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and listened. The road was so twisty that I couldn’t see what was making the noise, but it sounded like people thumping the ground with heavy wooden mallets.
    I wasn’t going to be surprised again. I slipped off the road and hid in some tassel bushes, through whose slender leaves I could see without being seen. The noises got closer and louder till I felt the earth quivering under my bare knees. Suddenly, from around the next bend, came a throng of at least thirty men, wearing armor lacquered in hues of tan and slate blue. On their heads were spiked helmets, and they rode enormous brown animals whose tread made the ground shake, and I realized, with terrified delight, that these must be horses.
    I knelt behind my bush, rigid with indecision. The men didn’t look like bandits, and I was desperately hungry. Also I had nothing left to steal, at least nothing that people like these would want.
    And then I saw, in the middle of the riders, two grown women and two girls. That made my choice for me. I scrambled from behind my bush and jumped into the road, almost under the hooves of the lead horse.
    I didn’t know about horses then, and bedlam followed. The animal whinnied with alarm and shied violently, almost pitching its rider from his saddle. The other mounts, taking fright from the first, reared and pranced and tried to run off into the bushes. Horrible curses seared the air as the riders struggled to control their mounts. Terrified of the flailing hooves and the bellowing men, I threw myself to the ground and wrapped my arms around my head.
    The racket died away, replaced by the nervous stamping of the animals and the mutters and snarls of the men. I gingerly raised my head and saw a number of iron-tipped lances pointed at my face. The blades looked very sharp.
    “What in the gods’ name do you think you’re playing at?” It was the lead rider, the one whose horse I’d frightened. He was a big man with sweeping russet mustaches and a strong.
    hard face. He’d have been about Detrim’s age, but my Foster Father had never worn such gear as this. The hem of his armored tunic had gold edgings, his helmet spike was gold, and his sword hilt was set with bright jewels. I realized to my horror that I’d almost unhorsed the leader of this amazing band. He must be a very mighty lord to wear such riches, and I’d already made him mad at me.
    I struggled to my knees and he saw I was a child. He lowered his lance, as did the others. I spotted some suppressed grins, and my hopes rose a little. They might give me something to eat after all.
    “My lord,” I quavered, “I’m sorry I frightened your horse, if that’s what it is. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know it was so easy to scare them.” I had noticed vaguely that he spoke not quite as I did. I didn’t realize then that I was hearing the accents of the north.
    A couple of the grins widened. In the comer of my eye I saw the women watching me. One was a small round lady of bland appearance and early middle age, wearing a brown traveling duster and a broad-brimmed leather hat to keep off the rain; the second woman was young enough to be her daughter and very beautiful. The two girls, who were not much older than I, regarded me curiously, as if I were some exotic forest animal that had jumped out of the thickets for their entertainment.
    And then I noticed that they were paler of face than the villagers who had surrounded me all my life. They didn’t look quite like the people of Riversong. In fact, they looked like me.
    I was so flabbergasted I couldn’t say a word. The horses tossed their heads and waved their long silky tails and peered sideways at me. Several were short, sturdy-looking beasts that bore huge wicker panniers. Others, longer in the leg, were obviously spare mounts, since they carried no burdens. There must have been nearly fifty of the creatures.
    The lord scowled down at me from his vast height and said, “Where’s your village, girl? Are we nearly