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

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you down easy. Hold on, Chevenga, I'll climb down."
She went hand over hand down the rope, hooked her legs around his body, while he hooked his free
one around hers, then sawed through the rope until just a strand or two were intact. "We'd better not get
caught," he chuckled, "in such a compromising position."
"If you won't tell I won't," she gasped. "Now shut the fuck up!" She caught the knife in her teeth,
grabbed the rope with both hands, felt torn in two—Koru!—as it broke, slamming both their weights
onto her arms.Koru it's no heavier than wet sail but Koru shit I'm losing it … He was still giggling as
he slid down her body, curling to break his fall, but it cut off in a gasp of pain when he hit ground. Her
own weight alone felt feather-light.
"I'm clear," he rasped. Praying she wouldn't break an ankle, she dropped, taking only bruises. The
Arkans were coming fast now, breaking through the underbrush.One of the dead, not so dead, still
kicking, he'll tell … She tore out the man's throat with her claws and grabbed up those of her knives
she could find fast enough, while Chevenga staggered to his feet.Claw up any corpse in my way, a bit,
just to give them something else to talk about … Leaning together the two fled.
He wouldn't let go his wound to lean an arm on her, probably wisely, she knew, so she steadied him by
hanging onto his belt. And he started laughing again. Not that it mattered; they were making as much or
more noise crashing through the bush. "Dotyimind me," he chuckled. "I just have a seasoned appreciation
for the basic ironies of life. Or else I'm going into shock, hee hee hee ha ha…"Koru help me with this
fish-gutted lunatic , she thought. Talking too much; that was one of the signs of shock, she
remembered.
The Arkan yells fell behind, stopping at the clearing. She pulled him to a halt by a rock."Here, sit down,"
she said. "I'll bind it up. You lose strength to hold it shut, you're in trouble." He fought, weakly, saying,
"No, dammit, I can run. Don't give me this shit that I'm incapacitated." That would mean she was in
command.Forestall me, will you ? "If I stand still I'll get cold and stiffen up, I might not be able to get up
again, Iknow , dammit, I've been woundeda few times before!"
"Shut up, Gold-bottom!" She pinned him with her knee, grabbing a sash she'd tucked in her belt, felt him
go still.
"Gold-bottom?" His voice broke into a giggle-fit. Under it he was trembling now, she could feel; she had
his arm half-wrapped already, pulling the sash tight as she could under his other fist, knotting it. "
Gold-bottom?" She hauled him up, half-carried him, laughter and shivers both growing worse. "I'd better
go straight to Kaninjer," he managed to gasp, as they neared camp.
"Nooooo," she spat back. "Actually we're going dancing."What did I say that for? He's going to drop
dead on me , she thought,still killing himself .
A snapping voice out of the dark: the sentry, a Lakan, was challenging them. "P-p-password?"
Chevenga's teeth were chattering now. "Sh-shit, I c-can't remember theky-ky-kyashin password, and I
made it up—sentry, it'sm-m-me ! You know—G-g-gold-bottom! Let us in be-f-fore Ik-kyashin freeze
to d-death!" Megan dug the word up out of her memory, spoke it. Still suspicious, the guard let them
show themselves, immediately changed to cringingly kowtowing.
At his tent a small crowd of guards and squires enveloped him, taking his weight—thank Koru—asking
if she was all right as well. She heard Haian-accented Yeoli, giving orders: Kaninjer. "The report's up to
him ," she said, to the hard-faced command-council types who wanted answers. "He's superior officer."