Read Online By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey - Free Book Online Page B

be rushed at the end of a journey.
    â€œYou’re going to like what’s coming up even less, old girl,” Tarma told the mare, patting her coarse-coated neck. “You only think you’re getting a warm stable and a rest. I’m afraid we’re going to be turning right back around as soon as we find out what my partner’s planning.”
    :So you’re going to follow the girl?: asked a rough voice as familiar to her as her own in the back of her mind, a voice carrying overtones of approval. Good. I like her; I’d have followed her alone if you’d refused. She has courage.:
    â€œOh, that, certainly. Lots of guts, not too many brains, but that’s the way of things when you’re young,” Tarma retorted to the shaggy, calf-sized beast trotting along with its head level with her stirrup.
    The kyree turned its lupine head up so that his great glowing eyes met hers, and blinked. :Exactly. Reminds me very much of a certain barbarian Shin‘a’in I knew many years ago.:
    â€œBarbarian?” Tarma exclaimed, as her mare’s ears swiveled back with surprise. “Who’s calling who a barbarian ? You’re the one who eats his meat raw. And fish-blessed Goddess, that’s a vile thought.”
    :Cooking ruins the flavor,: Warrl replied haughtily. :Some of the most civilized beings in the world eat their fish raw.:
    â€œDear Goddess. No wonder they die young. Yes, I’m going after her. I just want to find out what Keth has in mind for both of us.” Tarma reminded her mare with a touch of her heels that she was supposed to be trotting. The mare grunted, and grudgingly increased her speed. “Have you picked up anything more from Keth’s mage alerts down on the Keep?”
    :No.: Warrl, creature of the magic-riddled Pelagir Hills, had some mage-abilities of his own; how much, he’d never told Tarma or her partner. He’d been able to throw off magical attacks in the past that would have killed a man. He’d once managed to feign death, pull Tarma out of a demon-sent trance, and smell the presence of mage-energy. He was also able to speak mind-to-mind with Tarma—which meant, she assumed, that he could do so with anyone he chose.
    She’d been quite grateful for those abilities in the past, and never more so than tonight. She’d actually been within a couple of leagues of the Tower, returning from her annual visit to Clan Tale‘sedrin, when Warrl had sensed the alarms Kethry had placed on the Keep sounding a danger-signal. They’d pushed their pace, knowing Keth was going to need them—only to have Warrl sense the girl riding hell-for-leather straight for the Tower herself. He knew her, of course; he knew all of Kethry’s children and grandchildren, whether or not they knew him. He’d played spy for Kethry often enough; Rathgar didn’t know of the kyree’s existence, and what he didn’t know about, he couldn’t forbid. Warrl’s excursions to the Keep were often the only things that kept Kethry from violating her sworn word.
    They’d stopped Kerowyn easily enough; even a Shin‘a’in-bred horse didn’t readily pass something as large and carnivorous as a kyree. Tarma had played a part then; testing her while she and Warrl extracted information from the girl’s words and mind. Tarma had sensed the despair in her voice, the fear she had been trying to cover with bravado.
    Poor child, the Shin‘a’in thought, wishing she was already guarding the “child‘s” back. Wishing she’d dared to be sympathetic. She wasn’t ready for this.
    :I’m glad you intercepted her,: the kyree said, evidently following her thoughts. :She still might have tried something like this if she’d been as feather-headed and stuffed full of tales as you accused her of being. If she’d been like her mother—:
    â€œShe isn‘t, Star-Eyed be thanked.” Tarma had