‘No, Rowf! I cannot go to Mirrindale! Let me down! I want to get off! Let go of me!’
Before he could grab hold of her, she quickly leaned forward, ducked beneath his arm and, twisting herself around, slipped from the saddle to the ground facing back the way they’d come, intending to make her way against the flow of traffic. Ralph reacted instantly, reaching down none too gently, though there was no alternative, catching hold of her collar and pulling her back onto the saddle, and out of the path of the team of huge dray horses that had come within inches of trampling her.
Pran, who was riding beside the wagon bearing his wife, the children and Deborah, witnessed Malina’s near-mishap and quickly rejoined them.
‘You cannot leave this cavalcade!’ he said to Malina with stern concern. ‘Not on foot, and not in this traffic. Besides, where would you go? Would you attempt the journey back to the forest, alone, and without your Power? Do you not understand that there is no longer a place for you there? Were you to leave our company, I fear that you would be slain by the first gang of ruffians to notice your presence; perhaps even by an unscrupulous soldier or civilian, for whom you would be easy prey.’