It began to rain around noon. He cantered the mare up to a little wooden bridge that crossed Vrath’s River and led her under it. He sat down, waiting for the rain to stop. Bubbles rose from the stream where the rain struck it, and the rain rattled on the bridge overhead like hoofs. The swallows flew in and out under the bridge, flying low over the water, singing. They swooped wildly, their wings stretched on the wind, dipping and circling.
Rakóssy watched the bubbles burst on the surface of the stream. The swallows ignored him and the mare. The sun was out but it had not stopped raining. The sun cast the shadow of the bridge over the water; the sunlight picked out the pebbles in the stream bed.
The rain stopped. He led the mare out and vaulted onto her back. He started east again, toward Hart.
Rakóssy Page 24
