'Because you will be the bait, the lure. And so you must be sure to be quick and alert.'
'Bait? Now hold on-'
'Quick and alert. I will take care of the rest.'
'I can't say I like this idea, Karsa Orlong. I am in fact quite content with rabbits and deer.'
'Well, I'm not. And I want a hide.'
'What for? How many hides do you plan to wear?'
'Find us a small clump of the beasts – they are not frightened by your horse as much as they are by mine.'
'That's because Jhag horses will take calves on occasion. So I read… somewhere.'
The Teblor bared his teeth, as if he found the image amusing.
Samar Dev sighed, then said, 'There's a small herd just ahead and to the left – they moved out of this glade as we approached.'
'Good. When we reach the next clearing I want you to begin a canter towards them.'
'That will draw out the bull, Karsa – how close do you expect me to get?'
'Close enough to be chased.'
'I will not. That will achieve nothing-'
'The females will bolt, woman. And from them I shall make my kill – how far do you think the bull will chase you? He will turn about, to rejoin his harem-'
'And so become your problem.'
'Enough talk.' They were picking their way through a stand of poplar and aspen, the horses pushing through chest-high dogwood. Just beyond was another glade, this one long, the way the green grasses were clumped suggesting wet ground. On the far side, perhaps forty paces distant, a score of hulking dark shapes loomed beneath the branches of more trees.
'This is swamp,' Samar Dev noted. 'We should find another-'
'Ride, Samar Dev.'
She halted her horse. 'And if I don't?'
'Stubborn child. I shall leave you here, of course – you are slowing me down as it is.'
'Was that supposed to hurt my feelings, Karsa Orlong? You want to kill a bhederin just to prove to yourself that you can best the hunters.
So, no cliff, no blinds or corrals, no pack of wolf-dogs to flank and drive the bhederin. No, you want to leap off your horse and wrestle one to the ground, then choke it to death, or maybe throw it against a tree, or maybe just lift it up and spin it round until it dies of dizziness. And you dare to call me a child?' She laughed. Because, as she well knew, laughter would sting.
Yet no sudden rage darkened his face, and his eyes were calm as they studied her. Then he smiled. 'Witness.'
And with that he rode out into the clearing. Inky water spraying from the Jhag horse's hoofs, the beast voicing something like a snarl as it galloped towards the herd. The bhederin scattered in a thunderous crash of bushes and snapping branches. Two shot out directly towards Karsa.
A mistake, Samar Dev realized in that moment, to assume there was but one male. One was clearly younger than the other, yet both were huge, eyes red-rimmed with rage, water exploding round them as they charged their attacker.
The Jhag horse, Havok, swerved suddenly, legs gathering beneath him, then the young stallion launched himself over the back of the larger bull. But the bhederin was quicker, twisting and heaving its massive head upward, horns seeking the horse's exposed underbelly.
That upward lunge killed the bull, for the beast's head met the point of Karsa's stone sword, which slid into the brain beneath the base of the skull, severing most of its spine in the process.
Havok landed in a splash and spray of muck on the far side of the collapsing bull, well beyond the range of the second male – which now pivoted, stunningly fast, and set off in pursuit of Karsa.
The warrior swung his horse to the left, hoofs pounding as Havok ran parallel to the edge of trees, chasing after the half-dozen females and calves that had lumbered out into the clearing. The second bull closed fast behind them.
The cows and calves scattered once more, one bolting in a direction different from the others. Havok swerved into its wake, and a heartbeat later was galloping alongside the beast. Behind them, the second male had drawn up to flank the other females – and one and all, this group then crashed back into the thicket.
Samar Dev watched Karsa Orlong lean far to one side, then slash down with his sword, taking the beast in the spine just above its hips.
The cow's back legs collapsed under the blow, sluicing through the muck as the creature struggled to drag them forward.
Wheeling round in front of the bhederin, Karsa held his sword poised until he reached the cow's left side, then he lunged down, the sword's point driving into the animal's heart.
