Eye of the Ocean Book 3 Ji'jin Station

Eye of the Ocean – Book 3: Ji’Jin Station
“Do you have to tell me right now?” she asked, the tone harsher than she had
meant.
“Just being sociable.” Out of the corner of her eye, Ulanda saw him reach back
and slap her horse's rump. The mare jerked forward; she almost fell off.
“That's it.” She pulled back as hard on the reins as she could without letting go
of the saddle for more than a second. The horse stopped.
“Going home?” he asked with a smirk. Those in front kept going; the ones
behind didn't have a choice. “You keep saying it but don't do it.”
She hadn't been forced to go with them. Some choices had been offered so
obviously that even she realized what they were, others, she wasn't sure except
that at certain times, events seemed to hang in the air instead of simply happen.
As though waiting. Then what happened next would tumble into place and it
would be over.
“I could...” she started to say. But she hadn't. The horses had been sorted out,
apparently already planned who should have which animal. Alicia had brought
over a dapple-line mare, much like Kori's but with black points and mane. And a
soft mouth that tried to find a pocket Ulanda didn't have. Bolda offered her a
sugar rock from the same pocket the cakes had come out of. What could it
possibly mean when time stretched out only to start again with a snap when she
took the sugar to give to the horse?
“What did the sugar mean?” she asked.
He looked startled. “What the hell are you talking about?”
His face blurred, she felt as though she'd ridden the mare over the edge and
was falling.
Maybe she had been falling; he was holding her arm tight enough to bruise. “I
don't know,” he whispered. A real whisper, she had the sense enough to realize.
There was a buzz that made her clench her teeth together. A Net block. “Sorry
about that.” The buzz eased until she could breath again. “Hell, Ulanda, do
whatever it is you want to. If you turned around right now, nobody would stop
you and that includes at the warding line. Chances are you'd end up getting
stoned, the outer gates are down and with us out, they didn't think it worth...
wanted to let the mob run out of steam, is what I really think.” He squeezed his
eyes shut then blinked hard. “But... you want it, you got it. Hell, I know Cassa
and she could probably even use that kind of mess to get the same result. She
doesn't so much screw up as reinvent ways to...”
Stoned? Mob? Fear tracked along her spine like a crackle of lightening. Where
was Mother Pasbal?... Lin?
A stone in his hand. She felt the weight of it, the dry feel against the sweat
slick palm. As easily as the stone, she felt the core of his mind, detached as
though nothing else was quite as real as he was. Somewhat cruel in an idle way,
part of the detachment, he picked away at emotions as though all of his were
Laurel Hickey www.2morrow.bc.ca