7 she did not look back at Veramus He would be embar rassed by her intervention She had caught the eye of one of the security officers Unlike the others he stood alone a giant of a man whose uniform was less than spotless His gray hair was cut close to his heavy head and his face was bitter and scarred It was Grollat Commander of the Pacifiers The smallest twitch of his head summoned her and she went to him Name His whisper cut easily through the tumult Elessa of Bonix and also Marran Ah He looked down at her impassively Bonix Maintenance A citizen now Why wouldn’t he know Her father had some stature in Arcone these days Still Essa was impressed how Grollat could at once bring him to mind Yes she said wondering what she could have done wrong You have courage Oh That was it I don’t like to see people oppressed Better keep your eyes on the ground then Elessa There’s always someone who needs help He smiled cyni cally But he had not finished with her Would you say you have an independent spirit No Not at all she said quickly You wouldn’t say you have an independent spirit No Commander I would
8 Essa could not resist the urge of her questioning nature What are you doing here I’m sorry I didn’t mean He was untroubled by her rudeness Looking Looking for new recruits Shame you’re a girl Essa He gestured for her to leave him A hot flush came to Essa’s cheeks although she was warm enough already He knew her nickname Why She made herself start screaming again like all the oth ers and ran as far away from the Commander as she could O There at last a flash of reflected light the tent But so tiny in the distance Kean had been running for minutes It was becoming hard to breathe When the shrill bark ing came he couldn’t help but look back A single charjaw stood one paw raised pointing the way to him The others would be along soon They should pause to rip at the alba tross but there was not enough meat on it to hold them long How stupid he’d been where there were vultures you could expect charjaws to arrive sooner or later His imagi nation conjured up a closer image of the creature its huge head and balding body the incredibly broad mouth with the curved and ragged teeth that kept the beast’s mouth open at all times Those terrible teeth that were too big even for a charjaw’s skull It called again with more excitement a rapid series of yelps Kean ran on it had seen the others and was guar anteeing them a rich feast if they hurried Lengthening
9 his stride he fought to maintain a steady rhythm one that would carry him all the way to safety without collapsing from cramps or exhaustion Dehydration was already mak ing him feel lightheaded The tent was getting nearer but he wouldn’t make it His bare feet thudded down on the hot soil and behind him he could hear a cacophony of increasingly savage calls from the pack of charjaws He didn’t dare look around for fear of slowing even momentarily Soon he would be able to hear their paws scuffing the dirt behind him then the first teeth would crunch into his ankle He would be down roll ing in the dirt like the greenback deer he had seen brought down and eaten alive This couldn’t be happening He began to shout but his lungs were close to exploding and all that came out was a gasping bark The sound at least had the effect of breaking the panic which gripped him He reached into the leather sack on his belt and threw the blue-stripe over his shoulder as he ran A savage snarling announced that the carnivores pursuing him had been distracted by the flesh and were squabbling over it Perhaps he had a chance after all his strength was renewed and he found he was capable of sprinting The tent was getting nearer So were the charjaws enlivened by the little diversion Now Kean had overstretched himself he was off-balance leaning forward his feet struggling to keep up with his top pling body falling He went down rolling on bended arm so that he came up running again Only he was no longer racing alone Other
10 steps tore into the earth only inches away from him Fear brought a last burst of speed and then he was off-balance and fell again It saved him The leading charjaw was already lunging at him but its bite caught only the leather sack as they rolled in the dust together The beast was winded by the impact of Kean’s body and he could pull himself away from its jaws As he staggered back falling again Kean saw the dozen other charjaws bounding toward him He drew his knife and swept it around The first charjaw gave a hoarse honking cough and fell sideways Kean had a moment to register something silver sticking out from its bald ribcage He turned toward the tent and reeled away from the charjaws They piled onto their wounded companion and began to eat The tent was three hundred yards away its reflective sil ver foil leaves dazzling under the sun In front of it a small dark figure raised up an object to head height and pointed it Kean heard no noise as the weapon fired but caught the whistle in the air as another steel dart whizzed past him into the pack of charjaws He was down to a walking pace limping by the time he reached Hawkerman The team leader said Come nightfall you go and get my darts There’s three of them out there You could have hit me Kean gasped Hawkerman was a small man all sinew and lean hard muscle His eyes were splinters of blue set in narrow slits and his face was as dark as the near-black leather clothes he wore the traditional broad-shouldered jacket and leggings
