Lightnings Daughter, Mary Herbert [year 7 reading list .TXT] 📗

Sayyed, with Tam behind him, rode out to meet them. Tam jumped off the horse before Sayyed brought it to a stop and threw her arms around the colt's neck. He whinnied in delight. The girl happily waved to Gabria and Athlone, then, to Gabria's surprise, Tam did not reclaim her usual seat on Nara but climbed back on behind Sayyed. The Turic ruffled her hair.

"While you were gone, I acquired a new partner,” he told Gabria as the group trotted on to rejoin the other men.

The sorceress smiled. "That's wonderful. How did it happen?"

"I'm not sure. She's been staying close to me since I took' her through the caves in Pra Desh, but I think she real y needed someone while you were away. She seems to have stuck to me.”

Gabria looked at the girl who was hanging on to Sayyed's waist. "Just be careful with her feelings,"

she warned the Turic. "Tam has lost a lot in her short life.”

He nodded once just before they reached the other men, and any further conversation was lost in a storm of greetings, questions, and answers.

"You were right, Lord," Secen said to Athlone after the welcomes were past. "Branth has fol owed the river for two days now. He's still heading south, about a day ahead of us.”

"Toward the gathering," Athlone said. He shivered slightly. The thought of the gorthling loose among the unsuspecting clanspeople was appal ing. The chief turned to see Gabria come up beside him.

He gestured downstream. "I don't suppose we could use magic to catch up with him or to move ourselves to the gathering ahead of that beast,”

She was startled that he would ask such a question, and it took her a moment to answer.

"Unfortunately, no. It is too dangerous and uncertain to transport people by magic. Too many things could go wrong. Besides, we could lose Branth's trail. There is no real promise that he is going to the gathering. And," she stopped to pat Nara's neck, "we could not move the Hunnuli. I wil need Nara when I face the gorthling."

The chieftain shaded his eyes and looked toward the south, where the green plains rol ed beyond the horizon. He knew Branth was far out of sight, but an irrational hope still made him study the hills for any sign of the gorthling. At last he pulled his gaze away and ordered everyone to their horses.

The company rode for the rest of the day as fast as they could go. It was late into the evening when they final y' stopped to eat and rest.

Immediately after their hurried meal, Athlone took Gabria a short distance away from camp to a sandy bank beside the river. For a while he said nothing, but stared thoughtful y into the water. The night gradually settled down around them, warm and comforting. rich with the sounds of crickets and the rush of the river.

At last Athlone drew a long breath and released it in a rush. "You asked me once," he said to Gabria, "if I thought Father would have been disappointed in you and your power.”

The woman tilted her head to look at him, touched by the sadness and regret in his voice.

"And I told you that he would have been proud of your courage." Athlone hesitated. He wanted to touch her badly, to bring her close and draw on her wonderful inner strength, but he could not do it. He knew he had to face the reality of his decision by himself or he would never be able to wield magic with the honesty and power of his own wil .

He had decided in Pra Desh to use his talent, but it was not until he had passed his father's grave at Ab-Chakan that he had ful y accepted his irrevocable choice. He sensed now some of the fear and dread Gabria must have faced when she had made her decision to use her talent. Yet, even as he tried to stil the cold trembling in his hands, he felt an effusive glow of elation pour out of his mind and release the heavy weight of guilt and remorse that had hung over him from that first moment when he had known of his power and had been ashamed of it. At last he was accepting the truth of his being.

“Father would have been disappointed with me," he went on. He held up a hand to stop Gabria's protest. "Savaric always taught me to use my strengths and abilities to my utmost." Athlone's teeth flashed with a grin in his dark beard. "Once he got over the shock of having a magic-wielder for a son, he would have been furious at my refusal to use my power. I want to change that, Gabria," he said forcefully. "I am a magic-wielder. I am going to learn to use my power."

Gabria gasped. Her breath was taken away by the conviction in his voice. Her thoughts leaped with a jolt of mixed emotions, and she clasped his hands in hers.

He held on, interlocking his fingers with hers. "I need your help, Gabria. Teach me your sorcery."

Her fingers tightened their grip, and she swal owed hard. "No," she replied, her voice firm.

"I have the talent. I only need to know how to use it."

She stared at him, torn between delight and fear. She knew why he was asking now as clearly as if he had said the words; he wanted to help her fight the gorthling. Her mind cried out in protest. If she tried to teach him and Athlone battled a gorthling with untried, poorly trained powers, he would be slaughtered. On the other hand, the chieftain was a stubborn man once his mind was made up. If she did not teach him something, she knew he would try to learn on his own and probably destroy himself in the backlash of a poorly