Steve slipped it over his head and onto his chest and abdomen. “It’s hard.”
“Boiled leather will turn a blade almost as well as steel,” said the armorer. “It just wears out faster, over time. But if you had the money to buy steel, you’d be wearing it.”
Hunter moved to Steve’s side and began lacing the leather armor on him.
“How do you get the shape?” Steve asked.
“I boil it in a vat of water till it’s nice and soft. Then I slap on your body steaming hot, and you’d better be wearing a tunic when I do.” The armorer grinned. “It takes the shape of your body and cools that way.”
“I see. Uh, what happened to the guy this belonged to before?”
“He died of a fever.” The armorer stepped back inside again and came out with two conical caps. “Here.” He tossed a cap to each of them.
Steve put on the cap. A leather band inside the rim padded it somewhat. It fit him well enough.
A boy of about ten led two horses up to them, already saddled and bridled.
“The groom saw you coming,” he said shyly to Hunter. “We got you the biggest horse we have.”
“Thank you.” Hunter took the reins and mounted. “He will be fine.”
Steve slipped his shield on his’ left arm and carefully stuck a sword through the belt of his tunic. Then he mounted the second horse, which pranced and shook. He kept control of his mount, however. The armorer handed him his spear.
“He’s a good horse,” said the boy. “But he spent all winter in pasture. He’s only three and he hasn’t had a rider since last fall.”
“I like him,” said Steve. “Hunter, the troop is riding out. We’d better go.”
“Yes.” Hunter reached down to take his spear from the armorer. “Thank you, friends.”
Steve and Hunter rode back across the slope and followed the rear of the troop out the main gate at the base of the tor. The morning air was still cool, but the clouds overhead had begun to scatter. Steve grinned with excitement, wondering what Lucius would have the troop do.
They did not ride far. In the open, rolling country outside Cadbury, Lucius ordered the troop to split into squads, ordering each to fallout and drill separately. Because the squads formed immediately, Steve saw that they had already been assigned.
Hunter and Steve rode up to Lucius, who had reined up on the crest of a hill to observe the troop.
“We are ready, friend,” Hunter said heartily. “Where should we go?”
“Eh? Oh, yes.” Lucius pointed to a nearby squad. “These are squads of ten, but that one is short. Your squad leader, Cynric, will drill you.”
Steve followed Hunter to the squad. A short, stocky man had been shouting orders to the group. Just as Steve and Hunter reached them, Cynric raised his spear and turned his horse. He led the squad away in a canter.
Steve kicked his own mount and followed. His young horse eagerly took off. Hunter’s mount also moved into a canter, more reluctantly. Steve left him behind as the squad rode across the open grassland.
Soon Cynric took the squad into a full gallop. Then, without warning, he pulled up sharply. Just as the squad gathered around him, he kicked his mount again and took off in another direction. Steve laughed and followed with everyone else.
This time, Cynric led the squad in a long, sweeping curve back toward their starting point. Three of the riders took the curve too fast and lost it, angling wide; two others tried to take it too sharply and lost speed. Steve watched Cynric’s movements carefully and followed him without trouble, with two other riders. Hunter remained behind him.
Cynric stopped again on the slope near Lucius. Steve reined up behind him, and Hunter joined him a moment later. They waited for the stragglers to canter back to them.
Steve, getting a good look at the others’ faces for the first time, saw that most of them were teenagers. He supposed they had either come from villages or shepherd families. They would know how to ride casually, but not on military maneuvers.
Cynric studied Steve and Hunter with pale blue eyes. “Who are you, anyway?” His voice was gruff.
“I am Hunter. This is my friend Steve.”
“And Lucius sent you to me.”
“Yes,” said Hunter.
“Well…I don’t get a lot of grown men in this troop. You two ride better than most of these youngsters. Can you fight?”
“We have never fought on horseback,” said Hunter.
“I’m not surprised;” Cynric said sourly. He threw his spear into the ground and raised his voice to the entire squad. “Form a line and follow me. You will ride at full gallop past this spot and throw your spears into the ground next to mine-if you can.”
Jane rode in the back of Emrys’s cart again that morning. As before, Ishihara sat in the front and firewood filled the rest of the bed; Wayne rode on the seat with Emrys. However, this time they followed almost half of Emrys’s flock of sheep. One of his dogs herded the sheep forward along the road toward Cadbury Tor.
When Jane saw the riders leaving the main gate of Cadbury Tor, she looked up. Even at a considerable distance, she was sure that the large rider trailing the rear of the troop had to be Hunter. The fact that a man Steve’s size rode just ahead of him seemed to clinch it.
Jane glanced up at Wayne and Ishihara. Wayne yawned and watched the sheep. Ishihara was rearranging the firewood slightly.
“Ishihara,” said Jane. She did not know what she was going to say, but she wanted to distract him from seeing Hunter and Steve. Wayne was not as likely to recognize them, even if he looked in their direction.
“Yes?”
“Uh, how safe are we?” A concern about the First Law would command a robot’s attention the most.
“What do you mean?” Ishihara looked at her.
“Well…we’re very vulnerable, don’t you think?” Jane frantically tried to think of a specific worry she could express to him.
“To what?”
“To the unknown. I mean, we hardly know what’s going on around us, do we?”
“Thanks to Emrys and Ygerna, we have food, clothing, and shelter. Neither they nor anyone in the village seem to have any pressing fears.”
“It’s not as civilized as China was.” Jane glanced at the troop again. They had ridden away from the tor, but Hunter remained easily recognizable at the rear.
“We are much safer here than in Roman Germany,” said Ishihara.
“Yeah…that’s true, I guess. But maybe a war will start here, too.”
“Perhaps. I expect to have some warning, however. We all knew that a battle would begin outside Moscow in 1941, but we survived.”
“It’s a terrible risk under the First Law, isn’t it?” Jane stretched, and gazed casually around in several directions to camouflage another look toward the troop. Now the column of riders had divided into small groups. For a moment, she could not find Hunter. Then she saw that his group had begun to ride away, fast. She relaxed a little.