Her eyes opened wide in terror. There was nothing but air between her and the rock-studded edge of the lake far below In a crazy, slow motion horror, she watched her dagger spin down, bounce off a half-submerged rock, and sink out of sight in the lake. Then the halter snapped off the aughisky's head, and she began to drop.
Teza screamed.
Suddenly something snatched the back of Teza's wide leather belt. It yanked her painfully to a stop and held her dangling over the precipice. She felt the aughisky's cold breath chill her back.
"Oh… please, you gorgeous creature, don't drop me!" Teza pleaded in a very soft, deliberate tone. Her eyes pinned on the black rocks below her hanging feet, she hung as still as she could.
The aughisky, knowing her fear, snorted gleefully and gave her a little shake.
"No!" Teza almost shrieked. "No." She choked on her words and quickly forced down the hysterical note in her voice. "No! Please, put me down on the ledge. I can't swim, and I hate water. But I love horses, especially magnificent animals like you." Teza realized she was beginning to babble, but she didn't care. "That's why I wanted you. You're the most beautiful stallion I've ever seen. Please, just put me down on that solid rock, and I will do anything for you! Do you hear me?" she shouted into the empty air. "Anything!"
"Do I have your word that you will do anything to regain your freedom?" a voice said behind Teza.
Teza flinched in surprise. Aughisky couldn't speak, even when their mouths weren't full of belt, so who else could be on this cliff ledge? She could not see behind her from her precarious position, and the voice, cool and modulated, gave nothing away about its owner. Teza's suspicion belatedly raised its prickly head. "Who are you?"
"You are not in a position to ask questions," the voice replied reasonably. "All I want is your word."
Teza swallowed hard. "Yes," she said as clearly as she could manage. "My honor."
The aughisky snorted in obvious disappointment. He took One step back and turned, keeping Teza hanging by her belt.
The ledge the aughisky had brought her to was a wide Shelf jutting out from the middle of a towering cliff wall. Teza had to crane her neck to see the rock face that soared above their heads to the top of the bluffs. As far as she could see, the ledge and the cliff wall were empty. Grass, weeds, and a few hardy shrubs grew among the rocks, and shadows streaked the walls, but there were no other living creatures and no real hiding places.
Then something moved against the stone face of the cliff, a shifting among the long, dark shadows. A black figure stepped away from the stone wall, and its masked form became clear to Teza.
She sucked in her breath and tried to quell her panic as the figure strode toward her, black robes swaying around her graceful feminine body. The being carried no weapons, and Teza knew she needed none. The impassive gray masks worn by the witches of Rashemen were warning enough of the vast and deadly powers wielded by the mysterious women.
"Put her down," the witch ordered.
The aughisky obeyed by simply opening his mouth. Teza fell heavily at his hooves. Immediately she scrambled out from under him and away from his teeth.
The water horse made a move to stop her, but the witch lifted a hand. "No. She will not leave us. Teza's word has honor even among thieves."
The woman from Immilmar rose slowly to her full height, threw back her shoulders, and stared at the expressionless mask with her own habitual arrogant facade-a facade that hid her nervousness and fear.
Teza, through her profession, had learned to be very observant. She drew on that skill now, hoping to divert her apprehension with some bit of knowledge that could be to her advantage. She quickly noticed several things that interested her. The witch's hands were smooth and supple, like those of a young woman, and her voice, while strong with authority, was still rich with youth. This was a younger witch, not one of the old crones who had tested Teza those years ago. And somehow, she had learned to control an aughisky. That fact fascinated Teza almost more than anything else.
"You brought me here deliberately," Teza said evenly. It was not an accusation, just an observation.
"I have need of your particular talents," replied the witch.
Teza made a sound of disbelief and hid the shaking of her hands by brushing off her pants. "Why not just ask? I can hardly refuse one of your number."
"It was faster this way. You left Immilmar so quickly I had to send the aughisky to find you."
"Yes, well… I was tired of the city."
"Particularly after the huhrong found one of his prize white stallions dyed brown and for sale in the horse market."
The witch's voice was so full of humor, Teza easily imagined a smile behind that enigmatic mask. She responded with a smile of her own. "He always did have a good eye for horseflesh." Her voice dropped, and she crossed her arms. "So what do you want?"
"I want you to do what you do best. I want you to steal something for me."
Teza did not allow herself to react. "A horse?"
"A man."
Teza was so startled her mouth fell open. "A man! I'm a horse thief, not a kidnapper!" she cried, throwing up her hands. "What do you want with a man?"
"I need him," the witch replied simply.
"Why don't you get him yourself?"
"Let's just say it will be easier for you to fetch him and bring him here." The witch fell silent, her gray mask nearly lost in the hood's shadow. Without offering another word of explanation, she moved closer to the aughisky and waited.
Teza sighed a breath of exasperation. She had given her word to do anything-and even without that, to disobey a witch's command was suicide. Yet somehow, there had to be something in this for herself. "What do I do?" she asked.
The witch lifted a slender hand. There was a rush of noise and a pillar of red light formed directly beside Teza.The thief leapt sideways just as a richly dressed man rode out of the red light and brought his horse to a stop. He nodded pleasantly to the witch.
Teza's eyebrows rose. She recognized the man immediately, for she had seen his long, dark features several times in the past tendays. "Prince Laric," she said, bowing to the mounted man. "What are you doing here?"
The man's pleasant smile suddenly twisted into a sneer.
The witch's laugh held a subtle hum of triumph. "He does look exactly like the real grand prince of Telflamm, but this is a duplicate who has graciously consented to stand in for Prince Laric while the prince comes to visit me." The witch's voice lowered to a throaty purr. "Laric, you see, is my lover."
Dusk was falling when Teza rode the aughisky on the road back to Immilmar, this time at a more relaxed pace and with the grand prince, or whatever he was, riding by her side.
For the hundredth time she glanced at the man. He was certainly handsome in a noble, polished sort of way, and he did look exactly like the prince: tall, slender build, long face. But who was he really?
The witch wanted Teza to switch him for the real prince for a few days so Laric could meet her for a tryst. Teza knew the witches sometimes sought men outside the realm for matters of procreation, and discretion was certainly necessary when dealing with married noblemen from an allied city, but why set up such an elaborate switch and why trick a common horse thief into performing this task?
Teza couldn't help thinking that the members of the powerful sisterhood of witches rarely did anything for simple, purely selfish reasons. They were the real power behind Rashemen's continued existence, and any plot or spell they devised usually had several layers of motives behind it.