The Forests Of Gleor

Chapter 22

The next morning the blare of trumpets and the squalling of black stalkers sounded well before dawn. Blade was already awake when Kulo came in to help him dress and equip himself.

Blade pulled on a hunter's tunic and trousers of heavy green leather, reinforced over the chest, belly, and groin. He donned a warrior's leather helmet and thick-soled boots. He belted on a short sword and dagger. Then he picked up a sprayer and hung three bottles of sleeping water on his belt.

Blade started down the hill toward the arena. Behind him marched Kulo, dressed like Blade but looking thoroughly uncomfortable in the unfamiliar leather garments and boots. He had volunteered to enter the arena with Blade; therefore he wore the same clothes. Behind Kulo marched the other three assistants, carrying everything Blade thought might possibly be needed at the arena.

The sky overhead had turned from gray to blue by the time Blade reached the arena. It was going to be a sunny day, a rare event in the mountain forests. Blade felt his mood lighten as he saw the sunlight flash gold through the branches of the trees that towered up on either side of the path.

The log walls of the arena rose more than ten feet high. Around the outside warriors wearing the badges of Embor, Sanaya, and half a dozen different clans stood on guard.

On top of the log walls of the arena the king, the queen, Neena, the High Kaireen, and the rest of the notables were already in place. Some sat on benches, others squatted Indian-fashion on the bare, peeled logs. The wall of the arena rose half again as high as a black stalker could jump. The notables would be in no danger, whatever happened to Blade and Kulo.

Blade led his assistants up the ladder on the outside of the wall. Neena met his gaze but her face was chill. King Embor smiled in greeting, but thinly. Blade noticed that both of them wore fighting gear. Neena had two spears propped against her bench and the king had a bow slung across his back and a sword at his belt.

Queen Sanaya, on the other hand, once more seemed as cheerful as if she were on a picnic. She wore a red gown and white leather boots, with a dark brown fur robe thrown over her shoulders. A tiara of emeralds sparkled in her hair as she looked around her, laughing and chattering to everyone within earshot. She had the look of someone for whom the day could hold no unpleasant surprises.

Another ladder led down to the floor of the arena. The three assistants sat down on the logs and began unpacking the gear while Blade and Kulo climbed down the wobbling, hastily made ladder. Blade hoped he wouldn't have to climb that ladder in any sort of a hurry.

Blade checked his weapons, climbed up onto a stump, and looked out across the arena. On the opposite side of the circle, fifty feet away, was a gate of heavy logs for the test animals.

Blade motioned Kulo to stand well behind him. Then he looked up at the royal party. King Embor nodded and raised his hand. On top of the wall and from outside it horns and drums sounded to signal the beginning of the test. With grindings and creakings of wood, the gate started to swing open. Blade gripped his sprayer, wondering what would come through. King Embor had politely refused to let him know the order in which the animals would be released.

Then a faint cluck-cluck-cluck sounded from across the arena, followed by the sound of clumsily flapping wings. Blade laughed. The first test specimen was a mugos-a slow-wined, ground-dwelling bird about the size and shape of a Home Dimension turkey.

Blade strode forward. As the bird spotted him it clurked in alarm and darted back toward the gate. Finding the gate closed, it jumped on top of a stump and flapped its wings frantically. By that time Blade was within easy range. He raised the sprayer, aimed it at the bird's head, and rammed in the plunger.

The six feet of threebo jumped as Blade fired, and the fine spray missed the bird completely. He shifted one hand to get a better grip, then aimed and fired again. This time he hit his target. The bird blinked in surprise and bewilderment as the sleeping water doused it. It opened its beak to complain. Then it tottered, its eyes closed, and it fell forward off the stump with a faint plop.

Blade looked around the walls of the arena. Everyone was on his feet. Several of the clan chiefs were pointing at the fallen bird, openmouthed with unconcealed astonishment. Blade saw King Embor's thin smile changing into a grin. Watching the clan chiefs gaping like schoolboys must be a treat for him! Well, there were going to be a good many more surprises before this day was over.

The guards outside the gate came in, took the bird away, and led in one of the giant chipmunks. This animal was much more intelligent and quicker on its feet than the bird. It darted around and around the arena, ducking in and out behind the stumps, sometimes jumping up on top of one to chatter mockingly at Blade. Blade sprayed several doses of sleeping water into thin air, trying to hit it.

Now Blade waved Kulo forward. With the young man well out ahead of him, he managed to trap the animal against one wall. It tried to leap over a stump, but a shot from Kulo's sprayer caught it in midair. It landed sprawling, lurched to its feet, took two steps, then fell flat on its face and lay still.

This brought all the clan chiefs to their feet again. Several shouted out loud. They hadn't been told what they might expect to see from Prince Blade. Probably none of them even now understood exactly what was going on. But they could see skill and speed at work, and most of them could appreciate that. Blade threw a glance at Neena. She was obviously struggling not to smile. Sanaya was laughing out loud.

There was a pause, while servants walked precariously along the wall, handing mugs of beer and plates of sausage and roast meat to the spectators. Then the guards drove one of the single-horned deer in through the gate.

Blade knew that this animal would be a somewhat more drastic test than the ones before. It was many times larger, and would therefore need a much larger dose of sleeping water. In the confined arena it could not run as freely and swiftly as it could in the forest, but it would still be a difficult target. It was also capable of defending itself. That made Blade feel a good deal more comfortable about going after it. He didn't much like shooting things at birds and animals who could do nothing in return except run.

He stepped toward the deer. It lowered its head until the point of the horn was low enough to hook upward. Large black eyes rimmed with white stared at Blade. The stag made a low bubbling sound in its throat. Then it charged straight at Blade.

Blade's first shot of sleeping water went right over the stag's head and struck halfway down its back. A patch of hair turned dark and damp. That was all. Before Kulo could fire, the stag was on them.

Blade darted to one side, Kulo to the other. The stag made an incredibly sharp turn and followed Kulo. Worried about not appearing a coward before his king and so many warriors, the young man was a little slow off the mark. The stag caught up with him and the horn hooked upward. Kulo rose into the air, sailed over a stump, and kept on running. A long, neat slash gaped in the seat of his leather trousers. A surgeon with a scalpel couldn't have done a better job. On the wall above, the gasps of surprise turned into roars of laughter.

Blade vaulted high over two stumps in a single bound and came down beside the stag as it turned to pursue Kulo. He swung the heavy sprayer like a quarterstaff, smacking the stag across the back of the neck. As it turned to face him, Blade aimed and fired a quick shot that hit squarely on its long black-furred nose.

The stag reared back on its hind legs in surprise, then dropped back onto all fours. Its nostrils flared. Its eyes remained open, but they seemed curiously unfocused. Then it tried to take a step toward Blade, nearly fell to its knees, and stood wobbling and motionless. Blade walked up to it and scratched it between its floppy ears, then ran a hand along its back. The stag trembled but did not move or even look at Blade.

Blade raised a hand in salute to the royal party. «With your permission-shall it go free? It has done its part, and bravely.»

King Embor nodded. «By all means, let it go. It is no enemy of ours-although Kulo might have something to say on that.» Everyone joined in the laugh, including Kulo.

Letting the stag go was easier said than done. Blade went around behind it and slapped it on the rump. It shivered but didn't move. He went back to the head and tried to push it around toward the gate. Nothing happened. Kulo pushed with both hands on its rump while Blade pulled with both hands on its horn. Still no results. By this time all the spectators were half-hysterical with laughter, and some of them looked ready to fall off the wall.

«Well, we can't say we didn't stop the stag,» Blade muttered to himself. «In fact we did the job too bloody well!» Sweat was streaming down both his face and Kulo's, and he alternately felt like cursing and laughing.

Eventually they had to call six guards into the arena. The men picked up the stag as if it had been a statue-one at the head, one at the rump, four in the middle. Then they staggered out of the arena with it, and Blade never did find out what happened to the stag after that. He hoped it didn't end up as venison for the guards' next dinner.

At this point Blade noticed that Queen Sanaya was no longer in sight. He was about to call a question up to King Embor when the king shouted down, «Hold for a time, Blade. The queen feels faint. She has gone to lie in the shade for a time, with her personal Kaireen to attend her.»

There was something in that tale that didn't ring quite true in Blade's ears. It was also obvious that King Embor wouldn't have told it if there wasn't some good reason for having it believed by everyone within earshot.

«Very well,» he shouted back. «We shall wait until our lady queen returns. Let my other three assistants come down.»

The three assistants climbed slowly down the rickety ladder. Blade and Kulo drank water, nibbled cheese and sausage, checked and refilled their sprayers, then sat down to wait. Blade took out a sharpening stone and set out to improve the edge on his sword.

The sky was completely clear by now, and the sun was getting positively hot. In the arena the log walls cut off much of the breeze. Blade sat on a stump, listening to the drone of insects and the steady scrrrp-scrrp of stone on steel, smelling the odors of mold and resin, thinking of nothing in particular.

An hour passed. Blade began to wonder if Queen Sanaya was really ill, and if so, what was wrong with her. He also couldn't help wondering if this was a natural illness, or had one of her enemies taken a hand in the matter?

More immediately important to him, what animal would come through the gate first when the testing started again? It might be another stag. It might be the snake. Or it might be one of the black stalkers. It had to be one of those three. The stag and the snake held no real danger. The black stalkers, on the other hand-

Someone shouted from the ground outside the arena. It was a high-pitched shout, almost a scream; filled with surprise and fear. Several people on the wall turned to stare down, then suddenly sprang to their feet with more shouts. Blade saw Neena snatch up one of her spears, turn, and raise it, ready to throw.

Then for the first time someone shouted out in words.

«The black stalkers are loose!»

A moment later the gate was hurled aside. It crashed to the ground, and two black stalkers came leaping in through the opening. Their mouths were wide and foam-flecked, and their eyes red and ghastly.

As they saw Blade and Kulo, they let out their terrible hunting screams. Neena's scream echoed theirs. Then the two animals sprang toward Blade and Kulo.