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eyes wide with a sudden fear and fury before they crashed to the ground and Aranur rolled
to pin the raider down. He drew his fist back to smash into the man's face, but there was
no need. The man was man?
Oh, moons of mercy, he thought with shock. He was looking into Rhom's face, except that
it was that of a woman. The healer's band and warcap had fallen off into the dust, and
black,
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Tara K. Harper
silky hair tumbled out, but it was the high, fine cheekbones and slender body that the
battle-stained clothes could not hide. Ar-anur rolled off and saw where her leg had been
gashed open six, maybe seven days earlier. No wonder she had gone down so easily.
Moons of light and blessing, he thought, thanking his gods that he had not reopened the
long wound on her shapely thigh. I could have killed her.
And it hit him men as he stared at the pale face that was at once familiar and strange. It
was Rhom's sister. The man must have thought her dead, he realized, his mind jumping to
the two riders Tyrel had seen. She had been following them, and Ga-mon, too. His
thoughts still had a stunned quality. Dnu hooves pounded the ground again: Rhom and
Gamon. He gathered the woman into his arms. She was light enough, for all the mail and
weapons she wore; he wondered briefly if she could use the things she carried so casually.
There was a crashing of hooves and brush, and he turned to greet the two men. But what
burst from the growth was not a dnu or a man. White fangs, yellow eyes, red snarling
mouth, and a gray body bigger than the powerful leader himself the wolf lunged straight
at him. Aranur froze for an instant, the woman in his arms and his sword hanging
uselessly hi its sheath. Then there was a shout, and he dived to the side, dropping her
unceremoniously and grabbing his sword, and another dnu burst from the brush, and
Gamon charged the wolf as the wolf charged Aranur and they hit. The wolf was flung off its
legs and off the path, and Gamon's dnu flipped at the impact. The riding beast screamed,
coming down on its side and breaking two of its six legs. The old man went flying. Rhom
burst into the clearing. The Gray One twisted in midair and landed with legs thrusting, dirt
thrown back from its claws as it slashed back like a spear at Aranur. Rhom yelled. He
threw himself between Aranur and the wolf, and the man on the ground leapt forward and
shouted for the stranger to get away Rhom did not even have a blade, but the burly
fighter flung himself on the wolf and managed to tumble it without it tearing him to pieces.
"Down!" Rhom shouted, his voice almost a scream. "Gray One! Down! Back!" The beast
snarled horribly, teeth gleaming and snapping at his throat, grass flying as their limbs
churned. Gamon was scrambling to his feet. Aranur did not dare strike. "Aranur," the
younger man yelled. "Get back! Get away from
WOLFWALKER
57
her!" The wolf almost got free of him again, the fighter grabbing its tail and hind leg and
flipping it into the dust again.
Aranur stepped back, then back again. "Let go! I'll knock it out!"
"No! "Rhom yelled. "Don't hurt her!" He grunted, ducking his head away from the beast's
fangs. "Hishn!" he shouted again. "Down! Down!" The wolf seemed to struggle less,
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snapping at the stranger's circling arms but not tearing his flesh. And then the man was
laughing and crying out that name over and over. He let go suddenly and rolled away, and
the wolf leapt again, but this time toward the woman. Aranur hesitated, his sword ready to
protect her slender form from the wolf he had never heard of a Gray One attacking
humans without reason-but Rhom stopped him with another shout.
"I must have been in the sun too long," Aranur muttered in disbelief. The wolf was circling
the woman's body, sniffing at her and snarling at the men, but he slowly realized that the
circling and snarling were protective, not threatening. Except maybe to them. "Is it, uh,
friendly?" he said warily, still holding his sword.
Rhom got to his knees and shook off the dust and grass and fur from the struggle as
Gamon limped to join them. ' 'She runs with my twin," he said, carefully edging toward his
sister and fee wolf. "She won't attack me, but she may not let me near Dion just yet." The
wolf growled low in its throat, but the younger man just edged nearer, talking softly all the
time.' 'What did you do to her?'' he demanded over his shoulder, still watching the wolf
with the caution of a man who was about to put his hand in a downed worlag's jaw.
"I tackled her off the dnu. She went out like a match in a millpond when she hit the
ground." He paused and looked bleakly at the downed dnu with the broken legs. "Rhom, I
had no idea who she was.''
Gamon started laughing. "You should see the look on your face, Aranur. You look like you
were sandbagged like youVe never seen a woman before.''
"You should see your own face," he retorted. His uncle was sporting a wild assortment of
bruises. ' 'And where Ve you been? You could have warned us you were coming in with a
guest. We figured you were lost in the woods."
The older man guffawed at that.
58 Tara K. Harper
"With only the ale in your flask to keep you company," Ar-anur continued sourly, "we
didn't think you'd make it through one night, let alone have enough to fortify yourself to
find us
again."
The two men grasped arms, and Aranur thumped his uncle's back. He did not realize how
much of a beating Gamon had been through till the old man grunted and told him to
control himself before he sent his uncle to an early grave with his bone-breaking hugs. So
he contented himself with admiring the weapons master's black and blue face.
"It's not enough that you send me to single-handedly take care of all the raiders in Fenn
Forest." The older man grinned. "You try to break my bones when I return." Aranur
grinned back. "I was worried." "You should know by now that the moons take care of their
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own." Gamon gestured at the girl, who was coming around. She opened her eyes, and they
went wide for an instant, and then her arms were around Rhom's neck and he just held
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