Giants Read Online Free PDF Page B

all the grooms were here, and Nestor needed help. Joash brushed horses, and with a pick, he cleaned hooves. These were Asvarn stallions, bigger and sleeker than the steppe stallions.
    “Joash!”
    He looked up, with a horse’s hoof cradled between his knees. A stoop-shouldered man with a dangling mustache motioned for him to hurry near. The man was Gens, Herrek’s chariot driver. No one could miss lean Gens, one of the greatest drivers of Teman Clan.
    Joash dusted his clothes as he ran to the leather awning. The charioteers still sat in a circle and drank tea. Herrek patted the ground beside him.
    Joash took his place in the circle, gingerly accepting a cup. It was a small ceramic cup, but thick, so he could hold it without scalding his fingers. As steam rose from the tea Joash could smell its rich aroma. He blew over it, causing ripples, and the steam to float away from him.
    “Nestor tells me you saw a new sabertooth pride,” Herrek said.
    “Yes, lord,” said Joash.
    “I thought you said the sabertooths we spotted today was a new pride, too,” Gens said. “That can’t possibly have been the same beasts Joash saw. Is it possible there are two new prides?”
    “No, it is impossible,” said Karim. He was a shaggy charioteer with a long beard and opinions about everything.
    Frowning, Herrek tugged at the laces to his leather wrist-guard. “Can anyone doubt the beasts are acting strangely? Consider how they led us into an ambush.”
    Joash perked up. He hadn’t heard about that.
    “You can’t believe the sabertooths planned it,” Karim said with a snort.
    “Sabertooths ambush game,” Herrek said. “Why not ambush people?”
    Karim laughed. “Yes, as game, but not in war.”
    Herrek turned to Joash. “How can you be certain you saw a new pride?”
    Joash’s tea had cooled so took a sip as he considered his words. “I saw a massive sabertooth with a crippled left paw. Until now…” He trailed off because all the charioteers stared at Herrek.
    “A crippled left paw?” Herrek asked thickly.
    “Yes, Lord. Old Three-Paws, I call him.”
    The laughter had drained from Karim’s bearded face. “That sabertooth almost slew you once, Herrek. After all these years has he come back to try again?”
    “That was more than ten years ago,” Herrek said, who had turned pale.
    A trumpet sounded, indicating an approaching chariot. Relief flooded through Joash as he glanced up. He remembered the chariot-tracks headed north. He had been worried about Ard. Surely, this was Elidad returning, who liked to make a show.
    As was their custom, the charioteers arose, although Herrek stared at the ground, perhaps in thought. The chariot came from the south, the direction of the main camp at Hori Cove.
    Joash frowned. The approaching chariot-driver wore a burnished bronze helmet polished so it shone like gold. He had a red horsehair crest that blew in the wind. There was missing horsehair from the middle of the crest, no doubt where an enemy had once struck and chopped the holding slot. Elidad owned no such helmet.
    Adah the Singer rode with the driver. She was a strange woman from faraway Poseidonis. She wore a blue cloak with yellow designs of starfish, shells, and sea-flowers. A small bow and a quiver, filled with parrot-feathered arrows, hung from her back. She was darker-skinned than Joash and had midnight-colored eyes.
    Adah shouted, “Lord Uriah sent me. We need help. Sabertooths attacked the southern herd.”
    That started a babble of comments among the warriors.
    Adah was beautiful, and had short dark hair that curled around her face. She was Lord Uriah’s confidant, privy to many of his secrets. The parrot-feather arrows showed her exotic nature as much as anything. They were colorful, red, green, bright orange, and one with purple feathers. Joash hoped the fletcher had plucked tame parrots, and not slain birds with such beautiful plumage.
    “Two stallions have been slain,” Adah said, as her chariot came to a