Waterdance Read Online Free PDF

Ladies.
    Peri touched her knives again, her fingers twitching. She could get at least one of them, maybe two with luck. Or maybe none—she really couldn’t tell what kind of armor the Sarkonds wore under those cloaks. If she crept back and fetched her bow, she could still do no better, not in the fading light.
    Right. Leaving me on foot facing at least three experienced Sarkondish soldiers, all half again my size and weight, armed as well as me and likely armored much better. Uh-UH. Not THIS great warrior.
    Peri took a deep breath, forcing her muscles to relax, forcing her mind to calm.
    A wise warrior doesn’t pit her strength against her enemy’s, she thought. Danber had taught her that, and it was true. A wise warrior pits strength against weakness.
    Peri strained her ears, sniffing the air. The Sarkonds were eerily silent.
    Tell me, Mahdha. Tell me their secrets.
    No more Sarkonds patrolling around the camp—just the five of them. And the horses—ah, there!
    They think they’re smart, tying their horses downwind of the camp. They think the scent, the sound of the horses will keep others from hearing or smelling THEM. Oh, yes, it will, too. But that sword, Sarkondish scum, has two edges.
    Peri crept backward ever so slowly, soundlessly, until she met Tajin back along her own trail. She toyed with the idea of muffling Tajin’s hooves, rejected it. Coming from downwind, that sound would not betray her.
    Visato root grew wild all over the plains; it was no effort to dig enough, little trouble to wrap them in sweetgrass so the horses would eat them. She’d done it a dozen times with Danber and his clan.
    He always said I was talented tending wounded and sick horses. I’d be REALLY good now, wouldn’t I? Of course, can’t waste my talent somewhere where it might actually do some good—not now, Peri, not now!
    Peri worked her way slowly around the perimeter until the five tethered horses stood between her and the camp. She stayed close to Tajin as she worked her way painstakingly forward. The horses would smell Tajin, just another horse.
    Two things I know, Peri thought grimly. Swords and horses.
    Silently she tied one horse’s reins to Tajin’s saddle; she fed the grass-wrapped roots to the others.
    All right, she thought, her heart pounding. Now it’s got to be fast.
    She swung into Tajin’s saddle, a movement as easy for her as breathing, and urged Tajin forward—
    —and the time for thought was over.
    Whinnies of the horses as they startled. Thunder of Tajin’s hooves. Darkness, then firelight to dazzle her. Sarkondish eyes widening. Cloaks flung back from black leather. Hiss of swords drawn from their scabbards.
    Peri hooked her knee around the high pommel of her saddle, her other foot into the bracing loop, and leaned down, drawing her knife. The blade cut through the rope smoothly and she dropped the knife immediately, winding her fingers through the web of rope confining the Sarkonds’ captive as firmly as she could. Tajin was already moving again, fast, dodging swords.
    Peri groaned, every muscle and her bruised ribs screaming as she dragged the deadweight of her burden—try as she might, she couldn’t heft the captive high enough to hook his ropes over one of the saddle clips. There was nothing to do but hold on and hope whoever she’d just rescued didn’t wind up under Tajin’s hooves.
    “I’m going to stop in a minute,” she grunted out between gasps. “I’ve got to get you up in the saddle, and you’ve got to help me. Understand?”
    There was no reply but a hollow groan, and Peri doubted she’d been heard, much less understood; when Tajin slowed, however, the captive made a weak attempt to gather his legs under him, pushing upward as Peri wrestled him over Tajin’s back. Then they were moving again, as quickly as Tajin could run under the doubled load and with the other horse in tow, but in addition to the shouts behind her, Peri now heard hoof-beats.
    All right, she thought grimly.