Season of the Wild Hunt(Book 1 of The Seventh Gate series)

Lies, Spies, and Strategy - pt 1

Music: Khusugtun - Mongol

Aedan stuffed the women's packs into the saddlebags of two mares, extras brought along to carry supplies or replace an injured mount if necessary, then beckoned to them to mount up. As they hesitated, eyeing the horses, Donn and Riordan came up behind them.

"What's wrong? Can't you ride?" Donn asked. He oozed impatience.

"We can... not usually with all those." Nyani stalled for time, gesturing at the reins and the saddle. They were of plain leather, and all metal rings and buckles had been wrapped for silence. But that was not the problem.  Some Clans amongst the People did keep herds of semi-domesticated horses. It was a relationship of mutual benefit, nurtured over generations. These northern horses, however, were sensing something about their new riders, rolling their eyes at the women as they came closer.

"You'll have to manage.  Aedan, get them on and let's go," Donn said as he walked away.

One was a small grey, and the other a sturdy bay. Nyani reached out to the bay but it shimmied away, stamping nervously and straining against the reins Aedan held.

 "They're a mite shy today," said Aedan, frowning as he tugged at the recalcitrant animals.

"She probably smells the Usonái on me. Here, give me that." Nyani took the strap from him. The horse's thoughts had none of the subtle nuances or depths of the communication she shared with Baruti, but they were enough for simple understanding. It was not only the hellhounds' scent that troubled the mares, but the women's. The horses smelled Wolf.

Nyani kept her communication to the same unsophisticated level. There was no time for subtlety, so she pushed into the frightened animal's mind, trying to radiate good intentions. The animal seemed to calm down, but when she reached up to lay a hand on its muzzle, the mare rolled her eyes, threw up her head and made a snap at her hand.

'Stop!' She delivered the mental command with such force that the mare sat back almost on her haunches, stunned by the impact and blinking in confusion.

"Up now, good," she ordered aloud, then before the horse could object, swung up into the saddle. Muscles rippled and twitched along the mare's flanks, and Nyani decided on some silent reinforcement, presenting both the horses with a suitably bloody image of what would happen if they did bite, kick, or try to scrape their riders off. Neither offered any further objection, and Aedan boosted Ashira up into her saddle as well.  

Riordan had remained beside the bay mare with his head cocked to one side as if listening for something just beyond the edge of hearing. He smiled up at Nyani, a surprisingly boyish look that lit up his face. She had at first thought him older, but now guessed he was probably close to her in age.

"That was...interesting." He reached to scratch her mare's nose, then quickly left to fetch his own horse before Nyani could open her mouth to reply. Had he sensed something? There was definitely something to be wary of in that one, young or not.

"Right, that's grand," said Aedan. "You've tamed the beastie. Comfortable?" He bustled about them, shortening girth-straps and guiding their feet into the unfamiliar stirrups. "Follow me and you'll be fine. Wait a minute - I nearly forgot. I've no spare mantles, but this should do the trick. Can't have you going about the countryside barely decent."  He rooted about in his saddle bags, then handed Ashira a broad length of patterned woollen cloth. Nyani still had the one Kei had given them, and guessed they were the men's sleeping blankets.

'Barely decent?' Ashira signed, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Nyani shrugged, but with the chill breeze still blowing out of the north, she was glad of the wool's warmth. She wondered how much of Aedan's  patter was due to an innate kindness, and how much was a result of orders from Donn; to keep guard on them, and see what could be found out about them.

She held the reins loosely in her hands, guiding the animal instead with her mind and her legs to follow Aedan.  Her father and Mirran had both loved to ride, but in the last three years Nyani had not done so at all. It conjured memories she would rather avoid. Kei came to join them, leaning across in his saddle to show Ashira how best to hold her reins. She was deliberately inefficient at following his instructions, fumbling helplessly until he was forced to take hold of her hands and thread the leather through her fingers while she smiled sweetly at him.

The group seemed to have no structure that Nyani could discern, other than that Donn was their leader, and Riordan never far from his side. They rode together, leading off with the others falling in behind them in two's and three's. Aedan kept the women in the centre of the company as they moved at a walk down through the forest, roughly north-east as far as Nyani could tell. Soft hoof-falls on the leafy mould was the only sound marking their passage. There was no evidence of animal life; even the birds seemed to avoid this uncanny hill.

Before long, the slope eased and the front riders broke out of the trees onto the verge of the road ringing the Tor. Donn held up a hand and halted, looking left and right, listening. Riordan murmured a comment Nyani could not hear, but whatever it was, it made Donn smile.

"Close your jaw, lassie. There's two sides to every bannock, aye?" Aedan grinned at her. "He's a good man."

Nyani clicked her teeth together, but before she could respond, Aedan put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Donn waved the company forward. They crossed the road in single file, waiting in the trees on the far side while two of the men swept the dusty surface clear of their tracks.

While they wove on through the forest in complete silence, Nyani's thoughts churned. The company had been involved in a fight last night, but who was who on either side of the conflict? She had to find some way to discover exactly where they were, and who they had fallen in with. Despite Donn's claim that it was for their own safety, it was clear they were no better than captives.

Maybe she should press to be taken to a village or town, on the pretext of asking after her cousin. If Donn wanted to avoid detection, she could convince him he'd be better off letting someone else deal with them, especially since they were also being pursued by an unknown enemy -a complication he surely did not need, given the signs.

He hadn't seemed to recognize the name Runihura, but Athairne surely did not share with his people all the names he was called amongst his foes. Not much news reached across the Wadinare from this far away,so it was possible they might be rebels against Athairne. They spoke Elen's language instead of Versa - that was a hopeful sign - and they obviously knew nothing of the Usonái. But none of those things were exactly conclusive.

The north was Athairne's domain. But if they were Athairne's men, who had they been fighting last night? And why the stealth now? Donn's questioning had yielded no clues, except for the lack of tracks on the Tor. That was something - but not enough. What on earth had possessed her to tell them as much as she had? She would just have to try and work it to her advantage.

Her head pounded from the frustrating guesswork and anxiety knotted her innards. The food had helped, but she couldn't remember when last she had slept for more than a few hours at a stretch. Every bone and muscle in her body ached in protest, and she hadn't had a chance to deal with the scratches on her thigh and shoulders.

The saddle aggravated her leg, the pain growing more insistent as the day wore on. Nevertheless, she was glad enough not to be walking - or running - for a while. Fortunately the mare remained cooperative, so that no effort was required on Nyani's part except not to fall asleep and slip off her back.

The forest thinned out, trees gradually giving way to open grassy hills, and Donn picked up their pace. Once he stopped to let the horses drink at a stream, but they did not dismount. Away from the oppressive atmosphere of the Tor, there was occasional conversation amongst the men. Behind her, Ashira's animated descriptions of the Kanesga and its many exotic creatures had Kei captivated, but then again, Ashira was putting forth her charming best.

Her fluency was growing by the hour, and whilst sounding open and amiable, Ashira nimbly avoided giving away much of anything. If Kei posed questions that led in an awkward direction, she simply pretended to have misunderstood, and went off on another track altogether.  The flirtation seemed to have revived Ashira, while Nyani grew sleepier as she rode.

She gave up thinking altogether for the time being.