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I had a disturbing sense of his vitality suddenly; I could sh of a possible victi across my path I put all this away fro only that I was so glad that he was alive! He had corasses He had escaped that party of raiders, who had seemed then the very heralds of death itself
I pulled up a stool so that Ihis face
I had not put on love
I laidto take liberties, and slowly he opened his eyes They were ht, despite the broken blood vessels and the wetness, and he looked at me softly and wordlessly for a while, as if he had no cause to move, as if I were a vision near to his dreams
I felt the hood fall back fro to stop it I couldn't see what he saw, but I knehat it was-his son, with a cleanshaven face, such as his son had had when thisloose auburn hair in snow-dusted waves
Beyond, their bodies e blaze of the fire, the others sang or talked And the wine flowed
Nothing came between me and thisdown the Tatars, who had sent one arrow after another sailing at his enemies, even as their arrows rained down upon him in vain
"They never wounded you," I whispered "I love you and only now do I kno strong you were " Was my voice even audible?
He blinked as he looked athis lips His lips were bright, like coral, shining through the heavy red fringe of mustache and beard
"They wounded ot ot me, in the shoulder and in the aro of Andrei I fell off s I ran after the I had a cursed arrow sticking right out of ht shoulder here "
His hand appeared from beneath the fur and he placed it up on the dark curve of his right shoulder
"I kept shooting I didn't even feel it I saw them ride away They took him I don't even know if he was alive I don't know Would they have bothered to take him if they had shot him? There were arrows everywhere The sky rained arrows! There must have been fifty of them They killed every other , don't stop even for an instant, don't cower, shoot and shoot and shoot, and when you have no ht into theet down close to your horse's head and ride into them Well, maybe they did I don't know "
He lowered his lids He glanced around He wanted to get up, and then he looked at me
"Givedecent The man has Spanish sack Get me some of that, a bottle of sack Hell, in the old days, I laid in wait for the traders out there in the river, and I never had to buy anything from any man Get me a bottle of sack I can see you're rich "
"Do you knoho I am?" I asked