The Pillars Of The World

Morag snuggled into the straw to get a little more comfortable. Even with the summer days being so long now, they hadn’t been able to travel as far as she’d hoped. But they had reached this farm.
    One of the small bags of silver she’d found in the courier’s saddlebags when she’d stopped long enough to strip the saddle off the horse had been enough to buy grain for the horses, a meal for herself, and a place in the barn for her and the dark horse. The sun stallion and the mares were in a nearby pasture.
    They would be safe enough for the night.
    The farmer thought the courier’s horse might recover with proper care, so she’d given the animal to him to keep or sell. She couldn’t take it with her. Fae horses had more strength and stamina than ordinary horses. Sooner or later, the poor beast would be left behind to fend for itself if the effort to keep up didn’
    t kill it.
    Tomorrow was the Solstice. She hadn’t known that, had lost track of the days. The farmer and his wife had invited her to stay for the Midsummer celebration, but she had declined. This year, the only thing the Solstice meant to her was there would be more daylight during which it was safe to travel. And that was especially important because she finally had a name in the human world to mark her destination.
    Ridgeley.
    It had taken some effort to get her hosts to understand that she wanted to find a village on the southern coast of Sylvalan but didn’t know its name. She really wasn’t interested in a particular village; she just wanted to have a marker in the human world that would help her reach the southern Clans as swiftly as possible. Because of the horses, they’d told her the place she was looking for was a village called Ridgeley. An old man named Ahern lived near there—a man who bred the finest horses around. When the dark horse had pricked its ears at the sound of Ahern’s name, she had a suspicion about who she would find there. But even if it wasn’t the right place, the Lord of the Horse would surely know where to find the Lightbringer or the Huntress.
    Three days more. Four at the most, depending on how swiftly they could travel. And then . . .
    No. She wouldn’t let her mind circle around what might be. She would find out soon enough what might be waiting for her in Ridgeley.
     

 

     
     

Chapter Twenty-four

 

     
     

     
    “Today is the Summer Solstice,” Ari told Merle as she brushed him. “The longest day of the year. A celebration day. And the only day in the summer when work gets set aside to simply enjoy the feel of the season. Well, there’ll be a little work or else we won’t have our feast this evening.” She put the brush beside her on the bench and leaned back against the cottage wall. She grinned at the puppy, who seemed to be grinning back. “May the Mother bless Ahern. Beef . A lovely piece of beef that will make a wonderful roast. Not that the rabbits the hawk has brought haven’t been welcome, but they aren’t the same thing, are they?”
    She stood up, stretched. “Come on. This morning we’ll walk the land. Not all of it, of course, Brightwood is much too big for that. But I’ll show you some of my favorite places. The hill my grandmother always favored because she said it was the best place for her to sit and listen to the messages the wind brought her. And the pond my mother favored.”
    She sobered. Merle, sensing the change, whined quietly.
    “It’s also the day to visit the dead,” Ari said softly. “Because it may be the last time I’ll take this walk on the Solstice. My grandmother died on that hill. She went to sleep in the autumn sunshine . . . and she never woke up. And my mother . . . Her body rests with the Great Mother near the pond. I wasn’t sure she would want to be there after . . . There wasn’t another place I thought she would prefer to be, except, perhaps, near that spot on the beach that she often went to. But it wouldn’t have been a good resting place.”
    She shook off the mood before it had a chance to take root. “A long ramble, then I’ll start preparing our feast. And after that, a long, deep bath.” She laughed as Merle backed away. The puppy was having trouble learning what “no” meant, but, apparently, he’d learned “bath” quick enough. “For me. You’ve already had your bath. I don’t know what you rolled in this morning, but you certainly smell better now.”
    Merle sneezed.
    Laughing, Ari set off, with Merle bumbling