Blades of the Banished - Robert Ryan Page 0,11

was possible in this land of shattered stone and arid soil.

“The road grows level,” Erlissa whispered in the dark.

They slowed down. They were on a high plateau of some kind. Dimly, he saw that there was grass here. More than he had seen in many days. No doubt it was brown and stunted, but it was still grass.

A little further ahead he saw the source of the bleating sheep. A pen stood there, built of piled rock, perhaps a quarter of an acre in size. The sheep huddled inside it, gated in by a makeshift panel of small branches and rope that fenced off a gap in the rocks. It was a flimsy thing, but it worked.

They came to a second pen. This was smaller and there were half a dozen horses in it. The rock walls were piled higher, and here was a proper gate. The horses inside came over and stuck their heads over its top to investigate.

Lanrik’s mount twitched its ears, and he looked at the new horses himself. As with all the alar that he had ever seen, these were fine animals. After a moment, one came closer and Lanrik watched it.

Even in the dark he could see that it was a roan. It was a color that he had never noticed with an alar horse before. He stopped, and Erlissa waited for him. A good while he studied the horse, sure that he knew it. It stretched out its neck toward him and snorted softly.

Erlissa leaned in her saddle toward him.

“What is it?” she asked.

The horse was further away from her and harder to see. But her lack of recognition did not alter his own certainty.

“It’s Aranloth’s roan,” he said.

Erlissa leaned even closer. “We’re very near then. But that, we already knew. Shall we take it?”

He grinned at her in the dark “Who’s the horse thief now?”

She laughed softly. It was a faint and hushed sound in the dark, but it was good to hear.

“I’ve been spending too much time with you. Your habits are rubbing off on me.”

“Maybe some of the good ones too, I hope.”

“Anything is possible.”

Lanrik looked back at the horse. He wanted to take it, but it was not wise.

“Better to wait until we make our way back,” he said. If circumstances allow, we’ll get it then. If we do so now, it’ll only stir up the Azan. They’ll start looking for whoever took it.”

They nudged their horses forward. He had no great confidence that they would be coming back, and even if they did, they would likely not have the chance or time to stop for the roan, but he made a promise to himself to try.

Something else was also on his mind. Where stock were kept, people were close to hand. But not only that, there must also be water.

He loosened the reins and let his mount choose its own way forward. If there was water, the horse would smell it, and being thirsty, would head toward it. At least, so he hoped.

They moved ahead slowly. Even so, the horses made noise, but it was not much. Ahead was a group of huts. Light spilled out from some, and he heard voices. They were right in the midst of their enemies. Yet no alarm was raised and they continued forward in the dark.

Lanrik smelled smoke from various fires. It was not from burning timber, but rather from dry animal dung. The aroma of cooked food also lingered in the air. They drew level with the huts. His heart raced. Erlissa, as ever, seemed to ride calmly beside him, and after a few moments they were through.

The village was behind them, soon lost in the dark except for the lights from inside. Moments later, they discovered water. He need not have bothered letting the horses find it. It was right by the side of the road.

A high ridge of steep rock and stone bulked above them in the night. Beneath that, and just to the left side of the road, were a series of rock pools. They were narrow and shallow, but presumably filled by some sort of spring that found its source in the slope above and gathered in the basins.

The basins, he suspected, were formed by hand rather than natural. The Azan had made them to collect the water and to prevent it seeping back into the earth.

The horses trotted toward them. Their hooves clicked over the stones, but the huts were far enough back that the noise