Mauritane realized that he was moving too quickly; he was about to overshoot the mark.
Mauritane heard the beginning of Silverdun's count, but as the word was spoken something hit him in the chest and Silverdun's voice stretched out and fell, lower, lower, lower. Streak reared and nearly turned back; it was all Mauritane could do to force the animal to continue moving.
Then, suddenly, he was safely inside the shifting place. Despite the dull ache in his chest and a sharp pain behind his eyes, he was unharmed. He wheeled Streak around to view the others. Gray Mave was moving forward, his motions protracted, almost comically slow. Silverdun's count seemed to last an eternity. From within the shifting place, he could hear everything outside only as a muted basso roar. Silverdun's voice sounded like the glamoured voices given to dragon puppets in children's theater. Mave moved toward Mauritane at a snail's pace, as though he and his mount were swimming rather than walking.
The forelegs of Mave's gelding entered the shifting place first and for an instant it appeared as though the beast were stretched out along its spine, its forelegs many paces ahead of its hind legs. Gray Mave suddenly winced as though he'd been struck, then he flew into the space alongside Mauritane, traveling finally at a normal speed.
'Are you all right?' asked Mauritane, when Gray Mave's wince did not fade.
'I will be,' said Mave. 'The buggane's cut did not take the trip well.' He held his hand out from his chest and there was fresh blood on his fingertips.
'Have Silverdun look at it when he comes through,' said Mauritane. He tried to push out of his mind the thought that the buggane's blade might have been poisoned. 'He may know some healing magic for it.'
Mave nodded, guiding his horse out of the way for the next traveler.
Raieve was next. Mauritane watched her move, and the slowness of her motions only added to her grace. It was all he could do just to keep his eyes on her. He wanted to ride toward her, pull her up in front of him on Streak's back, and run. Far, far away. But it was not possible. There was a boundary between them that could not be crossed.
She made the crossing without incident, riding a few paces away from Mauritane to watch Satterly and Silverdun come through. The motions of those outside had a hypnotic effect on those within.
Satterly almost made it but at the last moment pulled back on his reins. Just barely, but it was enough. His horse turned and Satterly hit the boundary at an angle, pitching forward from the beast's back. The horse stumbled in the strange glinting edge and fell onto its side. Satterly was propelled from the saddle, flying through the boundary and landing hard on the ground.
The horse did not make it. It became stuck in the periphery of the shifting place, and they all watched helplessly as the creature's limbs stretched until they broke, the bones shattering, internal organs bursting and spraying their fluids into the maelstrom of the shifting place's edge. The horse shrieked, a high piercing sound that lowered to a toneless rumble one moment, then lifted to the buzzing of an insect the next as the unknown forces that separated the shifting place from the solid world stretched the animal into an impossible shape, then dropped it to the ground, a shuddering sack of meat. Satterly's folded tent rolled out of the mess, completely unscathed, and stopped at Mauritane's feet.
'Oh, God!' shouted Satterly. He tried to stand, then lurched backward and righted himself, finally falling to his knees. He lowered his head and vomited his breakfast onto the soil.
Silverdun rode easily into the shifting place and stood over Satterly, his hideous face red with anger. 'Damn you, human!' he hissed. 'You could have gotten yourself killed! Why did you rein him back?'
Satterly shuddered. 'I got scared!' he shouted. 'I got scared and pulled back on accident. It was an accident!'
Silverdun shouted a curse in Elvish that Mauritane had never heard. 'Now all of your supplies are gone, and you'll have to double up with someone the rest of the way. That is, unless we happen to stumble onto a horse ranch somewhere out here! I trust you are pleased with yourself?'
'Enough, Silverdun,' said Mauritane, dismounting. 'Everyone makes mistakes.'
'He can ride with me,' said Raieve. 'I'm no burden on this mount.'
Mauritane helped Satterly to his feet. 'Are you hurt?' he asked.
Satterly dusted himself off. 'Just bruised,' he said. 'I'll survive.'
'Fine, then. You'll double with Raieve for now. Let's move while the shifting place is with us.'
'Idiot!' shouted Silverdun, then he fell quiet.
They rode in silence for what seemed like many hours, though it was difficult to tell the duration with any precision. As they rode, the scenery beyond the shifting place moved with a bizarre rapidity, as though they were traveling much faster than Mauritane's other senses told him. The sun, however, barely moved in the sky overhead. The time that passed for them, whether ten hours or twelve, could not have been more than an hour or two in the outside world, for the sun was barely at its zenith when Mauritane's internal clock told him it should be night.
They stopped for a brief dinner. Only necessary words were spoken. It was obvious to Mauritane that the others were still thinking about the sight of Satterly's horse and how easily it could have been one of them. The meal was a grim one.
They mounted and rode again for another seemingly endless stretch. From beyond the shifting place, the sounds of the world were slow and eerie, muffled as though the entire world were buried beneath a pile of blankets.
They stopped again. As the hours wore on and became first one full day, then another, then perhaps a third, the silence among them became overwhelming, as though it were mandated. Each of them seemed lost in thought, pondering the world outside the shifting place as it caromed by in a hazy blur. When they stopped, they watched leaves fall from the trees in slow motion, examined with rapt expressions the fascinating properties of a stream whose waters intersected the shifting place, how it created a bizarre waterfall, the current flowing over some invisible obstacle which, Satterly pointed out in muttered tones, appeared to be the stream's own water.
Mauritane looked into the sky and at some point the sun had moved past its apex and was now nearing the horizon. He felt as though he could not stand another moment in that timeless space. Just ahead in the real world, for so Mauritane had begun to think of it, was a flat, grassy clearing between two dense stands of pine, suitable for a campsite.
'That's enough,' he said. 'Silverdun, get us out of here.'
The relief was evident on every face. 'Come along,' said Silverdun quietly. 'Getting out should be much easier than getting in. Just ride at a quick, steady pace.' He pointed to the left. 'That way.'
Mauritane led Streak out of the shifting place and the world sped up again, taking on its usual sights and sounds. The others followed him out and the shift in their overall mood was palpable. Satterly breathed an audible sigh of release.
'Congratulations,' said Mauritane, consulting his charts. 'We covered four days' worth of ground in a single day.'
'I, for one, felt all four of those days,' said Silverdun wearily.
'We'll be in Sylvan ahead of schedule,' said Mauritane, attempting to leaven the overall mood.
Only Gray Mave managed a smile. 'Well, that's good, isn't it?'
Silverdun slung his tent from behind his saddle and stumbled around it. 'It might sound that way after about ten hours of sleep. If anyone asks me to take the first watch, I'll cut his throat.'
'I'll take first watch,' said Raieve. 'Then I plan to sleep for a very, very long time.'
'Let's all get some rest,' said Mauritane. 'Once we've all rested, I want to speak to you. I believe a Hegest is long overdue.'
Silverdun nodded soberly. 'Yes, Mauritane. You're right. A Hegest would do us all some good.'
'What's a Hegest?' said Satterly, his voice slow and tired.
'Wait until tomorrow,' said Raieve. 'You'll find out.'
Mauritane watched her crawl into her tent. She looked back at him for a moment, pursed her lips, then turned and went inside.
Chapter 23
