21

Let me make this clear: I am a superb rider. This isn't boasting. The Feitas is wet, and I am a veritable goddess of the hunt on horseback. But even a goddess of the hunt can lose both stirrups as her horse is plunging thirty degrees downhill over incredibly uneven terrain.

When on the back of a wildly careening horse, the human instinct is to lower its center of gravity by clinging for dear life to the horse's neck. Human instinct is stupid that way; leaning forward just makes the horse go faster, and it makes you more aerodynamic when you go flying off the horse's back. The trick is to lean back, of course. The horse slows when you lean back, and you have better balance. I leaned back. Yes, my stirrups were gone, but I was perfectly used to riding without stirrups. In the evenly sanded riding ring.

As I was leaning back, attempting to shift my center of gravity, Sarqa swerved to avoid a small cactus, grazing his shoulder with its sharp spines. He bucked in pain. I probably shot off his back like a cork out of a champagne bottle, but I don't really remember it. I landed on the cactus, shoulder first, rolled off, smacked my leg against the ground, and landed on my back on a very hard, dense boulder.

For a moment, I wasn't in any pain at all. Then I looked at the two-inch spines protruding from my pretty shoulder. Then I glanced down and saw that my left ankle was at a truly extraordinary angle. I lay back and closed my eyes because it seemed to me the best way to face staggering waves of agony.

Chaz?

Chaz?

Chaz -where are you? You're my bodyguard, not being here in my time of need is ultimately unseemly!

The ground was vibrating with rapid hoofbeats. Hooves skidded to a halt, and a bit of sand was thrown across me. I looked up and saw Ghost's dark eyes catching the sun's glare dementedly.

"Where- Chaz? Skin -him-"

"My lady, don't move."

"Get -hands -on -Chaz-"

Dinn had knelt and was examining my ankle. Pity we didn't have a protractor to measure its angle. "Chaz was right after you, my lady. But his horse stumbled, and he fell very hard. Madelon is seeing to him."

"Hurt?"

"I don't know." He glanced back. "He doesn't seem to be."

"Some -bodyguard-"

Just then, Chaz and Madelon approached, Chaz gripping a badly wrenched shoulder. His stoic contrition immediately made me ashamed of my harsh words. "My lady, I have failed you."

"No -your horse failed me. The mountain terrain failed me. It's all right."

Chaz shook his head as he saw my ankle. "No, my lady. No, it's not."

Terror bolted through me. "What? It's just broken, right? We can get a water rune."

Madelon bit her lower lip. "I don't know. Water runes don't always cure breaks. You might have a limp."

A limp! Limps were for old men! "No," I said sternly. "I'm sure it will be fine. It will." Sun blast anyone who thought otherwise.

Dinn compressed his lips grimly. "We need to return. Ride in front of me, my lady."

"Oh!" said Madelon, as if struck. When we all turned to her, she glared and said, "Well- she can ride with me. Yes, I think that would be better. Ghost's still too young to carry two."

"Ride Sarqa," Chaz suggested to Dinn. "It would be unseemly if we warriors left the duty of our loyalty to a maid."

"No, really, I don't mind-" Madelon spluttered.

I did. As gentle as Chaz and Dinn attempted to be, there is nothing comfortable about being picked up and propped up on your own feckless horse (Sarqa was giving me the oddest looks, as if to say, "What is wrong with you? Why are you so clumsy?" Horses never take blame for anything.). Dinn tied Ghost's reins to Sarqa's stirrup ring. He took a moment to adjust the stirrup lengths, then mounted behind me and took the reins. Our brave little foursome strode onwards.

I was very tempted to relax back against Dinn, (after all, he's terribly handsome and his arms were sort of around me) but I was also much smarter than that. Madelon kept flinging me accusing looks. I kept flinging her looks that I hoped were translated as, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm innocent, I wasn't the one who wanted a broken leg, okay?" So I continued to sit tall.

Maybe I was even stiff. "Are you in pain, my lady? We can halt the horses to rest."

I was in a huge amount of pain. "Let's keep going. Unless Chaz-?"

"I can cope, my lady."

We had to ride slowly, so it was closer to six-thirty in the evening by the time we returned. Nobody was worriedly waiting for us in the courtyard -they probably just assumed we'd discussed the artifacts an hour longer. But Father, Mother, Grand, and Ruel looked up in complete surprise when Dinn carried me into the dining room, bloody shoulder, broken ankle and all. Chaz followed, stoically refusing to rub his arm in front of his lord.

I tell you. It was a heart-twisting picture. I was put to bed right away, and Dinn was sent to find someone with a water rune. Robaro came. He was able to cure the cactus-stings and lessen some of the pain, but he couldn't help the bone, so then we called Madelon's mom, the bone-setter. Madelon told me, with considerable enthusiasm, that I'd probably be bedridden for six weeks or more.

I stared up at her in despair. "What -no, I can't-"

"You will if you have to," Mother said impressively with a certain look in her eye. "You don't want it to heal badly. It could ruin your riding."

I settled sulkily back into my pillows.

"I will redeem myself, my lady," Chaz told me fervently. "I will never again be so careless. I will watch over you night and day. Well..." He added, eyes a bit troubled. "At day, certainly. I think watching you at night would be-"

"Go home and rest, Chaz. You haven't disgraced yourself, and that will make me happiest for now."

"But, my lady-"

I resisted the urge to heave a pillow at him. "Don't contradict your lady. It's unseemly."

He bowed. "Of course."

Mother fluffed my pillow. "We'll try to make you as happy and comfortable as possible."

Oh, happy, happy me.