Wind Rider's Oath

always turns out that legally, she never owned it at all.'

Leeana stared at her while she tried to cope with a sudden, vicious stab of pain. She'd known she would be giving up her entire life, everything she'd ever owned and everyone she'd ever known. Yet, somehow, she'd never thought about giving up Boots. He was . . . he was part of her life. Her friend, not 'just' her horse. And . . . and . . .

And part of all she'd left behind, she thought wretchedly. She'd managed somehow to overlook that. But perhaps she hadn't overlooked it. Perhaps she'd just pretended that she had. Because deep inside, she'd known-she'd always known. It was just the suddenness of being forced to confront the knowledge, she told herself. The abrupt amputation.

'I-' She shook herself. 'I never thought about that,' she said in a valiantly normal tone which fooled neither her nor Garlahna. 'Do you think I could have a few minutes to tell him goodbye before they take him away?'

'We can ask,' Garlahna promised her. 'But I wouldn't get my hopes up too much. Your fa-' It was her turn to stop herself short. Her eyes met Leeana's, and she smiled apologetically. 'Baron Tellian will probably be in a hurry to head home, Leeana.'

She paused again, then looked around, as if to make certain no one was within earshot, before she leaned closer to Leeana.

'I really shouldn't tell you this,' she said conspiratorially, 'but Baron Tellian was furious when the Mayor told him he couldn't see you because of your probationary status. We're not supposed to know about anything that went on between them, but one of my friends had an errand to run to Sharral for Hundred Erlis. She was in Sharral's office when the Baron got here, and she could hear him through the door.'

She grimaced and rolled her eyes.

'Actually, I think everyone in the building could probably hear him! That happens pretty often in a case like this. In fact, when someone from a new war maid's family turns up, they're usually spitting lightning and farting thunder-' her eyes twinkled at something in Leeana's expression '-as Hundred Erlis would put it,' she finished the sentence demurely. Then she shook her head.

'But that's normally because they're so pissed off that she's run away from them and gotten to one of our towns before they could catch up with her. And that wasn't why the Baron was mad. He was mad because they wouldn't let the two of you say goodbye to each other. Or, that's what my friend Tarisha said, anyway.'

Tears flooded Leeana's eyes, and Garlahna squeezed her shoulder.

'The thing is,' she continued gently, 'that I don't think he's going to stay even overnight. I don't think he'll want to be this close to you when you can't even speak to each other. So I'm afraid he'll be gone before you could say goodbye to your horse, either.'

'I see,' Leeana half-whispered. Then she wiped her eyes with her hand, quickly, almost angrily. 'I see,' she repeated more normally. 'And . . . thank you for telling me.'

'You're welcome,' Garlahna said. 'Just don't tell Hundred Erlis I did!' She grinned hugely. 'She'd skin me out and tan my hide for shoe leather if she knew I was blabbing to a probationary candidate about something like that!'

'Oh, we couldn't have that!' Leeana reassured her with a watery giggle.

'Thanks. And, I know it may not make you feel any better about your horse-Boots?-but it's probably actually for the best, you know. I never had a horse of my own, but I know how much work they take. And how much they cost to feed!' Garlahna grimaced. 'If you got to keep him, you'd have to take care of him yourself.'

Leeana felt herself stiffen slightly, and Garlahna shook her head quickly.

'I'm not saying you didn't already do that at home. Although, I'd be willing to bet you probably didn't have to muck out his stall yourself, did you?' she added shrewdly, and Leeana felt herself forced to shake her head.

'Well, you'd have to do that, too, here,' Garlahna told her. 'And, believe me, you're not going to have enough time to breathe, much less take care of horses, for the next couple of weeks! And even if you were, I'll bet you don't have any money with you. Or, at least, not enough to pay for a horse's stable space and food.'

'No,' Leeana admitted, 'I don't. But,' she added gamely, 'I'm sure I could find some way to earn it!'

'Welllll, I suppose it's possible,' Garlahna allowed. 'There's always extra chores that need doing, and we can usually pick up the odd extra kormak for doing them. But like I say, it's not like you'd have time to be doing them.'

'You're probably right,' Leeana sighed.

'No 'probably' about it,' Garlahna snorted. 'I am right about it. But,' she continued more briskly, 'we shouldn't be standing here chattering away. Hundred Erlis will kick my backside if I don't get you squared away before dinner, so come on! Over to Administration for your room assignment first, and then over to Housekeeping for bed linens. And,' she grinned wickedly, 'to get rid of those tacky clothes you're wearing and get you measured for your own chari and yathu.'

Chapter Twenty-Two

At least Chemalka seemed to have decided to take her rainstorms somewhere else.

Kaeritha grinned at the thought as she stood on the porch of the Kalathan guesthouse with a mug of steaming tea and gazed out into a misty early morning. Tellian and his armsmen had refused the war maids' hospitality and departed late the previous afternoon. They probably hadn't traveled far-there was a largish posting inn at the crossroad with the high road to Magdalas, about three miles from Kalatha, and she felt confident they'd stopped there to rest their horses for at least a day or two. However urgently he might want to return to Hanatha at Hill Guard, Tellian was a Sothoii. He would not damage a horse if he had any choice at all about it.

She felt equally certain that the baron hadn't declined Yalith's offer out of anger or pique, but it had probably been as well he had. Whatever he might feel, the attitudes-and anger-of several of his retainers would have been certain to provoke friction and might well have spilled over into an unfortunate incident.

Her grin vanished into a grimace, and she shook her head with an air of resignation before she took another sip of tea. Tellian's warning that many of his followers were going to blame Kaeritha for Leeana's actions had proved only too well founded. All of them had been too disciplined to say or do anything overt in the face of their lord's public acceptance of the situation, but Kaeritha hadn't needed the mage power to recognize the hostility in some of the glances which had come her way. She hoped their anger with her wasn't going to spill over onto Bahzell and Brandark when they got back to Balthar. If it did, though, Bahzell would simply have to deal with it. Which, she thought wryly, he would undoubtedly manage in his own inimitable fashion.

She drank more tea, watching the sun climb above the muddy fields which surrounded Kalatha. It was going to be a warmer day, she decided, and the sun would soon burn off the mists. She'd noticed the training field, and an extensive weapons salle, behind the town armory when she passed it on the day of her arrival, and she wondered if Balcartha Evahnalfressa, Yalith's senior guard officer, would object to her borrowing the salle for an hour or so. She'd missed her regular morning workouts while she and Leeana pressed ahead as rapidly as possible on their journey. Besides, from all she'd heard, her own two-handed fighting technique was much less uncommon among war maids. If she could talk some of them into sparring with her, she might be able to pick up a new trick or two.

She finished the tea and turned to step back into the guesthouse to set the mug on the table beside her other breakfast dishes. Then she looked into the small mirror-an unexpected and expensive luxury-above the fireplace. Welcome as the guesthouse bed had been, the communal bathhouse had been even more welcome. She actually looked human again, she decided, although it was still humid enough that it had taken her long, midnight-black hair hours to dry. Most of her clothes were still drying somewhere in the town laundry, but she'd had one decent, clean change still in her saddlebags. There were a few wrinkles and creases here and there, but taken all in all, she was presentable, she decided.

Which was probably a good thing. It might even do her some good in her upcoming interview with Yalith.

Then again, she thought ruefully, it might not.