Demontech: Gulf Run Read Online Free PDF Page B

who accompanied him glanced sharply at Haft, then looked about nervously, as though spying out threats and seeking escape routes.
    “Because we are three men? Because of how we are dressed?” Veduci snorted. “Our womenfolk and children are hidden from danger. We took what clothing we needed from victims of the Jokaps or banditry, they didn’t need them anymore.”
    “What banditry were they victims of?” Haft, a bit shorter than the average man, moved in closer and jutted his face upward at Veduci’s. “And what danger do your women and children need to hide from here? Do you think these refugees,” he waved his arm at the caravan, “are a danger to them?”
    Veduci leaned forward to tower over Haft. “Seems to me you’re a danger,” he growled.
    “Enough, you two!” Spinner snapped. “Haft, this is Veduci. He’s got eighteen armed men, plus women and children. They’re running from the Jokapcul, just like us. You say they’re getting close to us? If that’s so, we’ll need every fighting man we can get.”
    Haft nodded slowly. “If they
will
fight.” He turned his face to Spinner. “Where are the women and children, have you even seen them? Has anybody?”
    Spinner looked at the people who had stopped to look and listen. “Keep moving,” he shouted at them. “Don’t let the caravan break up. Move on!” While he waited for movement to resume, he thought about how he hadn’t seen the women and children. Nor had he seen eighteen armed men, only six. And Haft might be right. “How
do
we know you won’t break and run if the Jokapcul catch up with us?” he asked Veduci when the people began hurrying to catch up. “How do we know you’ll stand and fight?”
    The bandit leader spat to the side. “They’re coming as fast as we’re running. They’re going to catch us sooner or later anyway. We’re better off fighting them with a large group than by ourselves.”
    Veduci had a good point, but Haft didn’t look convinced.
    Alyline spoke up. “Your women and children, how many are there? What is their state? Have you any wagons to carry your injured or feeble?”
    Veduci gave her a slight bow. “We have twenty-one women, lady.” He had no idea who she was; her revealing vest and the translucent pantaloons that hung from low on her hips made her look more like a tavern entertainer than a lady, but her garments were a shimmering gold, and the gold coins that dangled from her necklace and girdle looked to be real. More, nobody objected when she spoke up. He thought it best to assume she had rank. “Four of them are with child. And there are children, two babes in arms and a handful of toddlers. And we got one crone.” He sadly shook his head. “We’ve got no wagons and only seven horses to carry the infirm and supplies.”
    Alyline glared at Haft. “Two infants, half a dozen toddlers, and a crone, and you see a threat?”
    “I haven’t seen
any
infants, toddlers, or crones. And desperate people are always a threat,” Haft answered.
    “
We
are desperate people too,” Fletcher interjected before Alyline and Haft could get started on an argument. To Veduci, “What supplies do you have? Food, medicines, trade goods?”
    “Only what we can carry on our backs and three of the horses.”
    “Where are your women and children?” Alyline demanded angrily. “Why have you left them in the wilderness?”
    “I didn’t know how we’d be received,” Veduci snapped. “So far, it looks like I was right to leave them hidden.”
    “Refugees with women and children,” Spinner said firmly before anyone else could speak, “would be received better than the armed men who surrounded me.”
    “They ambushed you?” Haft stepped back to gain fighting room and reached for the axe at his side.
    “They only surrounded me, Haft.” Spinner’s sharp voice stopped Haft before he could draw his weapon. “They didn’t attack.”
    “We were simply ready to defend ourselves in case we were attacked,”