a dozen warriors armed with swords and axes and knives would storm from the log building and capture the enemies for deliverance to Sutante Bliss.
At last, Thorn could see through the grass that the cover of the shoreline was now not much more than ten yards away. Hope was rising in Thorn.
“Attack! Attack! Attack!” shouted a voice from the tower. At that same moment, two doors of the log building were thrown open, and out streamed the warriors to ambush Thorn and the children. As soon as Thorn heard the chilling command from above, he ordered the children to get up and run past him along the river. Without the slightest hesitation they did as Thorn demanded, running as fast as they could with Beatríz in tow behind Elli, who was leading the small pack. They were very fast, but the large warriors were faster and were quickly closing in on them. But unknown to Sutante’s troops, they were also closing even faster on Thorn who was lying hidden in the grass across their path.
When the ferocious fighters had reached the place where Thorn was lying, Thorn raised his outstretched arms and legs and tripped the first five warriors who, in turn, caused the warriors behind them to trip. While they were falling over him and into one another, giving the children critical extra time to get away, Thorn slipped out from underneath the jumble of flailing limbs and ran through the cattails unseen. Like a deftly thrown spear, Thorn dove into the water, arms and legs clasped to his torso for minimal splash and maximum speed.
By the time the warriors had gotten to their feet, gathered themselves and looked toward the place where someone or something had entered the water, Thorn was already a third of the way into the broad river and considerably downstream. He was now swimming in the direction of the children with all but his eyes beneath the water. The warriors searched frantically along the shore for the source of the splash, and when they soon saw nothing, resumed their pursuit of the children, who by this time were getting tired and slowing down, even though they continued to run as fast as they could. Eventually, Jamie said he had to stop and that the others should keep going; but Elli halted everyone. They could hear the pounding of heavy warrior boots closing in on them. Elli looked all around, as did Jamie and Alex, but they saw no place to hide. Even the cattails had thinned, no longer able to provide sufficient cover. She knew they would not be able to outrun the warriors, yet that seemed the only option remaining.
“Run!” Elli shouted, and like a single organism the children started running again, bunched together to ensure that no one outran another. Elli was looking and trying to think of something else they could do besides continuing to run a race they were surely—and shortly—to lose.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
