The Heirs of Hammerfell by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Author:Marion Zimmer Bradley [Bradley, Marion Zimmer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Usernet, C429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780886773953
Publisher: DAW
Published: 1989-12-11T08:00:00+00:00

10

Alastair clung to the neck of Conn’s horse, still hardly believing in the mission which had called him away from everything he had ever known. The rapid galloping beneath him held a soothing rocking motion and he thought of childhood days when he had clung like this to the neck of his old rocking horse, rocking himself into a trance, frequently falling asleep on the horse’s neck. He felt he could do so now, but if he did, he might wake to find this had all been no more than a bizarre dream and that he had fallen asleep at one of his mother’s boring entertainments.

So swiftly he rode that before he knew it he had reached the gates of Thendara, and a voice challenged from the little guardhouse. “Who rides in the dark there, at this godforgotten hour when the city gates are shut and honest men within doors and abed?”

“As honest a man as yourself,” said Alastair. “I am

Duke of Hammerfell, bound north on a mission that cannot wait for the daylight.”

“So?”

“So open the gates, fellow; that’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?”

“At this hour? Duke or no duke, these gates don’t get opened till daybreak—not if you were the king himself.”

“Let me speak to your sergeant, soldier.”

“If I go an* wake up the sergeant, he’ll only tell ye the same, Lord Hammerfell, and then he’ll be angry wi’ us both.”

“I am not afraid of his anger, but I suppose you are,” Alastair said. “It is a pity, but—-Jewel, climb up behind me on my saddle.”

He felt the old dog scramble up behind him, snuggling hard against his waist. He muttered, “Hang on—I mean, balance yourself, old girl.”

Had he forgotten how high the city gates were— fifteen, twenty feet? In the dreamy sorcerous state he was in, it never occurred to him to doubt the horse’s powers. He felt the horse gather herself together for the leap, shouted to Jewel, “Hold on tight!” and felt the world fall away beneath him as they went up and up—it seemed to him that they vaulted halfway to the shining moon and that he could see its greenish crescent fall away behind him … they fell for what seemed hours, then he felt the horse strike earth as gently as if she had cleared a log, no more. Jewel slid from the saddle and was running behind him again, her footfalls silent on the uneven paving of the road.

He knew he was far outside the city, without any very clear idea of how he had come so far, so fast.

He raced on into the darkness, knowing that his horse—or his mother’s magic—was placing its feet unerringly with no possibility of a stumble.

Sometime before dawn he passed Hali, heard his horse’s hooves ringing on the stones of Neskaya, and just as the dawn turned rosy in the east and the great crimson sun came up like a bloodshot eye, he saw the gleam of the River Kadarin flowing like molten metal before him.

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