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Come with me, and point him out, Natasha& if you would be so kind.
Certainly, Majer& assuming he is there.
Click& dick&
As the heavy boots passed the stairs, I eased down the stairs further,
casually, as if I had not heard a word, but trying not to step heavily.
Annalise stood by the desk counter, her eyebrows raised. Then she pointed
toward the doorway and mouthed something.
I grinned, waved, and ducked through the main doorway, yanking on my cloak
as I did so. While the majer and Natasha looked for me by the fire, I dashed
through the rain to the stable, glad I had brought the pack with me.
Sploosh, sploosh& sploosh, sploosh, sploosh& My boots sloshed through the
puddles in the courtyard clay.
The wide sliding door was ajar. The stableboy was nowhere to be seen as I
scurried toward Gairloch.
Rain or no rain, storm or no storm, I needed to put some distance between
me and Freetown s finest. While they might be persuaded that I was not a
blackstaff, something told me that the majer was under orders to round up
anyone who might be from Recluce. The questioning would not be gentle. I would
have liked to see whether Annalise had anything in mind besides flirting& but
that was out now. Besides, she only had played up to me to avoid Herlyt, or
because any man with a horse was bound to have money.
Trying to saddle Gairloch in the dim inn stable was a joy, knowing that I
didn t have much time. First, I got the saddle blanket on sideways. Gairloch
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whinnied at that, but he didn t actually buck until I threw on the saddle.
Thunk. The saddle slammed down on my feet and onto the planking.
All right, you miserable beast. I rearranged the saddle blanket, then
eased the saddle into place, but could barely get the cinch closed.
Gairloch, gray-looking in the gloom, skittered but did not make a sound as
I fumbled with the closures. Something& Finally, I reclaimed my staff from the
straw and placed the black wood firmly, but gently against the pony s
forehead.
Whufffffff& When he let out his breath I yanked the cinch tight. I
suppose I could have kicked him, the way the saddler in Freetown had, but
using violence unnecessarily bothered me& besides being boring. The staff
trick worked, although why the pony would pay attention, I still didn t know.
That bothered me, too, but not as much as kicking him would have.
I had trouble with the hackamore, until I slowed down and forced myself to
be calm. All that left was tying my pack in place and putting the staff in the
lance cup. Then I untied Gairloch and walked him to the sliding door of the
stable. Hallo! Hallo, the inn!
That voice was too hearty for my liking. Even behind the stained beams and
planks of the stable door, I could picture yet another duchy cavalry officer,
dripping rain from his shiny blue or gray waterproof, looking for a warm brew
and a solid stew, or for the majer with even worse news or more punitive
orders.
Damnable innkeeper& no stableboy on a morning like this&
Realizing he was coming in, stableboy or not, I tied Gairloch to the beam
fronting the first stall, then swung the door open.
You& keeping an officer in the rain& The officer, wearing a gold leaf on
his collar, had been reaching for the door. He stood at least a half-head
taller than me, and his horse made Gairloch look like a toy. My apologies,
officer. But the stableboy is ill&
Leave that pony, man, and take care of a real horse!
Yes, sir, I answered. The end stall on the right is the only one free.
It s dry and clean. While I wanted to clunk the arrogant bastard on the
skull, I doubted that I could have reached the staff before ending up spitted
on his saber.
That s fine, but make sure he gets a rubdown and a brushing& and no cold
water, or I ll drown you in it. He thrust the reins at me.
Yes, sir. I took the damp leathers and chucked them. The horse was
better-trained or less stubborn than the ones I d seen at Felshar s. He
actually followed me. The cavalryman watched to make sure I was headed where I
said. Who has the pony?
I did not turn, but gave a shrug. Young fellow, not much older than me.
I ll be back in a shake, man, and don t forget it. Sploosh& sploosh& His
steps toward the inn were quick.
I wrapped the reins around a post, tying them in a quick knot that I yanked
tight. Then I dashed for Gairloch, untying his leathers, and scrambled into
the saddle right inside the stable. I remembered to duck as we stepped into
the downpour. I was still trying to get on my gloves as he stepped through the
open doorway. Whhnnnnn& Clearly, the cold rain on his face did not please him,
but when the latest cavalry officer and the majer got together, I definitely
didn t want to be around.
I kicked Gairloch gently with my heels and he began to walk, then trot. I
grabbed his mane to steady myself, but let him move. The rain, like icy
needles, lashed at my unprotected face and head, since I hadn t bothered with
the cloak s hood.
I was lucky I d even remembered the cloak, the way things were going.
Guiding Gairloch around the small lake that covered half the road in front
of the dry-goods store, I looked ahead, trying to make out the turn where the
road to Hewlett began. Supposedly Hrisbarg was one of the wool towns, the only
one inside the duchy. Hewlett was a wool town, too, but it was across the
border in Montgren, another duchy, except it was ruled by a countess who
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didn t like the duke.
I chucked the reins again once we were back into the more solid mud.
Halt! In the name of Candar! Rogue wizard! Rogue wizard!
We were turning onto the lane that stretched ahead to the Howlett road. I
kicked Gairloch in the flanks again, and he began to run, but only for perhaps
a hundred cubits before he settled back to a quick walk. Clang! Clang!
For all the shouts by the cavalry officer and the chimes on the alarm, no
one followed us, at least not immediately and not that I could tell. It seemed
pretty stupid. I mean, just because someone thought I was a blackstaff from
Recluce, and just because I left in a storm, the idiot was trying to rouse the
whole town of Hrisbarg.
Then again, I had been lucky, damned lucky that I looked so young. Why was
everyone on the entire continent out against anyone from Recluce? Just what
had happened in Freetown?
I kept looking over my shoulder, trying to feel whether anyone chased us,
but could not see or feel anyone. All I felt was the rain, the ice, and the
cold.
The road was empty, at least as far ahead as I could see through the mist
and the rain. As Gairloch settled into a walk, I leaned next to the staff,
nearly brushing it with my cheek before drawing back from the heat.
Trying to feel what might be around, I reached out with my feelings, my
thoughts, trying to get a sense of chaos& anywhere. Other than a vague sense
of unease connected with the road ahead, I could find nothing.
The staff cooled as we rode westward through the mud and rain. Traveling
the road to Howlett was worse than the road from Freetown had been. Water
slopped out of the sky and froze in chunks on the browned and dead grasses.
The rain coated the oaks with ice sheaths, and turned the thorn bushes that
twisted from the shardstone road walls into a tangled crystalline barrier.
The road itself-half ice, half black mud-squuushed with every step Gairloch
took. Once again, I missed the desolate wizard s road that had covered most of
the distance between Freetown and Hrisbarg.
Each step of the pony made my stomach churn, and with every other step, the
wind gusted and threw the icy rain under my cloak. I worried about his hooves
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