The Battle for Skandia- Character Reaction

15

"I believe it's your turn, Lydia." The girl was handed the book, and she began to read.

WHEN THEY REACHED THE CREST OF THE HILL, HALT PAUSED TO look back. Erak stopped beside him, but he grabbed the bigger man's arm and shoved him roughly toward the two tethered horses.

Crowley snickered. "How did you do that? Erak's a mountain, and you're...well, you're a molehill."

Halt glared at him. "You're not that much taller, if I'm correct." The Commandant laughed.

"Keep going!" he yelled.

In the valley below them, he could hear alarm horns sounding and, faintly, the sound of shouting. Closer to hand, on the slope of the hill below, he could see movement among the trees as those Temujai who had been concealed in listening posts around the hillside now broke cover and headed uphill in pursuit of the two intruders. Halt scowled.

"Damned hornets' nest," he muttered to himself. "Understatement," he muttered. He estimated that there must be at least half a dozen riders on the hill below him, heading upward. A larger party was obviously forming in the camp itself, with a view to heading around the base of the hill and catching him and Erak between two pursuing forces.

"Just like old times?" Gilan quipped. "Except for no horse stealing this time."

"Gilan." The Ranger's voice had dropped an octave, an all too clear warning for the younger man.

"Yes, sir?"

"If you don't shut up, I will shoot you."

"Yes, sir."

Alone, and mounted on Abelard, he was confident that he could outrun them easily. But burdened by the Skandian, he wasn't so sure. He'd seen the man's skill as a rider—which was virtually non-existent. Erak seemed to stay in the saddle by virtue of an enormous amount of willpower and precious little else. Will hid a smile. Halt knew that he would have to come up with some kind of delaying tactic, to slow the pursuit down and give him and Erak time to make it back to the larger Skandian force.

Strangely, although they had been nominal enemies up until now, the thought of abandoning the Skandian to the pursuing Temujai riders never occurred to him.

Halt raised his eyes to heaven. "A pity I didn't think of that." Erak grinned.

"You'd miss me."

"That's debatable."

He looked back to where they had tethered Erak's horse—Abelard, of course, needed no tethering. The Rangers smiled. He saw with some slight satisfaction that the wolfship skipper had managed to clamber into the saddle and was sitting clumsily astride his small, shaggy mount. Halt waved a hand now in an unmistakable gesture to him.

"Get going!" he yelled. "Go! Go! Go!"
Erak needed no second bidding. He wheeled the horse to face downhill,
swaying dangerously out to one side as he did so and managing to retain his seat only by grabbing at the mane and gripping with his powerful legs around the horse's barrel of a body. Somehow, everyone managed to keep a straight face. Then, half in and half out of the saddle, he drove the former Temujai mount down the slope, skidding and sliding in the soft wet snow, swerving dangerously among the trees. At one stage, Erak neglected to duck as the horse drove under the snow-laden lower branches of a huge pine. There was an explosion of snow and both horse and rider emerged coated in thick white powder.

Coughing around the room. Erak eyed them suspiciously, but none of them dropped the innocent look they wore.

Halt swung smoothly into Abelard's saddle and the little horse spun neatly, moving at a dead gallop almost before he could draw breath. Halt sat easily as Abelard slid, checked, skidded and regained his footing, gaining on the other horse and rider with every stride.
He'll be lucky to survive another fifty meters, Halt thought as Erak's mount, half out of control, swerved and skidded and slipped among the trees. Erak sniffed. It seemed only a matter of time before both horse and rider collided full tilt with one of the large pine trunks.