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by
Tavar of the Black Beard was a big man. I am not short, but Tavar had three fingers more height than me. The giant waiting quietly just below the crest of the hill had at least a head in height over Tavar Black-Beard. He stood there in the soft dust in the middle of the track with his back to the mountains. His immense shoulders seemed as wide as the road itself. He carried no shield and wore no armour. It was the great steel sword that he held with a naked blade that made his intent unmistakable. Tavar stopped short on the hilltop. We all stopped walking. The donkeys ceased plodding and their harness bells gave a last jingle.
There was nothing at all around us, save the rocks and the sky and the little track that wandered up and down steadily heading east. We had almost finished the trek across the Girud Waste when the giant appeared in the road. The water skins that the donkeys carried were flat sided, nearly empty. We had been part of a caravan once, with fully eighty head of beasts. But in the last month the party had dwindled and broken apart. Some had taken side roads. Some had died of sickness. Our little party had more been reduced only four days ago when Tavar had beaten his two thegns and turned them loose for demanding more money to complete the trip. All that were left were five of us. Three Losegi women, bound for the slave market at Girud, Tavar and myself. Like the Losegi women, I had an iron ring linked around my ankle, that chained me to a donkey.
I looked at Tavar curiously. If he had a bow or even a spear, he might have stood a chance of holding the giant at bay. His thin lips were firm as he squinted down at the massive man below us. I smiled sardonically. I was betting that he regretted turning his thegns loose now. It was him alone against the giant.
But Tavar was no coward. He had the many scars on his weathered body to prove it. The women, and I and the contents of the donkey packs were his share of war spoil. If Tavar was afraid he did not show it. He drew his own steel. He left the donkeys and strode down the path.
The Losegi women were doing what Losegi women did. They were covering their faces in horror. Even after all this time, having lost their veils weeks past, their first impulse was to shield their features. One hid her face in the side of a donkey. The others clasped their features in their hands. They tried to hide under the donkeys' bellies.
If I had a sword I could have stood against the giant as Tavar did. I have fought before. There was a second sword somewhere in one of the packs. But even if Tavar had given it to me and ordered me to fight at his shoulder I would not have. I moved quickly to the side of the donkey that I was linked to. I kept my eyes on the Tavar's sturdy back, watching him close the few yards that were between him and the big warrior. I had spent a month on a chain. This was my chance.
I was already wrenching and pulling at the harness buckles when the giant raised his sword high, a great arc to meet the hammer blow of Tavar's blade that the smaller man smashed up at him. The battle joined with the hard ring of metal. The blades bounced apart. Tavar held his sword two handed. He had to, or he would not have been strong enough to meet the impact. Even so the force when the giant swung always carried his weapon sideways.
I knew Tavar was reputed to be a good fighter. Now I saw it. He moved swiftly, twitching his body side to side to avoid the giant's blows. The swords met again and rang. Tavar tried, a great risk, thrusting point first to get under the giant's guard. The giant turned and let the blade thrust past him. Tavar's guard was open and the huge man could have taken his head off then, but instead he battered down the smaller man's blade. Tavar reeled back. They fought on.
The bout lasted two or three minutes. It was enough time for what I needed. I got buckle after buckle undone, work I could not have managed before when I was watched or at night when I was tied. The weighty pack on the donkey's back slid to the ground with a heavy thump. Dust rose up. I tugged urgently at the chain and it came loose at last.
The giant was toying with Tavar. Now the black bearded man was reeling with fatigue, no longer able to muster an offensive. He was backing up the hill towards us, driven by the giant who cooly swung blow after blow. He let Tavar block the shots. Tavar's shoulders were hunched. The steady ring of steel on steel was like an alarm, the deliberate pounding that signals desperate danger. The shirt on Tavar's back was moistly dark, drenched in sweat.
I saw the giant's blade come up, straight up like a salute. Then it came down again. This time it did not ring. The only sound was the a soft impact. Tavar collapsed. He fell face down in the dust, humped up bonelessly. I gathered the chain into a loose clutch of loops and links against my belly and I ran.
Having to carry the chain that was linked to the ring at my ankle hampered me, but I had got used to allowing for the weight and the drag of a shackle. I darted away from the path, over the broken ground, nearly as fast as I could run without the encumbrance. When I had freed myself, I had freed one of the Losegi women also. We had both been tethered to the same donkey's harness. I did not think she would choose to run. I could not help her in any way. I made for where there were great jagged boulders tumbled across the side of the hill. There, I thought, I might find cover.
The women, and the contents of the pack were probably the giant's first greed. I had hopes that he would have little enough desire for an uncooperative male slave that he would not follow me. I had a kilt, a shirt and sandals as well as the chain, and these were worth something also, but the clothes at least were just rags. But even if he did not want to catch me, for whatever price I might fetch at the slave market he might want to kill me. I hope that he would be so eager to rut with the women that he would let me go. I looked behind myself.
The women were huddled around the donkey's crouching and hiding their faces. He was already past them, loping after me in long easy strides. I kept running, although I think I knew already I would not make it away. We were well out of sight of the donkey's and the women when he ran me down. Even then I did not give up. I flung myself around the rocks. My teeth were bared and I was panting. I scooped up a stone.
As a boy, set to guarding fields I have spent long hours throwing stones at birds. My aim was still good. I struck him twice, once sending a thin red trickle down the side of his face before he cornered me. My fight was a child's defense, worse than futile. His eyes glittered with anger as he closed on me. The massive grey steel blade swung, faster than I could see to evade it.
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