The boy, Bo-Bo, was trying to find a target from his position in the
rear. Then Dard saw the two Hairy People; the boy fired, and the stone
fell, all at once.
It was a heavy stone, half as big as a man's torso, and it almost missed
Kalvar Dard. If it had hit him directly, it would have killed him
instantly, mashing him to a bloody pulp; as it was, he was knocked flat,
the stone pinning his legs.
At Bo-Bo's shot, a hairy body plummeted down, to hit the ledge. Bo-Bo's
woman instantly ran it through with one of her spears. The other
ape-thing, the one Dorita had shot, was still clinging to a rock above.
Two of the children scampered up to it and speared it repeatedly,
screaming like little furies. Dorita and one of the older girls got the
rock off Kalvar Dard's legs and tried to help him to his feet, but he
collapsed, unable to stand. Both his legs were broken.
This was it, he thought, sinking back. "Dorita, I want you to run ahead
and see what the trail's like," he said. "See if the ledge is passable.
And find a place, not too far ahead, where we can block the trail by
exploding that demolition-bomb. It has to be close enough for a couple
of you to carry or drag me and get me there in one piece.
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