The Horse Road Read Online Free PDF Page B

freedom! It is more important than life and –’
    She broke off, turned her head abruptly as Gryphon let out a blasting snort, warning of danger. He flung his head around, searching for its source. I narrowed my eyes, watching. Sometimes Gryphon liked to play games, getting himself into an excited lather or a tremble of fear just because he was young and had theenergy to do so. I wasn’t sure now whether he was playing, or whether danger truly threatened us.
    The yearling, Tulip, grazed a tussock of grass beneath a ledge. Grasshopper stood still, further down the gravel bar, watching the stallion as he repeatedly tossed his head, snorting fiercely. My mother rose stealthily from her rock, pulling her dagger from her belt as Batu let go of his mare and waded from the water where he’d been standing on a rock.
    One heartbeat. Two. Three.
    Wind whispered, grass quivered.
    The stallion snorted again, his black nostrils flaring so wide that I could see the redness inside them.
    â€˜Perhaps we should start for camp and –’
    â€˜Mother!’ I screamed.
    It was airborne. It was all drift, power, grey and white, blizzard. It had launched itself from the ledge above Tulip. It was all hard muscle, long sinew, raking claw; a snow leopard, silent and deadly, the great carnivore of the high mountains that could appear and disappear like a shaman into whirling snow or dappled rock.
    It will kill her!
my thoughts screamed although my mouth was silent.
    My mother lunged with her dagger raised but at that moment – the leopard still dropping through air – Gryphon barged forward, knocking my mother on to her back on the stones. He drove Tulip away from the cliff with ears pinned back, head low and snakedout, eyes rolling and wild. The yearling, still oblivious to the leopard, squealed and shot across the gravel away from the stallion’s wild rush.
    â€˜Gryphon, Gryphon – no!’ I cried. The great dappled cat landed across Gryphon’s hindquarters in the moment before he could whirl to face it. I saw blood spurt from my golden horse, streaking his flanks and haunches as the leopard clawed at him, half hanging from him, paring back layers of skin and flesh like the layers of a wild onion bulb.
    Gryphon’s high scream of rage and pain filled the canyon, ricocheting through our ears, almost masking the deep vibration of the leopard’s snarl.
    â€˜Gryphon!’ I yelled again and the horse lunged forward, simultaneously kicking backwards with all his strength into the leopard’s dangling body. The cat twisted, and fell off on to the rocks where he left pawprints of blood. Gryphon whirled to face him, and the leopard crouched, ready to spring again. My mother flung herself between them, arms upraised, yelling wildly, her dagger glinting in her hand. Batu and I sprang to join her; for a moment we stood between the leopard and Gryphon in a ragged line, staring into the cat’s burning golden eyes, its stiff whiskers drawn back over heavy teeth that could break an arm bone or pierce a skull.
    My mother stepped forward, yelling, as the leopard crouched lower, its long tail brushing the gravel in a mesmerising arc.
    Then it sprang again, right at my mother. I heard her dagger strike rock as it flew from her hand and bounced off into the river’s rush. They were locked together, my mother and the great cat, rolling over the stones, in and out of pools. Blood and splashed water sprayed around them. Batu lunged beside them, his dagger darting in and out but not meeting its mark as he was too afraid of stabbing my mother. Her yells became fainter, buried in the cat’s heavy coat, muffled by its deep snarling. I shot suddenly across the rocks and caught the cat by the tail; its thickness and weight filled my hands. I yanked on it hard, like yanking in a fighting horse; I twisted it, like twisting a lead rope around a tether post. I snatched up a rock and brought it down hard on