OVER THE POST and rail fence, around the big willow tree and splashing across the stream, up the slope beyond, around the herd of dairy cows. The bull took objection to their appearance and put his head down to charge, bellowing defiance. Arrow scrambled out of the way and leaped over the dry-stone fence beyond. Leof leaned low over Arrow’s neck and grinned. It was like the best of chases — he felt like he was out alone, leading the field, the way Bramble used to do on Thorn.
Ahead of him the Kill raced, but this was one Kill he didn’t want to catch. He shivered at what might happen if the wind wraiths realized he was following them. Then he grinned again and urged Arrow on. She was tiring, but her heart was so big that whenever he asked her for more she gave it.
Leof thanked the gods that he had spent so much time at chases when he first arrived from Cliff Domain. He knew most of this countryside, had ridden over a great deal of it. It was a mixture of pasture and crops, intercut with many, many streams and small rivers. One of the most fertile areas of the country, this farmland was the reason Thegan had wanted Central Domain so badly. Leof thought ruefully of the crops he had trampled since he left Carlion, but it would have wasted too much time to avoid them. The mixture of animals and crops meant that the fences were frequent and sturdy, and that the ground beyond them was usually firm and reasonably level — perfect chasing country.
In the next field, Arrow soared over the post and rail fence, took long low jumps over three streams that divided the field, cantered for a moment to catch her breath, then gathered speed again across the pasture, scattering ewes and lambs as she went. Leof stood in the stirrups to ease her back for a while.
The wraiths were following a winding route among villages and small towns. They had stopped twice to investigate something, the second time for so long that Leof had a chance to spell Arrow. Without that respite, she would have foundered. He might have been able to catch them, but that wasn’t his task. He had to let them lead him to the enchanter.
He would very much have liked to see what had interested them so. They had swooped close to the ground, over and over, and seemed to be smelling it. But they had taken off so fast afterward that he had no time to look. He had to take the straight line after them. He noted the locations and left them for another day. Right now, all he had to do was chase.
It was a glorious chase: over walls and streams, under shade trees and around coppices, over logs and through new hay that brushed his boots and smelt of summer. He felt vaguely guilty about enjoying it so much, when the safety of the Domains was at stake.
By the time the sun was overhead, out of his eyes, Arrow was tiring badly. He cast about for somewhere where he might get a change of horse, but the last village had been tiny and would have no messenger horses stabled there. He eased Arrow to a walk, watching the wraiths streak ahead of them, knowing he had probably failed, but clinging to the hope that they would keep going in that straight line and he would be able to find them again.
Then they stopped, in midair, hovering like hawks before a kill. And like hawks they stooped, shrieking. Leof wasn’t close enough to see exactly what they had found. They were over a small grassy hill just outside the next village — Bonhill, that was it — and when they stooped they disappeared behind the hill.
He dismounted and walked Arrow slowly toward them, hoping that they would give her time to recover before speeding off again. Then he got close enough to hear a man’s voice, speaking to them, and realized he had found the enchanter.