Free Magic's Promise by Mercedes Lackey Page B

presence either....
    :Yes,: she agreed, following the thought. : Exactly.: So he hooked his leg around the saddle pommel, crossed his arms and tucked the ends of his fingers into his belt, then sagged into a comfortable slouch; chin on chest. It didn't take long.
    He came awake all at once, his hand reaching automatically for the sword he wasn't wearing. There was an instant of panic before he remembered where he was going, and why he was going there.
    “ Why did you stop? ” he asked Yfandes, who had come to an unmoving halt-which was what had waked him-in the middle of the completely deserted road. There was nothing but open meadow on either side of him, dotted with sheep, though there was no sign of the shepherd. Crows cawed overhead, and the sheep bleated in their pastures; otherwise silence prevailed. The sun was low enough ahead of them to force him to squint. It must be late afternoon, early evening.
    :There's an inn just beyond the next curve, sleepy one,: Yfandes said, a hint of amusement tingeing her thought. :It's later than lunch and earlier than dinner, but I'm tired and I'd really like to stop before I go any farther.:
    “ Havens, love, you should have- ”
    :No, I shouldn't have. This is the first time you've really relaxed in I don't know how long. Have you thought about the way we resonate?:
    He saw instantly what she meant. “ So - you were relaxing with me. ”
    :In very deed, and reveling in it. First journey I've been able to enjoy in a while. But I would like to stop now. :
    “ Then so would I. ” He unwrapped his leg from the pommel and stretched it; she waited until his foot was back in the stirrup, then resumed her easy amble, not quite a walk, not quite a canter. “ Is this a temporary halt, or are we stopping for the night?''
    :The night?: she asked, wistfully. There was a hint of something more there than she was sending.
    “ You're not telling me everything, ” he accused. “ Why this inn? ”
    :Well - you won't be the only Herald there. Herald-Courier Sofya is there -:
    “ Chosen by? ” He had a shrewd hunch where this was leading.
    She curved her neck coquettishly, and looked up and sideways at him out of one huge blue eye. :Gavis. :
    He shook his head at her. “ Ah, yes-the one that has been setting all the courier-records lately. Why this penchant for over-muscled courier-types, all legs and no brains- ”
    :He is not over-muscled,: she replied indignantly, breaking into a teeth-rattling trot to punish him.
    “ But brainless? ” he taunted, feeling unusually mischievous.
    :He just doesn't speak up unless he has something to say. Unlike certain Herald-Mages I know.: She kicked once, jarring every vertebra in his spine, before settling, all four feet braced in the dust of the road, and plainly going nowhere.
    He reached forward before she could stop him, and tweaked her ear. “ Well, since you want to arrange a little assignation, don't you think you'd better get the cooperation of your Chosen? ”
    :I can't imagine why,: she replied.
    “ We could move out of the center of the road, and I could groom you so that you looked your usual lovely self when we rode into that inn yard, instead of being all covered with road dust. I could even braid your tail up with some of the blue and silver cord that was with the barding. If Ifelt like it. ”
    :- Vanyel-I-: she floundered.
    “ And I do feel like it, you ridiculously vain creature, ” he said, leaning down and putting both arms around her neck, resting his cheek on her crest. “ And to think that they call me a peacock! Has it been so long since I teased you that you've forgotten what it sounds like? ”
    :Oh, Vanyel - it has been a long time.:
    “ Then we'll have to remedy that. ” He dismounted, still a bit stiff from his long doze, and opened the pack with the currycomb in it. Something else occurred to him as he wormed his hand down inside the pack. “ Just-do me a very big favor, sweetling- ”
    :Hmm?: She turned her head