I turned to gather up my pack even as Kerovan now resumed his clothing and mail shirt, then straightened as Obred dismounted, shaking his head. “Of course you will not go, Cera, not until we have had a chance to thank you. Briata is Lead Mare, and without her our herds would lose their way. The Kioga take not such debts lightly, and ours is truly beyond repayment. But we will make what amends we may.”
Kerovan hesitated, looking at the shorter man, clearly in doubt whether to accept his offer of aid. The Kioga leader drew his dagger from his belt-sheath, offering it to my lord. “My knife-oath on it, Lord. You and your lady have earned aught we can do to ease your way and give you comfort. We can only hope you will bide long enough to let us erase some part of our debt.”
A swift mindtouch came then from Kerovan, although his eyes never wavered from the older man’s face. Say you yes, Joisan? I believe he speaks truth…
I believe so, too, I returned.
My lord nodded, then clapped his bare hands together, afterward raising his right hand in the salute of one warrior to another. “To the House, greeting. For the welcome of the gate, gratitude. We thank you, Obred.”
A short time later, mounted on two of the Kioga horses, we reined away from Briata and her foals. The two Kioga whose mounts we now rode were to stay behind with the Lead Mare, caring for her until tomorrow, when she and the foals would be fit for travel.
The setting sun dissolved in a crimson—and-gold splash over the western horizon, shading to purple the undersides ol the clouds as we rode. Obred set a quick pace across this level plain, and I was glad that the gelding I bestrode «as smooth of gait, for I had not ridden since we left High Hallack. Soon muscles used only to walking began to pull and tug, and I found myself hoping that the Kioga hold would not be far.
“Yesterday, walking, I felt myself grown soft.” I turned to see Kerovan grimace ruefully. “Today, riding, I am certain of it!”
I laughed. “You echo my thoughts, my lord. Still, compared to the mounts of High Hallack, we should be thankful to be astride horses such as these.”
“They are beautiful,” Kerovan agreed, running a hand over his mount’s shining neck. “Spirited, quick to the rein or leg, yet gentle and calm.”
“Our horses are our lives, and we theirs,” Obred said, turning back in his saddle, his face a blur in the fading light. “The Kioga would not exist, save for the speed and wisdom of our mounts. Long ago, they brought us out of death and ruin to a new life, each man and woman riding his or her Chosen, carrying naught save what his or her mount could bear. Our sign is the Mare.” He gestured at the southern sky, where a few stars were beginning to show. “She is followed during the springtime by her Twins.”
He reined his horse back, lowered his voice so it should reach our ears only. “ ‘Tis also said that when the Mare and her Twins come to walk this world’s earth, the Kioga will find an end to roving—our true home.”
I thought of the strange Gate we had passed through three years ago, only to find ourselves in Arvon, wondering if Obred’s “new life” referred to such. Their dissimilarity to any other peoples we had yet encountered argued they were not native to this land. His recounting also told much of their immediate acceptance of my lord and myself upon seeing the twin foals. Uneasily, I hoped that this “true home” they spoke of was not something they would now expect to spring up from naught to confront them… though I could well sympathize with their longing for a place that was theirs alone, and an end to roving.
As the darkness deepened, our pace slowed. I rode loose-reined, allowing my mount to pick his way, depending on his night-sight, so much more acute than my own. Several times I saw Obred urge his mount to the fore, conferring low-voiced with the lead rider, the young woman who had pointed at me. I guessed that the Kioga had ranged far from their grazing lands in search of their Lead Mare, and a prick of disquiet touched me again. Obred had the right of it when he’d said Briata should not have wandered so far, even for foaling privacy. It was almost as though she had been led… and we to find her.
I shivered. Once before my lord and I had been so directed, chivied by (seemingly) accidental circumstances to a confrontation between the Dark and the Light. I glanced over at Kerovan, wondering. Could his fears be truth? Was it Galkur, seeking to reclaim what he had proclaimed his?
We approached a grove of trees, silver-limbed in the moon’s slow. As we drew near, I noticed something cleaving the forest like a giant’s sword-slash—halving it perfectly. A road, running straight and bare, its length catching the light until it seemed a shining river. Dimly, muted, I could hear the cries of night birds as Obred swung his horse toward that road, and I, conscious of a sudden lightening of heart, made to follow.
A shout split the night—“Obred, hold!” My gelding shied and skittered as Kerovan, putting heels to his mare, scut her crashing to the fore of our small group, swinging his mount to bar our path. A blue-green glare of light illuminated his features, emanating from that wristband of the Old Ones he always wore. “Hold! Let no one who values his or her spirit set foot on that road.” He swung about in his saddle, turning to face us. “Look at it! Through the light of my wristlet, look at it! Look well!”
Narrowing my eyes, I gazed at that arrow-straight way again.
Looking through the honest glow of my lord’s talisman, I saw with eyes freed of bedazzlement or glamourie. That road appeared now a phosphorescent glaze laid over rank darkness, like the shine of decay overlaying ancient rot.
I heard a retching noise, saw Obred leaning far off his mount. I could smell it now, too—the stench that betrays a Shadowed place. Fighting nausea, I turned away from that hideous trap.
After regrouping, we rode on once more, but with a difference this time. Kerovan and I rode to the fore, with the Kioga leader, in case any more such places lay in wait. Obred turned to my lord as we rode. “My thanks for saving my people, Lord Kerovan. Would you consider accompanying us on the morrow on our ride in search of new spring breeding-grounds? Such a warning talisman as you bear could prove a great boon in this haunted land.”
What think you, Joisan? I am minded to go, if only to gain more knowledge that may aid us in our journeying… Kerovan’s mindsharing reached me clearly.
I hesitated, thinking what it would be like to be alone among strangers… but the realization that my lord seemed to have found in these Kioga a people he could be at ease with decided me. In all our journeying there had been no companionship for him save my own, and if he had found such now…
I am minded to stay with these folk for a while… and it would be good to have a scout’s knowledge of what lies ahead. … I made him answer.
“I will ride with you, Obred,” my lord agreed.
“For all my people, I thank you. Where did you find that wristlet?” the Kioga leader asked.
“In a stream, not far from a place of the Old Ones. Uncounted years it must have lain there, for our people do not venture far into those lands, long abandoned as they are. But this came to me as if made for me alone, though doubtless many ages separated its fashioning and my birth…” He laughed reminiscently after a moment’s pause. “Doubtless this will please you, Obred. My horse had the true finding of it. Hiku led me to its resting place.”
Obred chuckled in turn, then sobered again. “It has saved you before?”
“A number of times.” Kerovan’s voice sounded wistful as he continued. “Usually it has only served to warn, although I have evidence it has greater Powers—Powers I have no knowledge of… such learning has never been mine. I was trained as a warrior, and those skills were given ample testing, for there is war over-mountain in High Hallack.”
“So we have heard, through traders. Mostly the Kioga keep to themselves, but no one shrugs away or forgets tales of war in neighboring lands. You and your lady fled when your home was destroyed?”