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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] Vosk bordered the regions of Ar. Other cities, to the north, of course, looked with apprehension on Marlenus' permitting the Margin of Desolation to recover its fertility and shade. He may have been only intending to extend the arable lands of Ar. On the other hand, under Marlenus, it became clear that Ar no longer feared for her borders. Also, the ambition of Marlenus, the Ubar of Ar, said to be the Ubar of Ubars, was well known. If it was now possible, or soon would be possible, to bring a land army easily southward to Ar, once the Vosk was traversed, by the same token, it would be similarly possible for Ar to bring, swiftly a considerable force of men northward, to the very shore of the Vosk. Of tradition, the northern shore of the Vosk was disputed by various cities. Ar, among others, had made her claims. Ahn after Ahn, the tarn flew. He did not unbind me to feed me. "Open your mouth," he said. He thrust yellow Sa-Tarna bread into my mouth. I chewed the bread and, with difficulty, swallowed it. He then, with his tarn knife, from a piece of raw bosk meat, cut four small pieces of meat, which he placed in my mouth. "Feed," he said. I chewed the meat, eyes closed, swallowing it. "Drink," he said. He thrust the horn nozzle of a leather bota of water between my teeth. I almost choked. He withdrew the nozzle and capped the bota, replacing it in his saddle pack. I closed my eyes, miserable. I had been fed and watered. The tarn flew on. After a time I looked up at the warrior who had captured me. He seemed broad chested, and broad shouldered. He had a large head, muchly concealed within the war helmet. He carried his head proudly. His arms were strong, muscular and bronzed. His hands were large, and rough, fit for weapons. He wore scarlet leather. His helmet, with its "Y"-like aperture, was gray. Neither his leather nor his helmet were distinguished by insignia. I supposed then, that he must be a mercenary, or an outlaw. To have been taken by such a man, I had no idea what my fate would be. There seemed something familiar about the strong figure, before whom I was Page 139 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html bound. Somehow he frightened me. I felt I had know him, or met him before. Perhaps in Laura, near the compound of Targo! "Are you," I asked, trembling, "a hireling of Haakon of Skjern?" "No," he said. "Will you - " I asked, "will you keep me for yourself?" I shuddered. "A smelly, dirty little Kajira, with pierced ears, who steals meat from peasant villages?" he said. I groaned. "I would not even put you with my women," he said. I closed my eyes. I realized then that such a warrior had undoubtedly captured many women, that many beauties, both slave and free, before me, and doubtless after me, would, as bound prized, helplessly grace his saddle. Among such riches, I, Elinor Brinton, realized that to such a man, a warrior, a tarnsman among tarnsmen, I was of little account, only another girl and perhaps a poor sort of one at that. He had little more interest in me than in a piece of meat, which he had captured and tied. "You should be sold to a peddler," he said. "Or I should have left you in the peasant village. Peasants know well how to treat thieving wenches." "Please sell me in Ar," I begged. "I am white silk." He looked at me, I could see the mouth grinning. I shuddered. "You are unworthy of being sold in Ar," he said. "Perhaps you might be sold at a smaller town, a village, or a border outpost." "Please," I begged. "I will dispose of you as I wish," he said. "Now be silent on the matter." I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I saw him regarding me. He was grinning. "I am white silk!" I cried. "I will bring a higher price if I am sold white silk!" "You mistake me, Lady," said he, courteously, "if you think that I am interested only in gold." "No!" I cried. "No!" He bent to undo the lashings at my ankles. I screamed, helplessly. Suddenly, before he had even touched the lashings at my ankles, he turned about, abruptly, in the saddle. A crossbow bold flashed by, like a swift, hissing needle in the sky. In one moment, as I screamed, terrified, thrown rudely against my bonds, he had jerked his shield from the saddle straps, and wheeled the tarn, with a cry of rage, a strange war cry, to face his foe. He was met with another war cry, and suddenly, only feet from us, another tarn streaked past, and I heard the forcible, tearing scrape of a broad, bronze spear blade, its blow turned, sliding across the metal-bound, layered, bosk-hide shield of my captor. The other tarn streaked away, and its rider, standing in his stirrups, braced in the saddle, held to it by the broad safety strap, was redrawing his crossbow, a quarrel held in his teeth. My captor attacked, giving him no instant in which to set again his bow. When only yards separated us, the other man flung away his bow and quarrel, seizing up his shield. My captor, standing in his stirrups, flung his own great spear. It struck the other's shield, piercing it. If the other man had not been fastened in his saddle by the great strap the force of my captor's blow would have struck him from the saddle. As it was, it spun him, tearing the shield from his arm. He cursed. "For Skjern!" he cried. The two tarns wheeled again, for another passage. Again the other's spear struck, and again the blow was countered by my Page 140 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html captor's shield. I again heard the terrible, startling scrape of the spear blade diverted by the seven-layered, metal-bound boskhide shield. Twice more the attacker pressed in, and each time, again, the shield turned the blow, once but inches from my body. My captor was trying to close with him, to bring him within the range of his own steel, his now-drawn, swift, unadorned blade. Again the spear struck, but this time my captor took the point in the shield. I, bound, saw, suddenly, the bronze point, a foot of it, inches from my face, explode through the hide. I screamed. My captor then wheeled away, the other, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |