A Warrior s Desire - By Pamela Palmer Page 0,13

her, looking tired but utterly determined.

He didn't have to say the words for her to hear them ringing in her head.

You have to keep up.

She forced herself to her feet and slung her bow and quiver over her shoulder.

When he turned and strode off in that ground-eating gait of his, she once more ran, though her body felt like it was going to come apart and start dropping, piece by piece onto the ground.

Marceils healed injuries quickly, but she needed rest and sleep to replenish her stores of energy.

And she'd had little of either in more than a day.

None of that mattered.

Nothing but staying with Charlie Rand, though she wondered what use she'd be to him if all she could do now was to keep one foot moving in front of the other.

"We're on a collision course with a chipmunk rug," Charlie said a short while later.

"Should we step aside and let them pass?" "No."

She caught a glimpse of green, but could see little beyond Charlie's broad back.

"They'll go around us."

Minutes later, several hundred small green petermoles covered the ground at their feet.

Charlie stopped so quickly, Tarrys nearly ran into him.

"You can keep walking," she told him, though the respite was welcome.

"You can't step on them."

"That's not why I stopped.

I swear I just saw a big black cat with three white horns.

But it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared."

Tarrys froze.

Her blood went cold.

"A black trimor.

The most deadly creature in Esria."
Chapter 4
Tarrys grabbed his arm.

"Get behind me! A black trimor will kill you."

"Like hell."

Charlie pulled his knife as he stared at the sea of neon-green, watching as another chipmunk levitated into the air.

For an instant...only an instant...a catlike creature about the size of a German shepherd, black with three white horns sticking out of his forehead, appeared to eat the little guy.

Then both disappeared.

"I'm really seeing him, right?" "Yes.

They're invisible until they snatch their prey...or attack.

And there's more than one."

She stepped away from him and lifted her bow.

"I see four.

Tell me if you see more."

Four? He felt as if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but yeah, now that she mentioned it, he was seeing things in his peripheral vision - a flash of black appearing for a second, then disappearing.

Beside him, Tarrys began shooting, arrow after arrow.

He thought about doing the same, but knew she had the best chance of striking one of those creatures.

Her movements were swift and graceful, edged with a desperation that did little to reassure him as she spun, shooting in every direction.

They were surrounded, the trimors working at the edges of the chipmunk rug.

But the black trimors never stayed visible long enough for one of Tarrys's arrows to hit its mark.

Charlie wondered if he'd have been more effective with a gun, but doubted it.

By the time he saw the creatures, they were gone.

"Got one!" Tarrys crowed even as she continued to shoot.

The one she'd shot fell, an arrow through one eye.

A moment later, it disappeared.

"Charlie, I'm nearly out of arrows.

I'll need your quiver."

He pulled it off his back and waited, handing it to her the moment she shot the last arrow from her own.

With remarkable grace, she dropped the first and slung the second quiver onto her back, the arrows flying in an almost fluid continuity.

A second cat went down with an arrow through the neck, followed by Tarrys's chilling words.

"I'm out of arrows."

"Back to back," he ordered.

Though what good it would do when they couldn't see the creatures, he wasn't sure.

"Unless you have a better idea?" "A trimor paralyzes its larger prey, or its enemies, by goring them with its central horn and pumping them full of poison.

Neither the goring nor the poison will automatically kill me.

They will you.

While I draw their attack - " "No way."

Tarrys continued as if he hadn't spoken.

" - you kill them with your knife.

You'll have to be fast."

"They could still kill you."

Her plan went against every instinct he possessed.

She met his gaze, violet eyes flashing with steely determination.

"If we're not very quick and very lucky, they're going to kill us both.

I may heal fast, but even I can't survive being eaten."

Dammit.

His pride protested, but he took a deep breath and forced it aside.

She might be small and female, but she was all warrior and this might be the only chance they got.

They were going to do this together or not at all.

"How will you draw their attack when you can't see them?" "Noise.

Stay close behind me."

As Tarrys lunged forward with a high-pitched scream, Charlie followed.

Sure enough,