Well, gentle enough that girls like Rena could tame them, anyway.
It would certainly be a fine thing to have a mount like this, with its great beauty and easy pace—
And total lack of any way to control it! he reminded himself, as the stallion made an abrupt leap over an obstacle across the path, jarring him and making him lose his balance and fight to regain it. No, maybe not.
He realized a bit later, as he ducked a little to avoid a low-hanging branch, that the only reason the alicorns didn't absentmindedly scrape them off was purely because of the way they were built. Their necks were so long that their heads were very nearly even with the rider's—and the horn more than made up for the difference. Anything Lorryn would have had to duck under, the stallion did, too, giving him a moment of warning so that he didn't brain himself on a branch. If they ever got tired of carrying a rider, they would have no problem getting rid of that rider. Perhaps Rena's bribery was the only thing keeping them tame.
Ah. Another good reason to put off domestication.
They had set off in midafternoon. By the time night fell, between the mad boat ride and the alicorn trek, they would have gotten far beyond where even the wildest estimation of their abilities would have placed them. And they were going south, into the lands no elven lord had ever set foot on. The lands where the dragons and the wizards had supposedly gone. That came from more reliable sources than Myre; it was part of the treaty between the elves and the wizards.
And in the space of a few hours, thanks to Rena, he was a great deal more optimistic about their chances than he had been this morning. He no longer needed to worry where they would find food; Rena had already proven she could change the leaves of the trees into treats for the alicorns; presumably she could make them as nourishing for the riders as well. A little bland, not at all fete fare, but I don't think I'm going to complain to the cook. He could still hunt—though on the whole it would probably be better to wait until the alicorns went on their own way before doing so. He could sense the minds of even animals, which meant he should be able to sense dangerous beasts or pursuit before it got too close.
Even if they didn't find the wizards immediately, they were not doing badly!
For now, he reminded himself, before he got caught up in unreasoning optimism. It's barely summer. When winter arrives, we'd better have found the wizards. We haven't got real shelter, and it's going to be hard to magic that up out of the wilderness without someone noticing and coming after us. I'm not certain Rena can make dead grass or pine needles into anything edible, and we don't have warm clothing except for our cloaks.
He noted something with half of his mind, while the rest worried over the problems to come. The alicorns had the same effect on forest life that a human or elven hunter would; where they passed, silence fell. Evidently they were just as fierce a predator as their reputation made them out to be. Off in the far, far distance, he heard birdsong, and the occasional animal call, but right here, along this deer path, there was nothing but the dull thudding of hooves on the bare earth and damp leaves.
We really did it, didn't we? Rena said, wonderingly, into the silence. The stallion flicked its ears at the sound of her voice, but did not slacken pace. Wherever it was going, it wanted to get there in a hurry. He only hoped that his muscles and Rena's would be up to a pace like this.
We really did, he called back, softly. We got away, both of us, and I couldn't have done it without you. I'm glad you came.
He hadn't been, at the time. He hadn't been until the moment she dried his clothing for him. Cynically he admitted to himself that once she became a benefit to his comfort, his attitude had changed.
But how was he to know that she would be anything other than a burden and something to be protected every step of the way?
She giggled. It was almost me bursting into your room to beg for help last night, you know, she said unexpectedly.
He turned his head just enough so that he could look back at her while keeping an eye out for those pesky branches. Why? he asked. I—I knew there was something besides the fete that had everyone in a state, but I didn't know it had anything to do with you!
They didn't tell you? she said, astonishment writ large in her wide eyes. How could they not tell you? Father was even letting me sleep late!
He grimaced. Lord Tylar has never confided anything to me, and he has always forbidden the servants to tell me anything he thinks I might object to. I assume I would have objected to this?
I don't know, she said hesitantly. I—I was betrothed to Lord Gildor last night.
He almost lost his seat over that. Gildor? he spluttered. Gildor, the brainless wonder? Gildor, who couldn't find his—his behind with both hands and a map? Gildor the dullard, the dolt, the incredibly, impossibly boring? Was there another Gildor he didn't know about?
That certainly describes the Gildor I saw, she agreed, and her eyes twinkled. Now you see why I was so insistent on coming with you, and why I told you Father would use coercion on me to find out where you'd gone! I'd rather face wild alicorns than go into Gildor's bower!
He shook his head. I'm not certain this is preferable to marriage to Gildor, he retorted, wondering if his anger at her deception was valid, even as the heat rose in him. After all, he wasn't the one being told to wed Gildor.
Please don't be angry with me, she pled, wilting before the accusation in his eyes. It wasn't a lie; if he thought I did know, he would have used coercion on me—but—
But it's possible, given his high opinion of females, that it wouldn't even have entered his mind that you would be capable of such a clever deception. He thought it over, weighed Lord Tylar's well-known fear in the face of halfbloods with his well-known contempt of women, and concluded she was right not to take the chance. Ah, you were probably right to assume he would, anyway, he replied, and her face lightened. He's not exactly rational about halfbloods. He'll probably be using coercion on every person on the estate. Thank the Ancestors that Mother is strong enough to resist him, and clever enough to have something to give him that will clear her of guilt. He won't dare offend her House by doing away with her as long as she can make it seem she went mad on being told I was halfblooded.
Rena's face went deathly pale. What's going to happen to her? she whispered, as if Lady Viridina's part in all of this had never occurred to her.
Lorryn wished he could be more reassuring, but that was difficult on the back of a moving alicorn. He tried to give her a smile that would convey the emotion. It's all right, we've planned for this for some time. She is going to concoct a false and very clouded memory for Fa—Lord Tylar's benefit, of the midwife-slave substituting me for a stillborn child. You know, don't you, that he left her alone on the estate for the birth? She'll let him hear that under a coercive trance, let him hear the midwife supposedly using her wizard-powers to make her forget; then she'll 'go mad with grief as soon as he wakes her and confronts her with it. It was a thin enough story, but Lady Viridina had never, ever been suspected of so much as an improper thought by her husband, and with the three Council members there, he would be forced to take it at face value. The Council Lords will insist she be placed in protective isolation, of course, but that won't be so bad.