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

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Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html "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
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html one leg, flexed the muscles in the other, couldn't move. Something long and dark rose up beneath her, claws scraping the bark. Hotblood, rearing up no mistaking the gape and stink of his breath. He grabbed her by the back of the belt in his teeth, backed down to all fours, holding her like a rat he was about to shake, lowered her to the trampled grass. Ground, Koru… Honey Giving One give me strength. She blinked away muzziness, took delicate hold of the slippery arrowshaft.No. Leave it for the healer . Hotblood lay down beside her.ON . She dragged herself onto his back, clinging to his mane. He stank even worse than usual, and his fur was wet everywhere.Riversneaksneak . The only way for him to get in unseen.Stayon. Smallsharpsnippydisagreeable — Vision faded in and out. There were flashes; the flexing and rippling of Hotblood's body under hers, torchlight on his mane, an Arkan's face working as he stumbled back screaming, "Dimas, dimas!", fierceterribiefleescream-falldowntrembteatME, hehehe! Like a mantra:Hang on. Hang on. Hang on . Did I hear Yeoli words? Why isn't Hotblood moving? Hang on. A babble of voices—Shkai'ra, Yeoli, Haian—Alliance camp. Safe . She fainted. Noise, loud noise. Megan tried to roll over in bed, pull the covers over…oww . The twist of pain in her leg woke her more thoroughly. A sharp stink of medications threaded its way into her nose. She tried to open her eyes, found that they were gummy and didn't want to obey her. The weight of blankets; someone hadn't cleared this tent ground as well as they could have, there was a small pebble under the mat, under her shoulder. Someone's hand, in hers. Early morning chorus of birds. She forced her eyes open and tried to blink them clear. The further reaches of the big tent were a vague blur. Someone moaned a few beds down. "Do not worry, you weel hev some trouble seeing et first. Eet will go ayway een a while." She blinked, managed to make the swimming brown blur resolve itself, at least for a moment, into a Haian face. "Idid make it back." Her voice was a croak. A momentary fear…No Haian would work for Arko — unless under duress. She groped; no, the hand holding hers had no shackle on its wrist. "Yiss. We hed to vein-leenk your weeth a donor, you lost so much blood, but you weel be all right." The Haian shifted to offer her a drink from the invalid's drip-bottle, that she suddenly realized she wanted desperately. "You've been aslip threeaer," —hours, that meant—"end the arrow was removed just fine. You weel be up een three, four days." "Th-thank you." "Ees my work. I call your wife; she hes been risting." Shkai'ra was wearing a sleeveless tunic and a gauze bandage across the inside of her right elbow. "Hello, love. Hotblood's pissed because we had to cut his mane to get you loose," she said, taking the Haian's stool and clasping Megan's hand. "They used me to top you up, after that poor squire gave out. How can somebody so small have room for so much blood?"
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people around for camouflage, and t
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Und now I vind dose two—Celestial
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