Fall 964 MC
Beverly raced Lightning past the first Mercerians, heading straight for Gerald. They had been wandering the hills for days, first eastward, and now south, and then, hopefully, home. She halted before her marshal.
"Anything of interest?" he asked.
"Good news and bad, I"m afraid," she said. "We"re almost out of the hills, but it looks like one final obstacle is before us."
"Go on," he urged.
"It"s a bridge."
"That"s not so bad," Gerald replied, "I thought you said bad news."
"It"s over a ravine," she added.
"And?"
"And it"s made of rope."
Gerald stared at her a moment. "A rope bridge? Tell me you"re joking."
"I wish I were," she announced.
"I"d better come and take a look," he said, turning in the saddle. "Lord Arnim?"
"Yes, Marshal?"
"I"m riding ahead with Beverly
