[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

He cast a hopeful look at Kanzhu. Maybe something more could be done. Maybe he
could convince
Kanzhu to help him flee.
But that night Kanzhu vanished, and Ghan never saw him again.
The next day brought a wonder that cut briefly through all of Ghan s pain and
trepidation. The horn to trot had just sounded, and the horses stepped down
from running. Ghan was disappointed; now that he was able to stay on the back
of his mount without straining every muscle, running was the gait he most
Page 228
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
preferred next to walking, of course because it was the smoothest. Kanzhu had
taught him how to survive trotting, as well, but it involved bouncing in the
stirrups, using his frail, worn-out legs to absorb the constant jolts. It was
more work.
After only a moment of trotting, however, the signal came to slow to a walk,
which was unusual; the
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Keyes,_J_Gregory_-_[Chosen_of_the_Changeling_02]_-_B
lackgod_(V1)_[html].html (311 of 432)22-12-2006 20:35:34
THE BLACKGOD
shifts in speed were not usually done in such brief intervals. Soon, however,
the reason for slowing became obvious. Mountains walked on the horizon.
The Mang named them nunetuk
, but that word seemed somehow too short or too long to capture them in sound.
Four legs built like the pillars of a hall supported their impossibly massive
frames. From their heads snakelike appendages protruded, and to either side of
that, sabers of bone no, it must be ivory curved up menacingly. They were
shaggy, hair ranging from reddish brown to black. Fifteen or so stood in a
clump, near a distant line of spruce, grazing in the tall grass. At first
there were only the trees to give them scale; but with a sudden chorus of
shrieks, a detachment of seven Mang tore off across the prairie toward the
monsters and put them in firmer perspective: even mounted, the men scarcely
reached to the bellies of the monsters.
 What are they doing? Ghan asked incredulously. But none of the Mang answered
him and Kanzhu was gone.
Still shrieking, the warriors raced up to the now-wary beasts. Some of the
larger nunetuk had formed a defensive ring about the smaller ones and the very
small ones only about the size of a horse which
Ghan took to be calves. The men had drawn swords and brandished them in the
faces of the beasts; they appeared to be attempting to get close enough to cut
them.
Wouldn t lances be better
? he thought, but then he understood that the Mang were not trying to kill the
huge animals; they were merely trying to touch them.
Though that seemed insane, the longer Ghan watched, the more apparent it
became that it was true.
Deftly avoiding the lunges of the beasts, the massive white tusks that slashed
at them and their mounts, the Mang were leaning in to spank the gigantic
creatures. The Mang who were still in ranks cheered and shrieked, and for the
first time in several days the whole troop clopped to a halt for something
other than water or to graze the horses.
It was a short break; apparently satisfied, the seven men came hurtling back
through the grass, waving their weapons. Another group detached and seemed
ready to go, but someone ahead barked a string of orders, and, after some
brief argument, the seven fell back into line, grumbling. Ghan was watching
them
, rather than the returning riders, when the yelling and screaming of the Mang
redoubled and took on another, more frantic pitch.
Ghan jerked his face back around toward the approaching horsemen, wondering
what had happened. Six of them were wheeling about in confusion and one could
not be seen, apparently down in the chest-high growth. His horse s head bobbed
up, however, shrilling a sound that Ghan was unaware horses could make, a
chilling scream that grated along the bones of his back. The horse disappeared
again, hidden by the grass.
Two of the six riders had lost control of their mounts; one, a handsome beast
that was nearly solid black,
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Keyes,_J_Gregory_-_[Chosen_of_the_Changeling_02]_-_B
lackgod_(V1)_[html].html (312 of 432)22-12-2006 20:35:34
Page 229
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
THE BLACKGOD
pawed wildly at the air. Something rose from the grass swiftly, implacably. It
disemboweled the horse with a single blow of its huge, blood-soaked paw and
lunged for the next rider.
From the corner of his eye, Ghan saw someone converging on the bloody scene.
It was Ghe.
Ghe sensed the beast in the grass before the riders were attacked by it, and
with a snarl he urged his mount forward. The mare was used to a more practiced
rider, but it responded to his inexpert touch promptly, and he left Qwen Shen
and the Mang headman, Chuk, behind him, with only a bemused chuckle from the
headman, probably at his poor riding form.
Ghe cared not for the men who were about to die, but he was hungry
, and it was inconvenient to take soldiers during the day. Since noon, he had
been able to think about little but feeding, and to be surrounded by the Mang
and their horses was like sitting starving in a banquet hall. A smaller part
of him also knew that it could not hurt to earn the respect of these wild men.
Riding over to the huge nunetuk would have only seemed silly, and it would
have been suspicious beyond belief if one of the giant beasts folded up with
death as he approached. The Nholish soldiers would certainly guess what had
become of their dead comrades then.
But this thing in the grass, he could pretend to kill.
By the time he reached it, three men and two horses were already dead or
dying. He snatched what he could of their essences, but it wasn t much. The
demon he had swallowed gave him great power, but it took much energy to
control her, as well. Since taking her, he was always hungry.
His horse panicked, reared, and threw him, but it seemed to happen incredibly
slowly, his senses racing far ahead of motion, and so he easily turned in the
air, landed cat-deft on the prairie, and like a cat, he leapt low and fast.
Knife in hand, Ghe met the thing in its element, beneath the waving tufts of
the grass.
In that surreal quickening of his senses, he had leisure to inspect the
creature in detail. It seemed low and thick, but that was an illusion of its
proportions; it would actually stand well clear of the grass if it were not
crouching. More than anything else, it resembled a mastiff, a savage dog with
an almost square skull and very little snout. Its gore-covered paws, however,
were short and thicker than his leg, supporting at least as much mass as a
horse, if not more. It was tawny with coffee-brown stripes. Muscles bunched in
an ugly hump behind its head.
Its open maw could easily receive Ghe s head, and that was clearly the
intention to be read in the monster s beady black eyes. Were it not for his
own power, the thing would be blindingly swift, much
faster than a horse, at least in short spurts.
Ghe hardened himself, sank roots of power into the prairie, pulled density and
substance to himself the way the demon had from her river.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Keyes,_J_Gregory_-_[Chosen_of_the_Changeling_02]_-_B
lackgod_(V1)_[html].html (313 of 432)22-12-2006 20:35:34
THE BLACKGOD
Beast and ghoul cracked together. Despite all of his strength, the impact was
staggering, but the monster was more surprised than he. Having just batted a
horse from its path like a flea, it had not expected this slight man-creature
to withstand. Still, he toppled beneath the claws, at the same time thrusting
his knife up through the beast s lower jaw. With the maw open before his face, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]