Analog Science Fiction And Fact - June 2014 Read Online Free PDF Page B

nicking their own mounts. Hidaq also performed adequately, but both Sammi and the swamper were learning new skills.
    One day, the yar came onto the practice field and counted only four recruits. "Where the hell's Sam Eagle?" he demanded. "He shirking?"
    P. Z. looked around the meadow. "He was here just a while ago."
    The yar crossed his arms and glared at them. "He better put in an appearance real soon now."
    The grass at his feet rustled and seemed to come alive, and Sammi rose and held the point of his knife to the yar's throat. He had decked his jerkin and trousers with grasses so that he had blended in with the ground.
    The yar didn't blink. "Good camo job, Sammi. You're in the point guards, starting tomorrow. Report to Thewèhdarosh."
    "Good. What point guards do?"
    "They go out ahead of the Legion and scout things out."
    "Not so good."
    "And Sammi? Five laps."
    The recruits were issued their own swords at a ceremony attended by those of the Legion not out on sweep or garrison duty. Teodorq decided to call his sword
Lifesaver.
Kal called his
Rabbit-killer.
Sammi only shook his head. Hillmen did not name their weapons.
    "Maybe tomorrow," said Kal off-handedly while the shaman sprinkled the recruits with a sprig of holly dipped in water. "Maybe tomorrow they let us kill you."
    "Us?"
    The five recruits stood in a row with their swords in fool's guard, points straight down resting on the ground in front of them. Kal stroked the haft of his sword. "Me and my friend, here."
    "Maybe," Teodorq answered. "But yuh gotta know these ironmen here are spreadin' west. Old Wiz, he been asking you questions about the Great Grass, ain't he?"
    Kal spat on the ground. "Yeah, them sod-busters won't be much to stop 'em. What about it?"
    "Think somebody oughta tell the Gudawan Adyawan?" He meant the tribe to which both the Serps and his own Scorpions belonged. "All the clans gotta work together if these kettleheads come west."
    "I'll tell 'em ya said so when I see 'em, bein' they's yer last words an' all."
    "Just saying, sunna Vikeram. Remember, there's one song finer even than the two heroes who finally fight."
    Kal frowned. "Yeah? I wouldn't count on it, was I you." He swung his sword straight up in salute and Teodorq tensed, just a little. Kal laughed and Teodorq remembered he was supposed to do the same as part of the ceremony. Kal kissed his blade.
    "Don't you agree, Rabbit-killer?"
    With the rest of the Legion, they practiced turning their horses from single file into columns of four and into line of battle. Apparently, all ironmen fought by lining up and charging at the enemy in unison, yelling
lululu!
and swinging their swords. The kettle heads used a long pointy stick, but the legionnaires were more lightly armed. "Speed, not weight, is our advantage," the yar explained. "Let the pots and pans crash together. Our job is to ride far and fast, find and harass the enemy, and bring back word to the battle line. Light cavalry, heavy cavalry. Each has a job to do."
    It was during one of these practice skirmishes that Kal decided he had waited long enough. Teo and the Serp had been placed in opposing lines and as the two lines closed, Kal and his mount shouldered aside his neighbor. This opened a hole in his own line, but it put him directly facing Teodorq sunna Nagarajan the Ironhand.
    They were supposed to be using the wooden practice swords, since the objective of the session was tactics, but Kal had unsheathed Rabbit-killer and swung it at Teo as they closed.
    Teo leaned back flat against his mount's withers—an old prairie stunt—and the blade whistled by harmlessly. That gave him a chance to rein, turn, and pull Lifesaver from over his shoulder all in one smooth motion. Teodorq assessed his situation while Kal completed his own turn. The sun was in the west, which meant the light would be in his eyes when he and Kal closed. The terrain in the meadow was flat but undulated and Kal's first pass had placed him not only with the sun to