Reading the Wind (Silver Ship) by Brenda Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

howl, close. I couldn’t see anything. Low growls came from three directions.
    Windy pulled her line taut, quivering, her back feet pointing at the danger. The whites of her eyes were clearly visible and her ears lay flat against her head.
    Liam pulled on my arm. I jerked free. “No! Help me.”
    I’d lost a hebra to paw-cats once. I wasn’t going to lose this one.
    A low form rushed in from the dark, close. Half my height, brown and fast. Long—too big for a demon dog. It opened its jaws. Tongue and white teeth, the teeth gleaming in the faint starlight.
    Liam whooped and it veered away. More ran past us, ten or twelve of them, a few body-lengths away, long and dark, sleek. Their white eyes and teeth glowed, their bodies visible as dark movement more than shape. They crouched low, circling. If they stood up they would be waist-high.
    Kayleen grabbed Windy’s line. She tugged, cursing. The terrified hebra knocked Kayleen to her knees and vaulted over her, bleating and disappearing up the ramp into the wide cargo door. Howls chased me and Liam as we leapt onto the ramp, stopping to grab Kayleen’s shoulders and heave her up with us. The ramp jerked upward, closing fast as we tumbled into boxes and into each other in the suddenly small hold.
    Something jumped at the ramp, missed, and fell back.
    Windy bugled off to my right, back in the cabin. The hull rang as she kicked at it. Kayleen scrambled after her.
    Muffled barks sounded outside, some close.
    I pushed myself up in the darkness, testing.
    One knee felt scraped. Not bad.
    My voice shook. “You two okay?”
    Liam, tense. “Fine. That was damned close.”
    The soft sounds of Kayleen comforting Windy competed with muted howls and ripping noises as the pack outside assaulted our gear.
    Light slammed into the corridor. I thanked Kayleen for it under my breath, able to see the anger filling Liam’s dark eyes. “Get Kayleen,” he snapped. “You take Windy.”
    “Why Kayleen?” I asked. She and Windy were safe.
    “Because she can find me a weapon.” One look at Liam’s face and I scrambled down the corridor, slowing as I went through the opening.
    Windy had backed against the screen in the front of the cabin. Kayleen stood at her head, her back to me, talking softly to the shaking hebra. “It’ll be okay. You’re okay.”
    I took the lead from her. “Liam needs you.”
    Kayleen looked at me, her eyes wide. “Is he all right?”
    “We’re both okay. Just go see what he needs. I’ll stay here.”
    “Don’t leave her,” she pleaded.
    “Of course not.” I reached a hand up to stroke Windy’s long trembling neck. “Shhhhh… you’re okay.” I took over Kayleen’s litany, focusing on the hebra, barely noticing as Kayleen left. “We didn’t let them eat you. You were good, you gave me good warning.” I couldn’t help remembering Jinks again. Her death had bought me safety, probably bought my life. My hand shook on Windy’s quivering neck, and I forced myself to take long deep breaths, struggling to slow my heartbeat. Hebras felt what we felt.
    Part of my attention stayed focused on Windy, and I listened for Liam and Kayleen. I made out Liam’s voice.“… I’ll throw it. Tell me when.”
    What was he doing? The soft whine of the ramp opening back out was nearly obscured as the barks and howls intensified, surely now spilling through an opening. The ramp clicked closed and a muffled whump sounded outside, following by an animal scream and frightened yelps. Windy shivered, leaning into me, her skin rippling as the boundary bells pealed exit, barely audible through the ship’s hull.
    Kayleen and Liam came through the doorway, Liam’s face quietly satisfied. “I think we drove them off.”
    “What did you use?” I asked, relinquishing my place next to Windy to Kayleen.
    Kayleen answered. “Remember that crazy-ball? The one Alicia stole? I wanted to see what one would do.”
    I closed my eyes. The bones in my legs stopped holding me up as the