Chapter four
Dead men pose puzzlesStraight for the rocky outcrop and running at lung-bursting speed, the forlorn party rode on. They were making for the shelter we had chosen. There, it was clear, they hoped to make a stand against the reining sky mercenaries. Now the sound of the hooves beat a rattling tattoo against the hard ground.
“They’ll never make it.” Tyfar stared hotly through the thorn-ivy.
If that young prince decided to stand up and run out to assist those doomed jutmen, I, for one, would seek to stop him. He was become precious to me, now, as a comrade. I would not relish his death. I had seen too much of death.
“Jak—” whispered Quienyin.
“Yes?”
“I have sought out—”
“See! They shoot!” Tyfar was panting now, and his lithe body humped as though about to leap out.
I said,
