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the sprinkling of white hairs on their muzzles that mark a hardy horse. They had been going steadily all afternoon without complaint.
    If he did not kill today he could not blame them. Nor could his father blame King Conary for sending him out badly equipped. He had even refused the king's offer of an experienced charioteer.
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    "A hare would make a useless trophy to show in the hall," Darag said. "Don't be afraid, Laig, we'll find something better. A stag. Or a wolf. Or a boar. Or even a bear. A bear would be best of all."
    Darag was always so sure about everything. Ferdia, who was never sure, who always stopped and thought things through two or three times, found Darag's certainty compelling. "I'm not afraid," Laig said. "A bear each would suit me." Ferdia had been on a bear hunt once with his father, and all the champions of Lagin. He would have been worried by Laig's overconfidence if this was anything like bear country.
    "My kill would count for yours as well, you're my charioteer," Darag said. "If we found a big bear and all three of us killed it together that would count for all three."
    "But there aren't any bears in the southern part of Oriel," Laig said. "And we're coming around in a loop and this road leads back to Ard-machan."
    "It does?" Ferdia asked, startled. Sometimes Ferdia wished he'd never left Lagin where he knew every stone and tree and, even better, felt that they knew him. All the same, he should have been able to tell by the shadows if he was paying attention. The next moon would mark the Feast of Bel. That meant by the shadows that there were three more hours of daylight and they were indeed heading back northeast.
    "I forgot you wouldn't know," Darag said. "Sometimes it seems as if you've always been here, not just since midwinter." That offhand comment made Ferdia feel welcome all through. "The road does lead back to the dun. I didn't want to exhaust the horses. But don't worry, it goes back through the woods. There are always animals there, it's where people go to hunt."
    "So why didn't we go there first?" Laig asked.
    "Do you need a charioteer?" Darag asked.
    Ferdia glanced at Darag again. He was actually leaning towards him. "Do you want to kill yourself?" he asked, getting his eyes back where they belonged. He could see the trees up ahead. He looked forward to the shade. He hoped the woods would be teeming with wildlife.
    Even a hare, even a squirrel, would be better than going back with nothing.
    Darag laughed a little uneasily. "Not even when I am ready to throttle Laig," he said. "I am no charioteer. We should have brought Nid."
    "I would have, though nobody drives you but me," Laig said. "She'd have been glad enough to drive Ferdia.
    But she was playing fidchell, and there was no getting her away from Leary. He would have wanted to know and wanted to come. He's going to be spitting furious when he finds out."
    "Not half as furious as Conal's going to be," Ferdia said, laughing.
    Going to the king and asking to take up arms on the fortunate day had been Darag's idea. It had taken Ferdia to see the advantage of not telling the others. It wasn't just that they would be men and great warriors and the others would not. That would be churlish, for a great warrior wants other great warriors around him. The real advantage was to Darag, for it would put him clearly ahead of his cousins in the rivalry for Oriel. King Conary's children were dead, it was very likely that one of his nephews would be chosen to be king after him. Darag just seemed to assume it would be him, but Ferdia knew that sometimes things didn't work out like that.
    Darag was the best champion, but Leary was tough and Conal was clever, and anything that would give
    Darag an advantage when it came to choosing was a good thing.
    Ferdia meant to do everything he could to see that when he was king of Lagin, Darag would be king of Oriel, so they would still be equals. It would be ridiculous for Darag to be set below him or have to