Stormrider Read Online Free PDF

the cabin. Around his head and his sagging lip the fur had burned away, giving him a demonic look. He reared up on his hind legs and then saw the distant man and boy. With a savage roar he dropped to all fours and began to run at them.
    Kaelin pushed the sled forward on to the slope. The snow was thick, and the sled did not begin to slide. Grunting with the effort, he pushed harder. Kaelin did not dare look back. The sled began to move. Leaping onto it, he grabbed for the ropes. As he did so, he lost hold of his musket, which fell to the snow. The sled slowed and then picked up speed.
    Kaelin risked a glance back. The bear was closing fast, sending up great sprays of snow as it bounded toward them. The ground dipped more sharply, and the sled gathered speed.
    Then it was away, skidding and slithering toward the river below. Twice it hit hidden rocks and almost toppled. Kaelin wrestled with the rope guides, desperately trying to keep the sled upright. Halfway down there was another dip and a rise. The sled left the ground. The spear fell. Feargol grabbed the haft, holding on tight. “Good boy!” shouted Kaelin.
    They closed on the river at terrific speed. Kaelin realized the sled would strike the ice with great force. If the surface gave way, they would be plunged into the water and swept below the ice. He tried to turn the sled and slow it, but to no avail. It hit the riverbank, sending up a huge spray of snow. Finbarr’s musket and pistol flew out. Feargol was hurled back into Kaelin, who grabbed him. This time the spear also fell clear. The sled rose into the air, landed on the ice, and spun wildly. Kaelin and the boy were thrown out. Kaelin held tightly to Feargol and managed to turn himself so that he struck the ice on his back, shielding the child from the impact. They slid across the frozen river, slamming into the far bank. For a moment Kaelin lay still, his head spinning. Then he pushed Feargol to the bank and rolled to his knees. Far above on the slope he could see the bear. It was padding along the ridge and making no attempt to follow them down.
    Kaelin stood. His legs were trembling. “Are you all right?” he asked Feargol.
    “That was really fast,” said the boy.
    “Yes, it was.”
    Kaelin stumbled out onto the ice. The sled was lying on its side. He righted it and saw that it was relatively undamaged. His pack was lying close by, as were the spear and the musket. Finbarr’s pistol was nowhere in sight. Replacing pack, spear, and musket, he dragged the sled to the bank.
    “The bear isn’t following us,” Feargol said happily.
    “It looks that way,” agreed Kaelin.
    It took some time to find a way out of the riverbed, but eventually the man and the boy hauled the sled up onto more solid ground. It was there that Kaelin discovered that his snowshoes had also been lost. His temper snapped, and he swore loudly.
    “Those were bad words,” said Feargol.
    Kaelin took a deep breath. “Yes, they were.” He grinned at the child. “Not a word to Chara about them.”
    “She’ll send you to bed without supper,” said Feargol.
    “Aye, and more than that,” said Kaelin.
    The journey to the cliff cave took more than six hours. Feargol was cold and trembling as they reached the cliff and could not make the climb to the cave entrance. Kaelin swung the boy to his back. “Hold on tight,” he said. Then, removing his gloves, he reached up for the first hold. The cliff face was ice-covered, but the holds were deep and the climb easy. The cave entrance was only some ten feet above the ground, and Kaelin made it in moments, carrying the child inside and lowering him to the floor. There was wood stacked by the far wall. Kaelin prepared a fire and, once it was started, sat Feargol beside it. Then he returned to the sled, removing the pack, musket, and spear. The spear he threw haft first into the cave. The pack and musket he carried up. Feargol was lying beside the fire asleep. Kaelin shook him awake. “Not yet,