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boat—”
    “
What?
But you’re coming too!”
    “I’ll head them off in the wrong direction, then go over the pass and meet you the other side—”
    “Telamon, I’m not leaving you!”
    “You’ve got to, it’s your only chance!”
    “I don’t care!”
    “They’re not after me, they’re after you! Now
go
!”

5

    T he horses were unbelievably strong. It was all Hylas could do to hang on to the reins and stay in the chariot.
    A glance over his shoulder told him this wasn’t going to work: He was trailing a cloud of dust a blind man could have followed. Then he saw a fork up ahead. The track on the right was wide enough to take the chariot, but the one on the left was narrow and plunged into reeds; he guessed it led to the river.
    Tugging at the reins with all his might, he yanked the horses’ heads to one side and brought them to a squealing halt, then leaped down and started frantically unhitching Jinx. Jinx stamped and tried to bite, but somehow Hylas got him free of the yoke without tangling up the reins. That left Smoke hitched to the chariot. A slap on the rump sent him thundering down the wider trail with the chariot bouncing behind him. With luck the Crows would follow its dust, and only discover the trick when it was too late.
    Hylas scrambled onto Jinx’s back, and the horsewas so startled he shot off at a gallop. Hylas had ridden donkeys before, but never a horse—and Jinx
hated
being ridden. Clutching fistfuls of mane, Hylas clung on grimly. Reeds whipped his face and his food sack thumped against his back. Jinx tried to scrape him off under a willow. Hylas ducked, bashing his cheek on the horse’s bony withers.
    After a battle that went on forever, Jinx jolted to a halt and refused to go on. With a snarl, Hylas slid off and hauled him down the riverbank to drink.
    The reeds made a stifling green tunnel, and the rasp of the crickets was so loud that if the Crows came after him he’d never hear them. He was worried about Telamon.
I’ll head them off in the wrong direction…
How would he manage that without getting killed?
    Watching Jinx munch giant fennel, Hylas realized he was ravenous. He’d left Telamon’s provisions in the chariot, but he still had his food sack. Grabbing olives and a hunk of cheese, he ate some and offered a bit to Jinx. The horse flattened his ears and bared his teeth.
    His flanks were dark with sweat and crisscrossed with fine black scars. Hylas had scars too, from Neleos’ beatings. “Poor Jinx,” he said.
    Jinx shot him a wary look.
    Hylas put the cheese and a couple of olives on the ground. Jinx snuffled up the olives and stamped on the cheese.
    Hylas moved to stroke the steaming neck. “You’re not so bad, are you? You just don’t like being beaten.”
    Jinx reared, lashing out with his front hooves. Hylas jumped out of the way—the reins whipped through his hands—and Jinx went crashing off into the reeds.
    Hylas raced after him, but Jinx was gone.
    First Issi and Scram, then that dog, then Telamon, and now Jinx. Some malevolent spirit didn’t want him to have any friends.
    “Well then, all
right,
” he muttered. “I’ll go it alone.”
    All day he followed the river down through the foothills. He quickly came to loathe the reeds. They were full of secret rustlings, and they wouldn’t let him see where he was going—or what was in front.
    Then he reached a gap, and that was worse.
    The Sun was a bloody, burning globe, sinking behind the black mountains. The triple fangs of Mount Lykas were terrifyingly far away. Hylas thought of the trails he’d wandered with Issi and Scram, and the Ancestor Peak, which he and Telamon had dared each other to climb. Above the peaks the sky was an ominous gray, and he caught a growl of thunder. The Sky Father was grinding the clouds together to make a storm. Hylas pictured Issi in the wind and the rain.
    Until now, he hadn’t even thought he
liked
her that much; she was just his annoying little sister, always