Silver Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page B

his face a mask of fury. He kicked out hard, and his iron-clad boot caught one of the mastiffs in the ribs. The force of the blow lifted the large dog off its feet. It fell heavily on its side and lay there, kicking and yelping piteously. The others cringed away with then-tails tucked tightly between their legs.
    “Useless curs!” the man swore and kicked out again. This tune the dogs mustered enough wit to dodge.
    “Set the tree afire, Bunlap?” one of the men inquired. “That’d smoke the long-eared bastards out!”
    The leader whirled on the fighter. “If you had the sense the gods gave a dung beetle,” he said coldly, “you would know that the elves are long gone. They leap from tree to tree like Chultan monkeys.”
    “What, then?” another man demanded.
    The man called Bunlap shrugged his massive shoulders. “We call the hunt a loss. Too bad. That farm south of Mosstone—the one that grows pipeweed—would’ve paid well for more wild-elf slaves! Best workers they’ve got, or so the man tells me.”
    “Seems to me those scrawny elves wouldn’t be worth the trouble it takes to break ‘em,” observed another man, a thin, rangy fellow who carried the bow of a forest elf. Foxfire’s eyes narrowed as he took note of that bow. He had little doubt how the man had obtained it, for no elf would part willingly with such a treasure.
    Bunlap responded to the archer’s comment with an
    30

The Harpers
    ugly smile. “Not if you’ve a taste for that sort of thing.”
    It was all Foxfire could do to keep from sending a storm of black arrows into the twisted and murderous humans. He could certainly do it; he was accounted the finest archer in the Elmanesse tribe. And surely, the world would be a better place without such foul creatures! Yet he could not, for he was a leader among his people and had more important things to consider than his own outrage. The humans were harrying the elves. This was nothing new, but there was a taunting quality to many of the attacks that puzzled Foxfire. It was as if these men were goading the forest folk, prodding them toward … Toward what, he could not say.
    “Leash the dogs, and let’s head out,” Bunlap ordered.
    Foxfire waited until the mastiffs had been secured and the men began to retrace their steps out of the forest. As he’d expected, the tall leader took his place in the rear, as was his custom. Foxfire noted that Bunlap was more alert and observant than most of his comrades. This made the man all the more dangerous.
    High overhead, the elf followed, creeping along the branches and slowly, silently working his way down toward the humans. The heavy-footed tread and the constant, boasting chatter of the men made his task an easy one.
    When the moment was right, Foxfire dropped lightly to the ground behind Bunlap. The man responded to the faint sound with a startled oath, but before he could turn around Foxfire seized a handful of the human’s black hair and reached around to press a bone knife to his throat. Fire-forged weapons were rare in the forest, but this knife was long and boasted a keen, serrated edge. The man seemed to understand that the weapon was equal to the task, for he slowly lifted both hands into the air.
    “You are far from home,” Foxfire observed as calmly as if the two were sharing wild-mead and discussing the weather. .

Silver Shadows
    31
    At the sound of his voice—a sound too musical to have come from a human throat—the other fighters whirled. Their eyes went wide with fear and wonder at the sight of the copper-skinned elf who had appeared in their midst. None of them had ever seen a wild elf up close—at least, not one that was alive and unharmed— and this creature possessed a deadly beauty that compelled both dread and awe.
    “Hold fast the dogs and leave your weapons where they are,” the elf advised them. “This is a matter between this man and me—a council of leaders, if you will.”
    “Do as he says,” Bunlap said coolly. “You