Free The Paper Sword by Robert Priest Page A

asked quietly.
    Xemion bit his bottom lip and narrowed his eyes. “Well, he definitely went over the edge, but the only way we’d know for sure is if we went down there and found him.”
    Saheli shook her head. “I don’t think we can. It would be far too dangerous to climb down there.”
    â€œI agree. So …”
    â€œSo, let’s depart then,” Saheli said somberly.
    With that the two of them, aided more by the light of their burning home than by that of the incipient dawn, proceeded into the forest in the only direction they could: East toward the ancient capital of Ulde. East toward the rebellion.
    Saheli rubbed her palm repeatedly down the side of her leg as she walked. “I really wish you had not shaken that man’s hand,” she said.

9

    Pathan Dogs
    D espite that imbalanced feeling one gets when one is missing a boot, Rotan Smedenage was at that very moment making his way on foot back to the village of Sho. It had taken quick reflexes and skill last night to grab on to the tree root that jutted out from the side of the crevice, several feet down from the edge. And then it had taken a quite commendable amount of strength to pull himself up so he could stand on the root and lift himself from there up to the forest floor.
    As he trotted along now, he clung to the tiny iota of pride this feat aroused in him just as desperately as he had clung to that tree root. But it was not enough. Below him yawned a great abyss of shame: Shame that he had been tricked. Shame that he had called out to a mere maid for his life. Shame that he had waited there trembling throughout the night hoping against hope that his earth boar might return. Only when dawn was coming, not long before the fire erupted in the tower tree, had he finally dared to set off on foot back to Sho. If he had only had the courage to leave earlier it would have closed the gap in his pursuit by several hours. Now he had to waste time walking away from them before he could re-arm himself and return to pursue them.
    By the time he reached the perimeter of Sho, several hours later, Rotan Smedenage’s shame had begun to transform into something a little easier for him to accept: rage. He clenched his fists over and over as he stomped through the empty streets bellowing the names of the inhabitants. Regrettably for his plan to enlist a group of them and set off in immediate pursuit of Xemion and Saheli, all the able-bodied were once again out at sea and this time they’d either taken their badly beaten children with them or instructed them to hide in the forest. For a moment he was filled with a new panic. What if the boy and the girl got away? He doubted they were stupid enough to remain there in that hollowed out tree they lived in. They were probably fleeing right now. And they had his sword! And they would already be hours and hours ahead of him. And where was his boar? Shoving two meaty fingers between his lips, he unleashed a shrill whistle that echoed over the treetops and reached even the ears of Torgee and Tharfen who, in accordance with their parents’ instructions, were hiding in the shack in the forest where their family kept their fishing equipment. Torgee sat up immediately from the makeshift cot he was lying on. “That’s him!” This drew no response from Tharfen, who after a long night of pain and a deep rage of her own had finally fallen into a fitful slumber. Torgee’s own slow anger now gripped him. He got up quietly, grabbed the club his father used for killing fish, and furtively opened the door.
    To Rotan Smedenage’s relief his whistle was followed by a slight tremor in the ground, which increased as the massive boar, helplessly conditioned into subservience, ran to him. The examiner smiled his gentlest smile as the beast approached. Only when he had its reins in his hand did he punch it solidly on the nose. “Who told you to run?” He mounted the broad-backed