Read The Prize in the Game for Free Online

weren't here and that she had got out of doing this before the whole court in Cruachan.
    There would be a fight over it, she knew, but just one fight, not a whole drawn out campaign.
    At a signal from Finca, she and Nid let the horses go and a moment later they were driving down the track that circled Ardmachan.
    "Where to?" she asked, wishing she could turn and see Conal's face. Then he came and stood beside her, so close she could feel the warmth of his body.
    "Anywhere we want," Conal said. "Anywhere, anywhere at all, anywhere in the whole island of Page 15

    Tir Isarnagiri.
    Nobody can stop us." He laughed, and they all laughed with him. Emer felt as if she had managed to escape a cage that had been around her all her life.
    The farmers in the fields looked up as they heard them. "They probably think we're mad," Nid called, and that made them laugh all the more. They came towards the first track leading away into the countryside.
    "There are four hours to sunset," Conal said, sobering a little. "There's likely to be game in the woods. Let's go that way."
    Emer obediently turned the chariot southwest, full of delight.
    4
    (FERDIA)
    "If it's such a fortunate day, why haven't we found anything yet?" Laig called.
    Ferdia would have shrugged, but he knew what shrugging did when you were holding chariot reins. "I don't know," he said, too quietly for Laig and Darag to hear. He didn't want to talk.
    He wanted to think about what he was going to do when they did find something. He'd been thinking about that all afternoon. He almost had it clear, but it made such a difference what they found that it wasn't easy to make a plan. Darag would be all right. Darag was always all right.
    Anyway, it was easy to make a kill from a chariot if you had a charioteer. It was a different matter if you didn't. He'd either have to stop and get down or be extraordinarily lucky.
    He'd have to be lucky to kill something on foot, too. Or maybe he would see something, stop, draw the spear, aim and throw. If only the horses didn't move just as he was throwing and draw off his aim. If he didn't kill something he wouldn't be a man. He wouldn't be a boy either, since he had taken up arms. He didn't know what he would be.
    "We should have gone after the hares," Laig said.
    "Don't be a fool," Darag said roughly. Ferdia glanced over. Above the dust of the chariot wheels, Darag was standing without holding on, the way they'd been practicing. His hair was clubbed together on his neck, the rings set in his leather armor were shining in the sun. He had his spear drawn back ready, as if he was expecting to sight a quarry at any moment. He looked like a hero in a song, like Young Lew going to fight at the Plain of the Towers. But there was still nothing to fight. The countryside rolled here, with green fields spread out on either side of the track and the young corn green and growing. Ferdia hadn't seen so much as the tail of any animal but those hares since they had left Ardmachan, and they must be almost to the borders of Connat.
    Ferdia sighed and turned his eyes back to the space between his horses where they ought to be.
    You had to pay attention all the time to drive a chariot, it wasn't anything like a cart. Even going slowly was fast enough to tangle the traces and bring the horses to their knees, and maybe lame them or worse. Ferdia had gone off over his head a few times before getting the hang of it, and once Finca ap Inis had called him a clumsy oaf and said he'd have killed his left horse for sure if she hadn't been there to catch them. He had a good pair today; he doubted that King Conary had a better pair in his stables, except for his own, which Laig was driving. He had given Darag his own pair and his own chariot. It was an incredible sign of favor. He had been very kind to Ferdia, too. These were very good. They were better than any he had ever driven in practice. They were both six-year-olds, used to working together, one bay and one dun, each with