David Gemmell – Rigante 3 – Ravenheart

‘You raped her?’ said the astonished Persis.

‘Hardly call it rape,’ said Brace, a hulking, powerfully built loader from Grassman’s warehouse. ‘She offered it to save her life.’

Keets was now dead, as indeed were Barley, Jube and Mather. The vile Brace was still alive, and sitting not ten feet away, honing his sabre on a whetstone.

‘What shall we do?’ asked Lane Pikard, a lanky young man who worked with Persis in Grassman’s warehouse. Persis did not like him. Lane had an unreasoning hatred of highlanders. As far as Persis could tell no Highlander had ever harmed him, yet Lane talked constantly of the need to ‘exterminate the vermin’. Persis guessed he had absorbed much of his hatred from Enson Giese, the ageing wolf hunter. The man bragged of his grisly exploits against clansmen; how he had once castrated a highlander for an assault on a ‘good Varlish girl’. Persis became aware that Lane was looking at him, still waiting for an answer to his question.

‘We go after him,’ said Persis. ‘We find him and we kill him. He is wounded and losing blood, and he has been chased all day. He is an old man, Lane, and will be weary by now. I think the hound is ready. We will track him. We will catch him.’

‘He’s killed four already,’ put in Enson Giese. ‘Chances are, if we do go after him, he’ll take another – maybe two.’

Persis glanced up at the wolf hunter. He was the oldest man here, at fifty, and a former beetleback dishonourably discharged for drunkenness. Despite his cruel nature he was no coward. He was also a fine shot with a musket. ‘We have no choice, Enson,’ said Persis. ‘Why do you think Jace waited here at the house?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘He wanted to see us. Now he has. If he lives we die – or we flee south. I’m not anxious to leave. Are you?’

‘Guess not. Let’s find him, then. It will be good to listen to him squeal.’

‘I hate him, but I don’t think he’s the squealing kind,’ said Persis.

Enson chuckled. ‘They all squeal, boy, when you have a knife to their balls. They beg, they plead, they promise. Even the great Call Jace. You’ll see.’

‘I just want him dead,’ said Persis. ‘A just punishment for his evil.’

‘Oh, he’ll die,’ promised Enson. ‘But he’ll die hard.’

Jace had made more than two miles over the rough country when he heard the dog barking. He cursed and struggled on. His left arm hung uselessly at his side, his fingers swollen and painful. Blood was flowing from the bite to his left shoulder.

They were still after him. And they were gaining.

Jace pushed on, scrambling up a steep rise. Just as he reached the top he slipped, falling hard onto his wounded arm. With a cry of pain he rolled onto his back, and slid down the slope. His scabbard caught on a tree root, the hilt of his sabre gouging into his hip. At the bottom he lay still, breathing heavily. His strength was almost gone, and he was still some six miles from the sanctuary of Rigante lands.

Struggling to his feet he attempted the climb again. His legs were weary, and without use of his left arm he found it difficult. At last he reached the top and sat down, trying to gather what remained of his strength. Too much easy living, he thought. If I get out of this, by heaven, I’ll build my stamina back.

Rising, he took several deep breaths then walked wearily along the track. From here he could see the Black Mountain road, and beyond it the Rigante mountains. So close.

A shot sounded, the ball screaming by mere inches from his head. Jace hurled himself flat, then swivelled on his belly to peer down the slope. The young fair-haired man with the familiar face had released the dog’s leash, and the hound was bounding up the rise. Three men had fanned out behind the handler. One of them, a grey-haired man, was reloading his musket. Jace estimated the distance. Around two hundred paces. Damn, but that was a good shot, he thought.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *