Free The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody

- first Marisa then Alexi and then the Teknoguild worked to change what seems to have been no more than a thing originally devised to measure brain waves. I doubt it could happen again. Besides I think you would know if it were a machine.'
    'It must be some sort of poisoning then,' Domick said dismissively.
    It was a cold night. I slept restlessly, dreamed of running through dark tunnels and woke with the feeling that I had forgotten something important. After racking my brain, I pushed the nagging feeling to the back of my thoughts.
    Pulling the flap aside, I was delighted to find sun streaming through the tree-tops. The others stirred in the blaze of light, blinking and groaning. The ground was soaking wet, and there was no question of lighting a fire, but it was lovely to stretch our legs and walk around. I was very stiff but suspected I would have been worse without Kella's healer wizardry.
    Gahltha and the other horses emerged from the trees as we were finishing a scratch firstmeal. Darga accepted a bowl of milk with a polite flap of his tail. We tied the oilskins which were still wet on top of the caravans and washed our faces in a streamlet. Domick worried that the water might be tainted but Darga pronounced it safe. He had an acute sense of smell, and could tell when water was bad.
    We set off far more cheerfully than the previous day. I felt happier, despite Gahltha's insistence at my riding bareback. Mounting him was an awkward debacle because my legs were too stiff to flex easily. But once up, I felt more comfortable than I had on the saddle, though less secure.
    The sun shone in a golden autumn way, and Jik played a jaunty harvest song on his gita, accompanying himself in a surprisingly sweet singing voice. Even grim Domick appeared to enjoy the impromptu concert, and the horses perked their ears as if they liked the sound.
    Later, I listened to a communication between Darga and Avra about funaga. I was amused to hear their interpretation of human parenting but Gahltha snorted loudly at Avra's observation that children seemed less dangerous than grown funaga.
    'You do not know anything about the funaga and their ways,' he told her icily. 'They are all the same. I have been beaten savagely by a funaga child who laughed at my pain and jeered when I bled. Like poisoned ground, funaga bear poisoned fruit.'
    I shivered at the venom in his voice.
    Gahltha's pace quickened after that. On a flat stretch he broke without warning into a trot and I promptly fell off. My only consolation was that the wet ground was soft. My anger made no impression on Gahltha, who insisted that I would not have fallen if I had been gripping with my knees the way I was supposed to. Louis laughed uproariously, and though the others restrained their amusement, my next fall sent them all into gales of laughter.
    I kept my temper with difficulty, realizing Gahltha wanted to goad me. And, also, I knew he was right, however sarcastic he was. I had been sitting lazily.
    By the time we stopped for midmeal I was covered in mud. It was not worth changing, so I merely washed my hands and face to eat. The afternoon was worse than the morning despite my forlorn hope for an easy walking pace. Gahltha decided I must progress to riding at a gallop. Again pride kept me from protesting that he was progressing too quickly.
    So we cantered and galloped, and when the wagons moved too slowly for Gahltha, he would ride ahead, then turn and ride back. By late afternoon I was beginning to feel the rhythm of his movements, and understanding that knowing and feeling the rhythm was the main part of riding, apart from balance. Once or twice I even found myself enjoying the speed.
    We had been travelling parallel to the Suggredoon most of the day but after midmeal, the river broadened suddenly, swollen from the night's rain. The undergrowth thickened too, slowing the caravans to a walking pace. Avra went slightly ahead with Domick seeking the easiest path for the caravans.