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struck home.
This continued for several minutes while Mudge reduced the number
of Hathcar's band and Roseroar kept the boulder from moving so much as an inch
inward. No martyrs to futility, those hefting the battering ram finally gave
up and fled for the safety of the woods with the otter's deadly shafts urging
them on.
No one had approached Jon-Tom's window during the fight. Mudge and
Roseroar had done all the work and he felt pretty useless.
 What now? I don't think they'll try that again."
 No, but they'll bloody well try somethin' else," murmured the
otter. "Say, mate, why don't you 'ave a go at 'em with your duar?"
Jon-Tom blinked. "I hadn't thought of that. Well, I had, but it's
hard to think and sing when you're running."
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 Why make music? To aggravate them?" asked Drom interestedly.
 Nope. 'E's a spellsinger, 'e is," said Mudge, "and a
Alan Dean Poster
right good one, too. When 'e can control it," he added by way of
afterthought.
 A spellsinger. I am impressed," said the unicorn. Jon-Tom felt a
little better, though he wished the golden stallion would quit staring at him
so intensely.
 What do you think they'll try next?" Jon-Tom asked the otter.
Mudge eyed the trees. "This bunch bein' about as imaginative as a
pile o' cow flop, I'd expect them to try smokin' us out. If four legs there is
right about the cracks in the roof lettin' air in, they'll be wastin' their
time."
 Are yo certain theah's no back way in?"
 None that I was ever able to discover," Drom told the tigress.
 Not that you'd fit places where some othe rest of us might,"
observed Mudge thoughtfully. He handed his bow and quiver to Jon-Tom. "I'd
better check out the nooks and crannies, mate. We don't want some nasty
surprises to show up and stick us in the behind when we ain't lookin'." He
headed for the crumbling back wall.
Jon-Tom eyed the bow uncertainly. "Mudge, I'm not good at this."
 Just give a shout if they come at us again. It ain't 'ard, mate.
Just shove an arrow through the window there. They don't know you can't
shoot." He bent, crawled under a lopsided stone and disappeared.
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Jon-Tom awkwardly notched an arrow, rested it on the window sill
as Roseroar took up a position behind the one the otter had vacated.
 Ah don't understand," she murmured, squinting at the forest. "We
all ain't worth the trouble we're causin' this Hathcar. That ottah brought
down five or six o' them. If ah was this fella ah'd give up and go in search
of less deadly prey."
 That would be the reasonable thing to do," said Drom, nodding,
"except that as chief he has lost face already before his band. He will not
give up, though if he
suffers many more losses his own fighters may force him to quit."
The unicorn climbed to his feet and strolled over to Roseroar's window. She
made room for him.
 Hathcar!" he shouted.
A reluctant voice finally replied. "Who calls? Is that you,
meddler with a spike in his brain?"
 It is I." Drom was unperturbed by the bandit leader's tone.
"Listen to me! These travelers are poor. They have
no money." Cuscus laughter rang through the trees. "You expect me
to believe that?"
 It's true. In any case, you cannot defeat them."
 Don't bet on that."
 You cannot break in here."
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 Maybe not, but we'll force you out. It may take time, but we'll
do it."
 If you do, then I will only lead them to another place of safety,
one even harder to assault than this one. I know these woods, and you know I
speak the truth. So why not depart now before suffering any more senseless
losses? It's a stupid leader who sacrifices his people for no gain."
Muttering came from different places in the trees, proof that
Drom's last words had hit home. Hathcar hastened to respond.
 No matter if you lead them elsewhere. We'll track you down no
matter where you go."
 Perhaps you will. Or perhaps you'll find yourselves led into a
trap. We of the forest have ways of defending ourselves against you lovers of
civilization. There are hidden pits and tree-mounted weapons scattered
throughout my territory. Follow me and find them at your peril."
This time the woods were silent. Drom nodded to himself. "Good.
They're thinking it over, probably arguing about it. If they come to their
senses, we may be able to get out of here without any more violence."
Jon-Tom peered through the narrow slit in the stone. "You think
they'll really react that sensibly?"
 I don't know, but he knows I'm talking truth," said the unicorn
softly. "I know this section of forest better than he does, and he knows that
I know that."
 But how could we slip out of here and get past them?"
Drom chuckled. "did fudge on that one a bit. Yet for all he knows
there are a dozen secret passages out of here."
 If there are, they're bloody well still secret." Mudge emerged
from the crawlspace he'd entered and wiped limestone dust from his shirt and
whiskers. "Tight as a teenage whore. Nothin' bigger than a snake could get out
the back way. We're safe enough here, all right." Jon-Tom gladly handed back
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the otter's bow and found himself a soft place on the floor.
' Then I guess we wait until they attack again or give up and
leave us alone. I suppose we ought to stand watch tonight."
 Allow me, suh," said Roseroar. "Ah'm as comfortable with the
night as ah am with the day."
 While we wait to see what they'll do," said Drom, "perhaps now
you'll tell me what you people are doing in this country, so far from
civilization."
Jon-Tom sighed. "It's a long story," he told the unicorn, and
proceeded to relate it yet again. As he spoke, the sun set and the trees
blended into a shadowy curtain outside. An occasional arrow plunked against
the stone, more for nuisance value than out of any hope of hitting any of the
defenders inside.
Hathcar had indeed lost too many in the futile attack to try it
again. He knew that if he continued to fling his followers uselessly against
an impregnable position they would melt quietly away into the woods. That
night he moved away from the main campfire and sought counsel from an elderly
rat and wolf, the two wisest of his band.
 So how do we pry those stinking bastards out of there?"
The rat's hair was tinged with white and his face and
arms were scarred. He picked at the dirt with one hand. "Why
bother? Why not let them rot in there if they so desire? There are easier
pickin's elsewhere."
Hathcar leaned toward him, glaring in the moonlight. "Do you know
what happened today? Do you? They made a fool of me. Me, Hathcar! Nobody makes
a fool of Hathcar and walks away to boast of it, nobody! Not on their own
legs, they don't."
 It was just a thought," the rat mumbled. "It had to be
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said."
 Right. It's been said. It's also been forgotten." The rat
said nothing.
 How about smoking them out?" suggested the wolf. The cuscus let
out a derisive snort. "Don't you think they've already thought of that? If
they haven't tried to break out, it means they aren't worried about smoke; and
if they aren't worried about it, it probably means it won't work if we try
it."
 Could we," suggested the rat, "maybe force our way in through the
roof?"
Hathcar sighed. "You're all looking at the obvious, all of you.
I'm the only one who can see beyond the selfevident. That cursed four-legs led
them straight here, so he's probably telling the truth when he says he knows
it well. He wouldn't box himself into a situation he wasn't comfortable with.
He says they can slip out anytime and hide somewhere else twice as strong.
Maybe he's lying, but we can't take that chance. We have to take them here, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]