Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar

behind the kyree, moving toward the bandits’ horses with steps as quiet as she could make them. While the kyree stayed downwind in the trees, she walked into the clearing, speaking to the horses in the soft whistling words she had learned from the Shin’a’in. A few of the animals chuffed nervously, but she soothed them with gentle hands on their necks. Working quickly, always keeping the bodies of the animals between herself and the camp, she used her boot knife to slit the hobbles. When all the horses were untied, she backed out of the clearing.

Mounting the gelding again, Laeka loosened the sword in its scabbard and looked down at her strange partner.

“Well,” she whispered, “we’ll never have a better chance, hai?” She shook out the reins and gestured to the two mares, then kneed the gelding into a run, over the crest and straight through the center of the bandit camp. With an eerie howl, the kyree followed her.

As she passed the lone guard, Laeka lashed out with her sword, catching him on the side of his head and neck. He slumped to the ground, and she tried not to notice the spray of blood that spattered her arm and the side of the horse. Somehow it was very different from the cow’s-blood-filled bags she and her trainers used when sword practicing with the horses that, like the gelding, would be sold to fighters.

While she moved through the bandit camp from south to north, followed by the galloping mares, the kyree darted off to the side. Laeka heard a cry of alarm cut off with a gurgle and knew that the kyree had dispatched one of the guards by the cubs.

She kept the horses moving through into the darkening trees on the other side of the camp, then turned to the west, repositioning herself for another pass through the bandits’ midst. Her angle brought her to the clearing where the thieves’ horses had been hobbled, but the startled horses fled at the noise of her charge. She smiled grimly to herself. If there were pursuit, it would be slow. She tightened her knees, and the gelding and mares headed back into the camp.

This time, two of the bandits, who had been sleeping on the ground near the fire, were standing and searching the trees surrounding the camp, swords drawn; but with most of their armor set to the side, she simply ran them down, using the horses’ bodies and hooves as weapons. On the other side of the fire, the kyree had set her back to the cubs’ cage, defending them with all the fury Laeka had heard in her Mind-voice. She could see a body on each side of the cage, but two more of the bandits approached the kyree, and she would not be able to account for both of them. Laeka guided the gelding to leap over the fire, pulling up behind one of the men with a swing of her sword at his exposed back. His companion glanced over at him, startled, as he fell, and that moment was all the kyree needed.

Laeka dismounted and ran to the cage. The men her horses had run down were struggling to their feet, one leaning over to aid the second. The noise had also roused the sleepers in the tent, and she heard shouts and thrashing inside the canvas. With surprise no longer on her side, she had no desire to test her rudimentary skills against more foes. Grabbing the cage, she hoisted it onto the copper mare’s saddle, using the lead line to lash it into place. Pulling herself back into the gelding’s saddle, she gestured to the mares. The kyree snarled at the men, but when Laeka and the horses moved out of the clearing, she followed.

“Are you able to skirt back, to see if they mount a pursuit?” Laeka tried to pitch her voice so only the kyree would hear.

For answer, the kyree melted into the underbrush.

Thankful for the near-full moon, Laeka pushed the horses in the darkening forest, putting distance between them, the remaining bandits, and the buyer. Finally, she pulled up in one of the clearings where they had rested late in the afternoon. A small creek ran along one edge, and she led the horses to drink while she cleaned her sword and refilled her waterskins.

:One stays with the injured. They found several of their horses, but we have a good lead,: the kyree Mindspoke, coming into the clearing behind her. :One is a passable tracker, so I took some time to muddle the trail. If we walk in the stream for a while, that should throw him enough that we can get a little rest tonight.:

Laeka swallowed her sigh, rubbing her knee a little bit before swinging up into the gray mare’s saddle. “Then we ride, as long as we have the moon to guide us. The creekbed does not seem too full of stones, so the horses should be safe enough if I let them choose their own pace.”

:I will go ahead a bit, to find a place to spend a night.: The kyree stepped into the water and started to wade downstream, and Laeka nudged the horses to follow. She allowed the horses to pick their way carefully, to find the best footing, and it wasn’t long before the kyree had vanished ahead of them. Try though she might, Laeka could hear no sign of pursuit. Not that I could hear much over our splashing in the stream, anyway, she thought.

The moon’s light was waning when the kyree returned, pacing them along the farther bank of the creekbed. :I have found a shelter. Follow me.:

The horses were clearly relieved to be out of the creek; the chestnut gelding almost seemed to shake the water from his hooves as he stepped onto the bank. Not too far into the forest, there was a thickening of undergrowth, but the kyree led her down a twisting path that avoided the worst thorns. They broke through into a tiny clearing, just large enough for the three horses. One edge was marked by a giant treefall, and the lower half of the tree had rotted away to form a natural half-cave.

Immediately after dismounting, she pulled the cage from the copper mare’s saddle, using her knife to work at the knots that held the cage together until the top came off. Silent until now, the cubs spilled out, swarming over their mother with excited yips and Mindspeech so enthusiastic they even broadcast it to Laeka.

Laeka smiled as she stripped the horses’ tack, then poured water from her waterskins into the clever folding leather trough she had acquired from the Shin’a’in and held it up to each thirsty muzzle. When they had drunk their fill, she readied them for the night, wiping them down, rubbing salve into cuts and scrapes, lavishly praising them in Shin’a’in while the ebullient cubs’ Mindspeech washed over her.

:Where did you find the lady? Why is it only her? Wasn’t she brave? Will we go back to the cave? Will they come after us? Will you make this into a tale, just like the stories of our famous cousin Warrl? Will you tell us everything so we can tell it to everyone?:

Most of the Mindspeech was in one bright voice, and Laeka looked to identify the speaker in time to see his mother put her paw over his small body, gently pinning him to the ground.

:Rris, that is enough. Now is not the time.:

:There’s always time for stories. Please?:

Still holding the pup down, the kyree raised her head and gave Laeka a long- suffering look, one so elementally maternal that the woman had to hide her laughter in the copper mare’s shoulder. When she had regained sobriety, she turned back to them.

“We should be ready to ride with the first light of dawn, little one, so you must rest. As must I, and your mother, and the horses.” The pup stared up at her with fascination.

:I heard you speaking Shin’a’in. How do you know it? Are you a fighter? How far to your home?:

Laeka resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I will tell you tomorrow, and I will even tell you how I once met your famous cousin Warrl, but I will only tell you if you sleep now.” If a creature with the face of a wolf could look awed, this one managed. He stared deep into her eyes, as though trying to either read her intent or impose his own, and she folded her arms and stared back at him. I am a mother with a daughter long grown, Laeka thought. You, little one, don’t stand a chance.

Whether the pup heard her thoughts or not, he curled up with his littermates in blessed silence.

Laeka took the saddlepad that the kyree had ridden on, unfolding it on the ground to make a sort of bed-roll and lay down, willing herself to wake before dawn. She did not see the measuring gaze that the kyree gave her before she, too, lowered her head to rest.

Morning seemed to come mere moments after they had made their camp, and Laeka woke to the first birdcalls before dawn. She stretched experimentally, biting back groans as her every muscle protested the treatment it had received in the last day. It took several moments before she felt sufficiently limber to stand and