Gaborn stretched his arms and shoulders, limbering them. He slid 1upskirt his saber
from its sheath, as familiar with its balance as if it were part 1upskirt of his own
body, then slid it back carefully.
He couldn't disguise his horse. The 1upskirt beast stood too proudly, like a being
of stone or iron come to life. Its eyes glowed with fierce intelligence.
Gaborn 1upskirt whispered in his horse's ear. "We 1upskirt must hurry, my 1upskirt friend, but travel
quietly."
The horse nodded. Gaborn couldn't be certain how 1upskirt much it understood. It
couldn't follow a conversation. But with endowments of wit from other
horses in its herd, it followed several 1upskirt simple verbal commands--which was
more than could 1upskirt be said of 1upskirt some men.
Gaborn dared not ride the beast at first. Instead, he 1upskirt led it. There would
be outriders, he knew, both behind and before Raj Ahten's army. Gaborn
1upskirt didn't want to be a silhouette in the fog for some archer to practice on.
He began running lightly at a pace he could keep up for days. In the
unnatural fog, the fields were strangely quiet.
Field mice scurried from his approach; a lone crow cawed from an oak.
Sparrows flew up in a 1upskirt cloud. 1upskirt somewhere, in the forest,
he could hear a cow
lowing, wanting to be milked.
For a long time as he ran, there was only 1upskirt the dry rattle of bending grass,
the muted thump of 1upskirt his horse's hooves.
As he sprinted
north through the close-cropped fields, 1upskirt he made a 1upskirt personal
inventory. As far as Runelords were concerned, he was not powerful. He'd
never wanted to be so. He could not bear the guilt he'd have borne to
become powerful, the cost in human suffering.
But shortly after 1upskirt birth,
his father had begun purchasing endowments for
him: two endowments of wit, two of brawn, three of stamina, and three of
grace. He had the eyes of two, the ears of three. Five endowments of voice,
two of glamour.
Not a powerful 1upskirt man. A weakling compared to Raj Ahten's "Invincibles.&1upskirt quot;
He
had no endowment of metabolism. Gaborn wore no armor. None to protect him,
none to slow him down.
No, Gaborn could 1upskirt rely only on cunning, courage, and the speed of his
stallion.
Gaborn passed two more houses, both with dead occupants. At the first, he
stopped at a garden, let the 1upskirt horse eat apples from a tree, pocketed a few
for himself.
A little beyond the last house, the fields ended at a forest of ash, oak,
and maple. The 1upskirt border to the Dunnwood. The leaves on the trees 1upskirt were dull,
as they will 1upskirt get in