Sect Year 3 · second month · day 29 · Azure Stream Sect, the east gate yard, night
Lin heard the horse before he saw it. It came up from the flats in the dark with a rhythm that was wrong: one heavy foot striking the ruts, then a lighter one that came down short and scraped, then the heavy one again. The wardens on the wall called down and got no answer but the sound.
Lin had already reached the gate-yard with a lantern in his right hand and his left arm inside his coat, and when the bar came up he saw the grey come through the gap at a walk, the white blaze on its face pale in the light, its near fore held clear of the cobbles.
Osk walked at its shoulder. He had one hand on the bridle and the other on the saddle, and he wasn’t riding. His face was grey under the river grit, and the clean linen on his hand had come loose at one edge.
“Lame,” he said. “Don’t look at the horse. Look at me. He’s sound on three and he’ll be sound on four by spring, if somebody puts a healing wrap on him tonight.”
