The young woman sat up. "What is it?"
Do not worry, Gabria, Nara told her. I wil be back soon.
Without another word, the horse gal oped into the darkness.
Surprised, Gabria shouted, "Wait!" She jumped to her feet and ran after Nara, but the mare was already gone.
The girl stood perplexed, staring into the night. What had gotten into Nara? The mare did not usually go off alone without an explanation. Surely she could not be going into labor. It was too soon, and she would have told Gabria. Neither did Gabria think there was any immediate danger lurking in the night. Nara never would have left her rider unprotected.
Gabria returned to her blankets and tried to put her concern aside. Nara had said not to worry, but the sorceress found that that was impossible. She could not close her eyes, and sleep stayed far away through the long night.
Just before dawn, Gabria heard Nara's hoofbeats pounding, into the little valley. She bolted to her feet and ran to meet the horse. She could barely see the black mare as Nara materialized out of the darkness.
Nara snorted. Her flanks were heaving from her exertion. We must go, she demanded.
"Go!" Gabria shouted. "Go where? Why did you leave?"
I must take you to the mountain. To the Wheel. Someone wants to see you.
"Who?"
The mare stamped her hoof, clearly agitated. Gabria, please! You will see.
Gabria stared at the horse in astonishment. If the demand had come from anyone but Nara, Gabria would have insisted on an explanation before she went anywhere. Instead she shrugged, gathered her belongings, and silently mounted the Hunnuli. She would trust Nara to keep her safe wherever they were going.
Nara gal oped out of the val ey of the hot springs and headed deeper into the mountains. The night was still quite dark, but the Hunnuli raced over the rough terrain as if her path was lit by the sun. Gabria held onto the horse with every ounce of strength she had as Nara lunged, jumped, and twisted higher and higher into the heart of the Darkhorns over a trail only the mare could see.
"Nara, slow down,” Gabria cried.
The Hunnuli flattened her ears and ran faster. We must be there by dawn.
"Be where?"
The Wheel, was Nara's only reply.
The Wheel. Gabria had never seen that strange place. She had only heard it mentioned in the old tales told by the bards.
The Wheel had been built in the mountains by Valorian, somewhere near the pass where he had led the first clansmen from the west to the grasslands. No one knew where the Wheel lay or even what it was; the tales had grown vague with time, the pass forgotten as the clansmen had turned their lives to the plains and let go of what had gone before.
Gabria gritted her teeth and clung to Nara. It took all her concentration to stay mounted against the jolting violence of the Hunnuli's gal op. She would find out soon enough what this place was and who wanted to see her.
Nara continued to run ever higher up the steep, rocky val eys, through forests of pines and dark spruce, and around thickets of heavy underbrush. She plunged over rock falls, raced past high alpine meadows where deer grazed, and galloped over the rough clearings left by avalanches or forest fires.
The dry winter was especially evident this high in the mountains. There was only a few feet of snow where normally the drifts would have stood over Gabria's head. Nara was able to find her way through the low patches of snow without much difficulty.
By dawn they were high in the mountains, nearing the twin peaks of Wolf eared Pass. There were fewer trees on the upper slopes, and the undergrowth was thin and sparse. Nara finally slowed to a trot.
Her breath came hard and fast, vaporizing into clouds in the cold, thin air. Her body was steaming from her efforts.
Gabria patted the horse's neck. She was worried, for Nara should not be running like this in her condition. Wherever we are going, she thought, it is important enough to Nara to endanger herself and her unborn foal.
We are close now, Nara told her.
The sorceress sighed with relief. She was surprised to see the early morning creep into the mountains with a soft light that dimmed the stars and revealed the peaks' rugged faces.
Nara struggled up a rocky incline, past a few stunted pines and clusters of boulders, to the edge of a broad plateau. There she stopped and snorted in satisfaction.
Mystified, Gabria looked about. The plateau lay like a huge plate on the side of the northernmost of the two peaks, its bare, flat ground swept clear of heavy snow. It seemed empty at first, and Gabria asked curiously, "This is it?"
Nara lifted her head to the peaks. Gabria followed her gaze and saw the distant pass that cut between the two pinnacles.
The Wheel is here. Go see. They wil come soon.
"Who are 'they?'” Gabria demanded.
Nara did not respond. She remained gazing at the peaks as if waiting for something to appear. Her ears were perked, and her nostrils flared in the cold air.
Gabria shook her head and slid off the mare's back. Her legs and hands were stiff from clinging to Nara; it felt good to stretch her muscles and walk on her own feet. She took a deep breath of mountain air, savoring the sharp, rich smells of frost and alpine trees. For a moment she stood at the edge of the plateau and looked down to where the land fel away into the rugged highlands of the Darkhorns. Her eyes fol owed the land downward over the slopes as the sun rose higher and spread its light over the distant plains below. The endless
