Jonan snarled and lifted an arm. Kery saw the armed men step from behind the tall flowering hedges and his sword came out with a rasp of steel.
"Guards!" screamed Sathi.
The men closed in. Kery's blade whistled against one shield. Another came from each side. Pikeshafts thudded against his bare head—
He fell, toppling into a roaring darkness while they clubbed him again. Down and down and down, whirling into a chasm of night. Dimly, just before blankness came, he saw the white beard and the mask-like face of the prince from Ganasth.
VI
It was a long and hard ride before they stopped and Kery almost fell from the hest to which they had bound him.
"I should have thought that you would soon awake," said the man from Ganasth. He had a soft voice and spoke Aluardian well enough. "I am sorry. It is no way to treat a man, carrying him like a sack of meal. Here...." He poured a glass of wine and handed it to the barbarian. "From now on you shall ride erect."
Kery gulped thirstily and felt a measure of strength flowing back. He looked around him.
They had gone steadily eastward and were now camped near a ruined farmhouse. A fire was crackling and one of the score or so of enemy warriors was roasting a haunch of meat over it. The rest stood leaning on their weapons and their cold amber eyes never left the two prisoners.