The Amtrack Wars - Earth Thunder Part 14

'Where are you going?!" 'To the other side of the stream. I'm going to try and work round behind the roan."

."But what do I do if they both come towards me?"

'You've got a bag full of apples. Keep feeding 'em until I get there."

The prospect of being run down by two large horses provoked a squeal of dismay. 'Don't go so fast!" But Cadillac was already over the stream and striding away through the trees in an attempt to head off the roan which had kicked up its heels and trotted away from its companion.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Cadillac called to the horse with the same shrill voice he had heard the Thai stable-boys using when rounding up horses in Ne-Issan.

Reacting to the voice, the roan halted obediently and allowed Cadillac to get closer. Then, catching the scent of the proffered apple, it trotted towards him. Cadillac readied the bridle.

Roz, on the other side of the stream, forced herself to walk towards the dappled grey. The closer she got, the bigger it became. It was absolutely enormous! Gritting her teeth, she stretched out her right hand and offered it half an apple. 'Come on, take it! You great stupid thing!" The dappled grey sniffed the air then started to walk forward. In the last few weeks, Roz had discovered both the attractions and dangers of living with wild animals, but as the horse broke into a trot, all her lofty theories about the precious nature of lower life forms and their rights to co-exist with Man evaporated. All she could feel now was the ground shaking beneath her, and to her ears, the booming thump of the four trotting hoofs sounded like a roll of thunder.

Oh, Sweet Mother. It weighs a ton and it's not going to stop!

Gripped by an unreasoning fear, Roz turned sideways, right arm still outstretched, ready to flee. She held her ground until the mare was some two yards away then dropped the apple, leapt across the stream and hid behind the nearest tree with Cadillac's laughter ringing in her ears.

The mare snaffled the fallen fruit with bared teeth, cleared the stream with one stride and headed towards Roz.

'Help! It's following me!'

'Exactly! That's the whole idea!" cried Cadillac. He led the roan downstream. 'Get your bridle ready then give her the other piece!'

'Oww-err! Can't you help? I'm not used to this!" 'Steve brought a horse onto Red River, didn't he?"

'Yes - but I didn't have to feed it!" Keeping the tree between them, Roz offered the grey another piece of apple. The horse caught it between its teeth just as Roz jerked her hand away.

'Now the bridle!" called Cadillac. 'Quick! Grab hold of her mane!'

'I can't reach!" said Roz. 'You'll have to do it." She threw the bridle towards him.

Cadillac caught it against his chest and led the roan over. 'Think you can manage to hold onto this one?"

TII try..."

'Give me another of those apples." Cadillac turned and addressed the dappled grey mare soothingly, stroking its neck as it ate out of his hand. When the horse had quietened down, he gently eased the bridle over its muzzle, slipped the metal bit between its teeth, and hooked the head strap over its ears.

Roz watched him buckle the straps tight. 'You make it all look so easy..."

'That's because this's the easy bit,' said Cadillac. He handed her the reins of the grey and took control of the roan. 'Sitting on top of them and staying there is where it gets difficult."

'But at least you know how."

'Yes. And by the time we get to where we're going so will you."

For Roz, who was almost a head shorter than Cadillac, the first major problem was learning how to get onto the horse. Without the aid of stirrups and a saddle to hang onto, it demanded a fairly high degree of physical agility and - for absolute beginners - a good deal of determination. Roz had plenty of that and she needed every ounce of it. Cadillac gave her a leg up until she had mastered the basics of riding bareback, then left her to struggle on her own. After countless attempts and a great deal of cursing, she finally worked out how to haul herself onto the horse's back, but not before she had suffered the ignominy of overdoing the first leap up and tumbling nose-first off the far side.

To her credit, she bore the knocks and the inevitable soreness without complaint and eventually her persistence paid off. Six days after running away in panic from the dappled grey, she was able to catch, bridle and control both horses well enough for them to begin the first stage of their long journey.

Using strips of buffalo hide cut from salvaged hut panels, Cadillac fas.h.i.+oned two wide girths to hold a part of a bearskin in place as a saddle, and he made horizontal chest and rump straps for them to provide an anchor point for the trucking poles.

These were long larch saplings, lashed together in parallel, just far enough apart for the horse's hindquarters to fit between. The top ends were lashed to the leather harness, the strain being taken by a back strap behind the saddle and the horse's chest; the bottom ends trailed at a shallow angle along the ground, well clear of its rear legs.

What possessions they had, including the const.i.tuent parts of their hut, were tied onto the light latticework platform that helped to keep the trucking poles parallel to one another. Roz helped Cadillac with the construction by cutting up thin strips of hide and binding everything together, firmly and neatly, with the same care she used when st.i.tching up a wound.

When all was ready, they led the horses down the only suitable trail from the bluff to the undulating plain below.

As they were about to enter a thick stand of pines that lay across their path, Cadillac reined in the roan and cast a long backward glance at the slim, graceful plume of water that fell from the tongue-stone: the landmark which, for so many years, had served to guide hunting posses back to the settlement.

'Are you sorry to leave?" asked Roz.

'I'm not leaving anything. What's left of the past we're taking with us. But I was born up there. Even though it is heavy with death this place will always be special to me."

'It's special to me too,' said Roz. 'This is where I came to life.

Don't grieve. We'll come back one day."

Cadillac clasped her outstretched hand and felt her fingers close rea.s.suringly around his. 'What makes you say that?"

'Isn't this where you would like our child to be born?"

The question came as a total surprise. 'Why, yes, but surely you don't mean ?!" 'No,' laughed Roz. 'Not yet. But when it's time, I want you to bring me here. Promise?"

'Yes, I promise .... ' On their second day out, they encountered a hunting posse from the Clan K'Vanna, another branch of the She-Kargo bloodline. Not having a crossbow with which to send up a smoking arrow - the signal used by rival groups of Plainfolk when they wished to parley - Cadillac and Roz had to ride towards the posse, coming much closer than was usual at the preliminary stages of a parley, and running the risk of an itchy trigger finger sending a bolt through their chests.

When Cadillac was able to see they were facing warriors from a She-Kargo clan he motioned Roz to halt beside him. Placing his hand across his heart he raised it above his head to display the empty palm.

The leader of the posse laid down his crossbow and returned the gesture.

Cadillac dismounted, pa.s.sed the reins of his horse to Roz and walked forward. He had prepared a big speech, but to his surprise, neither his eloquence nor Roz's power were required to get them over the next hurdle.

It soon became clear that all the clans who had sent delegations to the trading post at Du-Aruta had heard about the power and triumphal progress of The Chosen from Carnegie-Hall and the wordsmiths of the clans that he, Steve and Clearwater had encountered on their journey westwards to the point where they had run into Malone's renegades. The fact that he and Roz were on horseback, flying the green and gold banner of Talisman, was proof of their ident.i.ty and their ticket to ride - wherever they wished - across territory held by the She-Kargo and M'Waukee.

It was almost too good to be true.

Introducing Roz as Rain-Dancer, Cadillac asked the warriors how he could reach the turf of the M'Kenzi. The leader of the posse offered to put him on the right path but not until he and his companion had paid a courtesy visit to their settlement. Cadillac agreed, whereupon two of the K'Vanna warriors raced off to alert the elders.

When Cadillac and Roz arrived with the posse, they were received with some ceremony. The death-defying act that he, Steve and Clearwater had performed with the aid of rolled straw mats and a samurai sword had left a deep impression on everyone who had seen it, and the K'Vanna elders, led by their wordsmith DowJones-Index, were dearly hoping for a repeat performance.

, Cadillac, who had met Dow-Jones on previous visits to the trading post, made a great play of taking the elders into his confidence. In a hushed voice which drew the circle of heads towards his, Cadillac announced that he and Rain-Dancer were preparing themselves for an encounter of earth-shaking importance with the Iron Masters. If brought to a successful conclusion, it would secure the future of the Plainfolk. It was, therefore, absolutely vital that he and his companion preserved their magical energies until that fateful moment.

Did they not agree?

Of course they did.

But Cadillac had another more important reason for not turning Roz loose. She was a key part of the presentation he intended to make to the forthcoming Plainfolk Council and he did not want to lose the element of surprise by giving sneak-previews to all and sundry.

a.s.suaging his disappointed hosts with the promise of further secret revelations at Sioux Falls, Cadillac and Roz resumed their journey and were pa.s.sed on by the K'Vanna to the O'Shay. Once again their arrival created a wave of excitement followed by a sense of anticlimax which Cadillac quickly smoothed away with more artful diplomacy. Roz, who shadowed him throughout, watched and listened with growing admiration as he won over yet another audience.

Five days into their journey, they finally made contact with the Clan M'Kenzi and their wordsmith, Magnum-Force, a tough-minded, hard-bodied, handsome woman with over fifty life-beads on her necklace. She and Cadillac were well acquainted through her friends.h.i.+p with Mr Snow - a friends.h.i.+p that was something more than the professional link all wordsmiths shared.