Will

"Go," rasped John, clinging to the saddle. "You're fools if you stay here biding on a dead man."

"You're needed," Will answered him, his tone half a challenge. "If you do not live to rally our men, then our escape is for nothing."

John met his eye, his face setting stronger. He nodded.

"Take the low road to the river," said Will, glancing behind us as he spoke. The clamor from the camp drew nearer. "You can make it in an hour, even with wounded, and the miller keeps a boat in case of need."

"Well enough," muttered Ulrick, "but we need an hour and we've got a minute."

"You'll have an hour. Go!"

They wheeled then, Ulrick and the other, and made ready to flee. John held a moment longer, and gripped Will's shoulder. Then, to my surprise, he touched mine.

"I'll not forget it," he said simply. And they were gone.

Will watched them make for the road, as fast as the wounded man could go. In a moment they had vanished into the trees. Then he touched my shoulder and leaned forward along my neck to speak quietly to me. As the noise from the camp below grew louder, his voice came to me warmer even than his touch.

"Will you come with me, Shanglan? A little further?"

I nodded. I could hear the guardsmen on the slope. They'd saddled the two horses left them, and those at least would be upon us in a moment. Will drew a deep breath, then leaned forward again, all along my neck. He did not call to me, only threw his arms about my neck and pressed his lips to the crest of my mane. When he spoke, it was a whisper.

"I would wish another night with you, Shanglan." His words sank into my spirit like rain on a parched land. "I pray we see it. Yet if we do not –" He kissed again, long and softly, and stroked my neck with his hand. "Know that I love thee."

My soul found its perfection.

And then we must fly.

My brethren were the worst threat, for they might follow fast enough to discover the others. We turned and ran for them, though their riders bore naked swords. We had no weapon, but Will took the halter he'd pulled from me and swung it at the rope's end, flinging it in the face of one of them as we charged down the slope and past them. It startled and half-tangled him; better, it startled his mount, and the mare danced and half reared with her sudden fright. I gave a cry of anger and doubled back, catching her hard with my shoulder and knocking her off balance, and with that she bolted back toward camp, her rider barely holding his seat.

But the other man kept his head well, and aimed a sword-thrust at Will that might well have been the death of him had he not been wearing mail. I heard, too, the rush of men on foot coming up the slope, and feared any moment to hear the whistle of arrows. I reared up, aiming a blow at the gelding the other bestrode, and snapped my teeth fiercely at him. Will clung to my mane, his knees tight against me, and struggled for his seat. Then I came down, spun, and ran for the camp as the guardsman fought to master his mount. Charging the line that came up the slope, I trusted to speed and surprise to save us. I would, with all my heart, run elsewhere, but I knew our purpose: to draw them, and take them from John's trail. They must be brought to another path, and there were none but us to lead them.

We plunged through the camp in a rout, scattering men before us as we went. I fled through the lines where the dogs were, setting them to disorder even as their masters strove to free them. Then, when we had won through to the wood beyond, we looked back. The camp was in confusion behind us, but it would not be long 'ere they brought themselves to order. The captain was crying out commands, and already we could see that they gathered themselves with a purpose. The riders were back in control of their mounts and searching for us. I glanced back at Will; he nodded, grim. We must show ourselves again, whatever the risk. If they thought long or had time to gather, they might see the plan behind our actions. I cast about, thinking how best to do it – then saw, through the clearing, the men striving with the dogs, and knew what path to take.

I went upwind of them, moving swiftly through the lightening forest. The sun was rising now, the sky growing bluer and more beautiful by the moment. The morning was cool, as in summer they can be, and the dew was in the air. It was beautiful dawn, a shining one, as I came out onto the slope above the dogs. I stood, blowing, and waited for them to catch my scent.

In the end I had to whicker to draw them to me. But once they saw me, they sprang up, barking and howling at the ends of their tethers. The men ran to the edge of the clearing where they stood, and in a moment half or more were loose and running up the slope. It was a terrible sight; thinking creature though I am, that rush of wolfish shapes struck terror deep in me where I lay, at heart, a horse. My blood ran to ice, and only all of my strength could keep me there, trembling, until the hounds were nearly upon us – and the men in close pursuit. At last I wheeled as the pack came upon us. I had nearly waited too long; the first of them leapt, snapping at my haunches, and I felt its jaws half-close upon my flesh as its claws scrabbled for purchase on my coat. I screamed and plunged up the slope, and the camp drew to the hunt as the hounds bayed and snarled about us.

I had never run from dogs before, and my first error was nearly fatal. Men, I could plunge amongst and free myself from at will; dogs, I could not. I tore over the ridge and thought to have a moment to pause, but they were so close upon my heels that I could hear their panting and feel them snapping at my legs. Will shouted and tried to beat them down, but he had no weapon. We had only one safety – flight. I had barely the presence of mind to set our course opposite to John's; then we were running for our lives through the wood that now hampered our passing as the dogs came on from every side.

"West!" shouted Will. "Open ground!" I doubled a covert and raced for the wood's edge, the rising sun brightening behind me. All through the wood and clearing I heard the shouts of men and the beat of hooves not far off – they were in the saddle for us, and close upon our trail. Coming around the edge of a thicket, I spied clearer ground through the trees and made for it with all my strength. But in that moment a great, grim form leaped from the brush and hurtled upon us.

It was dog, a huge, sand-colored beast that leapt easily as high as my throat. I threw myself back with a scream I could not stifle, and its jaws snapped bare inches from me. I fought free of it, but in the sudden lunge of my movement Will slid from my back, clung a moment to my mane, and was thrown.

There was no thought in it. I wheeled and faced the pack. Will leapt back against a tree, scrabbling for a branch, a stone, anything he might use to defend us. The great hound that had leapt at us from cover lunged and snarled at him, and others poured out from the undergrowth, boiling through gaps and clamoring for their prey. As they closed about Will, I plunged into the midst of them, past the screaming voice of my terror.

The snarl of them about my legs was horror itself. I felt hot breath all around me, and then their jaws as they began to snap and lunge. I burst through them to Will, felt his hands grip my mane, and kicked wildly as the dogs circled and snapped at my heels and hamstrings. It was terror and agony; then at last Will's leg slid over my back, and he beat the hounds back with his fist as they snarled and bit at his boots. I leapt forward, praying that he would keep his seat, and felt teeth sink into my flank as they came for me. Then I was through them and racing for the gap in the trees. Will clung tight along my body, knowing that another fall might end both our lives. In a moment we were out and blinking in the dawn, free of the trees and on a long, green slope up to a broad ridge of rock that rose from the forest around it.

In the open we were freer but more easily seen as well. This was all to our plan and a blessing for John, but it was a terrible thing to glance behind and see them – a dozen dogs, a welter of men afoot, and bursting from the cover, the two on horseback who clung grimly to our trail. We dared not pause; I ran with all the strength that was in me, pushing the distance between us as we took to the hill. Will struggled as we went; a moment later I felt a faint relief as he threw the mail shirt behind him, lightening our weight. It was good to feel him crouched low over my neck, his light tunic the only bar between his flesh and mine. He was warm, good in the morning that was brighter by the moment but still cool, and his body joined with mine with all the perfection of a man and a horse. We flew.

We made the crest of the hill and looked down upon the pursuit. We had left the dogs some way behind – enough for us to pause and struggle for breath. My sides were heaving hard and I could feel the blood trickling down my flank where a dog's teeth had closed. Will sat high and looked back over the trees and the clearing we had run from.

The sun was half risen now, and the land was bathed in the early light. Below, we could see the men on our trail – the two on horseback and a dozen afoot who had come as far as the verge of the wood. There were none in motion on the far side, where John and Ulrick had made their way. Their path lay through forest and we could see nothing of them – but if we could not see them, then neither could our enemies. We had run now nearly a quarter of an hour, and I judged that we had given them a long start, even if the pursuit should turn to them now. If we might hold the foe a little longer, I judged that John would lie safe. Then we looked down the other side of the ridge.

Thick upon the ground and coming hard in our direction, horsemen rode the sward. There were twenty at least, and armed no doubt; even at this distance, we could see the colors of the duke's guard. In an instant the captain's words of the night before sprang to my mind; this was the force he had sent for, come at a hard ride through the night. In the struggle of our escape, they had gone from my mind, and I had little thought what we must meet if we should ride toward town.

My heart sank. Already they were on the lower slopes of the ridge. Though they had ridden the night, no doubt they were fresher than I, and their men well armed and rested. To the last breath, I would give my life for Will – yet exhaustion trembled already in my limbs. Should we seek to race past them, I did not doubt that we would be caught. Surely amongst their mounts were steeds less worn than I, horses that had lain soft the nights before, well fed and well watered, not running all day and standing starved through to dawn.

I glanced back to Will. The cries of the dogs were closer, and we saw them now, panting and howling up the green slope among the great, broken rocks that littered it. Down the way we'd come there was no escape; the horsemen came on apace, and now the men on foot were spreading along the base of the hill. There were archers among them, kneeling with their bows ready and arrows stuck in the earth, ready to feather us if we tried that route. Our eyes met a moment in desperation, and Will nodded. I wheeled and took the only route left – up the ridge of the hill, up to the crag with a desperate hope that we might find something – trail, path, weapon or shelter – to save us.

As we raced upward the green turf fell away and the ground turned to flat, canted gray rocks and scree that slid away under my hooves. With the treacherous footing came a terrible strain as the way grew steeper with every step. Yet I struggled up as swiftly as I could, nor gave Will the chance to stop or come down. I would not be parted from him – not now. Behind us we heard the clamor of the dogs, the cries of the horsemen, and the shouts of men from the camp as the fresh troops came to meet with the old. There was a terrible note in their voices – triumph. Soon, indeed, we would have nowhere left to run.

But what could we do but flee while our hearts still beat? We leapt higher, not running now but scrambling, the terrain run to crags, the way never clear. Their archers were rising up the slope, a gantlet that we could not run and live, and the forces were met beneath, forming a line to hold us while the braver urged their mounts upward. The dogs were flagging, but a handful came on, struggling up the ridge between the rocks and darting amid the men on horseback.

We came round the shoulder of a high crag. And there we found an end.

The ground was level a short way hence – a flat, clean ledge of rock where some great block had broken loose. We could mark where it must have fallen, for the level run ended sharply – a steep fall of a hundred feet or more, to where a stream ran by the base of the crag and flowed down and into the wood. Its banks were all hard, broken shapes, great pillars of rock rearing up where they had tumbled from the flanks of the crags.

Across the stream, beyond the gorge, there rose the twin of our peak, sundered from it by what force had raised them. There lay a span of rock, flat and barren, smaller yet than our own, but there. I glanced back to Will. He eyed it. We looked to each other in despair.

At the height of my strength, unweighted with a rider, it was a jump I would not make while any other chance lay open. Exhausted with a day and a night of constant labor, with Will upon my back – I did not know if there was any chance at all. And a hundred feet and more below, the stream echoed on the rocks.

I could hear them coming up the fell. Men on horse, and a few last dogs – more than enough to be the end of us. I stood, panting, and looked to Will. My rider. I wished that his eyes could give me any answer but the one I knew I must see. He met my gaze, shook his head, and slid down from my back, pressing his face to my shoulder.

"I would, Shanglan, that I had brought you to any other fate."

He put his arms about my neck as he spoke, and I felt his tears upon my coat. It was anguish to me, that moment, to have no words. All my soul cried out to tell him that I would have sold my life, gladly, a thousand times, for that night I lay beneath his touch. That I counted sweet every instant I passed with him, even now when our lives' compass narrowed to minutes. That I blessed the day that brought me to the breaker's yard, for it brought me the touch of his hand.

I could only press to him and then feel tears run down my cheeks, an astonishment and a relief. I nuzzled into his hair and breathed a last, long breath of him. He kissed me softly on my muzzle. Then he turned from me in anguish and pushed my head away. He would not look at me as he spoke.

"Go, Shanglan. For God's sake. Run while you can. Take the slope; they will be too intent on me to catch you."

He hunched upon himself, and I knew that he wept.

I came softly up behind him. The men were near now; as I touched my lips to his neck, I saw the first of them struggling up the last bank, his mount blowing hard. I pressed my nose to Will, drawing in his scent and the warm comfort of his skin against my own. I brushed him with my lips, as much a kiss as I could make, and closed my eyes a last moment. Then he turned, anguish in his face. I met his eyes and stooped for him to mount.

"No, Shanglan. Go." His voice was thick, near sobbing. "Go, I beg you." His hands urged helplessly at me, but I would not rise. We were bound, not to be sundered. I looked back at the gorge, then long into his eyes. Not to be parted again.

"Shanglan." He held my head to him, my muzzle buried against his chest, his body my own in that last moment. Hoofbeats touched the rock behind us; the hour was come.

"The best of my life," Will whispered, his lips touching my ear. Then he drew back and met my eyes, his own intent, somber – a promise. "I bless the day that brought me to you." He kissed me, a long, sweet, lingering kiss, the sweetest thing I ever felt in all my life. Then he took my mane and swung astride. I turned and saw our enemy waiting – a soldier on horse, standing where the sheep-track let onto the level rock. He smiled, his sword in hand – triumphant. I walked slowly toward him. There were more behind, scrambling up the trail. I came almost nose to nose with his mare, and the man grinned and made as if to speak to Will. Then low, as his hand stroked my neck, I heard Will murmur.

"And it may be that on this day, you and I shall meet in paradise."

I turned. I caught a last glimpse of the guardsman's face, a sudden surprise – then reaching out, almost as if to hold us. Almost pity. Then came the hard scramble, digging for purchase on the rock, crying out to all my body to drive, drive the speed we needed. The run was short; I strained with every thrust of my hooves, forcing speed like flight in a sudden, wild race to the edge. It drew up; I fought with every line of my frame, flinging the stone from beneath my feet as Will clung tight to my mane and the cries of the guardsmen grew faint behind me. The roar of the stream was in my ears, and in the moment of gathering for the leap, I saw it in my mind – Will and I, in flight together, the dawn's sun upon us, soaring over the gorge. Then the last reach of the ledge was under my feet, and all of my strength gathered into the push.

We leapt.