The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton Read Free Book Online

swishing in one by one and settling to sit serenely on the surface.
    They turned and honked angrily. Ferdia wondered if they knew they were safe on the water.
    "I hit it!" Darag said. "Bad luck, Ferdia. You were very close."
    "You didn't have anyone to hold your chariot still," Laig said.
    "There'll be another chance," Ferdia said, furious with himself. "Will you hold my traces while I get my spear?" He handed the traces to Laig and stumped off toward his spear. He could see it clearly against some fallen leaves already half returned to loam. It was a good cast, though that was no consolation as he hadn't hit; all it meant was farther to go to get it back. The ground was very muddy. He wiped the spear on some moss as he retrieved it.
    When he got back, Darag and Leary and Conal had all got down and were looking at the floating body of
    Darag's swan, a tall man's length from the edge of the water.
    "My spear is sunk forever," Conal said with a wry smile. "If we didn't need the swan for you to show, I'd suggest leaving it."
    "My mother keeps dogs to bring back game," Emer said, staring out over the water.
    "So do we. We just didn't think to bring any," Leary said.
    "I'll fetch it back," Laig offered. "It's part of my job. I was only waiting for Ferdia. Here, have your reins back."
    Ferdia was in no hurry to take up the reins again. He ignored Laig. "I might be able to reach it with my spear,"
    he said. He took a couple of careful steps into the water and reached with his spear, hoping to hook the swan and have it drift towards them. The live swans were moving away elegantly.
    The dead one was a revolting object, all its grace gone. He could almost reach it. The surface beneath his boots was made up of slippery mud and the roots of reeds and trees.
    "You'll get very dirty if you fall in," Conal said in his mocking way. Ferdia took another step, less carefully, and slipped. He went down on one knee and instinctively put his left hand down to save himself. The bottom squirmed away under his hand. His right hand, holding the spear, reached the swan and poked it farther away. His breeches were soaked. Beyond caring now, he pulled himself to his feet and waded out towards the swan. The water was thigh deep. One of the live swans glided towards him, hissing ominously. He wondered if it was the mate of the one Darag had killed. He knew it was wrong to spear a bird on the water, but did that apply to self-defense? The swan's beak looked quite threatening. Fer-dia made a warding gesture with his spear, hoping to scare it off. At the same moment he grabbed the dead swan with his left hand and took a step back towards shore. Then another swan got inside his guard and made a determined strike at
    Ferdia's right knee, hard, and he went down again, going right under the water this time, dropping the dead swan and almost losing his spear. He pulled himself half up and used the spear like a quar-terstaff to push the swans away.
    He could hear Conal laughing, and some of the others as well.
    "Hold on Ferdia, I'm coming," Darag called from the shore.
    "I'm all right," he said, though he wasn't. He heard Darag splashing into the water. He attempted to stand up straight. His armor was heavy and his knee hurt where the swan had hit him. The water was all churned up with mud and he couldn't see the bottom at all now. There were big bubbles breaking all around him. At least he'd made the swans back off a little, though they weren't far away. He made another grab for the dead swan just as everything exploded.
    He had been in the water, and now he was looking down on the water. He had been standing, or crouching at least. Now he was upside down. The swans had been going for him, but now he was being squeezed around his waist. He tried to see what was squeezing him, but he couldn't make it out. It seemed to be a huge silver coil. That made sense, because there were other huge silver coils coming out of the water. Darag was in the
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    water,