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Matthew threw hiht shoulder, its talons grasping at empty air a second bird of prey ca in a blur, and alht there in his face he felt a searing pain across his left cheek and knew he&039;d been hit

The third hawk caave a wounded cry but her stride never slowed She kept her head down as another hawk sped by with a high shrill shriek and began to turn a slow circle for its next pass

Sixty yards to the forest Suddenly Matthew had feathers in his face and talons jabbing for his eyes He hunched his shoulders up and head down and felt the sharp claws rip furrows across his left shoulder There was no ti, just as Berry was not letting the next attack-even so close as it ca out her own left eye-make her lose her speed and determination to live

Two birds passed close over Matthew&039;s head, one froain shrieking, and this time slammed into the left side of Berry&039;s face as it flew on she stu, "Get away! Get away!" as another hawk skiedly, and then Matthew looked back and saw the boys colinted off their knives Three of the smaller and faster boys were already halfway to the first vine row He saw Si between Lawrence Evans and Count Dahlgren Four other adults Matthew did not recognize-three men in suits and tricorn hats and a woman under a dark blue parasol-stood with theed to watch their pupils in action The desire to live caught flaet their wrists free

Berry was up andtoward the forest Just above her left eye as lamb&039;s blood and what her oas difficult to tell Matthew ran after her a hawk flashed by his face with a noise like bacon sizzling in a pan an instant later, a pair of talons were scrabbling at his forehead and the fresh pain told hi to be cut to pieces out here in the open a red haze shimmered before his eyes If he fell or was overcome, he was most certainly dead The hawk&039;s shriek pierced his ears, but he ducked his head down before further dao, and with every stride the forest neared

Matthew could ies Three on hi party before the boys had even-

The largest haas suddenly upon him From which direction it had cos outstretched as if to enfold hi his eyes shut probably saved hiht at the front of his coat and the hooked beak, intending to pierce his left lamp, tore flesh a half-inch beside it The bird&039;s talons ripped shreds of cloth froh slitted eyes Matthe a flurry of beating wings and a blur of red-spark eyes and flashing beak He was hit again on the cheek just under the right eye, a pain like a burn, and then what felt like a broomstick clobbered hiht in his hair He heard himself cry out with pain and abject terror and he did the only thing he could do: he crashed hith of the dae haas still clutched to his coat and the beak was trying to hook an eye Matthew desperately twisted his head back and forth, his shoulders hunched and his eyes tightly sealed against the onslaught Then the bird gave a sudden hurunt and near-squeal, and Matthew opened his eyes to see the hahirling away on the toe of Berry&039;s shoe

"Get up!" she shouted She thrust her foot under his ars beneath him and stood up The world spun and the sun burned down but the air had one less predator, for a hawk lay at the base of the grapevines twitching on a broken wing

Berry ran and Matthew followed Twenty yards to go He glanced back and saeat glistening on the three faces of the fastest boys, ere about fifty yards behind Beyond them came the other sixteen

The pursued were nearly to the woods, which offered no safety but a modicum of cover from overhead attack, when one of the birds swooped down on Berry again with a fierce show of nature&039;s will at work The creature struck at her forehead, which caused Berry to screa forward Matthe the hawk get tangled in Berry&039;s hair and alht itself free Then it was loose and sailing up into the blue once ed the attentions of the second hawk and it shrieked its indignation the forest took thelade there could be no pause, for the shouting of the boys was coher, over ancient tree roots and sharp-edged rocks Matthew thought one of those edges ht serve to sever a rope, but there was no ti down their necks

"This way!" Matthew shouted, and he tore off at an angle to the right between two ht behind He had no clear sense of where he was heading, other than to get as much distance between them and the knives as possible He looked up and saw the tks trailing thereen treetops all the boys had to do was look to the hawks to ully ahead Matthew ran along its edge, his eyes searching for any sign of the estate&039;s wall But how to cli, even if it was anywhere neari He ducked under low branches, Berry at his heels, and suddenly one of the hawks flashed past his face He kept going, into a dense thicket where vines and thorns clutched at his suit another hawk cah the branches and skreeled so loud it was a sure call to the young killers Matthew realized that even if he and Berry found a place to hide, the haould either attack or give theh the woods over on their left, but he couldn&039;t yet see anyone Then a da over his head and he felt its talons go through his hair like razors

Suddenly the forest thinned and parted and Matthew and Berry eed onto the road that led from the vineyard to thewhat direction they ought to go, the tks flew in alash across the cheek The haent up and started circling for a renewed attack Matthew looked toward the vineyard, then in the direction of the house He are of shouting in the woods behind them and the shadows of the hawks on the road It came to him that Chapel had asked Lawrence Evans a question: Who&039;s on the gate todayi

Enoch Speck, sir, was the answer

On the way out, tell Mr Speck he ate, Matthew thought It was unguarded

The gatehouse had s

Glass

"Come on!" he told Berry, whose face-like his oell- at full speed toward the house, his knees starting to go wobbly He could hear her breathing harshly behind hiht a glance back The pack hadn&039;t yet come out of the woods Then around the curve, the hawks flew at theet It ca for his eyes He thought he&039;d been struck again, or at least grazed, but everything was hurting now from chin to hairline and as he ducked his face down he kneas just a matter of time-and seconds, at that-before a beak or claw rendered him if not co their eerie cries

Matthew took three more strides and then saw on the road before him the mounds of fresh horse manure he&039;d stepped into When he abruptly stopped, Berry slammed into his back

He had very clearly reht even scare the carrion birds aith that face, Corbett!

The haere circling Their shadows, growing larger

"What are you doingi" Berry asked through gashed and swollen lips, her eyes bright blue against the glistening red

They&039;re trained to go for the color, Chapel had said