‘And I could sleep all afternoon, pillowed in your arms. I am not looking forward to several hours’ ride in the sun, either.’
‘That’s your own fault, Lord Prince.’ She looked longingly at the inn, with its beds and bathtub. ‘We could stay until tomorrow …’
‘No. I …’ He hesitated. ‘We need to get on. We shouldn’t stay here any longer. Maybe we shouldn’t have stopped at all. There’s something …’
‘Yes.’ She felt it too. Of course she did. But he couldn’t put it into words. Last night had been a bright, unlooked-for happiness, but there was something here that troubled him. Thalia curled up in the back of the cart, closing her eyes against the sun. ‘And I won’t have to put up with you snoring in my ear.’
He grinned his boy’s grin. ‘The Altrersyr do not snore. Not now I’m disappointingly sober again, anyway.’
The horses, at least, were well rested after the late start, and trotted forward eagerly enough. The land about quickly emptied, high desert with only a few stunted thorn trees clinging on desperately in the parched sand. It was hot as a furnace, a scalding wind blowing dust. After a while, the three riders took turns sitting beside Rate in the scant shade of the cart front, their horse led on a long rein. Thalia dozed in the back, tossing and turning in the heat. They had had a few days like this, finding no shade, no water, but this seemed the worst. A heavy, dead sense over everything.
The sun was beginning to sink in the sky when Alxine, who was sitting beside Rate, pointed suddenly out at something off to their left, on the top of a small incline. ‘A horse!’
Wild horses were not uncommon out here. Or horses grown wild after their owners had died of thirst. Marith, dozing miserably in the saddle, looked with little interest, then stared. Rate and Tobias were staring too. A very beautiful horse, with a strong slender neck and a glossy roan coat, liveried in fine green leather, its head decked with gold ornaments. Not a wild horse. Not a farm horse even. Expensive. Well cared for. Hobbled and saddled and abandoned in the middle of the desert. It whinnied pitifully when it saw them, tried to rear up despite the rope around its legs. Its eyes rolled, showing the whites all round.
Marith dismounted and edged carefully towards it. The horse whinnied again, snorted and stamped. He held out his hand, began to talk quietly in a nonsense babble of languages. It flared its nostrils. Stamped.
‘It’s all right. It’s all right. Lovely horse. Fine horse.’ He caught the bridle. Stroked the lathered head and neck. It pulled and tried to buck, then settled a little and sniffed at him.
‘Good horse. Good horse. Calm down, then I can give you some water and grain.’ The horse flicked its ears at the word ‘water’. Snorted loud. He’d been speaking Pernish, so that told him almost nothing, except that it must have been out in the sun like this for a while. He led it back down to the track and gave it water. It drank gratefully, blowing through its nose. He stroked its neck lovingly.
Tobias and Rate came to look. ‘Allene,’ said Tobias. ‘That’s where its owner’s from. You see those buckles on the head straps? And the stirrups? Southern work, that. No saddlebag, though. Any sign of the rider, up there?’
Marith shook his head. ‘Not that I could see. Just the horse.’
‘Tracks?’
Marith shrugged. Still three parts hung-over. Had about three hours’ sleep. The wind blowing the sand around and the horse had been trampling and pissing up there. ‘I have absolutely no idea.’
Tobias rolled his eyes at him, stomped off to look. Marith ordered Rate to fetch some grain and a few raisins, a cloth to rub the horse down. Thalia came up to him looking almost jealous. The horse snorted and tossed its head and she stepped back nervously.
‘It’s all right,’ he said again. ‘It will be fine in a moment. It’s just skittish.’ He fed it a handful of dried fruit and it nosed at his shoulder more comfortably.
Marith was rubbing the horse down when Tobias returned. ‘There’s tracks,’ Tobias said wearily. ‘Leading away to the east. One man, alone. Then something else.’
Oh gods. You know what’s coming, a voice whispered in Marith’s mind. You know. You’ve known since you came back into the desert. Tobias knew too, he could see it in the defeat in the man’s face. Three parts hung-over and three hours’ sleep and this. He rubbed his eyes painfully, the first time in days.
‘Stay here,’ Marith ordered Thalia. ‘Sit in the cart.’ He looked at Tobias’s face. ‘Alxine, stay with her. Keep your sword out.’
The incline fell away steeply into a flat plain. It was very hot, the air very close. No trees or grasses, just sand and jagged rocks that caught at the foot. But ahead of them, a few crows circled, cawing raggedly.
The body was sprawled on its back in a circle of blackened sand, arms thrown out to the sides. Ripped to pieces. The blood was clotted and black with flies. Crows had torn out its innards. A man, possibly dressed in a brown shirt and brown leggings. A few strands of hair and a greying beard.
A long wooden staff, as tall as the man himself and broader than his forearm, lay in the dust next to him. It was broken jaggedly in two.
A silence.
‘Oh fuck,’ Rate said at last.
Tobias frowned. ‘It’s the mage. The wonder worker. From the square in Sorlost. You remember, with the fire and the coloured lights?’
‘It’s missing half its face,’ said Rate. ‘How can you tell that?’
‘No, he’s right,’ Marith said slowly. ‘That’s a mage’s staff, anyway. And those marks in the dust are from mage fire.’
Rate whistled softly through his teeth. ‘We should probably leave here as quickly as bloody well possible, then?’
The blood drained from Marith’s face. He turned and looked back towards the cart and horses, hidden behind the incline.
‘Haven’t heard her scream, yet,’ said Tobias. ‘But you’re right, the pair of you. We should go. Now.’ He bent down, rifled quickly through the man’s pockets, retrieving a handful of coins and an ornately handled knife. ‘Wonder where his saddlebags went. He must have had water, food …’
‘There.’ Rate pointed to a dark heap in the sand away to the right. He went cautiously towards it. Returned carrying a large travel sack. ‘Looks like a camp. Gods know why he left his horse up there behind him.’
‘I don’t think he did,’ said Tobias. ‘I think the horse got up there on its own. Even hobbled. There are some odd marks in the sand back there.’
Another silence.
‘Oh fuck,’ said Rate.
They rode the horses hard, pressing on as late as they could into the night. You know what’s coming, a voice whispered in Marith’s mind. You know. You’ve known since you came back into the desert. They were fleeing, but they could just as easily be fleeing towards it.