A Cat Of Silvery Hue Read Online Free PDF Page A

lacking armor or weapons of any description. And it was then, just as Lieutenant Hohguhn had foretold, a butchery, the horsemen riding down and spearing or sabering or axing their fleeing, screaming prey, until horses were foam-flecked and blowing, until men’s arms ached with deadly effort.
    And then they rode on.
    The broad blades of Bili’s huge axe were no longer shiny, being dimmed with clotted blood and dust, like every other bared weapon in the column. But the steel was soon rinsed—with fresher blood, as they overhauled another few hundred rebels. This time, however, perhaps half of their victims made good an escape, for men and cats and horses, all were tired, and Bili still insisted that the arrows and darts be husbanded against more pressing need.
    The notes of the recall still were sounding when the High Lord led his weary mount through the trampled cornfield toward the limply fluttering Morguhn banner. He carried his bare saber, not wishing to befoul its case with the gory steel. While walking, tugging at the plodding horse, he was in telepathic contact with Aldora, whose troops had finally reached Morguhn Hall.
    “Sorry, dear, to have had you put your men to a needless forced march, but none of us—I, least of all—had any idea that things would work out so well or so quickly.”
    “Damn you, Milo!” she raged. “You just tell that to the horses I’ve foundered this blasted night and morning. And you and the young duke had better not bite off too much out there, either, because I’ll not bring any more men than I can find remounts for. And I doubt there’re a hundred horses here.”
    Aloud, Milo sighed. “All right, Aldora, I’ll suggest a halt to rest and clean our weapons. As I recall, the road crosses a sizable rill just ahead. But
send
the troops, don’t come yourself—there’re two witchmen in the cellars of Morguhn Hall and you’re the only person I’m willing to entrust them to. They’re drugged now and I want them kept that way until we can get them up to Kehnooryos Atheenahs.”
    “Tired and filthy as I am, I’ll not protest
that
order, Milo. Besides,” she added, “it will give me a chance to see sweet Ahndee again. You did say that he’s recuperating here, did you not?”
    Milo grinned broadly at the bloody ground and broken cornstalks before him. “Lord Ahndros is being tended by the woman he loves, Aldora, and I don’t think the lady would appreciate your overtender solicitude for the welfare of the man she will wed. Why don’t you save yourself for that woman’s son, eh?
Thoheeks
Bili Morguhn is your kind of man—strong, brave, outspoken, ruthless toward his foes, virile and handsome. And he’s every bit as bloodthirsty as you are, my dear. He only spares the lives of those men he means to see tortured to death.”
    “If you don’t like what he’s doing, Milo, why don’t you stop him?” Aldora asked.
    He sighed again, shaking his steel-encased, sweating head. “No, I don’t like it, sweetheart. What’s left of my twentieth-century conscience cringes at this morning’s work. But I also recognize facts, no matter how unpalatable to a man of my century. What Bili is doing is brutal, but it will be as effective as was the Gafnee affair. If he’s allowed to put down the rebellion in his way, he’ll provide a meaningful example to every
thoheekahtohn
in the Confederation, for one thing; for another, if he manages to net all the rebellious nobles, the commoners will never again dare to even think of rebellion within his lifetime. Nor will he need to worry about the Ehleen priests inciting any more of this kind of trouble.”
    “Sacred Sun be praised!” the woman exclaimed feelingly. “Mara will be pleased to know that you’re finally going to scotch those black-robed vultures.”
    “I’ve never liked them any more than have you and Mara, Aldora, but they do happen to have a following, both noble
and
common. Proscribing their hierarchy without damned good