Luke stayed at North Cliffs until late the next morning. The horses were tied in a sandy field near a gully so he knew Marcos had not left. Seeing his father outside one of the cave houses he took Lianna and leaving the younger horse for his brother he led the horse and they spent the morning walking the journey to Cano the dogs still trotting behind.

The quiet breeze stroked his face as they went, plenty of food and water in his pack and many thoughts cantering through his mind. The villagers had taken naturally to the horses, despite probably never having seen one before. Luke wondered how fast a horse could go, and how much rest and refreshment it would need. Several horses together could move the most enormous weights, given the right harnesses. He wanted to give Marcos a race on horseback. He was surprised he had never thought of it before. Perhaps they could do it at the Festival of the Rains. Of course Lianna and Tec were apart in maturity, but they could perhaps do something to make it more equal. He didn't quite think the younger horses would be up to it yet. And maybe it would be possible to tour the entire island. It was regarded as a superhuman feat to walk the coastline, and there were places no one would dare go, though it was legend that Uncle had done most of it it before pretty well anyone in Luke’s village was born.

"Do you think we're going too fast?" he asked his father.

His father slowed down without thinking.

"No I meant ..."

"Oh, I don't know what ideas you have but your mind does race. You are so like I was before I learnt to settle down. And there is danger in you. You have not been the same since you came back. Marcos cannot stand it."

"I know. I'm sorry, but ..."

"Yes. But don't just go wandering round the world blaming yourself. Life has to be constructive."

"North Cliffs is on the edge of The Hinderith. Do you think there are spies?"

"Of course there are spies. Who knows what bandit groups may be hiding out in the mountains. And even if not, it only takes a couple of gossips to spread the news to lawless areas. It'll soon get to Rah whatever. He knows everything."

Luke kept himself protected from the midday sun by a loose hooded cloak as they exited The Forest and passed the houses leading the way to Woodside. He knew something was wrong when Rudi started barking even though they were nowhere within sight of the farm. He could hear more barking coming from the the distance. The dog circled the horse excitedly, running forward then looking back at her master. Lianna studiously ignored her.

"Rudi, what's wrong? Has someone died? Mother! Oh, no." He could see Benar running towards then.

Rudi jumped up on his hind legs and gave a high pitched bark, causing Lianna to shy away. Then he started to run towards Benar. Luke sat on the horse, coaxed it into a gentle run, then settled down as they moved up to his assistant.

"Luke, we've all been waiting for you. I thought I'd have to run all the way to North Cliffs."

"What on earth's happened? Is it Mother? Is she okay?"

"No. Oh, no. Not her. But almost as bad. Go straight to the farm. I'll follow with Rudi. It's not safe to be out alone at the moment."

"What? Bandits? But how could they get in? The dogs would eat them alive."

"Nobody in Cano will tell you that a single dog barked last night. But you look on the farm and tell me whether the youngsters are anywhere to be seen. I guarantee they're on the way to Trantrith by now."

"No. That's impossible. I'll go. Straightaway. Rudi, take care of Benar. See you later." Luke urged the horse to the narrow trail where he raced his way through to the farm.

It had an eerie feel, the field empty where the horses should have been. He let Lianna in there on her own, she pawing around and sniffing unable to comprehend that the children and the older horse were gone. Everything else seemed in order but Luke could not help feeling that something was missing as he approached the buildings. Approaching the workshop he realised two of the farm hands were not present. He waited for the others to catch up.

"Have you seen them?" he asked Benar. "They did the butchering yesterday but weren't at North Cliffs."

"I saw them going out but don’t know if they were going to help with the rockfall. But with so many people there wouldn’t it have been easy to miss them?"

"I'm suspicious. The dogs would have been alert when the farm was left unattended. No stranger could have entered or even passed the other houses."

"What about Ma? Did she hear anything?"

"She was in alone all evening. She's getting worse. None of the women in the village saw anything unusual, apparently. Hardly surprising, though. It would be easy to get in and out of the field without being seen. That's why we have dogs."

"Could the horses simply have escaped from the field? Maybe they're wandering around in the Forest."

"I don't believe it. It simply isn't plausible. We've been very strict since Lianna escaped. No, this is done from the inside. When we find those two we'll be able to solve it. If we find them."

Darios looked across and they saw a woman walking up the track towards the house. She had two children with her, one aged around twelve and the other a little younger. He knew them, they lived only a ten minute walk away.

"Hi there! Are you looking for me?"

"Hello Darios."

"How can I help you?"

"My son's got something to tell you. Go on, Jahan. Tell the man what you told me."

The boy looked wretched as he stood before Darios and stammered out his story.

"Well, me and my friend, we were, well, when we knew there were no men in the village last night we thought we'd go for a little expedition and we ended up in the field behind the farm. We were a bit hungry - we only..."

"Scrumping, they were," interjected his mother. "Little thieves." Darios silenced her with a wave of his hand.

"We only had an apple each. They'd fallen on the ground. Honest. But then we saw these two men in the field. We were really scared because we hadn't expected anyone to be there. They were dressed normally, not like bandits. We hid behind the bushes and waited for them to go away, but they stayed for ages. It was bright moonlight so we couldn't get past them. They tied leads round the little horses and the older horse as if they were dogs or something. Then they led them out and round the back of the field. We saw them go into the woods by The Forest which lead to the hills and when we were sure they had gone we rushed home. But we didn't think there was anything wrong until we heard people in the village talking about it this morning."

“Yes, I did ask questions in Cano,” said Benar. “Doesn’t take long for gossip to spread.”

“Good job you did,” said Darios. “We wouldn’t have known this. Thank you,” he said to the boys. “Go up to the house, Lexa will be glad to see you.”

"Track," said Luke abruptly.

"What?"

"Track them. They've gone into the hills. Two men and three horses. It'll be the easiest thing."

"How will you get them back?"

"I won't. I'll find out where they've gone, come back and get the Lodge to work. A couple of warriors will soon destroy their sneaky business. They'll be in a poor state after two nights in the mountains anyway. Let's get some food and I'll be off."

Luke's mother appeared from the house, the lines on her face betraying the course of her illness.

"Hallo, Jennea. I thought I heard your voice outside. Come in out of this terrible sun."

Darios followed his son into the coolness of the house, where drinks were prepared. Luke packed his bag with more food and checked his weapons.

"It’s only midday so I should be able to get to the start of the mountains easily. If I get back around sunset we can get the Lodge out a couple of hours before dawn."

"Don't go through The Forest on your own."

"No way will they take that route. Two men and young horses with no dogs."

"Ok. But you may be asking a bit much to get the Lodge into the Hinderith."

The trail did lead north towards the Hinderith rather than south to Trantrith and as Luke had predicted it skirted around the Forest to the west, picking up the gully of the stream which turned down and fed the Forest from the northern hills. There had been no attempt at disguise and though he felt unprotected without a dog he had been this way many times and expected no harm. He just took care to take the horse along the higher ground a little below the ridge to reduce the risk of being seen. From this position he had a good view of the valley as it wound into the hills and steepened. To his left the Forest spread out below, its green fingers poking up into the hills and he wondered at how small his world had been. Most of his life spent roaming a little patch of land while across the central hills Elenea was full of farms each bigger than any in his own country and to the south the bandit lands of Trantrith stood huge and unknown. Standing at a height above the stream he could clearly see the point where the trail of upturned clods turned off up the side of the hill, passing in front of him only about fifty paces ahead. As he reached the point he factored in the bit he had overlooked. Two sets of footprints had accompanied the horses' hooves on the trail up the stream, but where they turned up the slope there were another three. The farmhands had not simply exchanged the horses for barter, although they could easily have been back before dawn and claimed to have spent the night in North Cliffs, but instead travelled up the hill with the others. Luke started up the side, aiming for an isolated patch of trees doing their best to grow out of a hollow.

His intuition proved correct, as the hollow had been used for a stop of several hours. The horses had all been tied to one tree and the vegetation almost completely eaten away. There were remains of a fire as well as bones - looked like a mountain hare as far as he could tell - and a few pieces of cooked food in the remains of the grass. He counted the five locations where the ground was smoothed into sleeping areas. A little outside the ring of trees he found the discarded head of the hare.

Rummaging around he discovered warm embers in the fire, they had probably left later than intended and not bothered to extinguish the flames properly. This still gave the bandits several hours' start but they had the horses to handle up the rough slopes, and the farmhands would not be used to climbing in unmarked terrain. It was easy to find their route so he simply aimed for a crest on the top of the ridge which marked the limit of his experience of the area.

Gaining the watershed was a slow climb for the horse and he knew he would have to start back almost immediately. Sitting a few feet below the top on the other side he realised the hopelessness of his quest as he watched the raiding party moving ahead in the distance, climbing down to the sea. He could follow them if he wanted or send a gang up after them but it was only last year that a group of six of their fighters had been ambushed and beaten in those same hills, food and weapons and clothes stolen, turning up pathetic in some farmer's cast off rags at the Lodge a day later. After eating the remains of his food, he drank the water he had collected from the stream earlier, and started the descent at a canter.

Luke reported to the Lodge as soon as he returned to civilisation, despite being late in the day, but as expected they could do little to help him.

"I don't think you've got a chance in the Hinderith," Sol told him as they sat on the floor in his public office. "We don't know the area well enough and we're not properly trained to survive in that environment for long. Maybe we’ve gone soft over the years. Our warriors defend the villages and hunt, and sometimes track down fugitives in the Forest. Many people learnt mountaincraft during the wars, but that was nearly sixty years ago and their skills were mainly for survival rather than attack. But do you really need the horses back? Of course it’s taken years to breed them, but you’ve acquired valuable knowledge in that time, so it’ll be much easier to do it again, and you won't repeat the mistakes you made before. You still have two horses, one pregnant, so why not carry on from there?"

"It's not just a couple of years' work. More than four years we've been doing this and the results were just starting to show. The people we trusted most have stolen all our hard work from us. I want them to suffer the full weight of the law." Luke felt a sudden flush of anger rising. "I'll root them out myself and kill them with my bare hands."

"You don't have blood rights, Luke. Not for cattle theft. Besides, those two won't survive long in the mountains. They'll come crawling back within a couple of months, or turn up in a nearby village where they'll be recognised and returned to us. And what do a few seaside villagers know about horses? They'll probably escape at the first opportunity and make their way back home. I don't think it will be as bad as you fear."

"Suppose I spend another four years raising a new generation. Then someone comes along and takes them again. And again. Every time I'm successful someone else wants it all for nothing. And your famous warriors can't even deliver justice. It's not safe here. We're weak, it’s true, now there are no wars. If the hillsmen joined together now they'd overrun us in five minutes."

The master was quiet for a long period, looking at him severely. "Perhaps you have identified a weakness in our defences, and we will have to take account of it in our future training. But we are not weak. When the Lodge fights the mountains tremble. We dare to win. Our motto applies as much now as during the Mountain Wars. But choose your battles. This will give us little gain anyway. We will not go into the Hinderith. And nor will you. You are forbidden."

Luke stood up wearily at the dismissal, the fatigue of the day's events adding to that of the previous day. He walked the horse straight to his own house, where Sarah was waiting with a resigned patience.

"I got your messages. Looks like you've had a pretty busy time. Come here. Let me wash you then it's straight to bed. You can tell me all about it in the morning." By the time she had rinsed his clothes and hung them to dry Luke was already unconscious.

In the morning light she sat on the edge of the wooden bed, holding the edge of the goat's wool blanket with one hand and her husband's head in the other. A thick shaft of sun pierced the window boards and lit up the blackness of his growing beard and hair.

"I need to give you a decent trim this morning. You're beginning to look more like a hillsman yourself than a warrior."

"If I was a warrior I'd go and take out those thieves up in the hills or wherever they are. We're nothing but simpleton farmers down here. Good for olives and grapes. When I was in Elenea they had things we've never dreamt of. Huge farms, herds of tame cows, goats and chickens, farms that have orchards as far as you can see, clothes far better than our heavy leather and wool, and no raiders. The whole land is open, no wildness in the mountains and woods, and they have bands of soldiers to protect the borders. We are so puny. Anyone who fancies something of ours only needs to talk sweetly to one of the villagers, make a few promises, and they've got it. Easy. Thank you very much. I want to get on. I don't want it all stolen from me as soon as I start to do something." Luke sat up suddenly, grabbing his clothes from the pole where they had hung to dry overnight, and perched on the edge of the bed, her arm gently but firmly around his shoulders.

"Well that's it then, Horse Master. When do we leave? Today or tomorrow?"

"What?"

"You want to go to another country. Let's go. There's nothing keeping you here. The guys at Stonebridge won't worry if you arrive suddenly. We'll send a messenger ahead anyway to warn them. Get the Lodge to clear us for crossing the border and we can go to this Briary. Then you can forget about all this and we'll start afresh with Hannah."

"Hannah? What's this new idea of yours? You can't know it's going to be a girl."

"Oh, no? Well if it should happen to be a boy - which it isn't of course - then I'll call it Hannah anyway. See what you can say about that."

"So what about the horses then?"

"What horses?"

"Oh, well, yes." The realisation was slowly sinking in. "But we have two. There won't be much point otherwise."

"Well yes we do. Presumably you'll be wanting to use them for the journey and keep them safe and maybe they'll be useful in the other country. And Tec will be old enough soon, so we can produce more young. Can just ride her back down to The Forest, someone'll soon come sniffing. The foals will be tame too, just like Baby."

"And what do we leave here? Will Marcos stay here without Lianna and Tec, just as the village is getting used to them?"

Sarah thought for a while, and ran her hand over the hair on Luke's broad chest. She took him by the arms and rolled him onto the bed, lying on top of him, careful with the small swelling in her lower body. She looked him in the eyes.

"We'll go the day after tomorrow. Send a message this morning to your cousin. We'll take Lianna, or maybe both horses. We won't need dogs, just clothes and food and things, plus some of your tools and weapons. We'll make a home with Hannah and you can become as famous as you like."

Luke broke the news to his family at the farm. Marcos was outraged.

"Two days? How are we supposed to survive? We've just lost two of our labourers and the horses. Do you want us to starve, or have to work for others to survive?"

"You're hardly likely to starve, and you do work for the Lodge anyway. There are plenty of hands each time planting and harvest come. Benar will recruit a couple of young lads to help with the heavy stuff and you and Father can manage the workshop easily enough. You've been doing it for two years."

Marcos's face changed as it gradually dawned on him that Luke might be becoming superfluous on the farm. He remembered the promise that he would be managing it himself. Another thought cut him short.

"But what about Ma?"

"The women in the village will help you look after her. They're much more experienced in helping the sick. I'll come back to visit as soon as I can." He knew perfectly well what he might find next time he returned, but could not admit even to himself that he would be saying goodbye to his mother for the last time.

Darios turned to Marcos.

"Luke's quite right. The time's come to move on. There's no future for horses in a place like this. They're too vulnerable and we don't have enough knowledge to farm them properly. They know much more about animals in Elenea. I think I know who we can get in to help with the farm, too. Do you know the twins from Wolfgrove?"

Marcos knew the twins well, but had not realised his father was unaware of the fact. They were good friends, not especially clever but strong and good hunters. Marcos often mended their weapons and helped them with the more difficult tracking exercises set by the Lodge, such as finding a hare gone to ground in the dense regions of the Forest. The thought of having them on the farm appealed to him.

"We're going to have to arrange a leaving party if you're going," he said to Luke.

"Steady on. You seem keen to get rid of me now."

"No I didn't mean that. But, well, you know. There's got to be a party at the Kitchen, or even at the Lodge. It's a big thing for you and Sarah to go away and start a new life. We can go hunting this afternoon and see if we can persuade the brewer to part with a couple of casks. All your friends from the villages will want to come."

"No. The Kitchen will do. Me, you, Pa, Sarah, Ma if she's well enough, and whoever turns up. Benar can look after the farm while we're out."

Luke suddenly found he had little to do. Sarah would be instructing the messenger with the news, which he would commit to memory, and she would give him a token, her own emblem on one side and those of the recipients and the Stonebridge mark on the other. She was good at tracing out the exact lines and setting the clay firm in the fire. Then she would collect together all the possessions they would need to take and tell their friends and neighbours they were leaving. All Luke needed to do was attend the Lodge to obtain permission to travel and prepare the horses for the journey. He already knew the route and could speak the dialect of the Borderlands and just about pass with the language of Elenea. So he waited for the painful business of having his hair and beard trimmed.

The Kitchen was a large hut at the edge of Market, right next to the river. Just under an hour's walk by foot down a wide and flat path. Local women tended to congregate there during the day to meet each other and obtain a meal without the trouble of preparing it themselves. In the evening its character changed. It was then inhabited by men and older boys living in the town or locality, relaxing and boasting the successes of the day or making plans for a hunt or expedition. The atmosphere often became boisterous later on, and the women and girls would drop in after the ale had had its effect and all discussion of work had degenerated into story-telling or a singing session. There were two brews on offer, Oak and Willow, the latter favoured by the women for its mild taste and low potency. Luke arrived early, a little bored, and took a pint of Oak from the cask, making a notch next to his own symbol on the large board by the wall. He sat on a low stool in the corner.

Two women sitting nearby turned to look at him. "You're here a bit early," said the slightly younger one, Susa, wife of one of the Masters at the Lodge. "Are you in for a celebration?"

"No, you're the one who's leaving, aren't you?" asked the other. I heard Jennea talking about it earlier. I hope you're going to make sure your Ma's well looked after."

"Where are you going?" asked Susa. "My lad left last year, he went to Holt. But he comes over to see me a couple of times a month of course."

"I'm going a bit further than that," said Luke, suddenly impatient at the small mentality of local people. "I'm going south to join Rob and Mark at Stonebridge in the Borderlands." He didn't care to mention that they would actually be going into the other country.

"You're going all that way, and with Sarah nearly half way through? You'll be killed by bandits before you even get there. I should have a word with your father, but he's too stubborn to know better."

Just then a new entrant arrived in the hut. It was Jomo, freshly returned from his extended stay at North Cliffs.

"Hi. I thought I'd find you here. Marcos told me. Fancy a drink on me? I heard about the incident at the farm."

"Cheers, Legg," said Luke, quickly draining his cup and handing it to his friend. "I can do with a bit of relaxation at the moment."

Jomo refilled the cup and fetched another for himself, putting two notches on the board. "So you've had enough of this place? Marcos says you're leaving."

"That's right. Day after tomorrow. Though I've had little enough to do today, I might as well leave tomorrow. I’ve been to the Lodge for authorisation but probably should go in again and say goodbye to Uncle. He’s so old I never know if I may not see him again. I guess I'll walk up to the mountains tomorrow afternoon. Might be the last I see of them for a long time. Come along if you like."

"Oh, thanks. I'll see if I can fix it with Sol. Yeah, er, I'm going to be spending a bit more time at North Cliffs from now it seems." He looked at Luke knowingly and they both laughed and started discussing the attractions of the seaside village. When Marcos arrived a few minutes later Luke had no hesitation in draining his cup again and handing it to his brother for a refill.

Luke woke with a hangover the next morning and looked out gloomily at the misty rain wafting down from a grey sky. He went over to the farm to see if there was any way to occupy himself for the first half of the day.

"We're okay here," said Marcos cheerfully, despite having drunk enough for ten during the night. "We're going to get our new guys over this afternoon and show them round. Till then we're taking it easy."

Luke wandered around the village speaking to a few people till he found himself walking down the trail leading eventually to the Lodge. He saw the grassy mound where the village's ancient mentor and guardian spent his days, but it was vacant. Pushing open the door of the nearby hut he saw the old man in shadow.

"Ah, come in Luke. I've been expecting you."

Luke entered and sat down on the floor. Uncle sat and stared in his usual fashion and Luke waited patiently for him to begin. He got down to business with no formalities.

"Luke, you are going on a long journey. Always remember that you may not come back. If you do return things may be different. When I was a young man I went away and the whole land changed in my absence. Now we have built it all back again. But it is a fragile existence we lead and it can happen again at any time. You must be prepared. You could be a leader beyond all others in this land and it will be up to you to protect your people, however far away you may be. Do you accept that responsibility?"

"I accept it and will honour it as long as I live. My aim in going away is to learn more about horses so that my people may be able to use them for peaceful means and to defend against marauders. I swear I will always be faithful to the Lodge."

"That is what I already knew. Now I have something to tell you. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Uncle paused till Luke could hardly bear it.

"There is a material that is not stone, neither flint nor bone. It is exceedingly rare and powerful. Beware of it."

"Like the colourless stones, the walo that cause us so much trouble wherever the Old Ones have had a house?"

“No, the cutting stone is known and is no use for much. It can be melted in a fire to form a transparent lump of walo which is no more than a trinket and dangerous too as it easily splits. No that stone is just to be collected carefully and dumped into pits. I am talking about something that can be sharpened and fashioned into a weapon.

“When I was already older than you, I discovered the power of the not-stone when I was in Trantrith. I tried to use it and discovered its dangers the hard way. I came closer to death than any young man should. You will do the same I have no doubt. But remember. The stone of our ancestors is the flint found in the cliffs and on the shore by the sea. This is the thing that can penetrated bone. The tough not-stone is seductive and will make you powerful beyond dreams, but it is harder than flint to fashion and more menacing when it faces back at you. You have already discovered the dangers of power. Beware the man who offers it to you."

"My horses were a source of power, but they only led evil men to me. And they are dangerous..." Luke cast the bitter memory away. "Power is a dagger. It makes you strong but it can be used against you. This is what you mean. Let me be careful, I have never wanted power. All I want is to discover something new and add to the lives of my people. I will heed your words, wise Uncle."

Uncle looked at him silently and Luke knew the interview was not quite over.

"You will not heed my words, Luke. There is darkness in your soul. You have suffered loss. You will get into terrible danger. You may well die. But if you succeed you will be beyond men. I wish you well."

The rain was lifting to the north as Luke left the hut, so he picked up Jomo and they made their way alongside the top of the Forest on the other side of the valley to where he had been a couple of days earlier. An hour's walk took them within sight of the mountains, where they watched the lightning playing over the paths his horses had taken the day before and Luke stood and vowed revenge over his enemies.