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Septiht The horse, and riders that Marcia had found in her Reo, who ran a sarden in the Farmlands and were on their way to visit Betty&039;s h the apple orchards of the lowland hills, was another black horse with two riders: one sold circlet around her head, the other tall and wild-eyed, with his long straw-colored hair strea horse onward

As he rode, Sihts He was amazed that it had all been so easy When he had ridden into the Palace, Simon had expected, at the very least, to be stopped and questioned But there had been no one there, and so, he thought with a grim smile, the Heaps only had themselves to blame Because Simon had not really expected to snatch Jenna so easily, he felt a little scared of his own success He was afraid she ht be troublesome; he knew she had asoh he had always been able toher

Simon shook his head crossly to rid hiht have of his little adopted sister whom he had lived with and loved for the first ten years of her life That, he told himself sternly, was the past Marcia Overstrand had marched into their lives on Jenna&039;s tenth birthday and ruined everything, and that had been the end of his family as he knew it The last strahen his parents were duped by that boy fro he was their precious seventh son and, to top it all, the upstart got the only thing that Simon had ever wantedthe ExtraOrdinary Apprenticeship Now he cared for no oneexcept for Lucy Gringe

If Simon had not been able to snatch Jenna, he had planned to take Lucy aith him that day But work had to come first

Si his Master&039;s bidding for the past year He had not been looking forward to snatching Jenna, but orders were orders It had to be done Lucy would have to wait a little longeralthough just at thaton his horse, laughing as they cantered through the apple orchards, rather than Princess stony-faced Jenna, who sat like a rock in front of him

Apart from her few months spent in the Marram Marshes, Jenna had never been out of the Castle before, and she was struck by how green and varied the Farmlands were If she had been with anyone but Simon it would have been a wonderful journey The sun was hot but not oppressively so; since the bright blue skies of the early , a few clouds had drifted in froe off the heat Simon had allowed Thunder to slon to a brisk trot and occasionally the horse fell into a leisurely walk as they reached a s around and being amazed at how beautiful the countryside was

Jenna was not going to give Si how scared she was She sat stiff and upright, using her riding skills to go with the horse as he h the Farmlands, which stretched for miles on the other side of the river

They had stopped once by a streaive the horse a drink and to allow hiraze for a while Simon had offered Jenna sory Like the horse, Jenna drank from the stream, and when Simon had said it was ti across the shallow stream and down a narrow track At the end of the track Jenna could see a s in the shade But as she hurtled along the dusty path, she heard the sound of Thunder galloping up behind her, and in a hly back into the saddle They did not stop again

As the day wore on, the lush ently sloping hills of the Lowlands The soft fruit crops and orchards of the sed to hillsides of vines, and still Thunder carried on, cli upward as the hills became more pronounced and the an to rise before thean to realize that Si she had hoped that whatever strange joke he was playing on her would soon come to an end, that he would suddenly turn Thunder around and canter back to the Castle Jenna had even decided exactly what she was going to say to hiht he was about to do just that But Thunder carried on, noalking , as the hills became steeper and the air clearer and more chill

It was late afternoon, and they had reached the grim slate quarries in the sheep-filled foothills of the Badlands, when Jenna at last broke the heavy silence between the ?"

Si mass of the Border Mountains, she already knew the answer to her second question And she wasn&039;t sure she really wanted to hear the answer to her first