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.Half an hour later, a dozen well-armed men arrived on horseback, toescort and more or less enclose Macurdy s party.Six in front andsix behind, herding them farther down the trail.They re organized all right, Macurdy thought, and trained, by the way theydo things.Less than a mile farther on the draw widened, and they entered anoblong basin.Three or four hundred acres had been cleared for pasture, someof it planted now to corn and potatoes, the rest a drill field.The grassy look of the surrounding woods told of livestock pasturing there,too.The rebel camp was at the near end, eight longhouses, and more underconstruction.Wollerda occupied an old log cabin, which served asboth headquarters and living quarters.The commander himself stood in front of it, waiting for them, and as theyapproached, Macurdy recognized him the man who d eaten with them onceat an inn, and asked Tossi about dwarf swords.He was medium-sized and maybeforty years old, Macurdy guessed, and fit-looking, though not as physicallyhard as the escort he d sent.Wollerda recognized him, too, but it was Kithro he gave his attention too,pumping his hand as the two exchanged good-natured queries andcomments.Now Kithro half turned, looking at Macurdy. Pavo, hesaid, I ve brought someone I think you ll be glad to meet: Curtis Macurdy.He staken over Orthal s band.We call it Macurdy s Company now.Macurdy and Wollerda stepped up to one another and shook hands,Wollerda examining him. Macurdy and I have run into one another before,he said to Kithro, then spoke to Macurdy. How did you get rid of Orthal?From what I ve heard, he wasn t someone who d step down.Page 133ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html He didn t.We rode into his camp to volunteer, and he decided he didn t trustus, so he made us prisoners.Wollerda s eyebrows twitched. And then? Then I killed him, and his men made me their commander.Wollerda cocked an eye. Well.Best we go inside and sit down. Hebeckoned them into his headquarters, and seated them on split-logbenches. Now, he said,  there s got to be a lot of that story you didn ttell.Macurdy shrugged. It gets complicated. Excuse me, sir. It was Wolf who interrupted. You might recall me;Iwas one of Minska s platoon.I ve been with Macurdy since he cut me free froma hanging post in Gormin Town, and I guess I saw all of it.Wollerda examined the hard-bitten rebel. You re the one they call Wolf,he said. Suppose you tell me what Macurdy left out.Exaggerating only a little, Wolf told the whole story, beginning withthe hanging posts.He included the campfires started with a gesture,BlueWing, the slaying of Slaney, the tricking of Orthal, and the freeingof the captive women, ending with the organizing of the company and itstraining. And we re giving chits to farmers when we commandeer food, hefinished. Good for payment when we ve thrown down Gurtho.Wollerda had seemed to enjoy the story.Briefly he grinned, a wry grin. Well, that gives them another reason to want Gurtho gone.Now.You said we re giving chits. Does that mean you re staying with Macurdy instead ofme?Wolf didn t flinch. Sir, you trained me hard.Now Macurdy needs men to trainhis people, and it seems like I d be of most use to him just now. Umm.So you would.Well, I leave it to you. He turned to Macurdy then,quizzically. You sound like one of the heroes in the old folk tales.Did youever kill a dragon? Never even saw one. When I saw you before, I ignored you.Your face was more discolored then.Itook you to be a large, rough young man who d been hired by the lords inthe mountain to tend their beasts and baggage.Someone who drank andgot into brawls. He paused.Do you drink and get into brawls?Macurdy grinned. Water s my style, and buttermilk.And I generally try tostay out of fights, but sometimes sometimes that s not so easy.He d almost said sometimes in this world, and wondered if Wollerdawould have made anything of it.Wollerda turned to Yxhaft Vorelsson. How did you lords in the mountaincome to associate with this unusual tallfolk?The dwarf grunted. That s a story to match the others ye ve heard here,he said, and proceeded to tell what had happened at the fallentimbers, including the release of Slaney and his men. It still seems out of character for lords in the mountain to mix in tallfolkaffairs. Aye.I can t imagine it of folk in the Silver Mountain.But we re westernersfrom the Diamond Flues. Hmm. Wollerda turned to Macurdy again, looking at him long enough to havemade some men nervous [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]