Jeffrey Lord Blade 31 Gladiators of Hapanu

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safely close in to finish the job with spears, clubs, and point-blank archery.
The new bows were still going to be hideously ugly, and even Meera said so.
She also said, "The
Forest People are going to be too happy with the new bows to worry about how
they look. The
Treemen are not wise enough to tell when a thing is ugly or not. The Sons of
Hapanu are going to be too busy dying from the arrows to worry about how the
bows look. So who is there to care?"
Blade now wanted to try out his idea for turning the Shield of Life into a
powerful tranquilizer. With luck, it wouldn't matter whether the new bows
pierced armor or not. Even if they only scratched a Son of
Hapanu in the leg, he would soon be slowed down and a man slowed down in the
middle of a battle doesn't last very long.
This meant moving to a new camp. The kohkol sap for the Shield of Life didn't
have to be fresh, but the uglyfish juice had to be. So Blade and Meera were
going to have to sit down on the bank of a river and go fishing.
Blade made five more bows, one for himself, one for Meera, one spare, and two
as gifts to Swebon and Guno. Then he and Meera plucked a sack of fruit as food
for the journey, packed up their gear, and set off for the Fak'si River.
Chapter 13
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Blade left behind in the shelter everything they weren't going to need by the
river. Both he and Meera could now walk through the Forest like human beings
instead of staggering along like pack mules, and they pushed south as fast as
Meera could go. When they awoke on the morning of the fourth day, Meera saw
water birds above the treetops. She told Blade that they would probably reach
the river before nightfall.
The good news made Blade eager to move on. So they started off at once, eating
the last of the fruit as they marched. By the time it was full daylight they
were almost ready for their first rest stop. As always when they stopped,
Blade walked back along the last hundred yards of their trail. He hoped to
discover anyone or anything following them too closely. Twice he'd found the
footprints of Treemen, and once he'd seen two of them leap into the trees and
vanish.
This time Blade saw nothing until he'd nearly covered the hundred yards. Then
he stopped abruptly, as his eyes picked out something moving fifty yards
farther on into the Forest. It was a branch, but it was moving jerkily and
irregularly, as no branch should particularly when there wasn't enough wind
blowing to even stir the leaves. Blade raised his club and spear, then moved
toward the jerking branch a step at a time, prodding the vegetation ahead with
the spear point as he went.
The moment he saw what was making the branch jerk, Blade went flat on the
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ground and started scanning the trees. It was a Fak'si hunter, one side of his
face a mask of blood and his hands and feet bound crudely but effectively.
Half-conscious, he was rolling back and forth. With each roll his shoulder
caught the branch and made it jerk.
Treemen! That was Blade's first thought. Then he remembered that he'd never
heard of the Treemen binding a victim. No one even knew if they could tie a
knot. This man had to be the victim of human enemies. Or was he a victim?
Blade examined the man more closely. Apart from the blood on his head, he
showed no signs of any injury, not even a cut or a bruise.
It was just possible that an enemy raiding party could surprise a lone Fak'si
warrior and take him prisoner without doing him much harm. It wasn't likely,
though. Blade's thoughts moved on, steadily and grimly, from doubt to open
suspicion.
Was this man bait? If he was, who'd put him out, and who was he supposed to
trap?
As Blade asked himself these questions, he was studying the trees ahead again.
This time he was expecting human silhouettes, and he found what he expected.
Deep inside the branches of a squat, spreading tree, two men were waiting.
Now to turn the tables and ambush the ambushers. Blade got down on his belly,
as flat to the ground as any snake. He crawled through the shrubbery, trying
hard not to disturb a single leaf, until he had a clear shot at the men. He
couldn't recognize them or even their tribe, but that didn't matter. It was
hard to believe they were Fak'si, and if they were, there was only one reason
for them to be here. They were on his trail, to put an end to him and all his
plans for helping the Forest People. They were going to kill him in the name
of the priests, or tradition, or the Forest Spirit, or plain simple fear.
It amused Blade to think that servants of the priests might be the first
victims of the new bows they'd tried to prevent. He smiled, and was still
smiling as he rose from cover, nocked an arrow to his bow, drew, and shot.
His sudden appearance made one of the men shout. Then the arrow struck and got
a second shout that turned into a scream. Another scream, the sound of
cracking branches and rustling leaves, and
Blade's victim thudded to the ground. The arrow was deep in his side, and as
he rolled about in agony the shaft snapped off.
As it did, the second man came cracking down through the branches, leaping
wildly with weapons in both hands. Blade's second arrow whistled over his
head, and Blade didn't have time to shoot again. He had to drop the bow,
snatch up his spear and club, and meet the man's rush. It was Guno.
Guno's face was twisted with rage and desperation, and his attack was that of
a madman. He came in recklessly, swinging wildly but so hard that Blade knew
he couldn't let even one of Guno's blows connect. Blade gave ground and let
Guno's first half dozen swings land in the air. Then suddenly he turned
halfway around and took a few quick steps, as if he was starting to run off in
fear. Guno's spear came up as he got set to throw. For just long enough, he
was a stationary target. Blade wheeled, hurled his warclub with all his
strength, then ducked. Guno flinched as the spear left his hand, and it flew
harmlessly over Blade's head.
Guno's flinching didn't save him. The club's ironbound head smashed jaw and
one cheek into bloody flesh and bone. Guno staggered, tried to scream, tried
to raise his own club, then collapsed as Blade came up and struck him in the
stomach with the butt of his spear.
Blade washed some of the blood off Guno's face with water from the gourd at
his belt, then waited for the man to catch his breath enough to talk. Blade
had a fairly good notion of what was in Guno's mind, but he badly wanted to
know more. He and Meera might be out of immediate danger, but what about
Swebon? Any plots aimed at Blade would sooner or later also strike at the
chief. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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