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.Bits of feather and bone, both real and palesimulacrums, assembled themselves into bird, and flapped into the air.Ahira and Tennetty were already on their horses, the butts of their spearsresting in their stirrups.Andrea rose, her face pale and sweaty in the firelight."Quickly, now," shesaid, her voice a husky hiss."The bird will try to keep itself halfway between me and the wolf.Let ushurry."We cantered off toward the setting sun.* * *Just to show you what an asshole a kid from New Jersey can be, I used to thinkthat riding a canteringGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlhorse was sort of like driving a fast car.Yes, I thought, you have to worryabout bumping into stuff, but physically demanding, nah.Except on the horse.Well, a lot I knew.We clopped down roads, cut across fields yes, careless of the damage to crops,but conscious of the damage a pack of wolves can do to the locallivestock avoiding cutting through the woods.Ahead, the bird fluttered, barely visible, constantly slowing, but alwaysflying just a little too fast, just a little too far for us to ease up on thehorses.Riding a fast-moving horse is hard.Yes, my mare would jump over a drainage ditch, but I had to hang on to herback as she leaped the ditch, and landing was every bit as hard on me as itPage 47 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwould have been if I was doing the jumping.Not to mention the way the saddleof the usually-cantering and sometimes-galloping horse kept threatening toslam the base of my spine into the base of my skull.I was about to call a halt, using as my excuse that I didn't think the horsescould take it, when the bird stopped at the edge of a field, perched itselfneatly on a gnarled limb, then dissolved into a shower of feathers and bones.I looked over at Andrea.She nodded; the spell had dissolved because we were close, not because it hadrun out of magic.The woods blocked out the setting sun, loomed dark and menacing.Ahira was already on the ground, his boar spear in his hand.He planted itsolidly in the ground, then picked up his crossbow, quickly cocking it andslipping in a bolt."Tennetty, keep your spear ready, but get your rifles and bow out.Andrea,shotgun on the half-cock "I slipped from my saddle and started to string my bow.Ahira shook his head."Nope; Walter, you work your way around and drive themtoward us." He tossed me a pair of grenades.I chuckled bravely as I stowed the grenades in my vest.Well, it was supposedto be a brave chuckle, but it sounded forced to me; I just hope the othersweren't quite as perceptive."And what if they decide to run toward me instead of you?"He chuckled back."Then I'd suggest you climb a tree.Quickly."* * *Skulking through the woods is partly art, but mainly craft.It doesn't matter who or what you are: if you try to walk on the floor of aforest twigs, dry leaves, andGod-knows-what-else underfoot you will make noise.The trick is to stick tohard-packed dirt, to flat rock and green grass.This can get a bit complicatedwhen you're also being damn sure to stay within dashing range of a tree.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlI circled around downwind of where the wolf pack should have been, making morenoise than I would have liked, but not enough to carry very far.The idea wasto spook them after all, and drive them in the direction of my friends.Nice thing to do to your friends, eh?Well, it was Ahira's idea, not mine.And it shouldn't be a problem that's whatthe guns and the bow were for.Not that that was my problem, not now.Myproblem was keeping myself alive and unbit whileI located the pack.Hmm.If I were running a wolf pack, I'd have posted scouts some distance awayfrom the body of the group.It would be an interesting mathematicalproblem the farther away the circle of watchers, the more warning they couldgive, but the more of them you'd need.Probably susceptible to some sort ofminimax solution, or game theory analysis, but I don't guess that wolves doeither.The other way, of course, would be either instead of or in addition to postingscouts to have some roaming watchmen making regular tours.I don't know whether it was a hidden watchman or a roamer I'd missed thatjumped me.With barely a rustling of leaves and twigs, two hundred pounds ofcoarse fur and awful stink lunged out of the dark brush for me, teethunerringly aimed at my leg. Which wasn't there.Emma Slovotsky's baby boy doesn't wait around to getbitten by a wolf.I danced out of his way and kicked him as he passed it didn't hurt him, but itmade his lunge carry him past me.By the time he had spun around, I was already up the nearest tree, chinningmyself on a thick branch, my stomach left somewhere behind me on the ground.As I clambered the rest of the way to the branch, shouts and shots echoed offPage 48 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Bits of feather and bone, both real and palesimulacrums, assembled themselves into bird, and flapped into the air.Ahira and Tennetty were already on their horses, the butts of their spearsresting in their stirrups.Andrea rose, her face pale and sweaty in the firelight."Quickly, now," shesaid, her voice a husky hiss."The bird will try to keep itself halfway between me and the wolf.Let ushurry."We cantered off toward the setting sun.* * *Just to show you what an asshole a kid from New Jersey can be, I used to thinkthat riding a canteringGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlhorse was sort of like driving a fast car.Yes, I thought, you have to worryabout bumping into stuff, but physically demanding, nah.Except on the horse.Well, a lot I knew.We clopped down roads, cut across fields yes, careless of the damage to crops,but conscious of the damage a pack of wolves can do to the locallivestock avoiding cutting through the woods.Ahead, the bird fluttered, barely visible, constantly slowing, but alwaysflying just a little too fast, just a little too far for us to ease up on thehorses.Riding a fast-moving horse is hard.Yes, my mare would jump over a drainage ditch, but I had to hang on to herback as she leaped the ditch, and landing was every bit as hard on me as itPage 47 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwould have been if I was doing the jumping.Not to mention the way the saddleof the usually-cantering and sometimes-galloping horse kept threatening toslam the base of my spine into the base of my skull.I was about to call a halt, using as my excuse that I didn't think the horsescould take it, when the bird stopped at the edge of a field, perched itselfneatly on a gnarled limb, then dissolved into a shower of feathers and bones.I looked over at Andrea.She nodded; the spell had dissolved because we were close, not because it hadrun out of magic.The woods blocked out the setting sun, loomed dark and menacing.Ahira was already on the ground, his boar spear in his hand.He planted itsolidly in the ground, then picked up his crossbow, quickly cocking it andslipping in a bolt."Tennetty, keep your spear ready, but get your rifles and bow out.Andrea,shotgun on the half-cock "I slipped from my saddle and started to string my bow.Ahira shook his head."Nope; Walter, you work your way around and drive themtoward us." He tossed me a pair of grenades.I chuckled bravely as I stowed the grenades in my vest.Well, it was supposedto be a brave chuckle, but it sounded forced to me; I just hope the othersweren't quite as perceptive."And what if they decide to run toward me instead of you?"He chuckled back."Then I'd suggest you climb a tree.Quickly."* * *Skulking through the woods is partly art, but mainly craft.It doesn't matter who or what you are: if you try to walk on the floor of aforest twigs, dry leaves, andGod-knows-what-else underfoot you will make noise.The trick is to stick tohard-packed dirt, to flat rock and green grass.This can get a bit complicatedwhen you're also being damn sure to stay within dashing range of a tree.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlI circled around downwind of where the wolf pack should have been, making morenoise than I would have liked, but not enough to carry very far.The idea wasto spook them after all, and drive them in the direction of my friends.Nice thing to do to your friends, eh?Well, it was Ahira's idea, not mine.And it shouldn't be a problem that's whatthe guns and the bow were for.Not that that was my problem, not now.Myproblem was keeping myself alive and unbit whileI located the pack.Hmm.If I were running a wolf pack, I'd have posted scouts some distance awayfrom the body of the group.It would be an interesting mathematicalproblem the farther away the circle of watchers, the more warning they couldgive, but the more of them you'd need.Probably susceptible to some sort ofminimax solution, or game theory analysis, but I don't guess that wolves doeither.The other way, of course, would be either instead of or in addition to postingscouts to have some roaming watchmen making regular tours.I don't know whether it was a hidden watchman or a roamer I'd missed thatjumped me.With barely a rustling of leaves and twigs, two hundred pounds ofcoarse fur and awful stink lunged out of the dark brush for me, teethunerringly aimed at my leg. Which wasn't there.Emma Slovotsky's baby boy doesn't wait around to getbitten by a wolf.I danced out of his way and kicked him as he passed it didn't hurt him, but itmade his lunge carry him past me.By the time he had spun around, I was already up the nearest tree, chinningmyself on a thick branch, my stomach left somewhere behind me on the ground.As I clambered the rest of the way to the branch, shouts and shots echoed offPage 48 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]