Роберт Асприн - Forever After

Gorgeous blue and green plumage covered the creature and rose to a bluejay crest above its head. It ran with a long bouncing stride and occasionally hopped as if it could not control itself. For a short time it paralleled the goat, then darted ahead in a burst of speed and herded the creature back toward the paddock where its slain companions lay, all the while savagely scolding the goat with loud cries.

The creature’s motion and economy sent a thrill through Gar. The sorian moved with a fluid grace that belied the power in its muscles. By coursing and herding the goat and calling out in various songs, it displayed intelligence and malicious ferocity. Gar found it almost catlike in its desire to control its prey before it killed it. The creature hunting below him possessed an artistry and focus that made it the most naturally lethal organism Gar had ever seen.

The goat leaped down from the middle terrace and took the six-foot drop without harm. It turned and ran along the wall and the dinner-sore landed behind it without breaking stride. The creature shot off on a course at the right angles to the goat’s route, its melodic voice chortling out an excited song. The sorian turned and paralleled the goat before angling in for the kill.

‘Tes, yes, of course.“

“What, sir?”

Gar pointed at the sorian. ‘The profile provides a bigger target. It took the others from the side, and will get this one that way.“

The TerribleClaw FastHunter raced in at the goat, then leaped out with a sharp scream of triumph. The huge, sickle-shaped claw on the left foot struck first and sliced through the goat’s spine just in back of the shoulders. It cut down through viscera and came away bloody. The right claw slashed the goat’s rear haunch with what would have only been a flesh wound.

The goat tumbled away and slammed into the stone restraining wall for the upper terrace. It rebounded hard and flew up into the air. Internal organs began to spray out, and Spido reeled away with his hand over his mouth. Gar watched in fascination as dirt clods flew from where the goat’s hooves dug into the rich loam, then he turned away as Spido’s retching noises drowned out the renewed screams from below.

His aide looked back up at him, wiping spittle and vomitus from his mouth. “How can you consider that beautiful?”

Gar’s eyes narrowed. “In the hunt it was poetry, Spido. That creature, in the way it moves and the weaponry nature gave it, embodies Tian-shisheqi . What men have had to learn, it has by nature. In its own place, that creature would be magnificent.”

The assassin took in a deep breath. “Clearly it is not of this world. Anachron and the other items of power were what caused that beast and its kin to appear here. Their transportation here corrupted them. They went from being artists to mechanical creatures. They are now things of hingu .”

Spido retched again, then squeaked out. “What in hell are you saying?”

“Before I wanted to kill these creatures.” Gar drew Spido’s machete and sliced off a slender bamboo pole. “Now I must kill them, to redeem them. I will slay them in keeping with Tian-shi-sheqi .”

“How’s that?”

Gar smiled coldly. “Hunting defines them. Hunting they will die.”

Using the machete, Gar trimmed foliage from a twelve-foot length of the pole, then cut the pole down to ten feet. From his boot he drew a dagger and jammed the hilt down into the open cylinder at one end. It fit snugly and the assassin tested the newly formed spear for balance. It was not quite what he wanted, but it would be sufficient.

Spido stood up. He looked pale and sweat covered him. He spat, then looked down at the village. “It’s feeding.”

Before Gar could acknowledge that information, a harsh, brassy horn call echoed through the valley. Gar glanced at the dinner-sore and saw its head come up. The beast returned to feeding immediately, but a second horn call caught its attention again. It took a step toward the sound of the horn then, straddling the goat, it tore a mouthful of flesh from it and gulped it down.

“Did your mother say anything about Dolonicus having the beasts trained to come to a call?”

“I don’t recall that, but she’s a bit deaf, so she might not have noticed.”

Gar nodded once, then stepped out of the bamboo and started walking down the hillside toward the croft. The people on the roof saw him immediately and started to shout at him to run, but their cries attracted the bloody-faced sorian’s attention, so they fell silent and just tried to wave him away.

Brandishing the makeshift spear in his right fist, Gar voiced an inhuman call. The undulating sound came to him, building note after note based on what he recognized through Tian-shi-sheqi as a challenge to the beast. As much as the horn had attracted the beast’s attention, this call riveted it on Gar, and the assassin used the same scolding tones the sorian had used on the goat to goad the beast into action.

Red blood splashing back from its facial plumage, the sorian galloped toward him. Gar read cold brutality in the golden eyes. The beast held its jaw agape, giving him a clear view of the shreds of meat trapped between its slicing teeth. The little forearms with their nasty claws made little grasping motions at him as the sorian came on. It screamed at him, defiantly, then confidently as it leaned into its run and brought itself to full spring speed.

Gar brought the spear back. His pale eyes half closed, then he nodded a salute to the sorian. He knew it would not understand that gesture, but he made it because Tian-shi-sheqi demanded it. Then he threw the spear.

It sped from his hand and caught the sorian in the throat, strangling the beast’s cry. The little forearms clawed at the shaft and clutched it, but only succeeded in dragging it down so it caught on the ground. The bamboo shaft dug in, then bowed, but refused to break. The sorian started to vault up and over as the force drove the spear out through the other side of the neck. The sorian landed on the point of its chin, then the rest of its body slammed down, mashing the feathery crest and snapping the beast’s neck.

It thrashed a bit, and its sickle claw deftly sliced a fat watermelon in half in the process, then it lay still. Gar walked down to it and squatted ten feet away, studying both the beast and the wound his spear had inflicted. His cast had not been perfect, but he accepted the blame for that instead of attributing it to the slight balance problem with the bamboo spear.

Spido came trotting up beside him. “Well, sir, you got it. That was amazing.”

“No, Spido, it was disgusting.”

“I was referring to your throw, sir, not the beast.”

“As was I, Spido.”

“Excuse me, sir.”

Gar looked up at his aide. “I wanted to kill it in keeping with Tian-shi-sheqi .”

“And you did, sir. You killed it while it was hunting.”

“Yes, but I killed it at long distance. I could see in its eyes it had not reached the defining moment of its existence, yet. When it leaps, I think it will be then. I know it will be then.”

“Begging your pardon, sir, but that means you have to be close enough for it to leap at you.”

“Art requires sacrifice, Spido.”

“If you say so, sir.” Spido picked up a feather and twirled it between his fingers. “Does art say what we should do with it now?”

Gar frowned. “No, but I think it should be in keeping with Tian-shi-sheqi .”

“Defining moment and all that, eh, sir?”

“Yes, Spido. Have you an idea?”

“Well, sir, to leave the carcass here would be to get these crofters — cousins of mine they are, sir — in trouble. We have to get rid of it and, given what I’ve seen defining this beastie, sir, I think I know how we should do it.” Spido smiled carefully. “I think we should eat it.”