'This won't take long.' Kethry gathered the threads of earth-magic, the subtlest and least detectable of all the mage-energies, and whispered a command along those particular threads that traced their path across the hills. There was an almost imperceptible shift in the energy flows, then the spell settled into place and became invisible even to the one who had set it. The difference was that Kethry was now at one with the path; she felt the path through the hills, from end to end, like a whisper of sand across the surface of her mental 'skin.' If the path was going to collapse, the backlash would alert her.
'Let's go -- '
'That's all there is to it?' Jodi looked at her askance.
'Magery isn't all lightnings and thunders. The best magery is as subtle as a tripwire, and as hard to detect.'
'Well.' Jodi sent her mount picking a careful path down the hillside, and looked back at Kethry with an almost-smile. 'I think I could get to appreciate magery.'
Kethry grinned outright, remembering that Jodi's other specialty was subterfuge, infiltration, and assassination. 'Take my word for it, the real difference between a Masterclass mage and an apprentice is not in the amount of power, it's in the usage. You've been over this trail already; what do you think-are we going to make trail's end by dark?.'
Jodi narrowed her eyes, taking a moment. 'No,' she said finally, 'I don't think so. That's when I'll take point, when it starts to get dark. And that's when we'll have to be most alert.'
Kethry nodded, absently, and pulled her hood closer about her neck against a lick of wind. 'If an attack comes, it's likely to be then. And the same goes for accident?'
'Aye.'
It was growing dark, far faster than Kethry liked, and there was still no end to the trail in sight. But there had also been no sign that their movement was being followed --
Suddenly her nerves twanged like an ill-tuned harpstring. For one short, disorienting moment, she vibrated in backlash, for that heartbeat or two of time completely helpless to think or act. Then nearly fifteen years of training and practice took over, and without even being aware of it, she gathered mage-energy from the core of her very being and formed a net of it -- a net to catch what was even now about to fall.
Just in time; up ahead in the darkness, she heard the slide of rock, a horse's fear-ridden shriek, and the harsh cry of a man seeing his own death looming in his face. She felt the energy-net sag, strain -- then hold.
She clamped her knees around Hellsbane's barrel and dropped her reins, telling the horse mutely to 'stand.' The battlesteed obeyed, bracing all four hooves, far steadier than the rocks about her. Kethry firmed her concentration until it was adamantine, and closed her eyes against distraction. Since she could not see what she was doing, this would take every wisp of her attention --
Gently, this must be done as gently as tumbling a pemvyhird chick new-hatched. If she frightened the horse, and it writhed out of her energy-net -- horse and rider would plummet to their doom.
She cupped her hands before her, echoing the form of the power-net, and contemplated it.
Broken lines of power showed her where the path had collapsed, and the positioning of her 'net' told her without her seeing the trail ahead just where her captives were cradled.
'Keth -- ' Jodi's voice came from the darkness ahead, calm and steady; no sign of panic there. 'We lost a very short section of the path; those of you behind us won't have any problem jumping the gap. The immediate problem is the rider that went over. It's Genold and Vetch; the horse is half over on his right side and Gerrold's pinned under him, but neither one of them is hurt and you caught both before they slid more than a few feet. Gerrold's got the beast barely calmed, but he's not struggling. Can you do anything more for them other than just holding them?'
Kethry eased her concentration just enough to answer. 'If I get them righted, maybe raise them a bit, can he get Vetch back onto the path?'
'You can do that?'
'I can try-'
Hoof sounds going, then returning. Kethry 'read' the lines of energy cradling the man and beast, slowly getting a picture of how they were lying by the shape of the energy-net.
'Gerrold's got Vetch gentled and behaving. He says if you take it slow -- '
Kethry did not answer, needing all her focus on the task at hand. Slowly she moved her fingers; as she did she lessened the pressure on one side of the net, increased it on the other, until the shape within began to tilt upright. There was a lessening of tension within the net, as horse and rider lost fear; that helped.
