Burning Bridge (21 page)

“Will! Stay alive! Don’t give up! I’ll find you wherever they take you!”

Choking on tears, the boy raised his arm in farewell to his friend and mentor.

“Halt!” he croaked, but he knew the Ranger would never hear him. He heard the voice again, carrying over the sounds of wind and sea.

“I’ll find you, Will!”

Then the wind filled the big, square sail of the wolfship and she heeled away from the shore, moving faster and faster toward the northeast.

For a long time after she’d dropped below the horizon, the sodden figure sat there, his horse chest-deep in the rolling waves, staring after the ship.

And his lips still moved, in a silent promise only he could hear.