In spite of their size, the beasts seemed to flow as fluidly as oil between the shelters of the Ramen. When they neared the circle of open ground, however, the smaller of the two, a mare with grave eyes and dappled grey flanks, slowed her pace, trotting to a halt among the gathered Ramen. Her companion, a roan stallion with a regal tail and an air of hauteur, cantered into the clearing to stand before Stave.

The Master greeted Hynyn with a deep bow. When he had raised his head again, he pronounced softly, "Hail, Ranyhyn! Land-rider and proud-bearer." His voice had a timbre of invocation and ritual; formal respect which his people had not uttered for thousands of years. "Sun-flesh and sky-mane, I am glad that you have heard my call. An urgent journey lies before me.

Will you bear me?"

In response, the stallion shook his mane as if in denial, although he stood ready to be mounted.

Stave appeared to hesitate. He glanced around at the assembled Ramen; but their frank adoration revealed nothing except that the Ranyhyn were revered.

Linden frowned. Had Hynyn and Hyn answered Stave's call only to refuse him?

Both of them-?

Stave twitched one shoulder, a slight shrug. Favoring his damaged hip, he gathered himself and vaulted up onto Hynyn's back. In spite of his pain, he seemed entirely at home astride the Ranyhyn; mounted where he belonged.

Hynyn tossed his head as if to welcome his rider. The Ramen watched, transfixed and disturbed by the sight.

Stave had said that the defeat of the Bloodguard had tarnished the fidelity of the Ramen. He may have been right.

Leaning forward, he murmured softly to Hynyn.

Again the stallion shook his head and did not move.

Stave nudged at Hynyn's sides with his heels: Hynyn flattened his ears and set his legs. To Linden's inexperienced eyes, the stallion seemed ready to buck.

Uncharacteristic uncertainty creased the Master's brows. As if to all of the Ramen, he announced, "Hynyn will not bear me."

From the edge of the clearing, Manethrall Dohn replied, "You are mistaken, sleepless one. Hynyn has accepted you. However, he does not consent to your intent. He will not bear you where you wish to go."

Stave's mien darkened. As far as Linden knew, no Haruchai had ever been both accepted and refused.

The Master may have been shocked. And without Hynyn to bear him, he would have to return to Mithil Stonedown on foot.

How far would his stubbornness carry him with a wounded hip?

"What now, Bloodguard?" Mahrtiir asked with sardonic satisfaction. "Will you cleave to the purposes of the Masters? Or will you honor the will of the Ranyhyn? Consult your arrogance. Surely it will not mislead you."

Stave turned a threatening scowl toward the Manethrall. "You are a fool," he pronounced distinctly. "There is no contradiction. No Ranyhyn has ever refused to serve its rider. For the sake of all the Land, the Masters must learn what this refusal portends."

A sarcastic rejoinder flashed in Mahrtiir's eyes, but he bit it back.

Manethrall Dohn ignored both men. For a moment, he studied the daylight as it filled the vale. Then he announced, "Ringthane, Hyn is here as well, though you did not summon her. She also will not bear you where you wish to go. Nonetheless she desires to bear you.

"Will you not mount?"

Quickly Linden looked around for Liand and Anele.

She would be lost without the old man; and she had already told Liand that he could accompany her.

Will not bear you Anele was nowhere to be seen. After a brief search, however, she spotted Liand among the Ramen, holding Somo by the pinto's halter.

-where you wish to go.

Anxious for reasons which she could not have put into words, she turned to face Hyn.

As soon as Linden met her gaze, the mare trotted forward.

Studying the beast, Linden groaned to herself, Oh, God. I can't ride that. Hyn was too big: Linden's head barely reached her shoulder. And Linden was no horsewoman. If she fell from that height-and in motion- Under the Sunbane, she had ridden the Coursers of the Clave, and they were larger than any Ranyhyn. But Cail had supported her then. With his arms around her, she could not have fallen, even by choice.

Hyn approached with a mincing step. Somehow the mare conveyed the unexpected impression that she felt shy in Linden's presence. When she drew near, however, she nudged Linden's chest, tangibly urging Linden to ride her.

Her warm breath smelled of sweet grass and freedom; of galloping wildly across illimitable vistas.

Linden looked around for help; and immediately Bhapa came toward her with wonder in his eyes. To both Linden and Hyn, he bowed deeply. Emotion thickened his voice as he said, "Ringthane, you are reluctant to ride. For that we honor you. It is fitting to be humbled by the Ranyhyn. But in this their will must not be thwarted. The fate of the Land rides with you, and you require their aid. You will not regret that you granted their desire here."

The Ranyhyn wanted something from her. And from Stave.

Bhapa watched her face. "Do you fear that you may fall? There is no need. The Ranyhyn permit no harm to their riders."

Linden shook her head. She needed the Ranyhyn: she was certain of that. Whether she felt ready or not, able or not, she would have to ride Hyn eventually.

She also will not bear you where you wish to go.

Nonetheless she desires to bear you.

What could the great horses possibly want from her?

Linden seemed to have no choice. "All right," she muttered. "I don't understand any of this. Never mind that. Help me up."

Hyn nickered approval as Bhapa interlaced his fingers to form a stirrup. Hurrying so that she would not hesitate, Linden stepped into his hands and reached upward. Even then she might not have been able to mount. The distance was too great: for an instant, it seemed to symbolize or contain all of her limitations. But Bhapa lifted her higher; and she found herself unceremoniously seated on the mare's back. Clutching the silk of Hyn's mane in both fists, she tried to regain some sense of balance.

With elaborate consideration, Hyn turned until she faced southward, away from the Land. At the same time, Hynyn wheeled more imperiously, bringing Stave to Linden's side. Both Ranyhyn plainly intended to return in the direction from which they had come.

"Linden!" Liand called anxiously. In haste, he tugged Somo out into the clearing, then scrambled onto the mustang's back.

Hynyn responded with a stern whinny. Hyn flicked up her hooves one at a time, showing Somo her heels.

When the Ranyhyn started into motion, Somo refused to follow.

Liand barked a command; dug his heels into the pinto's sides; hauled on the reins. His mount dropped its head and did not move. "Linden!" he shouted again, at once angry and frightened. "Do not-! I must accompany you."

"Stop," Linden muttered to Hyn, "wait, don't go yet. I said he could come with us."

The Ranyhyn ignored her. Together, stately as frigates, Hyn and Hynyn walked out of the clearing among the Ramen.

Linden nearly lost her seat turning to watch Liand's struggle with Somo.

Then two of the Cords intervened, obviously urging Liand to accept Somo's refusal; and Manethrall Dohn explained to Linden, "It is the will of the Ranyhyn.

They do not condone the Stonedownor's presence.

Fear not, Ringthane. You will return to find him safe among us. He will yet ride with you."

Liand protested, an inarticulate gasp of dismay.

Flinging himself from the pinto's back, he ran after Linden. The heat in his eyes and the dogged set of his shoulders proclaimed that he meant to follow her on foot as long and as far as necessary.

Almost at once, however, the Cords stopped him. He wrestled with them furiously until Manethrall Hami snapped his name.

"The will of the Ranyhyn is plain," she told him severely. "We will not permit you to act against it."

When at last Liand subsided, she added more kindly, "Hyn will ward the Ringthane with her life."

Liand may have continued to protest. Perhaps Hami reassured him further. But Linden could no longer hear them. Hyn had borne her beyond earshot.

For the moment, the ground seemed to yaw vertiginously on either side of her. She was perched too high on a mount over which she had no control; and her legs were stretched too wide. Only her grip on Hyn's mane secured her. A precarious hold: the fine hair would slip through her fingers if she relied on it.

She had made plans and promises, but she appeared to have no say at all in whether or not she ever kept her word.

She wanted to demand explanations from Stave, although she knew that he had none to give her. But his pain was vivid in the morning light, and its sharpness closed her throat. In spite of her visceral alarm, she suspected that the behavior of the Ranyhyn disturbed him more profoundly. She was merely frightened-and frustrated by her inability to act on any of her choices. He was experiencing a violation of the ancient relationship between his people and the great horses.

More for her own sake than for his-as far as she knew, the Haruchai had no sense of humor-she tried to lighten the silence; distract herself from her fears.

"Well," she said, "here's another fine mess you've gotten us into."

He did not so much as glance at her.

Linden shrugged to herself. More seriously, she asked, "Do you have any idea where ,T 1.

they might be taking us? Can you think of anything that might explain what they're doing?"

She hardly expected him to respond. The scale of their disagreements and conflicts might make simple conversation impossible.

Having stated his position and made his decisions, however, Stave now seemed content to comport himself as though nothing had changed. "I have no clear answer," he replied calmly. "Yet there is a tale which was told by Bannor of the Bloodguard during the time of the Unbeliever. It suggests an answer."

"Please," Linden put in promptly. "Tell me."

"This tale," he said, "concerns the quest of High Lord Elena and ur-Lord Covenant for the Seventh Ward of Kevin's Lore. Though they knew it not, they sought the Blood of the Earth and the Power of Command.

"You have heard that when ur-Lord Covenant first summoned the Ranyhyn, a great many of them answered, each rearing in obeisance and fear, each offering to be ridden. Yet he refused them, for which the Ramen honor him above all Lords and Bloodguard. Rather than ride any Ranyhyn, he asked of them a boon.

"In Mithil Stonedown he had done cruel harm to a woman of the Land-to Lena daughter of Atiaran, she who later gave birth to High Lord Elena. Hoping, perhaps, to ease that wrong, he asked of the Ranyhyn that one of them would visit Lena each year, for she adored them.

"This service the Ranyhyn fulfilled without fail, until the Unbeliever himself released them from it."

Gradually Linden's anxiety receded as she began to feel more secure on Hyn's back. When they had left behind the shelters of the Ramen, the Ranyhyn increased their gait to an easy, rolling canter which carried them swiftly through the deep grass. At that speed, she might have felt more alarm rather than less.

But the mare was able to compensate for her uncertain balance. In spite of her initial trepidation, she found herself relaxing to the sound of Stave's voice.

She knew what he meant by "cruel harm." Covenant had told her of his crime against Lena. However, the rest of Stave's tale was unfamiliar to her.

"In later years," he was saying, "during High Lord Elena's girlhood, Lena occasionally allowed her daughter to ride in her place. The High Lord spoke of that time in Bannor's presence while she and ur-Lord Covenant floated upon the flame-burnished waters of Earthroot.

"She told of a ride which expressed the will of her mount, the Ranyhyn Myrha, rather than any wish of hers."

Ahead of Hyn and Hynyn, the mountainsides crowded close together, leaving only a narrow gap between sharp cliffs. As the great horses stretched their canter to a run, the cut ravine seemed to sweep palpably nearer. Grass, a few shrubs, and the occasional aliantha blurred past Linden on both sides. To her surprise, she began to enjoy Hyn's swiftness. The adoration and service of the Ramen were not difficult to understand. Like so much of the Land outside Lord Foul's influence, the Ranyhyn were tangibly precious.

But she could not be sure that she would prove equal to what they wished of her.

"What happened?" she asked her companion.

"In the High Lord's tale," Stave answered, "Myrha bore her to an eldritch tarn enclosed within the Southron Range, where Ranyhyn had gathered by the hundreds. Around the vale of the tarn, the Ranyhyn galloped as though in ecstasy, only pausing at intervals to drink of the tarn's dark waters.

"When the High Lord also drank, she found herself united in spirit with the great horses, sharing their thoughts and purposes. Thus she learned that she had been brought to partake of the horserite of Kelenbhrabanal, Father of Horses, Stallion of the First Herd. This rite the Ranyhyn held in secret, generation after generation, so that Kelenbhrabanal's doom would never be forgotten.

"I know not what Hynyn and Hyn desire of us," he added. "It may be that they wish us also to partake of the horserite. Or they may have some purpose which lies outside the ken of the Haruchai."

His tone conveyed a shrug through the muted thunder of hooves. Whatever the intentions of the Ranyhyn might be, he apparently did not mean to let them interfere with his own commitments.

Or perhaps he was not so single-minded. His people loved the great horses. And Hyn and Hynyn had imposed their will on him as well as on Linden.

And he seemed reluctant to tell her the rest "What was it?" she asked. "Kelenbhrabanal's doom?"

What had the Ranyhyn wanted from Covenant's daughter?

"In a time before Berek Halfhand became the first High Lord," continued the Master, "the Ranyhyn warred against the wolves of Fangthane the Render, and were slaughtered. Grieving for the decimation of the First Herd, Kelenbhrabanal sought to end the conflict by proposing a bargain. The Father of Horses would surrender his own throat to Fangthane. In exchange, the Render would cease his war upon the Ranyhyn.

"To this Fangthane agreed eagerly. But he did not honor his given word. When he had slain Kelenbhrabanal, he unleashed his wolves again upon the Plains of Ra. The slaughter of the Ranyhyn resumed. They would have perished from the Land if they had not gained the service of the Ramen to aid them in their long strife."

"This knowledge the Ranyhyn shared with High Lord Elena to warn her," Stave concluded flatly, "but she did not heed them."

He seemed to believe that he had answered Linden's question. But she was not satisfied. "What was the warning?" she insisted. "I don't see what Kelenbhrabanal has to do with Elena. She wasn't looking for a way to sacrifice herself."

Not according to the little that Linden had heard of those events.

The Master appeared to sigh. "You know the tale.

High Lord Elena sought the Seventh Ward, the Power of Command, so that she might compel Kevin Landwaster from his grave against Corruption. She believed that despair would anneal Kevin's heart, rendering him from pain to iron, making of him an indomitable tool.

"In this she was wrong, to the great cost of all the Land.

"Bannor deemed then, as do the Haruchai now, that the Ranyhyn had perceived a flaw in the High Lord's comprehension. By means of their horserite, they sought to alter the course of her thoughts. They wished her to grasp that despair is no more potent or salvific beyond death than it is in life."

If Bannor and his descendants were right, the Ranyhyn had read Elena's future in her young eyes.

They had seen the time ahead of her: who she would become; what she would do.

And Elena had not heeded them.