The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #1) - M. R. Carey Page 0,157

on.

“Just a little further,” Ursala said. But I didn’t see no good that a little further might bring. Them that was following us was not far behind at all now. I could see they was Senlas’s people, all right, and one of them I knowed well. It was Sky. She was right out in front of them and pulling away, a spear in her fist, running with great big strides that et up the distance.

I thought I seen weeds waving and bending on the left-side wall too, and heard them snap from time to time. Something was moving fast up there. We was like to be flanked, so even if we found an opening we would not be able to get out of this.

It’s funny how sometimes you can get something you been wishing and wishing for and end up in worse case than you was before. Now the wall that was on our right dipped down, slow and gentle. Up ahead of us, I could see where it come down to the level of the tracks at last, and the tracks turned away across a space that was more open. The way Sky was going, she was going to get to that place before us, and the others was not far behind her. The movement on the other side of the valley was further back but coming quicker still.

I tried to push myself harder. I thought maybe if we got to the open space first we could run off into whatever green was there and hide in it. But it was not much of a hope, and it was dashed down soon enough. The wall dipped and dipped. Sky run and run. By the time the wall was just about twice as high as our heads, she was level with us.

I wondered that they didn’t kill us right then. They was all carrying spears, and we was about as easy to get to as apples in a hallow tub. But I guess they was all on fire for the hunt by this time, and wanted to finish it properly. Either that or they wanted to bring us back alive and kill us after.

Sky run on, overtaking us. Then she gathered herself and jumped.

She come down right in front of us, and we had got to stop or else run into her. She whipped that spear around and pointed it at my face. Maybe there was a moment when we could of rushed on her and tried to knock her down, but I don’t really believe we would of had much luck with that.

The rest of Senlas’s people come trotting down now and spread theirselves out around us.

Sky was panting hard from her run, her chest going up and down like a bellows. She bared her teeth. I don’t know if it was a smile or a threat like dogs do, but whatever it was it made me piss myself. I felt the wetness run down my leg into my boot, and I was right sorry, for that boot deserved better.

“Tie their hands up,” Sky says. “And give the end of the rope to me.”

The shunned men moved in to do what they was told. Ursala stepped back.

“Wait,” she says.

“Wait for what?” Sky says, still showing them clenched teeth. “Do it, dead god fuck you.”

“You’d better not,” Ursala said. And there was something in her voice that give them pause, just for a second. So Sky come in to do it herself. She stood over Ursala, and she set the point of that spear between Ursala’s breasts. She didn’t speak no threat. She didn’t need to. I could see she was deciding if she needed to bring the both of us back, or if it was just me, the altar boy and the betrayer of Senlas’s trust, that was the issue.

“I’ve got an offer to put to you,” Ursala said.

Sky laughed. “Oh,” she says. “An offer, is it? Well. Let’s hear it then.” And she pressed a mite harder with that spear point.

“Turn around right now and go back to your cave. We won’t hurt you. We won’t come after you. We’ll call this a draw and be on our way.”

“I knowed it would be funny,” Sky said. She drawed the spear back, the muscles bunching in her arm.

I seen it coming, and I was moving, aiming to run full tilt into her arm and make her miss. But she was quicker. She drove the spear deep into Ursala’s chest,