David Drake - The Mirror of Worlds

Ordinarily Coerli could dodge even sling bullets at close range, but their narrow feet sank deeper in the mud than humans' did. They were splashing well out in the flow to keep clear of the missiles. Staying out of range had its own problems. They were in waist deep water, and there was enough current to drag hard at them. Their tails lashed the surface, and Ilna was certain their snarls were fury rather than communication. She smiled. "We'll let them come halfway closer," she said. The beasts didn't have a real leader; instead of rushing as one at the command of a maned chief, they snapped and bickered for nearly a minute. The flood buffeted them. When the attack came, it was almost an accident. A beast lost his footing and splashed forward. Those to either side of him leaped toward the humans, and a heartbeat later the whole band was in noisy motion. "Now," said Ilna. She drew her pattern taut against Temple's simultaneous pull. Cat beasts squawked and stumbled. One was spinning out a weighted cord when his eyes took in the full meaning of Ilna's jagged web. His throwing arm spasmed, whipping the capture line sideways to snag the neck of one of his own fellows. Karpos shot- Only the fletching of the arrow projected from above the breastbone of the nearest warrior. At this short range, it'd almost completely penetrated the beast's slender body. -nocked one of the pair of arrows between the fingers of his left hand and shot again- The beast was tumbling in the slow current; it'd lost its footing when it froze. The arrow raked it from below the ribs and poked out the opposite shoulder blade. -nocked the third arrow and shot- The arrow struck the top of the beast's skull with awhock; exiting, the point pinned the long jaws together. -and reached into his quiver for the remaining three arrows. Asion's sling was marginally slower to reload, but on targets so close his bullets crushed as well as penetrating. The hunter was a small man, but his arms were enormously strong. The dim red sun darkened the blood swirling from the corpses as they drifted downstream in the flood.

Three beasts remained. The current'd pulled them far enough south that Ilna's web would no longer command them as it should. She said to Temple, "We have to turn to keep the pattern toward them or-" Temple dropped his end of the pattern and strode forward, shrugging his buckler into his left hand. "This will be simpler, Ilna," he said without looking back over his shoulder. Then, in a tone of command that reminded her of when King Carus ruled Garric's body during a battle, Temple thundered, "Comrades, don't shoot! I'll finish this!"

He waded into the water. The Coerli were fully alert now. Ilna thought they'd regroup and attack together, but perhaps they were too angry to think the matter through. Or again, perhaps the nearest warrior didn't see any reason to delay: no ordinary man was a match for the beasts' quickness. Water as deep as his back-bending knees sprayed as the warrior leaped high. It swung a short length of its hooked line to wrap Temple's neck and sword arm from above. The weighted end sailed away instead because Temple's sword was where the beast'd expected a clear path; the cord severed itself on an edge as keen as a beam of light. Temple hadn't responded to the beast's attack: no human was that quick. He'd anticipated it, seeing the pattern of events before they happened and striking at where the beast would be when the blade passed through the place. Just as Chalcus used to do, when he was alive. The Corl twisted, seeing the death he was flinging himself onto, but all four limbs were off the ground so it had nothing to push against. The sword continued its curving stroke, catching the beast in the short ribs and slicing on through as easily as it'd cut the cord a heartbeat earlier. The beast flew apart in a gout of blood and stomach contents. Its mouth was open but silent in one half and the legs pumped wildly in the other. Ilna knew how sharp the bronze blade was, but the strength needed to lop complete through a torso was beyond the dreams of most men. Temple strode forward without slowing. The second warrior lunged low with a wooden poignard in either hand. He scissored them toward Temple's knees like a trap springing, but the swordsman's long arm and long blade had again anticipated the attack: the Corl drove itself onto the sword hard enough to punch the bronze point out through the base of its skull. The third warrior hadn't verbally coordinated with the second, but the pack were experienced killers who'd worked together in the past: he went high because his fellow had attacked low. As he leaped he slanted his spear downward so that the pair of springy wooden points would grip the human's neck with the barbs on their inner surfaces. The thrust glanced from Temple's small shield, rising as part of the same motion as had put the sword into the second beast. It was like watching a dance, but considerably more graceful than any dancers Ilna had seen. The Corl continued on over, landing with a splash in the water behind the swordsman. It dropped its spear and snaked a stone-headed axe from a loop on the crossbelts that were its only garment. Temple was turning, hunching, bringing the shield down and around. He knew what would happen next-Ilnaknew what would happen next-but understanding something wasn't the same as being able to stop it. Temple was quick for a human, but the Coerli were as quick as thought, as quick as the shimmer of water. Motion sparked in the alien sunlight. Whock! The beast leaped straight up, its limbs thrashing. Its head was a bloody ruin. It fell onto its back, then flopped over on its belly and began to drift on the current.

Occasionally a further spasm would stir the water, but generally only one limb at a time. Asion folded the release cord of his sling back against his right palm on the staff. "That was my last bullet," he said sheepishly. "I'm glad I kept it, hey?" Temple let his buckler swing against the strap that held it while not in use. He stepped to Asion and embraced him, carefully keeping the sword away from both of them. He couldn't sheathe the weapon till he'd wiped the bronze clean of blood and filth. "I amvery glad you kept it, Brother Asion," Temple said, stepping back. The torso of the first beast he'd killed lay on the slope above where the water-now slowly receding-had washed. He picked the corpse up by the scruff of the neck and wiped his blade on the brindled fur. Karpos was cutting an arrow from the body of a beast lying in the fresh mud. "I wonder if the farmers have arrows I could use?" he said. "I don't think I'm going to find more than a couple of my own, what with the current." Ilna looked down into the valley. The women had come out of the cave. Several of them were running toward the raft, grounded when the initial head of water had passed. The men were kneeling over several of their fellows who they'd laid out on the ground. One or more warriors must've gotten aboard the raft and done damage before being killed. "They've lost everything," Temple said.

"They'll have to replant their crops as well as rebuilding their houses." Ilna looked at the big man. His face and tone were both without expression. "Peasants have a hard life, soldier," she said sharply. "Thesepeasants, the ones who're still alive, won't have cat beasts preying on them. That's all I can do for them. Or anybody could!" "Yes, Ilna," Temple said. "Now, before that sun sets-" He nodded toward the dim red orb now close above the western horizon.

"-we must go through the portal. Our task isn't done yet." "All right," she said. "Asion and Karpos, are you ready?" The hunters got up from the bodies. They moved into line beside her and Temple. All together, Ilna and her companions stepped through the membrane of light. *** "Oh!" said Sharina as she saw the Citadel of Pandah rising out of the plain. "That isn't what I expected." "It's bigger than I thought too, your ladyship," said Trooper Lires. "I'd heard it was a sleepy little place. Ah, not that we couldn't take it in a week or two. Or maybe even faster if you ordered an assault instead of undermining the walls." "I'm not going to order an assault," said Sharina dryly, "or make any other military decisions so long as I have competent officers. But I was on Pandah in the past-before the Change, of course-and itwas a sleepy little island. They grew fruit and garden truck for ships crossing the Inner Sea, and merchants bartered cargoes to local factors." Pandah now-and Sharina supposed in her distant past-had massive stone walls within which rose square towers with arrow slits. Figures moved on the battlements. She couldn't make out details of them, but Lires said, "By the Sister! There's cats there and men both!" He cleared his throat, turned his head away from Sharina in embarrassment, and then forced himself to meet her cool smile again. Rasile continued telling beads in her palanquin, but her eyes were open and seemingly focused on the city coming into view.