Caitlin Brennan - White Magic 01 by The Mountain's Call

Author:The Mountain's Call
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-02-09T16:18:30+00:00

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kerrec was asleep. Valeria had drowsed for a while, lulled by the rain, but as it lessened, she swam toward wakefulness. The horses had left the cave and gone to graze in the thin drizzle.

Sabata was not within reach. She was too dull with sleep to be alarmed yet, but she wondered at it. Maybe he had gone for help. Maybe the caravan of riders was somewhere nearby.

As soon as she thought it, she knew that was absurd. Even if Master Nikos had sent a party to search for the First Rider and his most annoying servant, the greater part of the caravan, with all the stallions, would have gone on to Aurelia. Nothing, not war, not invasion, not ambush in the mountains, could interfere with the Great Dance. Even for the youngest First Rider in years out of count, who happened to be the emperor’s firstborn son, the Master could not turn aside from his journey.

That was reality. So was the man asleep by the banked fire, wrapped in horse blankets. When Valeria looked at him, she felt a rush of fierce protectiveness. She could not let him go to Aurelia and be killed. He would have to go to the Mountain, to the Ladies and the white gods. No matter how he argued, she would make sure he went where he was safe.

She slipped back into a doze. The rain pattered into silence. Slow light grew. Morning was coming. She had to get up, break camp and ride.

She could not make herself move. The blankets reeked, but they were warm. Kerrec was buried in rough wool, with nothing showing but a tousle of black curly hair.

Just as she convinced herself that she could get up, a stone clattered outside. She froze.

It was only the horses grazing. She heard one of them snort. Still, she hunted down her clothes and put them on. They were damp and her boots were stiff. She wished she had a weapon, but she did not even have a knife for cutting meat.

Kerrec was still asleep. She laid his clothes close by him in case he woke while she was outside.

There was nothing there but the horses. She told herself that, but she crept out with hunter’s caution. The rain had stopped but the clouds were still thick. Mist veiled the trees.

The horses were grazing far down the stretch of grass. Sabata was nowhere to be sensed. It was perfectly quiet. No bird sang. No wind whispered in the branches. Even the sound of horses cropping grass was muted.

She fetched her bay’s bridle, which was as stiff as her boots. Neither he nor the chestnut looked up as she approached.

That was odd. Horses were alert to everything around them, and a human walking toward them with a bridle was worth at least a glance.

She slowed. That moment of hesitation, of dawning suspicion, kept the blow from falling quite so hard. The bolt of magic did not quite knock her unconscious.

She was aware of falling.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.