Lysabel considered it. She was impatient to be on with the task but she couldn't ignore the risk. Could she really put herself and Markus in 
 such danger for what was only a theory? It was emotion she decided and thus not to be trusted.

"Very well, I'd be foolish to engage a local guide and then ignore his advice," she conceeded. 

"I think we can make up some time, there are ways to keep the horses fresh," she told him. The weaves she knew could keep the horses moving but there were risks, and she couldn't use it on herself. Well it was her theory, it was just that she would be the one to suffer for it. Markus seemed relieved that she didn't intend to push the issue.

"As you say Aes Sedai," he responded and led the way east. 

Two or three leauges east the road turned into one of the tithe forests. In Jaramide forests were rare and timber was precious. The solution was that all woodlands were owned by the crown, with various rights and priviliges extended to the locals who lived close by. Gathering dead timber for firewood was a common right and the result was that the forests tended to lack the thick underbrush one found further south where timber was more plentiful. There was a marked chill as the canopy above all but blotted out the sun. Lysabel wished she had a heavier cloak to hand, but it was a simple Aes Sedai trick to convince her body to ignore anything as crude as simple temperature. As they moved further along the road they came up upon a wagon by the side of the trail, a wheel showing signs of a broken spindle. Markus arched an eyebrow at her. She nodded reluctantly and they slowed their horses down. A paunchy man in a leather jerkin turned from the wheel with obvious relief.

"A little help friends, it will just take a moment to get this fixed," he wheedled. Markus' eyes flicked to the wheel and back to the man and then he drove the shoulder of his horse into Lysabel's. Her horse whickered in irritation.

"Go!" Markus shouted as something whistled through the space she had occupied a moment before. It wasn't till a second arrow burried itself  in a tree on the far side of the road that the copper clattered. Lysabel spurred her horse forward, crouching low to present a smaller target. The horse screamed and staggered as an arrow hit it in the rump but she kept it upright and moving. Two men with long polearms stepped from behind trees and lifted the pikes to block her flight. Weaves of earth ripped out from her and rock exploded upwards around them, sending them staggering back and clearing the way. Her heart pounded in her chest as she raced past, another arrow arcing over her shoulder as she drove the horse onward.
[@POOHEAD189]