The Black Wing by Mary Kirchoff Page A

too.“ Onyx placed her left foot in Led's hands and swung her right leg
     over the horse with great difficulty, unused to maneuvering in the cumbersome armor. Led
     watched her clumsy handling of the beast with surprise. ”Surely you haven't traveled
     entirely by foot all your life?“ ”Not by foot, no,“ Onyx said. The mysterious glint in her
     eye suggested her magical abilities. Led looked properly impressed. ”I've got to check on
     a special order the cartwright's been promising me," he told Onyx after watching her first
     awkward attempts to ride the mare. Promising to return in short
    order, he left her to her own struggles in the paddock. Onyx was relieved to see the
     backside of his long-legged stride so she could practice without his green eyes on her.
     Used to being a mount of a sort to the lightweight nyphids, she did not like the feeling
     of sitting on a horse one bit. The ride was jarring, not smooth like flying. More
     disturbing to Onyx, though, was the idea of turning control of herself over to an animal
     not half as intelligent as she. Slowly, she learned to control the animal instead of
     allowing it to control her. Her shoulders ached from the effort to direct the animal, as
     well as the weight of the armor. The sun had risen past the midpoint, and the mare beneath
     her had churned the paddock to ankle-deep mud by the time a now-helmeted Led returned on
     horseback himself. To her surprise, he was accompanied by his entire band of ogres and
     flanked by Toba, who sat upon the buckboard of a small, windowless box of a wagon, reins
     in hand. Khisanth sprang from the mare's back and led the creature by the leather bridle
     through the paddock gate. “Yoshiki Toba, Onyx,” Led said simply by way of introduction.
     “She's our new hand.” Led's lieutenant eyed her willowy, muscular form skeptically, but
     said not a word. Obviously adding a woman warrior to their ranks was nothing new. Onyx
     wondered at Led's reasons for not telling Toba of her spellcasting abilities, but she knew
     she had already strained Led's tolerance for questions. “You're doing better on the
     horse,” Led observed. “Just in time, too.” “We're leaving now?” Onyx glanced from the last
     ranks of ogres up to the small wagon behind Toba. Led pushed back the helmet he'd donned
     since she'd last seen him. “Any problem with that?” “No!” she said quickly, her mind
     racing. How will I tell Kadagan and Joad I'm leaving? I don't even know where I'm going!
     “I was just surprised, is all.” “Me, too,” said Led. “That fool cartwright has been
     stringing me along, taking a month to build this little wagon, if you can believe that.”
     “What kind of cargo requires a wagon specially made for it?” she asked artlessly.
     “Something thaf s going to make me rich, once I get it to its new owner in Kernen,” he
     said with a mysterious smile, then wagged his finger. “You've forgotten rule number one
     again, Onyx.” Led dropped his helmet back over his face. “Take the right flank, and make
     certain you remember rules two and three.” With that, he gave a shrill whistle and circled
     his arm once over his head. The group set off for the southeastern gate. Onyx had to spur
     the horse to a trot to gain her place on the right of the wagon, opposite Led. Once
     outside town the small train turned toward the mountains. Thin woods lined the road,
     thickening as the way led farther from town. Aside from an occasional sneeze or curse from
     one of the ogres, the group was silent. Onyx wondered whether Kadagan and Joad were
     watching from somewhere. If Dela was in the strange wagon Toba was driving, surely Joad
     would know. If she wasn'tI'll deal with that if it turns out to be true, thought Khisanth.
     They established a steady pace, headed through the foothills, toward a place Led called
     Needle Pass, the only sizable gap through the Khalkist Mountains