
clustered. I wondered why that surprised me; then
the surprise, too, faded. Evarin had his sword out, but
even he did not step toward the mantling thicket.
Cynara was holding Idris by the arm, and I heard her
crying out, wildly, "No, no! If you make a move,
they'll kill him!"
Between two breaths, the road was alive with
mounted men. I never knew who they were; I was
quickly jerked to my feet and dragged away. Behind
me I heard shouting, and steel clashing, and saw
flashes of colored flame; spots of black danced before
my eyes as I stumbled along between two of my cap-
tors. I felt my sword dragged out of the scabbard. Oh
well, I thought wryly, I don't know how to use it,
anyhow, now that Adric's run out on the party!
Under the impetus of a knife in my ribs I found
myself clambering into a saddle, awkwardly, hands
tied, felt the horse running beneath me. There wasn't
much chance of getting away, and anyhow, the fire
couldn't be much worse than the flying pan!
Behind us the sounds and scufflings died away.
The horse I was riding raced sure-footed in the
darkness. I hung on with my two hands; only Adric's
habitual muscle reflexes kept me from tumbling ig-
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nominiously to the ground. I don't think I had any
more coherent thoughts until the jolting rhythm
broke and we came out of the forest into full moon-
light and the glare of open fires.
I raised my head, still clinging to the saddlehorn
with one hand, and looked round. We were in a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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