Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...

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"Fikket." The torchlight illuminated only the lower part of the trunk, sending flickering shadows up into
the branches. "Did it sound like a man climbing?"
"If it were a man it… he had claws, sir."
A good body-length above the first spread of branches, five of her height above the ground, Megan
clung to the trunk, frozen, barely breathing, hoping in the dark she looked like a burl. She didn't dare turn
her head; in the gap between her armpit and the wood she could just see the edge of the torchlight
below.
"Well, just on the chance…" The bowman.Oh, shit . She held tighter to the trunk, wood digging into her
cheek. A spider scuttered over her ear. A creak of leather, the rattle of shafts, a pause.Koru have
mercy … The snap of the bowstring and the blow came as one, through the back of her right thigh.
It didn't immediately hurt, just seemed to stun the muscle, and made her hands almost loosen; then the
skin stung, and the full pain washed through her like a wave over a deck. Her hands spasmed tighter,
claws digging into wood hard enough to make her fingerbones hurt. In her mind she screamed.
Hold on. Hold on. Don't move. Don't make a sound, don't breathe, you'll moan. Sweet Koru,
Great Bear, don't take me now before I save my son… Involuntary tears squeezed out of her eyes.
She tasted blood: she'd bitten the insides of her cheeks.I'm not going to die yet . In her head
somewhere she could hear Hotblood, a mosquito buzz question that she ignored.Don't pass out .
"Must have been a racoon," said the bowman. "Well, better safe than sorry… Keep a good watch." The
light went away.
Megan let her whole world narrow to holding on in silence, not letting her head tip back; she'd pass out
and fall if she did. She heard a slow patter on the leaves below her, thought vaguely, "It's starting to rain,
my face is wet, too."Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hotblood . In another half-bead that to her seemed
like forever, the camp was quiet again.
Sneaksneak. The mindvoice was below her.Blondprey/ stupid/blind/nonose A mild curiosity.
Smallsharpsnippy-disagreeable leaking? Dying ?
No. That was all she could manage; she didn't know if he could catch it.
Down, he thought.Meclimb ? The idea of the horselike creature trying to climb almost pulled a hysterical
laugh out of her.Leaking… ? Oh, bleeding . The patter on the leaves…
Down, he thought more insistently.Noskinaliveme . She had to force her hands loose, fearing she'd pass
out just from moving. Pain and tingling counterpointed the sharp agony in her leg. The night was growing
fuzzy gray and clack blotches.
DOWNNOW. She put down one hand to try and support the wound, realized she couldn't, slid down to
the branches below her, bark scraping her face and hands. Her heel glanced then slipped off a branch,
which caught her in the crotch.Hardly hurts, next to the arrow . She was sliding sideways, almost
strengthless, caught the branch with her knees and her hands, half hanging.
DOWN!
Shutup, weasel-ass. Falling would be faster… and probably kill her. She held on, trying to tighten the