to get moving," Maihu croaked. Dennai stood beside her, uneasy in his unfamiliar leather chest armor.
"What do we do?" he cried.
Maihu took a deep breath; a hand pushed a dipper of water at her and she gulped it.
"Run. Run for the woods and get winter-travel gear from one of the caches, then go east for help. There are people of the Seeker's at Garnetseat. And an Adept."
"But the children!"
She took his head between her hands. "Love, I know . But we can't take them with us, and the faster word gets back the more hope of stopping these animals short of the steppe. And there is the Summoning."
He bit his lip until the blood came, and nodded. The ten adult members of the Jonnah's-kin ran through into the main ground-floor chamber. The tall doors were barred, and through the thick log walls came screams and clashes and the shrill neighing of horses. Maihu smelled her own fear, tasted it flat and metallic on her tongue. Her wombchild Taimi burst into the hall, gasping, his eyes glittering with the heedless excitement of his thirteen years.
"The back—" He paused for breath. "The back is clear, right to the stockade, and the field beyond to the woods."
One of her kinmates yelled from a window slit. Seconds later a tremendous splintering crash slammed against the door, shaking the boards beneath their feet. Dust flew up from crevices, choking. Somebody sneezed.
"They've got a log slung lengthwise between horses!" Zimdi called, and fired his crossbow . "Got one!"
Almost instantly a long arrow slashed through the narrow opening and took him between the eyes. The narrow pile head was driven by a hundred-pound wheelbow less than twenty meters away: it punched through his forehead and out the rear of his skull, the force of the impact picking him up and throwing him back three paces.
Maihu understood the westerners' tongue, heard a man screaming out in its ripping gutturals:
"At the middle! At the middle where the doors join, you sheep-raping pigs' arseholes!
You, you, you, give them some covering fire next time; if we lose another horse I'll have your pubic hairs for a scalp!"
Jannu, her eldest kinmate, gripped her arm. "Well hold them," she said. A sweep of her arm took in half the kinfast. the elders, the lame, a man recently recovered from a fever.
"You can make speed. Now go-"
Maihu hesitated for an instant. "Go in the Circle." she said, and led the others out at a run
.
Seconds later the ram hit the doors with a massive impact that tore loose the brackets and broke the bar holding it shut. Arrows whipped through the windows with a whining whup-ivhup-whup and a blast of frigid air blew past the shattered leaves of the entrance. A Kommanza hurdled the body of the dead horse outside and leaped through the narrow opening. He landed lightly on his feet, moving with a beautiful fluid grace.
His shield was painted in the likeness of a gaping scarlet mouth ringed with fangs, and the long saber made a sound like ripping silk as it whickered through the air. Two Minztans rushed him. He threw himself forward and down, curling into a ball and rolling under their feet. The foresters went over in a thrashing tangle from which the Kommanza somehow bounced erect. The saber took one Minztan across the spine even as he pirouetted to kick the other precisely behind the ear. Another Kommanza pushed through the door, and another. One raised her bow and shot, filling the room with its great bass throb. Jannu braced to meet the first as he stalked her. Fascinated, she saw the downy black beard of youth on his cheeks, scars, a short gold bar through his nose, narrow green eyes lynx-steady. Her axe stroke bounced off his shield. She heard the clatter, felt a sudden intense cold. Looking down: the curved sword sliding up through her stomach, withdrawing red-black; a sudden foul smell.
"Ah," she said, falling to the floor and curling around herself, then: "Ah!" as the pain began to seep through. A hand gripped the hair over the crown of
"What do we do?" he cried.
Maihu took a deep breath; a hand pushed a dipper of water at her and she gulped it.
"Run. Run for the woods and get winter-travel gear from one of the caches, then go east for help. There are people of the Seeker's at Garnetseat. And an Adept."
"But the children!"
She took his head between her hands. "Love, I know . But we can't take them with us, and the faster word gets back the more hope of stopping these animals short of the steppe. And there is the Summoning."
He bit his lip until the blood came, and nodded. The ten adult members of the Jonnah's-kin ran through into the main ground-floor chamber. The tall doors were barred, and through the thick log walls came screams and clashes and the shrill neighing of horses. Maihu smelled her own fear, tasted it flat and metallic on her tongue. Her wombchild Taimi burst into the hall, gasping, his eyes glittering with the heedless excitement of his thirteen years.
"The back—" He paused for breath. "The back is clear, right to the stockade, and the field beyond to the woods."
One of her kinmates yelled from a window slit. Seconds later a tremendous splintering crash slammed against the door, shaking the boards beneath their feet. Dust flew up from crevices, choking. Somebody sneezed.
"They've got a log slung lengthwise between horses!" Zimdi called, and fired his crossbow . "Got one!"
Almost instantly a long arrow slashed through the narrow opening and took him between the eyes. The narrow pile head was driven by a hundred-pound wheelbow less than twenty meters away: it punched through his forehead and out the rear of his skull, the force of the impact picking him up and throwing him back three paces.
Maihu understood the westerners' tongue, heard a man screaming out in its ripping gutturals:
"At the middle! At the middle where the doors join, you sheep-raping pigs' arseholes!
You, you, you, give them some covering fire next time; if we lose another horse I'll have your pubic hairs for a scalp!"
Jannu, her eldest kinmate, gripped her arm. "Well hold them," she said. A sweep of her arm took in half the kinfast. the elders, the lame, a man recently recovered from a fever.
"You can make speed. Now go-"
Maihu hesitated for an instant. "Go in the Circle." she said, and led the others out at a run
.
Seconds later the ram hit the doors with a massive impact that tore loose the brackets and broke the bar holding it shut. Arrows whipped through the windows with a whining whup-ivhup-whup and a blast of frigid air blew past the shattered leaves of the entrance. A Kommanza hurdled the body of the dead horse outside and leaped through the narrow opening. He landed lightly on his feet, moving with a beautiful fluid grace.
His shield was painted in the likeness of a gaping scarlet mouth ringed with fangs, and the long saber made a sound like ripping silk as it whickered through the air. Two Minztans rushed him. He threw himself forward and down, curling into a ball and rolling under their feet. The foresters went over in a thrashing tangle from which the Kommanza somehow bounced erect. The saber took one Minztan across the spine even as he pirouetted to kick the other precisely behind the ear. Another Kommanza pushed through the door, and another. One raised her bow and shot, filling the room with its great bass throb. Jannu braced to meet the first as he stalked her. Fascinated, she saw the downy black beard of youth on his cheeks, scars, a short gold bar through his nose, narrow green eyes lynx-steady. Her axe stroke bounced off his shield. She heard the clatter, felt a sudden intense cold. Looking down: the curved sword sliding up through her stomach, withdrawing red-black; a sudden foul smell.
"Ah," she said, falling to the floor and curling around herself, then: "Ah!" as the pain began to seep through. A hand gripped the hair over the crown of
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