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Greystone found her battered and bloody and too dazed even to think about trying to climb back up to her friend Her friend! Colleen ached in heart more than body when she looked up that slope, to where Pony lay at the et to her friend, and even if she could have ain
It was a et up on Greystone&039;s back, and once there, she only e him on She slipped in and out of consciousness many times over the next hour, but had had the presence of mind to tie herself to the saddle
And so she went on alone, knowing that the terrible ht She couldn&039;t even find the strength to cli as he went, pausing every now and then, sleeping as the wo with King Danube, they were dashed immediately On orders from Father Abbot Markwart - and with not a word of coe - a host of monks surrounded Pony, cut her loose fro her ge lodestone" King Danube looked over at her, his expression a ust
And then he turned away, and Pony knew that she was doomed
A fewher, ht beside her "You are to run on," he explained "The brothers will support you, will carry you when your legs give out" Two strongher ar her so that her feet were barely touching the ground
"You should reconsider your position before we return to Palmaris," De&039;Unnero said to her "What a pity that one as strong of mind and body as you will be so horribly and publicly executed" He spun away as he fin-ished, his step light and fast
Pony didn&039;t kno to interpret his words Was he showing sincere concern? Or was he playing with her, taunting her within the guise of con-cern? Or was it, perhaps, so to be her friend, playing off against the Father Abbot, to keep her off guard?
Whatever itThey had beaten her, so it see fro intact: her convictions
And she was glad to see De&039;Unnero, she decided If the dangerous h Pony couldn&039;t even be certain whether her friend was alive, or if De&039;Unnero had killed her before he had come back
"I will holdto hear the words, although as soon as she said the response froh one did turn to regard her, eyeing her with soth froreat accomplishment, it was all she had left
The pain wasn&039;t so bad the next day, replaced by a grihtbird, whatever it took, and tell him of the fate of his lover She knew that her wounds were serious One arm was broken and one ankle so swollen that she had to remove her boot And she had lost blood, and was so very cold
But Colleen focused only on the road ahead and urged Greystone, won-derful Greystone, ahead, step after step
Day and night blended together, one long, rolling agony A rain fell the third day after De&039;Unnero&039;s attack, but Colleen, delirious, didn&039;t even notice The soldiers and ht, but again, she didn&039;t, couldn&039;t, notice
All she kneas the road ahead, the road to Dundalis, the road to the place where she would at last allow herself some rest
She collapsed on the side of the trail the afternoon of the fourth day, sliding fro down at the end of the tether, her shoul-ders and head brushing the ground The horse knew enough to stop, but there was little else that Greystone, or Colleen, could do The woht herself, but only fell back, scraping the side of her face against some crusted snow
The sun rode low in the western sky The darkness took her
Tiel&039;race and speed that no race other than Touel&039;alfar couldover mounds of drifted snow ihtly, half flying, over stretches of open ground in the south She took noand dance, for her heart remained heavy with the loss of Ni&039;estiel
Lady Dasslerond had to know: about the dead elf, about the ic that had saved Nightbird - and Tiel&039;ht, the elf rushed past Dundalis, passing under the tower on the north slope without disturbing the two sentries She knew that she should turn west soon, if her destination was Andur&039;Blough Inninness, but she suspected that her lady ht still be in Palmaris, or that Dassle-rond would co for ho
What she heard instead was the soft nicker of a horse and the groans of a woman
Tiel&039;nize the horse that had served as ent, the elf couldn&039;t leave the wo upside down under the belly of a horse With her fine elvish blade, she cut Colleen down, doing her best to pad the woround At the very least, she decided to unsaddle the poor horse, for festering sores were showing around the edges of the leather, and perhaps wrap the woht die coh the other rehtbird," she whispered through parched, cracked lips "Pony caught"
Tiel&039; of the words ca the sides of the woht by whoe delivered, the delirious Colleen had slipped far away
Tiel&039;ht of slowing her progress to the south, but understood that this nificant She ran back to the north and again passed Dundalis,to the bottom of the sentry tower "A wouards scrambled; Tiel&039;marawee heard their boots and the tumult as they reached for weapons
"A woravely injured To the south!"
"Who is there?" one guard called back
But Tiel&039;one
Soon after, the elf watched with relief as a group of men rushed down one of the southern trails They would not have found Colleen, but the elf called out to the the to Colleen&039;s side and gently turning her to her back, while a corabbed Greystone&039;s reins and led the horse aside
"Cousin of Shae man with dark black hair, replied "Colleen, by name She came to us in Caer Tinella, with news of the dead Baron"
"She may be soon to join hi her wounds, shook his head
"Not so bad," he said "Nothing a bit of food and a warm bed won&039;t help She&039;s been on the road, and injured, for several days, at least, probably tied to the saddle the whole time"
"Good horse," the third e black- hairedand with open sores How the man&039;s eyes widened!
"But who unsaddled theover Colleen asked
"And who told us about the fallen woerwart could hardly reply for the luh it was That was Greystone, Pony&039;s mount! "Get her into town quickly," he bade his coet her, by all o!"
The other two ju her across Greystone&039;s back, then leading the horse away
To around at the forest and the trail, appearing distressed
Tiel&039;e
Ithat he held no weapon and wouldhis a one of the di of the fallen woerwart," he explained, "friend of Nightbird, friend of Jilseponie, whose horse carried the stricken woman"
Tiel&039;marawee did well to hide her concern; if this was Pony&039;s horse, then what had happened to Lady Dasslerond?
"Friend of Belli&039;mar Juraviel," Tomas finished, "or companion, at least - for he acco for ho low "The wo Jilseponie, I a for Dundalis
The elf considered the invitation, then nodded and followed
Many stares followed her, but none of theh the town to Colleen&039;s bedside
They found poor Colleen half conscious, stillcaptured, and about the need to inforhtbird at the Barbacan," Tiel&039;marawee explained, "locked in by a winter storm There he must stay for several more days, at least, and ain"
"But you caet back"
The elf looked at hihtbird has to know," the big o tell hi no doubt that, by her thinking, her role in this had cohtbird could not get through," he replied "If that is so, then how are any of us to get to him?"
Before Tiel&039;marawee could answer, the door burst open and a flustered wo," she said breathlessly, "and monks besides Many monks"
Tomas turned back to Tiel&039;h a side
"By the gods," the big rimly "Keep her hidden," he instructed those in the roo about her" He rushed out of the house, athered at the southern end of toaiting the arrival of the soldiers He looked around h he suspected, correctly, that Tiel&039;maraas already far away
"Nohat are ye supposin&039; soldiers&039;ll be wantin&039; with us?" one man asked
"Or monks?" another added with obvious disdain, for he had been out in the forest with Toer&039;s paw had coh, had been the companion of the le swipe
"Allheart," one of the others whispered to To,the turf "And several with plumed helri&039;s own"
"And a far way froht, but To the brown robes of Abellicanbeside the ht his attention, the monk he had encoun-tered in the forest outside of town a couple of weeks before, the htbird, and thus, as ene Markwart caasps erupted about Tomas
Tomas had never seen the Father Abbot of the Abellican Church before, but this man&039;s rank was obvious even before one of the others, one who had seen Markwart, named the old monk as the Church&039;s supre such attention?" sohtbird than us," another answered