The horse came straight up to Blade and nuzzled at him, warm wet breath blowing in his face. Blade ran his fingers through the shimmering silver mane and down across the well-muscled arched neck.

«Think you need some company, don't you? Well, so do I.» He went on in this vein for some time, keeping his voice low and soothing and paying more attention to his tone than to his words. Gradually the trembling faded away, and the horse thrust its head at Blade until he could grasp the bridle. The horse tugged at the bridle for a moment, then let Blade lead it over to the bank and up to level ground.

The horse was carrying a quiver on the side that had been turned away from him. But there were no arrows left in it. However, Blade had the lance, and in the saddlebags there were flint and steel, a good stout hunting knife, two large skin bags of water, and several packets of hard bread and dried meat. His own survival kit might not have survived the trip into Dimension X, but luck seemed to have provided him with an almost equally good one, and a horse as well.

But there was that human scream he had heard. The horse's master might be-must be-back there in the trees. Blade knew he would have to look for the man and try to help him before he did anything else. He swung himself into the saddle, feeling the horse flinch at first but then become calm. Then he dug in his heels and urged it up to a walk. Even in the fast-fading light, the horse's hoofprints left a clear trail on the ground. Blade did not have to follow the trail very far. Less than a hundred yards back into the shadowy woods, he saw a dark object sprawled on the ground.

Blade dismounted, tethered the horse to a bush, and knelt to examine the body. The man was dead, his throat savaged by the leopard and his head twisted at an unnatural angle by his fall to the ground. Above the bloody, gapping wound, his face was dark, with a wiry black beard and bristling black mustache. A conical helmet with a mail hood attached had fallen off, revealing close-cropped black hair.