I shivered as I stood looking across the grasslands early in the morning. The grass was damp with dew and silvered with icy fingers wherever the few scrawny trees gave shelter.
'Cold?' Geris opened his arm and I stepped inside his cloak gratefully.
'How long is it to Equinox?' I frowned. 'Isn't it a bit early for frost?'
Geris pursed his lips as he rummaged in a small trunk, typically emerging with three assorted Almanacs. The rest of us make do with one to a household, if we're lucky.
He flipped over the pages and compared the charts of the waxing and waning moons.
'It's five days if there's no lesser moon tonight,' he said finally. 'We've come a long way north, don't forget.'
I dug out my own cloak. 'So we won't get to Inglis until we're into Aft-Autumn then. Have you got an Almanac covering Inglis? What'll be going on?'
Geris consulted one of the other books but shook his head after a moment. 'It's all guild business, fixing prenticeships and the like.'
That tweaked my curiosity and I was about to ask for a look when Darni called us over to get mounted. As we moved out, I decided I really didn't like Dalasor. Among other things, there's almost no cover and that makes me seriously uncomfortable. I always like to have a discreet route out of any situation but out here you could be seen for leagues. As we rode, I found my back prickling like a child who's convinced there's a monster in the well-house or the privy.
We reached a turning off the high road and I was surprised to see Darni take it. I kicked the horse, sorry, Russet, into a canter and caught up with him.
'Aren't we going to take the river? I thought that's the fastest way to reach the coast.'
Darni shook his head. 'All the miners and trappers will be coming out of Gidesta at the moment; winter comes early to the mountains. The boats will be full of them and they're rough company at the best of times. I want to steer clear of trouble.'
'Oh, oh well.' I tried to hide my disappointment.
Darni grinned at me. 'Looking forward to a game, were you?'
'They say you can make a killing on the bigger boats if you manage to get out without a knife in your back,' I allowed.
'Sorry. You'll have to try and win a few head of cattle off some herders instead.'
It was all very well for Darni to laugh but, a few days later, I did manage to win us half a beef and a load of fodder when we stopped to spend the night with some drovers taking beasts south for slaughter. I slept well despite the noise of the cattle shifting around us but that was my last decent night.
'You're very jumpy,' Darni observed neutrally as we crossed yet another featureless stretch of plain and I kept looking over my shoulder.
'I'm not used to being so conspicuous,' I admitted. 'The sooner I feel cobbles under my feet and can see a wall to hide behind, the happier I'll be.'
He smiled broadly and took a deep breath of the bracing air. 'I like it up here.'
'Well, I don't. I know this sounds daft but I'm sure I'm being watched.'
Darni considered this. 'Maybe we should ditch the last of that meat. We might have some wolves on our tail, I suppose. There are a lot of animals and birds up here, haven't you seen them? Aren't you Forest Folk supposed to be sensitive to animals?'
I shrugged. 'I've no idea. I don't tend to notice dogs unless they're biting my leg. All I know is I've got crawlers running up and down my spine.'
'Sure you didn't bring them with you from Hanchet?'
It was all very well for him to joke but I was serious. I went to help Shiv when we stopped to eat, trimming the meat while he lit the fire. Wizards do save you a lot on tinder and flint.
'Do you have to look for something specific when you're scrying, like you did with Halice?' I asked casually. 'Or can you just have a general look around?'
Shiv nodded. 'Why do you ask?'
'This may sound stupid but I can't shake the feeling we're being watched. Darni thinks I'm just getting the creeps from the local wildlife but I don't think that's it.'
'You're sure?'
'Certain.' I realised just how certain as I spoke, and Shiv heard it in my voice.
'That's good enough for me. I'll check back along our trail if you like.'
He took out his oils and worked his spells and we all gathered round to look into the fascinating images he drew out of the water. He found the herdsmen we had met and we watched as they forded a stream, tiny horns nodding as the cattle plunged through the water.
'All right, let's work backwards,' Shiv breathed.
The image sped along and I wondered if this is how the land looks to a bird, a tapestry of green and brown, laced with glinting waters, dotted with the darker green of trees and spotted with the last flowers of summer. My stomach lurched as the ground fell away down a valley.
We saw a few deer racing across the plain with lithe grey shapes in pursuit, their passage startling a bevy of fowl into the air. A raven was picking at the remains of a wild horse come to grief in a gully but, other than that, we saw no signs of life. Shiv brought the image back to us.
'Nothing you wouldn't expect to see,' Darni said as the picture showed four figures, bent heads together while the horses grazed. I blinked as the image dissolved in a dizzying spiral.
'I looked all around, not just on our trail,' Shiv agreed. 'There's nothing out there.'
I shook my head. 'I must be imagining it,' I said reluctantly.
'We'll try to find better cover when we camp,' Geris said comfortingly but I saw a gleam in his eye. Oh well, I thought, nothing works like good sex to give you a decent night's sleep, not an unpleasant prospect. I winked at him and stifled a smile when I caught Darni's expression.
'I know a place we can use.' Darni pushed on the pace and by late afternoon I realised he was heading for an earthwork that rose out of the grassland ahead like a small, flat-topped hill.
'Isn't that an Eldritch ring?' I gaped at him. 'Is that where you're planning to camp?'
'That's right.' His eyes challenged me. 'What's the matter? Frightened that shadow-blue men will step out of a rainbow and shoot you full of little green arrows?'
'They're copper, you know, Eldritch arrows,' Geris piped up. 'All their metalwork was.'
His flow of inconsequential information covered the fact that I was at a loss for words and I was able to keep a level face as we found the way through the ramparts of turf and made our camp.
After all, the Eldritch kin are just tales for children and, while those with their feet still in cow dung might believe in them, we more sophisticated city types are above such things. That's what I kept telling myself anyway, sounding about as convincing as a huckster selling baldness cures.
'They were real people, you know,' Geris said helpfully as we unpacked and I had just about got myself persuaded that I really should ignore such childish worries.
'What, little grey men who can step into shadows?' I managed a shaky laugh.
'No,' he said seriously. 'But people lived here and in places like this. One mentor took his students to dig up a ring near Borleat. They found a man buried in a boat with treasure all around him.'
'You're joking!' I frowned. 'That's a long way from navigable water. You can't get barges any higher than Tresig, can you?'
'Maybe they used to be able to. There are dry wharves nearby, aren't there?'
Shiv came over at this point. 'It's nearly Equinox.' He pointed at the last faint sickle of the greater moon. 'Is it anyone's birth festival?'
Geris shook his head. 'I'm a For-Winter baby.'
'Darni and I are Aft-Autumn.' Shiv shrugged. 'Oh well, I expect we can come up with something to drink to.'
'Er, well, it's my birth-festival actually. I was born in Aft-Summer.' I felt a little shy about admitting it for some daft reason.
'Not much chance of celebrating out here.' Geris looked really worried which both touched and concerned me. 'It won't be much of a festival for you.'
'Oh well, we'll—'
Shiv's plan was lost in a shattering scream from one of the horses and for one heart-stopping moment I really believed the Eldritch kin had woken.
'Backs to the fire!' Darni's bellow brought us back to reality and I saw men cresting the rampart, drawn swords glinting in the firelight. Their helms and mail chinked as they ran and their studded boots thudded into the soft earth. None of them spoke but they moved with a unity of purpose more chilling than any battle cry. The effect was slightly spoiled when some of them slipped on the slope, now slick with dew, but thank Saedrin, it gave us a breath to collect our wits and to realise we were badly outnumbered.
I fumbled in my belt pouch for my darts and stepped back to get distance for throwing. I felt heat on the backs of my legs; I didn't have much room before I would be treading in the embers.
'Kiss Saedrin's arse,' Darni snarled as he stepped out to meet the first attackers. Their air of confidence was terrifying and the first swept up his hand to bring his sword down into Darni's head. I watched the attacker's hand rise, and then carry on rising as Darni took it off at the wrist with an explosive strike. His mate was momentarily distracted by a faceful of blood and his troubles ended with Darni's short sword in his guts. When a third went down to a boot in the stones, the attack lost a little of its impetus and we were able to form a defensive circle before they hit us.
Swords met in a flurry of sparks, slash, parry, feint, lunge, hack. Darni's sword flashed in the light of the flames until he managed to reach in over a guard and rip into his opponent's throat. Blood sprayed across him, but he simply blinked it clear and kicked the bubbling corpse aside.
The dancing shadows from the firelight were confusing my aim. I threw a dart and for one gut-wrenching second, it looked as if the victim was unaffected. He staggered forward then sank to his knees clawing at his arm, dying in seconds with a choking cough. What a relief; the poison hadn't lost its strength after all.
My darts took out a couple more but I was soon running low. Darni was fighting like one of Poldrion's own demons and I kept him between me and our attackers. I glanced over my shoulder to check we weren't being encircled and saw Shiv and Geris were back to back with us. Geris had the reflexes and speed for swordwork but was making a slow job of finishing off his opponent. Even I saw a chance which he had just failed to follow through. The vicious face attacking him knew it too, and teeth shone in a triumphant sneer. Too many years fencing like a gentleman, whereas Darni had been killing for real; blood was running down the sleeve of Geris' off arm and I realised he was used to fighting with a shield.
He must have realised he was in trouble as he suddenly kicked himself to a quicker pace. He drove the attacker back with rapid slashing strokes. Confused, the man let down his guard and Geris split his skull; I saw his grimace as he turned his head to avoid the shower of brain and blood.
Back at our side of the fire, I used my last dart then found myself facing a bearded heavy, who thought I was now unarmed. His mistake; I slid a dagger down my sleeve and as he came in for a downward smash I got him through the armpit. I couldn't get the dagger loose as the bastard fell and began to feel cold fingers of fear as I screamed at Darni's back.
'I need a weapon! Darni, I haven't got a sword!'
He kicked a loose sword backwards, nearly taking off my toes. Shrieking obscenities, he drove his distracted opponent back a couple of paces. Blondie facing him made the mistake of thinking he saw an opening and came in to meet the blade in his guts. He sank to his knees, screaming wetly, and Darni kicked him in the face.
I moved to Darni's side and began to relearn my swordsmanship very speedily indeed, blessing Halice for insisting I practise with her and wishing for her skills.
A big bastard with a yellow beard came round to me, looking to take the weaker option. He was strong and quick and it was all I could do to match him until he slipped in the slime of his friend's entrails and I was able to smash my blade through his ugly face. Teeth and bone gleamed for an instant in the firelight as he fell headlong into the fire. His hair blazed with a revolting smell as his arms flailed wildly. I stamped frantically on the back of his head until he stilled.
Darni dropped another with a low sweep that took out his knees and then finished him with a thrust into the eyes. Our gazes met in an insane instant of calm.
'Get behind me. How are the others doing? What about the horses?'
The horses! If we lost those, it was a long walk home. I looked round and saw why Darni had not bothered hobbling his mount. The brutish-looking chestnut was rearing, kicking and biting with the controlled savagery of the trained warrior's horse, and several figures bled writhing under his hooves.
Shiv was using a beam of amber light like a halberd and the attackers screamed like pigs whenever it made contact. He dropped two of them, who went down as if they'd been poleaxed, not even twitching, the only movement the blood streaming from under their helms.
'Shiv!' Darni bellowed like a rutting bull and Shiv spared us a glance.
Acid fire tore into my leg and I nearly paid the ultimate price for being distracted. I shrieked like Drianon's own eagle and this bought me a second to recover myself. Darni was fighting two on one now, and I was facing serious trouble. He was not as big as the others but he was quick and strong and whipped his blade around mine with terrifying ease. I was being driven back step by step until I felt the fire crunch under my boots and scorch my legs.
The man I fought sneered at me with savage glee. I honestly thought I was lost. Sapphire light ripped past and the triumphant face exploded into a blackened ruin as it shot backwards. I gaped stupidly; we all did in a mad moment of stillness that seized friend and foe alike.
'Move!' Darni shoved me through the dying fire and the three of us bracketed Shiv as he wove coruscating, multicoloured light round the ring of earthen ramparts.
A flash like forked lightning knocked two more backwards into scorched hulks of flesh and brilliance shot from Shiv's hands to the embers of the fire. Red light, bright as a new day, flashed across the ground to finish off the wounded and then shot through the air to crown the crest of the ring with flames where reinforcements died in screaming agony. Saedrin, how many were there? How many were waiting outside? I thrust away rising panic with real difficulty and concentrated on my own private mayhem, realising with some unoccupied fraction of my mind that I was whimpering. Piss on that, I thought. I joined in with Darni's litany of curses at the top of my lungs.
Down in the blood and death of the ring, another fell as his sword exploded into red-hot razors which tore his face apart. Those remaining now realised they were trapped and redoubled their efforts, defence giving way to desperation as they fought to get to Shiv and kill the magic. Now they were screaming back at us, my ears only hearing nonsense but recognising the vicious hatred in the tone. Terror built in the pit of my stomach and threatened to come howling out at any second. Now I was screaming at myself as much as the enemy.
Darni yelled something I missed but Shiv dropped his handfuls of blue fire and began to weave a multihued web of power. In an instant, black shadows began to ripple down the length of our swords, vanishing like smoke in the air. I landed a blow on the man in front of me: the mail on his shoulder parted, the flesh beneath melting like tallow and smoking with a revolting stench. Geris moved to follow up when his opponent shrank away from the deadly darkness and nearly took a thrust in the ribs from the side. Shiv saw the danger and the man screamed like a girl as his arm fell apart under a blast of green light, the small bones of his hand and wrist scattering like runes. He sank to his knees and I finished him through the back of the neck.
It took me a few maddened moments to realise the fight was over, my ears still ringing, disoriented. Crazy shadows ran round the ring as Shiv's wall of fire flared one last time and then died. We braced ourselves for new dangers but none came. Darni broke from our frozen group and ran up the rampart, yelling defiance into the night.
Sudden terror flashed through me as a hand gripped my arm but it was only Shiv. I caught him as he sank to his knees, face deathly pale and eyes dark-shadowed like a man in a fever, his breath coming in tearing gasps.
'Darni!' I shrieked, my voice rising, scant moments from hysteria. He looked back from the crest of the ring.
'Geris, help Livak, it's Shiv!'
Geris came and helped me lay Shiv down. I dragged the corpse out of the fire, my stomach rising at the sickly roasting smell. No time to be sick, I threw more wood on the embers and stood, not knowing what to do.
'Spirits, the red bottle.'
Geris carefully poured a mouthful down Shiv and he coughed weakly.
'Wine, no mead. Thanks. Now, get some wine and heat it with some honey.'
I obeyed with shaking hands. Shiv's colour improved a little and his breathing slowed. Geris tended him with single-minded concentration, loosening his shirt and checking him for wounds, ignoring his own bloody arm.
A dark shadow came over the top of the ring and I had my sword ready before I realised it was Darni, his eyes bright as a wild dog's.
'Well?' He kept his face to the night as he returned to the fire.
'He's exhausted but a good night's sleep should see him right.' Geris' tone was calm and confident as he went to his leather case of parchments.
'What are you doing?' I asked in bemusement.
He looked at me as if only just realising that I was present.
'Something to help Shiv sleep.' He showed me a sheet of neatly written couplets and then spoke the complex syllables over the fallen wizard. His breathing became deeper and more normal as the tension left his long body.
'Is that this aetheric magic?'
'Yes.' Geris frowned. 'It's never worked that quickly before. I wonder what it is about this place?' Frustration edged his tone.
'What else can you do?'
'Not much. Shit! The old books say they could heal wounds, cure fevers, all kinds of things. All I can do is put him to sleep. If only—'
'If a bitch had balls, she'd be a dog. Don't knock it, sleep's what Shiv needs.' Darni stripped off his blood-soaked tunic and shirt and began to wash the worst of the gore off himself.
'Are we safe?' I asked stupidly.
'For the moment. I couldn't see any sign but they might be regrouping.' Darni glanced round the carnage. 'I'd be surprised if they came back but we'll be ready.'
As he wiped himself dry with the remains of his shirt I saw several broad purple scars on his shoulders and chest. A fresh cut on his arm was oozing slowly and his knuckles were bloody and raw on both hands. He turned and I saw there were no marks on his back.
'There's a small green bag in my kit, Livak. I'd rather not get everything bloody…'
I fetched it for him and winced in sympathy as he poured neat spirits on his wounds before trying to dress them.
'Here, let me.' I worked fast and he grunted approvingly.
'That's fine. Now, let's look at that leg.'
I had forgotten my own wound, crazy as that sounds, but as soon as he mentioned it I felt as if I'd been kicked by a plough horse. I sat and watched numbly as he cut away my breeches to reveal a deep gash. The fire had scorched my leg as hairless as a high-priced whore's but there were no burns, which was a relief given the way they fester.
'This'll need stitches,' Darni said in a matter-of-fact tone. 'Do you want to do it yourself?'
'Hang on.' Geris finished cleaning the long, shallow slice in his own arm and came over.
'This is going to hurt,' he said unnecessarily as he clamped his hands on my thigh.
Darni wiped it with a spirit-soaked wad of lint; I managed not to vomit or faint but it was a close thing. He worked fast but, by the time he was finished, I was shaking and dripping with sweat.
'Get some sleep. Geris and I will stand first watch.'
'Urn.' I could not trust myself with words and rolled myself in my cloak next to Shiv. Slowly my heart stopped pounding and the terror and elation of the fight receded. The shakes took longer to subside, just leaving me with the thumping pain in my leg. I closed my eyes and listened to the crackling of the fire. It reminded me of childhood illnesses bedded down in the kitchen and I screwed my eyes shut on sudden tears.
'Livak?' I was amazed to realise Geris' low question had woken me. I blinked up at his face, bleak with strain and tiredness in the grey light of dawn.
'Could you keep awake for a while? I've got to sleep.'
I sat up and rubbed my face, grimacing at the ache in my leg. 'Surely.' I looked round. 'Where's Darni?'
'Here.' Darni was sitting at the top of the slope keeping watch, tense like a good hound.
'Don't you want some rest?'
He shook his head. 'I couldn't; a fight like that leaves fire in the blood for hours. I'll rest later; I don't think they'll be back.'
'Who were they?'
'Bandits, I suppose. Probably out of Lescar, a group whose Lord came off second-best in some challenge.'
I squinted up at him, hair and beard still matted with blood, face cheerful and relaxed.
'Poldrion's ferry will be busy today,' I observed at last.
He grinned. 'I don't think he'll take many of these without fixing a price first. I wonder how many he'll tip over the side halfway.' He surveyed the corpses littering the grass with an untroubled air.
'I hope he'll credit you with a commission. Where did you learn to fight like that?'
'Lescar, fighting for the Duke of Triolle ten years back.'
'You're good.'
'I've got to be good at something.'
I let it go. 'What's wrong with Shiv?'
'He exhausted himself. You can't throw power like that around without paying for it.'
'I didn't realise,' I said in a wondering tone. 'I really should learn more about wizards.'
Darni stretched his arms above his head, grimacing as he tested his injuries. 'Before they realised I had no power as a mage, I attended some of the lectures. There's a dangerous old bastard in Hadrumal called Otrick; he's about the best there is with air magic. Anyway, he gives a lecture posted as “Why don't wizards rule the world?”' He gestured at Shiv's motionless frame. 'That's one reason.'
I wondered what the others were but did not like to ask.
'Otrick gives new students practical lessons too; I've seen some carried out of his hall.' Darni looked at me and smiled. 'Not being a mage isn't all bad, you know.'
The sun rose higher, Geris woke and we ate a breakfast made tasteless by the blood-soaked surroundings. Flies began to gather and we set about the revolting task of shifting the dead so we could get out without the horses going hysterical on us. Shiv slept on but his colour was back to normal, he stirred from time to time and his twitching eyes showed he was dreaming.
'We might get more trouble so we'll take some armour,' Darni ordered and we wrestled with the less mangled corpses. When I finally got a mail-shirt off, I was surprised to realise it was nearly right for me in length. I looked at the bodies with new interest.
'Stumpy lot, aren't they? You'll need to put two of these together for Shiv.'
Geris paused. 'Shiv can't wear armour; all that metal round him screws up the magic.' He put down the sword he had been cleaning and began to inspect the bodies more closely, pulling his dagger out. 'Yes, they are all rather short.' I wondered queasily if his academic interests included anatomising, but to my relief he contented himself with cutting away clothing.
'Darni, this is all rather peculiar.' He moved round the dell, removing helmets and coifs.
'How do you mean?'
'They're all very similar; they're all yellow-haired for one thing. How often do you see that?'
Darni peered at a few of the faces, bloodless with livid purple lips and tongues or revoltingly mottled depending on the way they had fallen. He shrugged, uninterested.
'So they're all related. Bandits often work in families, you know that.'
'So many of them? So close in age?' Geris looked puzzled.
'They're just robbers trying their luck.' Darni produced a pair of snips and began taking some of the excess out of the hauberk I had selected.
'Looking for what? We're hardly a merchant's train loaded with coin.' Geris sat back on his heels. 'All we've got worth stealing is the horses and they weren't their target.'
'That's because anyone who went near them got their head stamped on,' Darni grinned.
Geris did not look convinced. 'I'm going to have a look around.'
'Don't go far and be careful. Yell if you see anything.' I watched him leave with concern, half inclined to go too, but Shiv chose that moment to wake.
'Is there any water?' he croaked. 'My mouth feels like the inside of a muleteer's glove.'
I fetched him a cupful. 'How are you feeling?'
He propped himself on one elbow and wrinkled his nose at the leathern taste of the water. 'I've felt better but I'll recover.'
'You scared a season's growth out of me.' It was supposed to be a joke but it did not come out right.
'I think I used up a season's growth.' He sat up and looked around. 'Saedrin! What a mess!'
Gens reappeared, looking dissatisfied. 'They didn't have any horses.'
'Their mates will have taken them back to wherever they are hiding out. I don't suppose we got them all.' Darni threw the mail at me. 'Try that.'
I draped it round myself, grimacing at the prospect of that weight on my shoulders. 'Good enough.'
Darni began lacing the rings together with leather thong. 'I should be riveting this, you know,' he muttered with dissatisfaction.
'No, listen,' Geris persisted. 'They did not have horses; I'm telling you they came on foot.'
'Out here? We're leagues from anywhere. You must be mistaken.'
'I've been looking at their tracks. I know what I'm talking about,' Geris insisted with uncharacteristic force. I looked up from the swords I was trying for weight.
'Go on.' My own sense of unease was returning.
'There are no signs of horses anywhere. Look at them, none of them are booted or spurred for riding. They were on foot!'
'So they're holed up somewhere dose and watching the road.' Darni was not convinced. 'We'd better get out of here before they come back. Let's get working.'
Now Geris had got me wondering. As I went round searching for my darts, I looked more closely at the nearest body and shoving aside my revulsion, pulled apart the remnants of the clothing.
'This is odd.'
'How so?' Geris came over and Shiv looked at me with interest.
'Well, these clothes are certainly old and worn but he's all clean underneath.' I bent closer. 'Look, there's old blood here on the linen, I'd say from lice or fleas.' I ran a finger over the marble-cold flesh below. 'He's spotless, not a bite anywhere. He's clean too, scrubbed.' I moved to the next roughly intact corpse. 'This one's the same.'
'So they've got rid of their vermin. Where's the mystery? Have you ever had lice? Believe me, you don't want to keep them.' Darni concentrated on his work.
I sat back on my heels. Darni was probably right, but I didn't think we had read the runes right here. What was I missing? I searched further.
'None of them have any coin on them.' I rummaged in a few belt-pouches and pockets, brushing aside the flies and trying to ignore the smell of blood. 'None of them are carrying anything personal at all. No rings, jewellery, nothing. What's this?'
I showed Geris a patch of raw skin on an arm. He looked on the others but could not find anything similar.
'A stray shot from Shiv?'
'They're all dead, that's all I need to know. Come on, I want to get out of here as fast as we can.' There was an edge to Darni's tone that forbade further investigation or speculation. Geris muttered something and returned to cleaning his sword and Shiv started to get slowly to his feet.
We were soon packed up and ready to return to the road.
'Are we going to do anything about all this?' I paused on our way out of the ring and looked back at the pile of dead.
Darni shook his head. 'It'll take too long to get fuel to burn them.' He gestured to the far side of the rampart. 'They'll take care of it.'
I looked at the waiting ravens and swallowed hard. Thirty or more bodies should see the birds well fed for half a season. * # *
Back on the road the clean air blew the scent of death out of my nostrils, and I felt better. We paused at the next ford and all stripped to wash the last of the blood from ourselves and our gear. Geris tried to get me to use a pool further down the river for modesty's sake, but I was having none of it; not with Drianon knew what bandits lurking in the area.
'I still think that was all a bit strange,' I murmured to Shiv as I dried my hair, one eye on Darni whose ears where muffled in soap as he scrubbed at his beard.
'I agree.' Shiv pulled his shirt over his head. 'I can't think why I didn't pick them up when I did that scrying. If they weren't on horseback, they should have been in the area I covered.'
'Maybe they rode in so far and then came in on foot,' I said dubiously.
'Why would they do that?'
'I've no idea.'
We rode on in dissatisfied silence.