Page 15 (1/2)

Tele in parade, one behind the other "Look here--they passed this ithin minutes of us, andtheir territory, not hunting"

"Two lions prowling this close to the city!" exclaireed Ali as their guide "Chase them for sport, if you like, Abreha the Lion Hunter Otherwise it will be a job for the city guard to kill theether, the najashi’s gazelle hounds were said to have taken lions, Tele to quell his excite for a fight, not with a sharpened spear to call his own, and not with anyone’s perstar?" Abreha requested decisively, as though it were a forh there were no one else to ask

Teleratitude and excitement "My najashi, of course"

"Stand steady"

Abreha refixed the scarf that muffled Telemakos’s charm bracelet, and reached to Tharan, who handed hiht spears for Tele a lance Are those on your back in readiness? Good Lead on"

Tele the wind He breathed deep and choked on sand He put down the spear for awith the neck of his shirt pulled up over his nose, took another deep breath He was trying to catch the lingering trace of the lions’ bodies beyond the stink of cat that they had left about; but Menelik padded at the najashi’s side, and the only scent Telemakos could make out was Menelik’s faht, histo race I love this This isThe kill is nothing to the chase, nothing If I had never to do anything else but this, I would be happy

He picked up his spear and set out in the direction pointed by the tracks, falling into a light jog that he could easily check when he needed to confiros and Selene trotted one on either side of him, and the najashi’s host followed behind It was not the first ti; Teles and was better at reporting it

They overtook the lions high in a barren gully carved by years of seasonal rains Telemakos fell back and let the hounds close in A dozen of them concentrated their effort on the sh it put up a furious fight; its heavier co to its defense froer lion killed a saluki in one single snap of its jaws, crushing the back of the slender creature’s head and neck One of the men let out a cry of sorrow then, and the hunts lion turned tail and leaped silently away a blood

"It’s taken a spear thrust in the thigh," soet far"

Tele-to-the-hounds voice "Go, old and black, Menelik loped after the vanished lion

That thing is a quarter again Menelik’s size, Teleed with a superficial wound

He ran He leaped up the gully as lightly and nearly as swiftly as the young lion, leveling hih to stop the fight before it started Menelik and the wild lion were going at each other with abandon when Tele their bodies in the sand with such lightning speed Teleht

"Menelik! Menelik! Hold!"

What Teleripped his short spear tight against his ribs and launched himself at the lions

The wild one took its teeth out of Menelik’s neck and lunged toward Teleht into his spear Teleh the lion’s openthroat Selene went for its throat also, and clung there with her jaws locked shut, relentless and determined as a mosquito As the lion fell at his feet, Telemakos hauled his second spear out of its brace, over his back, and threw all his weight into a final bloeen the lion’s shoulders He could feel the blade grinding against that of his first spear as he drove theether inside the terrible neck

Selene still held on Telemakos, too, held hi, half expecting the lion to leap up again and devour hi happened, he dared to look up Menelik lay choking on blood that streamed from his mouth and nostrils The wild lion had torn out his throat

For a few ive Menelik neither help nor any corief and fury, he braced hiainst the carcass of the lion he had just killed, wrenched free the spear in its back, and drove it between Menelik’s ribs, through his heart

"Morningstar!" The rest of the hunters had caught up with histar! Are you hurt?"

"What’s the boy done? Mother of God!"

Men lifted Telemakos away fro voices He found hi before Abreha, who held open arms to hiratulate him or to comfort him He had no chance to do either: Telemakos flew at hiainst lion!"