een its teeth, and hooked

the head strap over its ears.

Roz watched him buckle the straps tight. 'You make it all look so

easy..."

'That's because this's the easy bit,' said Cadillac. He handed her the

reins of the grey and took control of the roan. 'Sitting on top of

them and staying there is where it gets difficult."

'But at least you know how."

'Yes. And by the time we get to where we're going so will you."

For Roz, who was almost a head shorter than Cadillac, the first major

problem was learning how to get onto the horse. Without the aid of

stirrups and a saddle to hang onto, it demanded a fairly high degree of

physical agility and - for absolute beginners - a good deal of

determination. Roz had plenty of that and she needed every ounce of

it. Cadillac gave her a leg up until she had mastered the basics of

riding bareback, then left her to struggle on her own. After countless

attempts and a great deal of cursing, she finally worked out how to

haul herself onto the horse's back, but not before she had suffered the

ignominy of overdoing the first leap up and tumbling nose-first off the

far side.

To her credit, she bore the knocks and the inevitable soreness without

complaint and eventually her persistence paid off. Six days after

running away in panic from the dappled grey, she was able to catch,

bridle and control both horses well enough for them to begin the first

stage of their long journey.

Using strips of buffalo hide cut from salvaged hut panels, Cadillac

fashioned two wide girths to hold a part of a bearskin in place as a

saddle, and he made horizontal chest and rump straps for them to

provide an anchor point for the trucking poles.

These were long larch saplings, lashed together in parallel, just far

enough apart for the horse's hindquarters to fit between. The top ends

were lashed to the leather harness, the strain being taken by a back

strap behind the saddle and the horse's chest; the bottom ends trailed

at a shallow angle along the ground, well clear of its rear legs.

What possessions they had, including the constituent parts of their

hut, were tied onto the light latticework platform that helped to keep

the trucking poles parallel to one another. Roz helped Cadillac with

the construction by cutting up thin strips of hide and binding

everything together, firmly and neatly, with the same care she used

when stitching up a wound.

When all was ready, they led the horses down the only suitable trail

from the bluff to the undulating plain below.

As they were about to enter a thick stand of pines that lay across

their path, Cadillac reined in the roan and cast a long backward glance

at the slim, graceful plume of water that fell from the tongue-stone:

the landmark which, for so many years, had served to guide hunting

posses back to the settlement.

'Are you sorry to leave?" asked Roz.

'I'm not leaving anything. What's left of the past we're taking with

us. But I was born up there. Even though it is heavy with death this

place will always be special to me."

'It's special to me too,' said Roz. 'This is where I came to life.

Don't grieve. We'll come back one day."

Cadillac clasped her outstretched hand and felt her fingers close

reassuringly around his. 'What makes you say that?"

'Isn't this where you would like our child to be born?"

The question came as a total surprise. 'Why, yes, but surely you don't

mean ?!" 'No,' laughed Roz. 'Not yet. But when it's time, I want you

to bring me here. Promise?"

'Yes, I promise .... ' On their second day out, they encountered a

hunting posse from the Clan K'Vanna, another branch of the She-Kargo

bloodline. Not having a crossbow with which to send up a smoking arrow

- the signal used by rival groups of Plainfolk when they wished to

parley - Cadillac and Roz had to ride towards the posse, coming much

closer than was usual at the preliminary stages of a parley, and

running the risk of an itchy trigger finger sending a bolt through