Sword Breaker-Sword Dancer 4 Read Online Free PDF Page A

wetly, then hid itself beneath water as the spring refilled the basin.
    I let the stud drink half again, then pulled him away.
    Del, still atop her roan, frowned as I began to undo knots in pouches and cinch. "You don't mean for us to stay here...?"
    "It's getting on toward sundown."
    "But this is so exposed... would we not do better to go elsewhere? Somewhere less obvious?"
    "Probably," I agreed. "Except there's water here. You know as well as I that in the South, you don't pass up water."
    "No, but we could refill the botas, let the horses cool, and then ride on."
    "Ride on where?" I dropped the pouches to the ground. "The next closest water is a good day's ride from here. It would be foolish to leave now with nightfall coming on.
    There's no moon tonight ... do you really want to chance getting lost in the darkness?"
    Del sighed, absently battling her roan with restraining reins. The gelding snorted wetly.
    "I thought you told me once you knew the South like the back of your hand."
    "I do. Better than most. But that doesn't mean I'm stupid." I undid the saddle, peeled it and the sweaty blanket-pad off, dropped everything atop the pouches. The stud's back was wet and rumpled. "We haven't been through here in some time, bascha. For all I know there've been twenty sandstorms since then. I'd just as soon discover the changes in landscape when I can see them."
    "I understand," she said patiently. "But if we stay here, it makes it easy for others to find us."
    I pointed toward the basin. "See those carvings? In addition to protection for the water, it gives sanctuary to desert travelers."
    Her chin rose a notch. "Even to travelers accused of murdering a messiah?"
    I gritted teeth. "Yes." I didn't know any such thing, but I wasn't disposed to argue.
    She grunted skepticism. "Will they respect it?"
    "It all depends on who shows up." I braced and stood my ground as the stud planted his head against my arm and began to rub exuberantly, scratching heat-and dust-born itches. "The tribes have always honored the traveler's truce. They're nomads, bascha...
    such places as this carry meaning. Those are tribal devices carved into the stone, promising protection to water and traveler. I don't think they'd break that custom, even if they caught up. And that's not a certainty."
    "What if it's someone else? Someone who doesn't honor this custom?"
    The stud rubbed even harder, nearly upsetting my balance. I pushed the intrusive head away. "Then we'll just have to deal with it. Sooner or later. Tonight, or tomorrow." I squinted up at her. "Don't you think it's time you gave that horse a drink? He's been pulling rein since we got here."
    He had. The roan, inhaling water-scent, had been stomping hooves and swishing tail, trying to edge toward the basin. Del had kept him on a taut rein, fighting his head.
    She grimaced and unhooked from the stirrups, swinging a long, burnous-swathed leg over as she slid off the roan. She let him water as I had, cursorily attending amount--you don't let a hot horse drink too much right away--but still knitted pale brows in a faint, annoyed frown. But the expression faded as she pulled the roan away and tended to the untacking. Work smoothed her face, banishing the tautness of jaw and the creases between her brows. It made her young again.
    And gloriously beautiful, in a deadly, edged way, like a sword blade newly honed.
    Ordinarily I'd have slipped the stud's bridle and left him haltered and hobbled. But current circumstances called for a bit more care and preparation. We needed the ability to mount and ride instantly; a hobbled, unbridled horse makes for too much delay. So the stud I left bitted with the reins trapped beneath a flat stone, although he was not much for wandering when water was near. Desert-born and bred, he knew better than to leave a known supply.
    I stacked saddle and pad against the boulder wall, hair-side up to dry, and made my own arrangements with blankets, botas, pouches. All in all I was