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Page 279
His eyes went to Sybelle, and the faint murmur that had risen among the men, who were angry at being hunted, died. If any harm at all came to the lady, those of them who survived would be the unlucky ones. Lord Geoffrey would have them apart muscle by muscle and bone by bone, and Lady Joanna would make sure each muscle and bone suffered separately.
Thus, with one accord they turned south and began to follow the stream. It was slow going, for brush and trees grew thickly along the edges. When they could, they rode away from the banks themselves, but there were places where the water had cut its way down through sheer rock. There they were forced into the water, and the horses jibbed and stumbled in the shifting, rocky bed. Moreover the stream was growing smaller and shallower, and the terrain was rising higher and higher.
"I fear I have chosen ill," Walter said to Sybelle. They had found a small, level spot and had dismounted to let the horses rest.
"Oh, no," she replied cheerfully, although she was stamping her feet and beating her hands together to warm them. "We must get over the ridge if we wish to go south. We will have to lead the horses from here, I think, but there is nearly always another stream on the other side going down."
Walter knew that, but he had wished to give Sybelle a chance to relieve her fears, discomforts, and frustrations by railing at him. He stared in wonder at the face turned up to his. There was neither fear nor petulance in it. Indeed, the eyes were bright, the lips parted and curved upward in a half smile. With a sensation of mingled irritation and joy, Walter realized that Sybelle was now heartily enjoying herself.
He sent one man up along the stream to see how the land lay, and one each east and west. The last two came back soonest, reporting that there was no way for horses in either direction. Along the stream, travel was still possible for the animals, so they went that way, hoping they would not be driven back in the end after wasting more time. Now that they were all afoot, Walter set the wounded men to leading several horses so that the others could flank them left and right.
Hope of finding a passage was all but dead, for they could see a sheer cliff ahead where, most probably, the springs that fed the thread of water to which they clung trickled out of the

 
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