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At firs! there was only utter stillness and the low, incessant ht, the smell of cut mesquite and blood, and the dahed and choked his breath short at the pain in his cracked rib He tried to move and couldn&039;t To hell with it, then, he decided, and lay still His head ached, but without the hallucinatory confusion of last night&039;s chaotic dreaht of a detached arrow against a twilight sky ether in his mind, but his last clearflesh plunging down into the pit on top of hiht He took two very slow, very careful breaths and did ait liold had shown him how

First, he was alive, a circumstance that rather surprised him His head ached, and he had afelt weak and painful, but no worse than it had yesterday, and he thought, though he couldn&039;t be sure because he could not move his hands to check, that there were a few ht up the last point - he couldn&039;t move his hands

They were tied behind him

For a few moments, he wondered if the White Raiders had er rats But a drift of smoke reached his nostrils from the other side of the cut brush that walled him in, and he heard the muted nicker of horses He lay face down in soather, but his face was turned toward the wall, and all he could see was the tangle of grey-leafed twigs and the chain of ants that crawled inoffensively along them He wondered if he was alone, but didn&039;t particularly want to give

hi hisstill He found that this ehts was easier after the days he had spent in the loneliness of the desert All things receded except his sense of hearing Slowly the sounds carasses in the wind, the clicking of dead leaves, the infinitesi close to his shelter, and the silken, crinkling shear of a skinning knife separating hide fro renewal of the blood-saruard at the door of his shelter shifted his weight So there was a guard

Rudy extended his senses, sending the by touch the nature and bounds of the ca noises and then the muffled tap of rock on wood He became aware ofstirred A gust of wind chilled through the calittery clinking sound that he thought was familiar, like a wind chihtened hirirass He heard another, aluard stood up He heard no voices n? - but he knew the roof of the shelter was too low to stand under They would both be outside He turned his head cautiously to be sure and sao pairs of soft-booted legs visible through the low arch of the shelter&039;s opening; beyond was the ghostly flickering of a pale daytilass-festoonedfaintly in the wind, like a scarecrow set to frighten away the legions of Hell In front of it, a wo stakes into the ground for a sacrifice

Rudy had a bad feeling about whom they&039;d elected for that

Stay calold taught you an undoing-spell, and it worked fine back at the camp Nevertheless, it took him three tries that nearly cut off the circulation in his wrists before he finally felt the bindings slip and was able stealthily to work his hands free His ankles were bound as well, but it was quicker to work the knots loose by hand He kept hisoutside He felt almost smothered with apprehension He knew already what he had to do

They&039;d taken his knife and sword, along with his cloak and gloves But if he could get to the horse lines undetected, to steal two for hi clear away - andit all the way to the Seaward Mountains after all Even covered by a simple illusion-spell, he kneould be iuard and the one standing by the front door, but the shelter was h pup tent made of cut mesquite, open at the front and only loosely covered at the back He could hear nothing close by

The illusion-spell was si, Rudy decided Har business Who the hell looks at a stinkbug? He had practised illusion under Ingold&039;s critical eye and had been rather proud of the results To wear an illusion was to feel against his skin a windcloak of s in this world appeared, to be so he was not

He pushed the brush aside and slipped through

If he hadn&039;t been standing in the middle of the camp, he would hardly have known a caebrush flat, and the brush shelters blended with the surroundingand size From where he stood, only one fire was visible, but he could smell others, made of sold habitually made fires There were White Raiders in evidence, h the woins of war, clothed and armed like the men and as cold-eyed as co tunics and trousers of wolf or cougar hide, the greys and golds round So coats of wolf or buffalo hide All of them were armed with knives, bows, and a form of bolo In front of several shelters, he saw spears stabbed into the ground, the shafts ready to hand As he&039;d seen before, the ic-post stood in the centre of the ca it like a Christlass, and flowers, and at its foot a wo knife Beyond lay the horse lines, the rouped so as to rese

With utan his walk across the open ground of the ca within the para to one of the women outside his forave hih and pale, the silver disc of the sun had appeared, for the first time in many days, and the shadow that it threw on the dirt was an insect shadow, perfect of its kind The chill desert winds tangled in the braided ropes of thethe petals of the winter roses twined through the eyes of the skulls The Raider finished twisting feathers around the crossbeam and stepped back He was an old man, his hair so white as to be ale-blackened oak burl Rudy stopped to let him pass

But he didn&039;t pass

Rudy&039;s blood turned to ice water in his veins The ancient warrior was looking down at the ground where the illusion of the stinkbug would be, and there was a hint of puzzle his eyes from Rudy, he took a step or tard one of the shelters and

signed to aspears

Rudy broke into a cold sweat Hey, co But of course, now that he remembered, the Icefalcon was suspicious of everyone and everything Rudy walked as et around the old man But the three Raiders held a quick, silent conversation in finger signs and half-whispers, then moved in front of hiht frantically He looked about for soet around theain

Rudy&039;s nervousness triumphed The illusion crumbled as his concentration broke, and the white-haired Raider jerked back, startled, as Rudy seely ave Rudy his chance He grabbed a stick of wood froround, and it blazed into the etfld illusion of white fire in his hand As the Raiders closed in, he slashed with his fiery club at the h the line, and ran for it

The ca to appear fro run, hearing the soft thunk of an arrow and feeling the sting of the barb ski club at theweapon One of the horse guards grabbed hiroin and struggled free to run again He caught the nose rope of a shying , he laid about him with the stick, and the circle widened for an instant That instant was all he needed He scra God the thing wasn&039;t really tall and slashing at the Raiders on all sides He saw his chance, turned thein his heels

Thereared once, dropped its nose, and bucked hiround was unbelievable It slammed the breath from his body, and the broken ribs stabbed his side like knives He tried to roll to his feet, but a stone-headed spear drove into the ground beside hi the slack of his dark tunic to the earth The shadows of the Raiders fell across hiht at his chest

It missed Thrown at a distance of less than ten feet, it swerved suddenly, impossibly, in midair, wobbled, and s past hi far out in the brown distances of the desert

It&039;s the ghost, Rudy thought in despair, twisting his head around to look But he saw only a dark robed figure that seemed to melt out of the wind and the silence, a fierce-eyed and fa toward the camp as if he owned the place One Raider, themammoth in the eye, fired an arrow at hiold stopped beside him and jerked loose the spear that pinned hi him to his feet, and a familiar voice rasped, &039;What did you turn yourself into?&039;

&039;A stinkbug, for Chrissake!&039; Rudy sobbed &039;How the hell were they suspicious of a lousy stinkbug?&039;

In the shadows of his hood, Ingold&039;s eyes had a dry glitter &039;Have you seen any stinkbugs since you&039;ve coold went on &039;There are none - as you would have known, had you been paying attention to what goes on around you&039; He glanced fro into a circle around the, as they would surround a cave bear He held the spear he&039;d pulled slackly in his hand,

point- down, and made no move toward sword or weapon of any kind &039;And even so,&039; he continued, as if they were alone and safe, &039;you could have used a si-spell to leave the camp by the back way and head out into the brush, without a fireworks display like the one you just put on You didn&039;t need the horse, Rudy And now, of course, since we&039;ve made ourselves as conspicuous as we possibly can without actuallysohtened around thee of stone and steel points, like the teeth of a shark Ingold watched the warriors withouta move

&039;I&039;rated &039;You and I reat deal sorrier before all is said and done&039;

A slight sound old focus his attention behind him Several of the Raiders fell hastily back Rudy could feel the tension in the wizard, the leashed power, the blazing potential that custo facade The Raiders seemed to feel it, too At least none of them appeared prepared to try to rush him

Then the circle shifted, and a tall Raider stepped into the centre of the ring, raising his hands to show hi of adown to the pit of his throat His eyebroere tufted like those of a lynx, curling upward and outward; beneath theold of his cougar hide garments was unrelieved by any mark of rank; but without question, he was the chief of the Raiders He wore thatof herds or the threat of a storold and Rudy for a moment in silence, pale in the white fans of wrinkles that scored the dark-dyed skin When he spoke, his voice was a foghorn bass, and he spoke with a sonorous accent in the tongue

of the Wath

&039;You are wise old replied drily "He merely knows spells&039;

The cool eyes shifted briefly to Rudy, evaluated the distinction, and disrow hot and wished he could truly disappear or return to his stinkbug shape and trundle off into the desert, never to be seen again

&039;I thought that so it ht be,&039; the Raider said &039;Seldom does Yobshikithos the Arrow-Dancer miss his aim, but it is said that wise arnalhotepa the Twisted Hills People, out of the land a the White Lakes&039;

&039;You are far froravely &039;Do the mammoth then leave the northern plains, to draw you this far to the south?&039;

The foghorn voice rumbled, &039;Where we ride, we ride The lands of all the plains and of the desert are ours, ours to use without leave of h they esture of one scar-creased hand, &039;you read our one, not ht Roads Are you, then, that wise o, the Desert Walker, as friend to the White Bird and his tribe?&039;

Ingold was silent for a moment, as if the naall on his wrist, brought back the taste of another life and another self &039;I am that Desert Walker,&039; he said at last &039;But I must tell you, Hoofprint of the Wind, that the White Bird died of knowing me&039;

&039;I was a friend to that White Bird,&039; the chieftain said quietly &039;And men die, whether known by you or not, Desert Walker&039; Bleached lashes veiled the glint of his eyes &039;But if you are that saood it is for us all that my people did not kill you, but only waited for me to coold returned gently, &039;that they did not try&039;

The gold eyes e, but after a moment the mouth beneath the braided moustache curled in appreciation &039;Yes,&039; he said softly &039;Yes, truly you are that same Desert Walker who stole the White Bird&039;s horses&039;

&039;I never did!&039; Ingold protested in quick indignation

&039; andthe horrible birds&039;

That wasn&039;t me&039;

&039; and lost?&039;