The Brat Page 0,54

squealed in what sounded to be pain. Murie's eyes had barely begun to widen with alarm for her husband, when the horse suddenly stopped rearing and charged off into the woods. Murie did not even think about it; she simply slipped her leg over the pommel so she was astride her mare, and dug in her heels to send her horse charging after him. A shout made her glance over her shoulder as she charged into the woods, and she spotted Reginald right behind her with several of the men. Then she turned forward and concentrated on catching up to her husband.

Murie had a fine mare, a gift from the king and queen on her sixteenth birthday, but Lightning was a warrior's steed, used to moving quickly while carrying a man heavy with armor and weapons. Balan was not in armor today, nor did he have a heavy shield or weapons, and the lack of weight and whatever had distressed the animal combined to make the beast move like the wind. She had no hope of keeping up, let alone overtaking her husband and helping.

Fortunately, Reginald's war horse could, and Murie released a little breath of relief as he overtook her and drew closer to Balan. Murie watched with wide worried eyes as he finally reached Balan's side, a dangerous maneuver in the woods, and then her husband was leaping from Lightning's back and almost on top of Reginald. The two men teetered briefly, and she feared they would both lose their seat, but they settled, and Lord Raynard allowed his mount to slow and stop. Balan's steed had slowed the moment he was out of the saddle.

Murie drew her mount to a halt as she reached them, her eyes moving anxiously over her husband to be sure he was not injured. Once assured that he was well, her worry turned to anger.

"I told you not to step on that St. John's wort," she said with vexation as she reined in.

"What?" Balan asked with confusion. He slid to the ground.

"The St. John's wort that you stepped on yesterday," she reminded him from her saddle as Reginald also dismounted and moved to catch Balan's now calm horse. "Do you not recall? I told you it is said that should you step on St. John's wort, a fairy horse will rise up beneath you and carry you away. You must be more careful where you set your feet in future, husband. I could have lost you."

"Murie," he said patiently. "I stepped on the St. John's wort yesterday, not today. And a fairy horse did not rise up and ride off with me. My horse did."

"Aye, but the saying does not say when the fairy horse will rise, or how," she pointed out. "Mayhap it possessed your mount and tried to ride off with you. Had Reginald not caught up ..." She shook her head with distress and pleaded, "Pray, just be more careful where you are stepping."

"Lightning was not possessed by a fairy horse," Balan said with exasperation. Turning, he stomped over to join Reginald, who was unsaddling his sweating mount.

"Nay. Your horse was not possessed," Reginald agreed grimly, and Murie could see that he was holding up something as her husband reached his side; but she could not tell what it was until he added, "Someone put a thistle under your saddle. The moment you put weight on it, it dug into the animal's back and sent it wild."

Eyes widening, Murie slid off her mount and hurried over to see. It was indeed a thistle he held, a particularly large and thorny one. Frowning, she asked, 'You do not suppose the fairy horse left that behind to fool us into thinking it was not a fairy horse?"

"Murie!" Balan snapped.

"What?" she asked warily.

"I... You . . .Just get on your horse," he finished with a sigh.

"You had best not risk trying to ride your mount right now," Murie heard Reginald advise. She turned with a little flounce and stomped back to her own horse. She'd only been trying to help. And really, it couldn't be coincidence that he'd stepped on St. John's wort just last eve and been carried away by a horse this morn. Why did he not see that?

Muttering under her breath, she led her mare to a small boulder - much smaller than the boulder Balan had laid her on when they'd stopped to make love last night, she thought as the memory rose up in her mind.