The Will of the Empress - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,153

enough at least to warn them. The healers said I was mended."

"If they had known you meant to attempt a three-hundred-mile ride when you'd been out of bed less than a week, they would have revised their diagnosis," replied Ambros at his driest. "They might even have determined that you took a harder blow to the head than they had originally thought."

Tris considered telling him "You can't stop me," but it was hard to do while hanging crosswise over a horse's back. "I'm going," she said, gripping the saddle horn. She shoved from the foot that was in the stirrup.

A firm pair of hands gripped her ankle and pushed, helping her slide the rest of her weight onto her horse. Ambros went around to tug the free leg down and place that foot in its stirrup. Then he went to saddle his own horse.

Tris watched him as Chime climbed up the back of her gown and onto her shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked Ambros.

"Since I have an idea I'll face lightning or something worse if I try to keep you, I had best go along," he replied calmly. "That way, when you fall off sometime around noon, I will have the very great pleasure of saying, 'I told you so'. Should you remain in the saddle, you will need me to pay innkeepers." He hesitated as he checked the placement of his bridle, then asked quietly, "Do you honestly believe the four of you can overcome border protections raised and held by a great mage? Perhaps more great mages, if Ishabal sends for them?"

Tris leaned down to rest her forehead against her mare's mane. "I don't know," she said honestly. "If I tell them they aren't going to be allowed to leave, they'll be angry enough to try. It may be we have a few tricks to us that no one knows of yet."

They were riding out the house gate when Ambros drew up. "I had forgotten we were being watched," he admitted.

Tris squinted to see what he meant. Across the street, two mages stood on either side of a smaller town house. They were coming forward now, the silver fire of their power flickering around their hands. Chime darted forward, uttering her nails-on-glass screech, forcing them to watch her as she flashed close to their faces.

Tris took advantage of their distraction to undo a quarter of another fat wind braid gleaned from a tornado. As the watchdog mages tried to strike at Chime with their power, Tris released her wind. It blasted down the street, whipping up dust, making the manes and tails of the horses stream. It yanked the female mage's veil off her hair. Chime instantly flew upward, out of the wind's reach.

Tris called the gale-force wind back to circle the watchdogs. It grabbed them, scrabbling in their clothes with greedy fingers. Tris did up the braid again, then gave the small gale another spin. It picked up speed, whirling around the watchdogs like a cyclone. Inside it they were blind and captive, unable to move or see. Tris gave the wind a last, hard spin, then freed it into the open air over Dancruan. It fled, leaving the pair behind. Briefly they wavered, then fell.

It took Ambros a moment to shake off what he had just seen. "You killed them," he said nervously as Chime dropped down to land on Tris's saddle horn.

"Nonsense." Tris glared at Ambros. "I knocked them out. They'll come around. I don't go around killing people, you know. Not unless I have to."

Ambros dismounted and checked for himself. He had to yank at the watchdogs' dishevelled clothing to uncover their faces and find if they were still breathing. They were. Ambros shook his head, covered their faces again, and mounted his gelding. "Let's go, before they wake up," he said, still shaking his head.

"I told you I don't go around killing people," Tris said fiercely. "It's not exactly something I'd want to lie about."

*

Normally Gudruny's children were patient travellers, helping with chores and gleefully striking up conversations with passersby. But the closer their company came to the Blendroad crossing and its horse fair, the unhappier the children got. Sandry could understand their basic disgust at the slowness of their travel, the dust, the lack of consideration from others on the road, and the noise, but more than once she considered cocooning the children to silence them.

Zhegorz did not help. He still insisted on riding beside Sandry, his bony