Chapter 118

IT WAS growing dark enough by the time they neared the Bounds that Dallin had begun to wish he'd thought to commandeer a lantern from somewhere. He'd chosen the path along the river because he'd thought it would please Wil, and because there had been little reason at the time for speed. That had changed a little more than halfway through the trip, and the sometimes-treacherous sloping terrain--alternately mud-slick with the recent rains and moss-slick as a general rule--quickly became a serious impediment beneath the horses' hoofs. Had the mild urgency never arisen, it would have been nothing more than a slight annoyance and reason for caution. Now, with the drive to give warning gnawing at him, it was maddening.