‘They’ve found us!’ she shouted.
Tenaka turned. ‘They’re too far back. Don’t worry about them.’
An hour before dusk they breasted a rise. Before them the ground dropped away alarmingly. To the left a narrow trail hugged a sheer wall of icy rock; nowhere was the trail wider than six feet.
‘We’re not going to cross that?’ asked Renya.
‘Yes.’
Tenaka touched his heels to his mount and moved out. Almost at once the horse slipped, then righted itself. Tenaka kept up its head and began talking to the beast in a low soothing voice. His left leg was touching the rock wall, his right over the awesome drop; he did not dare swing his weight to see if Renya was following. The horse moved on slowly, its ears flat against its skull and its eyes wide in fear. Unlike the Nadir or Sathuli ponies, it had not been bred for mountain work.
The trail wound round the mountains, widening in some places and narrowing sickeningly in others, until at last they came to a slanting sheet of ice across their path. Tenaka had just enough room to slide from the saddle and he moved forward slowly, kneeling to examine the ice. The surface was powdery with fresh-fallen snow, but beneath it was glossy and sheer.
‘Can we go back?’ called Renya.
‘No, there is nowhere to turn the horses. And the Delnoch riders will have reached the trail. We must go on.’
‘Across that?’
‘We must lead the horses,’ said Tenaka. ‘But if it starts to go, don’t hold on. You understand?’
‘This is stupid,’ she said, staring down at the rocks hundreds of feet below.
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ he answered with a wry grimace. ‘Keep to the cliff face and don’t curl the reins around your hand – hold them loosely. Ready?’
Tenaka stepped out on to the sloping ice, placing his foot carefully on the powdery snow.
He tugged on the reins, but the horse refused to budge; its eyes were wide with fear and it was close to panic. Tenaka stepped back, curling his arm over the beast’s neck and whispering in its ear.
“There is no problem for you, noble heart,’ he whispered. ‘You have courage in your soul. It is merely a difficult path. I will be here with you.’ For some minutes he spoke thus, patting and stroking the sleek neck. Trust me, great one. Walk with me for a little while.’
He stepped out on to the slope and pulled the reins and the horse moved forward. Slowly, and with great care, they left the safety of the trail.
Renya’s horse slipped, but recovered its footing. Tenaka heard the commotion but could not look back. Solid rock was only inches away, but as Tenaka stepped on to it his horse slithered suddenly, whinnying in terror. Tenaka grabbed the reins tightly with his right hand, his left snaking out to the cliff face and hooking round a jutting edge of rock.
As the horse slid back towards the drop, Tenaka felt the muscles across his back tighten and tear. It seemed his arms were being torn from their sockets. He wanted to let go of the reins, but could not; instinctively he had curled the leather round his wrist and if the horse fell, he would be drawn with it.
As suddenly as it had lost its footing the beast found a solid section of rock, and with Tenaka’s help struggled back to the trail. Tenaka sagged against the cliff face. The horse nuzzled him and he patted it. His wrist was bleeding where the leather had burned through the skin.
‘Stupid!’ said Renya, leading her horse to the safety of the trail.
‘I cannot deny it,’ he said, ‘but we made it. From here on the trail widens and there are few natural dangers now. And I do not think the Drenai will follow us over this path.’
‘I think you were born lucky, Tenaka Khan. But don’t use up all your luck before we reach the Nadir.’
They made camp in a shallow cave and fed the horses before lighting a fire with brushwood they had strapped to their saddles. Tenaka stripped off his leather jerkin and lay down on a blanket by the fire while Renya massaged his bruised back. The struggle to keep the horse from falling had taken its toll and the Nadir prince could hardly move his right arm. Renya gently probed the shoulder-blade and the swollen muscles around it.