Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

he still
further back along the main road? And what would he say to the
knight if came back without Oaka? What would they do if they could
not find …
    It was awfully, terribly quiet, as a
matter of fact, Basha realized. He let go of the horses’ reins for
a moment, and squinted up at the trees, searching for any sign of
animal life. But there was no sight or sound from any of them,
instead only an unnatural calm filled his surroundings.
    Other people in the
town of Coe Baba might not have noticed anything was wrong, people
like Hastin probably, but Basha, he had wandered the outskirts of
the forest his whole life. He had camped out a couple of times with
Oaka and Geda, not too far from home, and he had run away that one time...he knew when something was
wrong inside the forest.
    Basha could see the double-edged sword
shadows stretched out between the trees, uninterrupted. Still, no
matter how strange this was, he knew that the heroes of old
wouldn’t have been deterred. So, he inhaled deeper, and took a step
forward.
    He heard a screech,
and lifted his head up, towards a gap in the entwining branches
that showed blue sky, and he smiled in relief at the sight of life,
for the sun’s glare was shielded from his eyes by the form of a
majestic falcon soaring right over him from north to south. It was
magnificent, the dark brown feathers of the bird, tinted with black
at the edge of its wings, tilted to circle around towards him. The
bird’s black eyes were now visible to him, glinting with razor
sharp perspicacity, and he was right underneath it! It was a
graceful sight, and, oddly enough, too close to the ground and to him.
    The horses neighed and reared up.
    Basha blinked and yelped as the falcon,
diving straight through the gap at him, slammed right into his
stomach with enough force that he fell over backwards. He never had
imagined that a falcon could have such force. He landed on a pile
of leaves called a bush, and lied there, groaning softly as he
stared straight up at the sky. Wondering if he was prone to
disaster, somehow.
    He managed to sit up, looking down at
the falcon perched on his lap. “Never is it a good sign when birds
start attacking you,” Basha muttered to himself; he knew that
well.
    “ Wolves! Coming this
way! Get out of here, boy!” The falcon yelled.
    Basha screamed as the falcon stretched
his wings out, and then flinched as the bird flapped away from him,
soaring off into the sky. The horses were still whinnying, almost
screaming.
    Basha gasped and
shuddered, then thought about what the bird had said. Though a talking bird was an impossible occurrence, he leapt onto his feet, and
scanned about the area, as he thought that perhaps he should
take the bird’s
warning seriously. Then he heard the
bushes rustling close behind him, from the hunter’s path, and
whirled about, prepared to run if necessary, but Oaka emerged
instead, covered in leaves, bruises and scratches from the branches
and the fall he must have had.
    “ Oaka!” Basha cried
out in relief. “There was a falcon, a
falcon talked to me!” He said.
    “ What
are … never mind that!” Oaka exclaimed, pointing behind him. “There
are wolves after me! I fell off of Joko while we were jumping,
and … let’s get the horses and get out of here!” He cried.
    The two young men managed to round up
their horses and mount them as Basha heard a howl not far behind.
The horses reared again, and galloped off, the two young men the
hopeless loads on their backs, pitched about in their saddles and
barely hanging on. Basha swung his head about, and caught a glimpse
of their pursuit.
    The double-edged sword shadows were
filtered through the fleeting, flitting shades of black wolves on
the other side of the trees, loping in pace alongside the fleeing
horses. Everything was black. The leaders of the pack lunged out of
the intervals and swerved into their course, flanking their horses
and lagging behind. Basha felt like his horse was swimming