Chapter XXIX
Carra soon discovered that Badger had a joyful bounce to his
walk, which made him feel almost as if he were floating. She had expected the
warhorse to have plodding gates because of his pronounced musculature, but he
was anything but heavy beneath the saddle. His lilting steps punctuated the
rhythm of her chant – as if the horse was joining her in the meditative power
of Flindra’s prayer. She grew fond of this big, chestnut gelding as she
settled into the comforting rhythm of the chant.
“Spirit around me; Spirit within me; Spirit protect me;
Spirit direct me.”
The Queen’s chant eased her tension and touched her mind
with a sense of peace. This simple prayer was such a heartening example of
Flindra’s abiding faith in the goodness and love of the Divine. She smiled as
she imagined her Queen using these words to combat fear in the days she served
with the Rangers. It made her feel as close as a sister to her for Carra was
entering into an adventure fraught with peril. She only hoped she would
conduct herself with similar courage to what her Queen had evinced during her
service in Kalmyk’s troop.
Carra suspected that many of the men around her were
silently repeating the chant too, but the prayer didn’t seem to dull the sharp
edge of their attentive scan of the surrounding landscape. Their expressions
were focused and intent and their bodies translated the tension to their mounts
so many of the horses strained at their bits and walked with exaggerated
movements. It was a very different picture from the relaxed ride from Leidz to
the Pass Gate just a few days before.
During the first hour of the ride, she glimpsed the presence
of their troops only twice and understood how Lieutenant Benlof had expressed
surprise at seeing how well hidden these men were. She knew that there were
hundreds of men in position to battle the Valkea’s forces. General Ghesor was
brilliant to be able to disperse his men so skillfully. It gave her a deep
sense of security to know that the general and so many soldiers were hiding
beyond observation and just waiting to spring into action.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the low hanging clouds
peeled away from the peaks revealing the new snow glinting with dazzling beauty
in the sunlight. Occasionally, the weight of snow on a tree branch would bend
the limb too steeply and the snow would fall in a crash of powder that sparkled
in the air like a shower of rainbow dust. She remembered that as a child she
would look at a snow covered landscape and could imagine that the sparkles in
the snow were in reality an infinite assortment of delicious sweets. Once,
when she was very young, she had tasted an especially beautiful icicle and had
welded her tongue to the frozen treat. She smiled at the comforting silliness
of her childhood memories. She left her mind focused on other pleasant
memories of her childhood for it gave her a sense of peace and comfort.
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