he kept his voice to a whisper between panting breaths and said , `` up ahead , in that last stand of trees by the brook there 's usually a covey of quail there , but i saw them heading along the lane `` `` you think something spooked them out , '' bernard said he murmured , `` cyprus , '' and flicked his right hand toward the trees beside him in a signal to the lesser of his two furies tavi looked up and saw a shape glide down from one of the trees-vaguely humanoid and no larger than a child it turned pale green eyes toward bernard for a moment , crouching down like an animal leaves and twigs seemed to writhe together to cover whatever shape lay beneath them cyprus tilted its head to one side , focusing on bernard , and then made a sound like wind rustling through the leaves and vanished into the brush tavi was winded from the run and struggled to slow his breathing `` what is it ' '' he whispered bernard 's eyes slipped out of focus for a moment before he answered `` you were right well done , boy there 's someone hiding near the footbridge they 've got a strong fury with them `` `` bandits ' ? ''