The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [103]
Gahltha began instructing me the moment we left Obernewtyn. Under his terse instructions, I tied the reins to the saddle. When I did not know what to do with my hands, I clutched at the saddle, hanging on for dear life. Gahltha forbade this, saying I must learn to ride by balance before we reached the lowlands. A gypsy did not rely on hands or stirrups. This seemed impossible enough, until he warned me that I would also have to be able to ride without a saddle, since gypsies rarely used them. And no gypsy would be so inept a rider as me.
It took great concentration to coordinate all the contortions Gahltha seemed to feel riding required.
“Heels out so you do not jab me in the ribs, or I may forget and buck you off,” he sent. “Knees tight or you will be off the first time I stumble.”
The first hours were punctuated by the horse’s staccato instructions. He made no comment to me except to give me orders. I had the feeling he was enjoying every minute of my discomfort.
I noticed Domick casually slouched in his saddle as if it were an armchair and envied his skill and confidence.
The rain continued throughout the remainder of the day, drumming steadily on my oiled coat and on the roofs of the caravans. The weather was so bleak that we traversed the tainted and storm-wracked pass almost without noticing. The last time I had gone over the stretch of tainted grounds, I had been journeying to Obernewtyn for the first time, filled with apprehension for the future. Now I was leaving, still full of apprehension.
We passed the area without mishap and soon after left the main road for the White Valley. Fortunately, the floor of the valley was flat, and there was little undergrowth beneath the trees, else the carts would have been useless.
I felt Jik clumsily seeking entrance into my thoughts. “Will the caravans be able to go through the Olden way?” he asked.
“Pavo thinks so. He believes it was once an important Beforetime thoroughfare,” I sent.
“Why doesn’t anyone else know about it?” he wondered. “I never heard any of the priests in the Darthnor cloister here mention it, and I never saw it on any of the maps.”
The question had also occurred to me. “Pavo says it is probably because there has been no need of it, what with the main road. And no one much uses the White Valley. The highlanders believe it to be haunted.”
When night fell, it was still raining. After a hasty conferral, we decided to go on as long as we could, since it would be impossible to make a proper camp or cook in the sodden valley.
In the end, Gahltha was the one to call a halt, saying the horses pulling the cart needed to rest. I was surprised at his consideration, then reminded myself his concern was for the horses, not the humans. But I was glad to stop just the same. Climbing down from his back stiffly, I was convinced every bone in my body was fractured and wondered if it could possibly be any worse to ride bareback.
Relieved of the hated trappings, the horses wandered off to graze, untroubled by the rain. Domick and I hung our soaking oil cloaks under an eben tree in the hope that they would dry by morning.
We all climbed into one carriage to talk. Darga had jumped out the moment the cart stopped; even so, it was too cramped to change my damp clothes, so I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.
“We might as well close th’ flaps an’ keep out th’ night air,” Matthew said, tying the strings.
Kella had lit two candles in shielded sconces, and the interior of the van glowed dimly in the flickering light. It warmed up quickly with the flaps closed, and I felt myself drifting off to sleep watching Jik and the healer prepare a simple nightmeal. I felt so tired, it was an effort to eat, but Kella insisted.
I tried to shift my position, but my legs seemed to have set in their riding stance. Laughing, Kella produced a strongly scented green paste that she promised would ease the muscle strain.
I sighed regretfully and imagined sinking into my favorite chair in front of the turret-room fire when Jik interrupted my weary daydream to ask why he had been included