Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Generated <strong>by</strong> ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html<br />
guard's javelins, shouting, "What's going on?"<br />
She left the uproar behind her, heading to the darker portions of the camp. Four more pebbles, four<br />
more disturbances to arrange. The Arkans weren't going to be in good spirits for the battle tomorrow…<br />
"Slow march," Shkai'ra comm<strong>and</strong>ed.<br />
The white dust of the road was still soft <strong>and</strong> heavy under the horses' hooves, lain <strong>by</strong> the dew that left a<br />
crisp taste in the air. To the east, light lay like a b<strong>and</strong> of salmon-pink along the horizon, fading through<br />
purple-blue to a darkness where a few stars glittered around a moon huge <strong>and</strong> pale <strong>and</strong> translucent as if<br />
painted on backlit glass. The cavalry passed through the last of the village's whitewashed cottages, out<br />
among fields that rolled in long quiet swells like a gentle sea. The wheat was early-summer-high <strong>and</strong><br />
bronze, rippling in swells starred with red cornflowers; in the woodlots scattered among the grain fields,<br />
the deep green crowns of oaks caught dawn light like a flash on metal. Purple gentian <strong>and</strong> wild white rose<br />
starred the long silky grass <strong>by</strong> the side of the road, their scent overwhelmingly sweet; a flight of quail<br />
started up at the muffled pounding of the hooves, skimming like flung stones over water before they went<br />
to ground, disappearing beneath the yellow waves.<br />
Sova's eyes followed them, watching through a screen of bush head-high as she rode <strong>by</strong>, through a<br />
spiderweb starred with blue-white jewel beads of moisture. "Beautiful," she whispered, to no one in<br />
particular. "It doesn't seem quite real. Like we were looking at everything through diamonds."<br />
Shkai'ra laughed softly to herself, chanting in a half-whisper:<br />
Morning red, morning red<br />
Will you shine upon me dead?<br />
Soon the trumpets will be blowing<br />
Then must I to death be going<br />
I <strong>and</strong> many merry friends.<br />
The girl patted her mount's neck, was answered with a quiet whicker. "Even the horses feel it, don't they,<br />
khyd-hird ?" The world seemed to pause, waiting between breaths.<br />
"They smell fate on a wind from tomorrow," Shkai'ra said. She turned, looking critically to where the<br />
column behind them climbed the low rise; eight hundred lances swayed like a bed of metal-tipped reeds,<br />
blades the smooth color of salt.<br />
She still normally comm<strong>and</strong>ed a hundred; but today she'd been sent to lead this mission.In other armies<br />
I could name , she thought,I'd know it was because my superior didn't feel like getting out of bed<br />
this early. In this one… it's a test .<br />
"Trumpeter," she said; her voice was not much louder, but she pitched it an octave higher. "Sounddeploy<br />
into column ."<br />
The column split, the horses stepping higher as they plunged <strong>and</strong> heaved through the breast-high wheat,<br />
trampling paths that lay tumbled <strong>and</strong> chaotic through the grain. Their coats <strong>and</strong> the chest-guards of metal<br />
<strong>and</strong> leather most wore glistened with moisture; they tossed their heads, nostrils flared into red pits <strong>and</strong><br />
eyes rolling as they chewed at the bits. The st<strong>and</strong>ard-bearer rode up beside Shkai'ra <strong>and</strong> Sova, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
trumpeter on the other side.