Part 18 (1/2)
Words turned to shouts, to a babble of noise Fists flew Men and women tussled, knocked each other down
Worried, Monkberry yanked on Sunbright's hand and said, ”Son, get up! Coht by the hand He see, he tottered, grabbed his forehead and squeezed The thief bawled, ”Wake up! What's wrong with you?”
”Drag hiht's feet plodded clumsily, as if made of wood No one helped or came near them Open prairie beckoned, a slate-black sky overhead, but a red glow lighting the east The mother repeated, ”Hurry!”
”Why? What's-Ow!”
A fist-sized stone bounced off Knucklebones's back Another stone sailed by and thulance, Knucklebones saw tribesfolk flocking to a rock pile at the hillock Men, women, and children hurled rocks Another struck Knucklebones on the back of the thigh, and she grunted One knocked Monkberry to her knees Several hit Sunbright with painful thuds, but though the shaered, he made no sound
Desperate, the thief yanked Monkberry up, dragged ht's scalp so he crashed like a falling tree, alreat frame
The elf-woround like hail Monkberry struggled to rise Cla, the thief tried to shi+eld both with her sed Knucklebone's forehead Woozy, she fought to keep conscious To collapse was to die
Another stone struck her shoulder, lamed her arm She cried unashamedly with fury and sorrow
”Hold!” boo storm, the stones stopped Feet thudded all around Meaty hands like bear paws grabbed Knucklebones, Sunbright, and Monkberry, and towed therass,a double trail froor and his seven dwarves The old leader leveled a crossbow at the tribe, and loosed a sizzling bolt that shattered on rocks to drive theradually the taunts and curses died as the dogged dwarves carried all three victiht Four dwarves carried Sunbright spread-eagled like a sacrifice
Monkberry was toted across two shoulders like a log
With help, Knucklebones found her feet, though her head throbbed Laying a sain Again e you our lives”
”Chalk it against the next life You'll never repay in this one” Drigor's dwarven hu north We'll circle the calad soe
”Barren Mountains”
Knucklebones swooned at the thought of all that ed, supported by a dwarf she realized was female She hadn't seen the dwarves since they arrived After the rescue in the forest, Sunbright had told theor had said, ”We shall be back,” and the lot marched off Knucklebones hated to think of the consequences if they hadn't returned
”What's wrong with Sunbright?” she asked ”Why so slow, as if dead drunk?”
”I have seen it before, in dwarves and hurass like a boat He carried the fah to fell an ox, in his hand ”These barbarians follow hearts as much as heads, and your friend has lost heart His tribe has cast him out, but kept his soul He is empty, dead inside A tree uprooted Do you understand?”
”I-I think so” Pain and fear and despair made Knucklebones sob, just once, then she sed the lump in her throat and said, ”Cut off from his people, he loses part of hior corrected ”So with dwarves”
Knucklebones murmured, ”So with all of us”
Ground down by exhaustion, fear, and worry, Knucklebones collapsed hours later It or draped her across his backpack like a dead deer and marched on Dusk was near when he called a halt
A tilted canteen and rough hand gently washed Knucklebones's face She spluttered awake, grabbed for her knife, but the rough hand pinned hers, and a guttural voice cooed, ”Rest” The dwarven woive the thief roousted that she'd fainted, then awakened so slowly Yet roan aloud A fist-sized lump throbbed above her eye patch For a second, panic made her stomach flip Had the stone hit her one eye, she'd be blind Breathing slowly, she let the fear go, and forgave herself for weakness Careful with her tender head, she looked about
They sat high on a her than the tallest el sun on autulow To the east the prairie burned gold, but the long shadow of night rushed across it like a storular shelf of rock Monkberry lay nearby, head pillowed on someone's white leather pack A fire crackled in a crevice, and meat skewered on sticks sizzled and dripped Dwarves perched on rocks like gargoyles and stolidlyforainst rock, eyes closed, un
Close to tears, the thief took in the wide-sweeping vista, the quiet ca sunset In the time she'd been asleep, the world turned from a violent, self-consumed hell to a haven of peace Part of her wished to stop the sun, to stay like this forever
But another part blazed with anger at the barbarians' blind, stubborn stupidity Fear and despair had bred a cold rage Crawling to wobbly feet, she clutched her head and croaked to Drigor, ”What- Ohat are your plans?”
The dwarf bit a bone in half with yellow teeth, and sucked , ”We shall explore”
Knucklebones peered at the gathering gloom The mountain chain rose like stairs to snowy peaks in the distance ”All these or pitched bones on the fire, nodded
”What about us?”
A shrug ”You may come with us, if you can keep up,” the dwarf said ”Or stay here”
Knucklebones stifled a groan Here was a lovely spot, but she was no ered to Sunbright, and creaked down beside hi his eyes He was pale as a corpse, and as still A cracked scab marred his neck where a stone had struck He bore many bruises, but his silence ht? Open your eyes”
He did, but stared at the twilight without seeing Knucklebones was rereth of the Dire Woods, with eyes dead as stone Staring into those hopeless eyes, she couldn't think what to ask
”Uo?”
The shaman only shook his head, like a scarecrow in the wind
Suddenly chilled, Knucklebones shuddered, and drew her leather vest tight across her boso but her elven blade and Harvester of Blood High overhead, stars sparkled, forecasting a chilly night
”We can't I Sunbright, what can we do?”
The shaman reached a dirty, blood-stained hand to rub his tehed, ”I don't know, Knuckle' I've nothing behindahead