The Stricken Field Read Online Free PDF Page B

she looks like."
    "Then they'll turn her, of course? She'll lead them to us?"
    "It's possible," Rap said. Indeed, it was highly probable that the Covin would transfer the sorceress' loyalty from Olybino to Zinixo, for then she would cooperate. "Maybe not right away, though. They may just subdue her and take her back to their master." She was very old, so the usurper might choose to force her words of power out of her for someone else's benefit, and then kill her. Rap was more worried that the Covin already knew about the other sorcerers in the area, Thrugg and himself. There was a very slim chance Zinixo's press gang would be satisfied with Ainopple, if their watchers had not been close to Casfrel.
    "Shall I release your friend, sir? " Thrugg asked. "Should be safe right now, with all that going on. " "Good idea," Rap said.
    With a faint occult pop, Andor's shielding vanished. He said, "Ah!" and disappeared in another faint flicker of sorcery. His clothes rent noisily as Darad's mighty form materialized within them. The jotunn roared in disgust at the icy bath around his legs. The horses shied and the two female trolls cried out in alarm.
    "Rap!" Even for a jotunn, Darad was big-a scarred, tat- tooed, flaxen-haired giant. Although Rap had replaced his front teeth once, at some point in the last twenty years he had lost them again. Now he grinned like a hungry wolf and lurched forward through the water, hairy hide exposed under his rags, huge arms outstretched to embrace his old friend. Nobody could ever make Thrugg seem goodlooking, but Darad came about as close as possible.
    "You old villain!" Rap gasped as he was lifted bodily in that crushing bear hug. Heavy with water, his left boot fell off, and the other tried to.
    "Old times!" Darad chortled. "You got trouble so you send for me, right? Bash some heads, right?"
    "Put me down! Thank you! Now, meet Master Thrugg, and Mistress Urg, and . . . "
    God of Fools! Darad was glowering at the troll. Rap had never considered that the warrior might have the same sort of racial prejudice as the slave-owning imps of Casfrel, but brains were not his strong point. If he was going to treat the sorcerer as subhuman, then there might be very considerable trouble in store.
    "Not as big as Mord was," Darad growled. "Can he fight or is he one of those sissy ones?"
    Thrugg's muzzle opened hugely. "Try me." He spread his arms and drooped into a wrestler's crouch.
    "Hold it!" Rap shouted. He had retrieved his boot, but both his legs were going to fall off at the knees soon. The battle in the ambience was flaring brighter and noisier, obviously headed for a climax as the Covin brought its stupendous power to bear. "Roughhousing can wait until later. Let's get going before I freeze. Urg, Norp, this is Darad. Now come on, all of you. Shoo those ponies, Thrugg. Then lead the way."
    Darad was a sadistic killer with the brains of a crocodile and the loyalty of a pit bull just the sort of companion a man needed in a tight spot. He would be useless against sorcery, of course, but very functional if the legionaries came in pursuit.
    And the old rascal would be really handy if there were bears around.
4
    At Kribur, Gath was walking across the dwarvish camp in the dark, helping Kadie around the obstacles-tent ropes and ditches and things. Mom was following close behind. They were doing much better than their guards, except for the ones with lanterns. He couldn't see in the dark like a real sorcerer, but he knew which steps meant fall down and which steps did not, so his prescience was almost as good as farsight for this sort of thing. It was hard work, though, and giving him a headache.
    He was glad to have his clothes on again. Most of them weren't his, just things he'd picked up in the last week, some of them bloody or burned at the edges and smelly, but it was nice not to feel like a shelled oyster.
    Morning was near. The moon was just setting, a blur in the clouds. Snowflakes swirled in the air. There