The Exotic Enchanter Read Online Free PDF Page B

even more firmly into the stirrups, and tried not to laugh.
    In what must have been less than five minutes, the camp area was completely empty of live, or at least conscious, Polovtsi. A couple lay staring at the sky, after stabbing themselves or perhaps knocking themselves silly falling off their horses.
    The chieftain and all the rest of his band were either heading toward the river or already in it. Shea saw heads bobbing around and clouds of spray as Polovtsi warriors tried to scrub themselves clean of what they'd seen. Some of the horses had run clear out of sight; others were winded and quietly grazing, waiting for their riders to return.
    Seeing all the Polovtsi out of bowshot, Shea dismounted and walked over to the sprawled rearguard. Neither of them seemed to be bleeding, and both were breathing regularly. He did not stay long; even a couple of Polovtsi were ripe enough to force a nasty retreat.
    At this point Shea realized that he and Chalmers were alone in the camp. The Rus had galloped away from the Don as fast as the Polovtsi had dashed toward it. None of them seemed to have fallen off, but quite a few had dismounted, and were holding reins with one hand while busily crossing themselves with the other.
    Shea let out a long gusty sigh of relief, at having changed the pronoun in the adaptation of Burns from "us" to "them." Otherwise he might have routed the Rus as well, which Igor would not have appreciated.
    Igor had not dismounted, and now he rode back, accompanied by Mikhail Sergeivich and two or three others. All, Shea noted, were keeping their hands very close to their sword hilts, except for one who had a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.
    "By God's Holy Mother, Egorov Andreivich!" Igor exclaimed. "That was like something out of a tale. What did they see?" There was more than a touch of awe in the look Igor gave Shea, but also more than a touch of comradeship.
    "Rurik Vasilyevich and I gave them a good look at their lice, Your Highness. Ah, does Your Highness know what a louse looks like?"
    Prince Igor's eloquent look told the psychologist he'd made a major blunder.
    "Um, well, in the Silk Empire they make, uh, crystals, and these crystals let us see things like bugs, or flaws in jewels, that are too small to see with just our eyes.
    "If you looked at a louse through one of these crystals, you'd see that it has a small head and huge stomach, three pairs of legs, large jaws, and each of its eyes is made of millions of other eyes."
    "Monsters," Igor said.
    Shea nodded. "Exactly. The Polovtsi saw themselves covered with monsters, and panicked."
    The prince's look was now one of complete amazement. "No bogatyr in any tale ever did a thing like that."
    "One other thing, Your Highness. The Polovtsi have a sorcerer with them. He may send more after us than arrows."
    Shea was relieved to see Igor shift back to the practical. He rose in his stirrups and called to the trumpeters and banner-bearers to signal the rally, then beckoned Shea and Chalmers.
    Igor's men rallied around the banner, except for the scouts, who rode out at once to open the distance between themselves and the main body. Igor also set out a rearguard, in case some of the Polovtsi regained their wits and courage.
    Shea offered to join the rearguard, in case the pursuit took magical form. Igor thanked him all over again and accepted the offer.
    As they rode into the fading light, Shea wished this dimension had a bookmaker to take his bet that the bathhouse was now as sacred as the church in the eyes of a good many men of the Rus. He could have made a pile.
    They rode night and day until they were all away from the Don, and even after that set double guards around each encampment. The two psychologists agreed that one of them should be awake at all times, although Shea didn't care for Chalmers' remark:
    "I can hardly sleep anyway, so why shouldn't I keep watch?"
    The return trip seemed to take even longer than the trip out, without hope of