Part 5 (2/2)
Suddenly, the sound of loud cheers brought him to a halt.
Ross realized he had been circling the camp rather than moving away from it and had nearly come upon the training field, the large natural meadow his comrades had set aside for working with their springdeer. He hurried toward it, curious to learn who was using it at this late hour and in what manner that such enthusiasm should be roused in what sounded like a good number of people.
He had his answer in another moment as he stepped from the surrounding forest to find the open place occupied by a sizable gathering of his partisans.
Allran and Eveleen were among them with the two wardeer they had taken in the raid. They were in the process of putting them through the series of tests which would determine whether they were suitable for the kind of service required by the hard-riding partisans or not.
That explained the crowd. If none of the raiding party exercised the right of first claiming, the buck would be given to one of the other Sapphirehold soldiers. The doe was already Allran's.
The latter had finished her course. The Lieutenant was standing beside her, surrounded by a number of the other warriors, and their mood could not be read as less than jubilant.
Murdock nodded appreciatively. She was a fine, clean-limbed animal. He could well appreciate her beauty as well as her value as a war weapon, although something within him made him hunger to see a horse there in her place, a charger out of the past of his own kind.
The doe was not one of Terra's little white tails, of course, but she was close enough in physical type for Terran minds to view her as kindred with that species of the mother world. She had a deer's soft, large eyes and long ears and ran with a leaping gallop peculiar to those three-toed hooves, only the center of which came into play when she jumped or moved at her top pace. There were no horns, and her head and neck were graced with a ridge of short and very soft but amazingly strong hair. The tail was bovine in form, a long, thin whip tufted with a brush of coa.r.s.e hair at the end.
His attention flickered to the second deer. The weapons expert had mounted him and was circling the hurdles, letting him see the lay of them before she took him across.
The attention of the others had swung to her as well, for she was about ready to begin.
Eveleen Riordan was worth watching when she sat a springdeer, her fellow Time Agent thought. Her ability ranged well beyond even the excellence that was the norm among their on-world allies, and she rode with a grace particular to her which made her seem one with her mount.
That last effect was heightened by the fact that she had set aside her saddle for the stirruped pad used in such testing, permitting her to feel the wardeer's every movement, to sense when he hastened and when he hesitated, to experience the rhythm of his gates, to detect any fault or flaw in him, to recognize where he excelled.
They took the first jump flawlessly, so flawlessly that those watching were stricken silent by the pair's perfection. Eveleen tossed her head in exultation. Her usually tightly bound hair was flowing free. She had apparently washed it since their return, for it wisped up under the teasing of the sharp breeze, forming a marvelous halo around her as she pa.s.sed between her commander and the westering sun. He could see that she was flushed with excitement and pleasure.
Ross stood perfectly still. She was beautiful, he thought, more beautiful than any of those suddenly poor measurements by which the men of Terra set their standards of loveliness.
He shrugged then and laughed at himself. Ross Murdock waxing as eloquent as an earnest but not terribly able young poet?
He shook his head in half amused, half really annoyed dismay. What was the matter with him today? First, he had tried to refuse a battle-won fortune-albeit one he could not have expected to keep in any event-and now this sense of sudden revelation over his chief officer's beauty, which had been open for the seeing from the first time he had laid eyes on her.
Eveleen, ignorant of the reaction she had provoked, saw him and raised her hand in greeting.
Ross hastily composed himself and returned it but remained where he was, watching while she completed the intricate course.
The buck performed well, very well. He finished in exceptional time without mishap or refusal. Indeed, he seemed not troubled at all by his trial.
When Eveleen at last drew rein, Murdock began walking toward her. She saw him approach and, taking her leave of those gathered around her and her mount, hastened to meet him.
Her step was both light and quick, especially so with the joy of the ride still on her, and she had joined him before he had half crossed the big field.
Both paused to look upon the chestnut buck, who was now in a groom's care, before turning back in the direction of the camp.
”A fine deer,” Ross commented. ”He did remarkably well.”
”Fine? He's no less than fabulous, a steed out of dream!”
”Take him.”
Her head snapped toward him so that Murdock smiled. ”Who's got better right?” he asked. ”You fought well in winning him. Besides, you're perfect together. Everyone who saw you here has to confess that.”
”I did want him,” she admitted, ”yet somehow I didn't think to place a claim.”
”That hasn't been your habit... Go on. You'll be using him to advance our mission.”
The large eyes twinkled. ”I accept him most gladly, and since he's sort of Firehand's gift, I think I'll name him Spark.”
She was mildly surprised when the antic.i.p.ated scowl did not follow that announcement, but it faded from her consciousness even as it was born. Other matters filled her mind, and now that they were well within the wood, away from the others, she looked gravely up at him. ”You were a long time with Luroc. You were discussing what he learned in the south?”
He nodded. ”And our own surmises. It's the general consensus that we're no longer merely fighting to survive and that we'll be able to start thinking about putting our affairs to real rights again in the reasonable future.”
”Only Sapphirehold's freedom and the overthrow of that tyrant will ever accomplish that,” she told him fiercely.
Murdock looked at her in surprise. ”I'm not arguing that. Neither is anyone else.”
She sighed. ”I know, Ross. It's just been such a long haul.”
”Well, the end's coming, even if we do still have a d.a.m.n hard fight ahead of us.”
He detailed for her what had pa.s.sed between I Loran and himself on the subject and then, speaking more slowly, outlined his plans-as yet only ideas-for sharpening their campaign against the invaders, clarifying his thoughts even as he spoke.
Eveleen questioned a few points, added to others, inserted ideas of her own which Ross, in turn, parried and tested. Time pa.s.sed as their conversation became more and more intricately involved until both realized with a start that full night had fallen unnoticed while they had talked.
They had instinctively stopped at the edge of the camp, which was now outlined in the flickering light of the fires.
All the weariness of the past days seemed to settle over Murdock in that moment. He flexed his shoulders to ease the ache of which he had suddenly become aware. ”I'll call the others to council tomorrow. For now, I think we'd both benefit from some sleep.”
She offered no protest to that, and they walked quickly in the direction of their quarters, silent now, each busy with thoughts of the work before them.
After seeing his companion to her cabin, Murdock made no delay in seeking out the small building housing both his own sleeping chamber and his office.
There was light inside, dim, cast by a candle left standing on the table that served him as his desk.
This, he took up without glancing at any of the papers neatly piled there awaiting his attention and went directly to the inner room. He automatically touched the burning wick to that of the taper fastened to the wall by the door. The latter took fire, flickered, and then steadied.
The increased light, little though it was, seemed harsh to tired eyes accustomed to the night and unwilling to adapt swiftly to this change in illumination, and he pinched out the candle in his hand.
He set it down and gave a hurried glance around his quarters that yet missed no detail.
Everything was in order, better order than he should have found. He started to frown. His fighting gear was in its place, clean and ready for his use. He had not left it so.
Ross sat down on the narrow bed. That, too, had been made ready for him.
A soft knock sounded at the door, and even as he glanced up Gordon Ashe came into the room.
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