Emerging Legacy Read Free Page A

is the best camp spot we’ll see before dark. It doesn’t
matter to us , we’re used to sleeping on the edge of things. I just
thought — ”
    He shut her up with a sharp gesture, but he also reeled
Frykla in and shoved her off in the direction of the pack. Then he hooked his
thumbs over his wide, stained leather belt and stared at them. Stared at
Kelyn. Suspicious. “Aren’t you just the cooperative one.”
    Kelyn couldn’t help the anger in her voice. “I don’t want
to be used unto death and tossed over a cliff. What would you do in my
place?” And then she hoped he was dull enough — or overconfident enough — so he
didn’t come up with the right answer. Lead you into trouble and leave you
there.
    For she’d already done the first part. Just above this spot,
they’d made their offering to the rock cat. There’d be one in the area, now — not
taking kindly to intruders, either. Rock cats, proficient hunters that they
were, didn’t need human prey. But they didn’t tolerate human presence,
either. Perhaps one human...perhaps two. Perhaps someone who was quiet and
didn’t intrude on the night.
    Kelyn wouldn’t leave things to chance. She pointed up the
steep slope and said, “If you’re any good at climbing, you can find
choi-buttons up there. A whole bush full. We’ve been letting them mature for
harvest, but if you like such things — ”
    Gwawl shoved her. “Those are ours!”
    “What’s it matter now?” Kelyn said, glad to have one of the
others finally, finally catching on and lending a hand — for the hallucinogenic
seed pods were nothing the pack ever touched. Stupid, to rob your own wits in
Ketura’s mountains. “If the buttons make them happier, our lives will be
easier.” She nudged Gwawl, nodding at the tight space beneath a granite
overhang sparkling in the rays of the setting sun.
    The rock cats attack from above.
    Gwawl wasn’t the only one catching on; Iden looked at the
retreat with sudden understanding. As the slavers carried on a loud discussion
in their harsh native tongue, the pack moved close enough to the overhang, and when
the leader turned to them with a peremptory gesture, it was of no matter at all
to sit just where they’d wanted to be. For the first time they were close
enough to exchange words, but for the first time it was unnecessary. They knew
the stakes. Ignoring the pain of her bloodied wrists, Kelyn subtly tested the
ropes, checking to see if they’d loosened over the day’s activity — they had — and
if she could slip her hands free.
    She couldn’t.
    But she still had slightly more freedom than the rest of
them...and she could work at it. They all worked at it, watching as the
slavers quickly set up camp, putting the sleep powder packet on the rock for
later. The men split up, and one took on the task of climbing the steep rock,
a gleam in his eye. A man who knew and liked the effects of the choi button,
and was willing to make the climb even with dusk coming on.
    Kelyn hoped he didn’t make it back down alive...but if he
did, then while the slavers crushed, burned and inhaled the powerful choi, the
pack would still have a chance to escape.
    The leader started a fire, grumbling at Kelyn in the
process. “It’s getting cold up here. You shouldn’t have brought us so high.”
    “I’m sorry,” she said, as ingratiating as she could be
without sounding false. Mungo rolled his eyes. “It’s the only way I know.”
    The sun’s light traveled up the rock, leaving the little
clearing in shadow. The other men brought more wood, gnarled dead pine that
would burn hot and fast. The leader poured a small amount of precious water
into a battered travel cup and added a pinch of the sleeping drug, heating it
beside the fire until steam wafted into the air. Then he brought it to them,
pre-occupied and watching the rocky slope for signs of his companion. “Drink,”
he commanded them. “One swallow each.” He took his eyes from the slope to
glare