[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Page 49
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
became.
A squirrel peered out from behind the trunk of an oak and chattered
indignantly at him and at the rough-looking men in faded indigo riding behind
him. Ned chuckled and spoke to Colonel Biffle, who followed him most closely:
"If we weren't in such a rush, somebody'd bag that little fellow for the
supper pot."
"Somebody may yet," Biffle answered.
But Ned shook his head. "We don't slow down for anything. We don't slow down
for anybody. One of my men tries to make us slow down and I find out about it,
he'll be one sorry so-and-so, and you can bank on that."
"All right, Ned," Colonel Biffle said hastily. "Everybody knows better than
to get your angry up everybody this side of Count Thraxton, anyway," he added
in lower tones.
"People had ought to know that," Ned said. "I'm a peaceable man, but . . ."
He normally spoke in a quiet voice, so quiet one had to listen closely to him
to make out what he was saying. But when his temper rose, an astonishing
transformation came over him. His eyes flashed. He shouted. He cursed.
"But . . ." Colonel Biffle echoed, and let out a nervous chuckle. "When your
angryis up, your men are a lot more afraid of you than they ever could be
afraid of the graybacked lice who fight for King Avram."
"Good," Ned said.
They went on for a while in silence. The road they followed hardly deserved
the name. It was little more than a game track. But Ned's scouts had already
traveled it from one end to the other, as they had most of the paths in the
woods, and they knew just where it hit the main road leading north from Rising
Rock.
After splashing through another small stream, Ned held up his hand and reined
in. "Column, halt!" Colonel Biffle called from behind him, and the column did
halt. Biffle asked, "What is it, sir?"
"I want to be sure the pack animals are keeping up with us all right," Ned
answered. "Pass the word back, and then send it forward to me again. We can
all use a little blow till it comes."
"Yes, sir," Biffle said, and back the word went. In short order, it returned:
the laden asses and even a few unicorns were where they were supposed to be.
"Fine." Ned of the Forest nodded. "When we bump into Guildenstern's men,
we'll need 'em. Every one of 'em'll be worth its weight in gold, matter of
fact."
"Yes, sir," Colonel Biffle repeated, though he didn't sound altogether
convinced. He did say, "You think of everything, don't you, sir?"
"I'd better," Ned answered. "We'd be in a fine way if I counted on Thraxton
to do it for me, now wouldn't we?" His regimental commander giggled there was
no other word for it deliciously scandalized. Ned didn't see that he'd made a
joke. Thraxton wouldn't do him any favors. Nobody except the men he led the
men who'd seen for themselves what he was worth would ever do him any favors.
He didn't care. He expected none. "Forward!" he called, and rode on.
Page 50
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Forward they went. As they moved on, Ned wondered what he would do if
Guildenstern's men suddenly and unexpectedly attacked from the south. It
wouldn't happen, not if he could help it. He had scouts out not just ahead of
his riders but off to the flanks as well.
But the forest between Rising Rock and Fa Layette was often thick and
tangled. He liked setting ambuscades, and knew he could fall into them, too.
If he did, he wanted to have a plan ready. Some men even some soldiers of high
rank went through life perpetually surprised. Ned of the Forest had no desire
to be among their number.
A scout came galloping back along the game path toward him. "Lord Ned! Lord
Ned!" he called, reining in.
"What is it?" Ned leaned forward, like a hound who knew he was about to be
released from his lead line. "It must be something, by the gods, or you
wouldn't ride hells-for-leather to get me word of it."
"Something, yes, Lord Ned." The scout nodded. He was a lean, weatherbeaten
man in his early thirties: not a fellow who'd owned an estate full of serfs
before the war, surely, but not one who'd take kindly to anyone who told him
he couldn't dream of acquiring such an estate one day, either. His sharp
northeastern accent wasn't much different from Ned's own. "Herk and me, we
spotted southron riders heading up the road from Rising Rock. Unless we're
daft, there's a whole big army behind 'em."
"Is that a fact?" Ned said softly, and the scout nodded again. Ned scratched
at the edge of his neat chin beard. "They're not moving as fast as I would
have, but they're not sitting on their hands down there, neither." His eyes
narrowed. "They didn't spy you?"
"Lord Ned!" The scout both looked and sounded affronted. "You think me and
Herk are a couple o' city men, can't walk across ground with grass on it
without we fall over our own feet?"
"No, no." Ned of the Forest waved in apology. "Forget I said that: the Lion
God swallow up the words. To business: tell me exactly where you and Herk were
at and how fast the southrons were moving. Soon as I hear that, I can reckon
up where we'd do best to pay 'em a call."
"A social call, like," the scout said, and grinned showing a couple of
missing front teeth when Ned nodded. The rider spoke for a couple of minutes,
at one point dismounting to sketch in the dirt to make his words clearer.
Ned scratched at the edge of his beard again. "Clinging close to the west
side of Sentry Peak, are they? That's not stupid. I only wish it was. But [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

glaz.keep.pl