The Horse Road by Troon Harrison

nervously at the baked mud of the yard. I secured the leather strapping by its bone buckle, and led Gryphon over to Batu, already mounted on Rain.
    â€˜Don’t take the road,’ I said. ‘Gryphon will not be led along it. You know it is hard for anyone but my mother and I to handle him; he is bonded only to us and suspicious of others.’
    â€˜I am going across country,’ Batu replied. ‘Now give me the rope.’
    I handed him the lead and tugged Gryphon forward until his black and gold head was level with Batu’s thigh. It was hard to let go of the soft cotton lead rope, to send Gryphon away from me.
    â€˜It’s only for a short time,’ Batu said. ‘And he will rest and heal in the valley. Then we can take all the horses back to camp. You can keep them there in safety until the army is driven from the valley!’
    When I tried to smile, my lips quivered. I stooped quickly and pressed them to Gryphon’s silken cheek in a kiss that was like a plea.
    â€˜Nothing for me?’ Batu cried teasingly. He puckered his lips, then laughter flashed across his face as he kicked his heels into Rain’s mottled sides. In a moment, he and the horses were moving across the courtyard to vanish from view.
    â€˜Let’s ride!’ my mother said, and she slipped her boot into her foot loop and swung on to Grasshopper; I was standing close enough to hear the catch in her breath as her weight settled in the saddle. Then I jumped up, trying not to drag at her waist, and settled myself behind her, on Grasshopper’s loins. The mare snorted and gave one small hop, protesting the fact that she was being left behind by Gryphon and Rain, then my mother urged her towards the road.
    We overtook Mina driving our wagon, laden with grain and water, and then it was left behind as Grasshopper trotted smoothly through the crowds and the dust. Ahead of us, I could see the two swells of land that marked the location of Ershi. The first hill held a tunnel that carried the main water channel leading into the city. On the hill’s far side, the water flowed from the tunnel and along the top of a high arched aqueduct. The second, larger hill was encircled with Ershi’s walls, and rose to a gentle peak crowned by the inner citadel where the king’s palace sprawled in a mass of plastered halls and reception rooms. To one side of the palace, water glittered in the reservoir that was fed from the aqueduct. On the hill’s lower slopes, columned temples and lavish merchant homes stood amongst shady trees. Lower still on the flat land beneath the hill, bazaars and market stalls spread between narrow alleys and crowded, mud brick houses.
    As we approached the city, the congestion on theroad grew so great that we slowed to a walk. Heads clad in turbans, felt caps, and sheep fleece jostled past my dangling legs. Children stared up at me, their eyes beseeching and bewildered, their thumbs in their mouths. A camel pressed against Grasshopper, pushing her sideways through the crowd; its long golden coat brushed my arm as it turned its long neck, bellowing, its nose wrinkled around the wooden peg that pierced its nostrils. We came to a halt, wedged between a wagon of trussed sheep, and a group of soldiers in armour, spears carried upright in the crowd. A donkey brayed hysterically. Slowly we edged our way forward, threading between broken bales of fabric strewn across the road.
    Now the great, sand-coloured wall of the city rose above us, rearing into the air like the side of a cliff, high above the tops of the walnut trees growing by the east gate. The wall was studded with tall, angular watchtowers with window slits for shooting arrows through, and crowned with rectangular battlements. Men in armour shouted on top of the wall, running to and fro against the brilliant sky. It was hard to imagine that any army could pose a threat to that great wall, so thick, so high, so well-manned. It was hard to