“The worst crime of all,” he said gravely.
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help chuckling.
“Did you grow up in a palace?” Audrey asked, clutching at my arms. “And go to balls? I bet you did. And I bet your palace was bigger than that stuffy old Keep.”
“A great deal bigger,” Gabe said. “The Palinaran capital—and its palace in particular—is famed for its grandeur.”
“And I much prefer the haven,” I said, injecting some reality into the dream-filled fantasy that seemed to have overtaken Audrey. “Plus I was only thirteen when I left. Not exactly the age for balls.”
“Why did you leave?” Audrey asked. “If I’d grown up in a palace, I would never have left.”
Gabe said nothing, but I recognized the curious glint in his eye. He was as interested in the answer as Audrey. Apparently my brother had failed to tell him the full story of how he ended up cursed. What a surprise.
“I wasn’t given a choice,” I said shortly, “but I was more than happy to leave. And that’s all I intend to say on the matter.”
I stood up. “I think that’s enough talking for tonight. You both need to get back to your beds before anyone starts asking questions, and I need to get some rest. In the morning, we’ll meet back here and Audrey can show us this hidden tunnel.”
I expected one of them to protest, at least, but neither did. I asked Shadow to guide them back through the darkness, and she took off into the air. I might not have my swan language, but she knew me too well to need specific words for such a simple request.
I watched them leave, their unintelligible murmurs drifting back to me. Loneliness tried to claw around my heart, but I made myself turn away toward my pallet.
They arrived together late the next morning without help from my swans. So one, at least, of them had memorized the path.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” Audrey said, sweeping into a deep and extremely wobbly curtsy. “How were your slumbers?” She threw a playful look at Gabe. “Did I do that right?”
“Perfectly,” he assured her.
I raised an eyebrow, and he quickly amended his words to, “With perfect enthusiasm, at any rate.”
Audrey just laughed at the correction, coming over to give me a quick hug. Just as usual she began to chatter away, answering all of the questions I couldn’t ask.
“I thought I would have such a time trying to get away at a decent hour this morning. Wren and Cora were watching me like hawks after I emerged from my room this morning. But it turns out having princes in on your plotting is a great advantage in more ways than one. When he turned up and asked if I could show him around the town, neither of them even protested once. You could have knocked me over with a feather.”
She bent a comical eye on Eagle who had sidled up right beside us and was eyeing her suspiciously.
“Please don’t, though,” she said to the swan. “I’d much rather stay on my feet.”
She leaned in close. “I’m sorry, Lady, but your pets rather terrify me.”
Eagle honked and snaked out her neck, and Audrey only just jumped away in time.
“Eagle!” I pointed an arm toward the water, and she slunk away not looking in the least repentant.
“I don’t think they like to be called pets,” Gabe said, clearly trying to smother a laugh.
Audrey sighed. “I suppose they mean to come with us, too.”
I bristled slightly, annoyed that I couldn’t argue on their behalf, but to my surprise, Gabe stepped in to defend them.
“I actually think it would be a good idea, if they don’t mind. It seems they make excellent scouts.” He explained how I had set them to watching the Keep each morning, looking for a way to rescue her.
The news clearly softened Audrey and also gave me an idea.
“Snowy!” I called. “Sweetie! Come over here and meet Audrey.”
The two sweetest of my swans responded instantly to my call, paddling over and approaching us. Audrey pulled back, but I pushed her forward, and the two of them pressed up against her, raising their heads on their long, elegant necks to get as close to hers as possible.
“Are these the two?” Gabe asked.
I nodded, and he turned to her.
“These two are the swans who had the role of looking for you every morning and reporting back to Adelaide if they saw you.”
“Oh?” She reached out and ran a tentative hand down Snowy’s neck. “That’s very kind of you, ladies.”
Sweetie reached up and nipped gently at one of the long strands of her copper hair. Gabe grinned.
“I’m guessing your hair made the job a bit easier for them.”
Audrey grinned, her usual confidence returning as she adjusted to the close presence of the swans.
“I’m glad it came in useful for something since it’s generally been a great trial for me.”
“Thank you,” I said to the swans, and they both bugled happily, coming over to nudge me in turn.
“We should be moving,” Gabe said, his eyes focused on the trees in the distance.
He looked eager and alert, every inch the forester he had seemed when he first arrived at the haven, his bow and quiver on his back, and his tall leather boots and archer’s gloves soft and worn. Hopefully the tunnel wasn’t a tight squeeze because his bow seemed excessively long. I didn’t think of asking him to leave it behind, though—even though I didn’t think arrows would do him much good in the Keep. Gabe’s bow was almost as much a part of him as his arm.
“I’m confident I can find the spot once we get near,” Audrey said. “But you’ll need to get us to the Keep first, Lady.”
I nodded and took the lead. The swans, restless after the delay to our usual morning departure, began to take off from the lake. I called out, reminding them that we were on a different mission this morning, and one-by-one they dipped slightly in the sky, acknowledging they had heard me.
“They’re elegant creatures,” Gabe murmured softly, and I couldn’t disagree.
And then we were off, moving as fast as the forest undergrowth would allow us.
Chapter 12
I didn’t hesitate, familiar enough with the way not to need to, and at first no one tried to talk. Even Audrey fell into an uncharacteristic silence, yet another hint that she wasn’t entirely unaffected by her six-month ordeal.
But Gabe began to ask questions, and since I wasn’t able to answer them, she was soon chatting away.
“It’s a great pity Lord Leander’s father died because he was much nicer than Lord Leander. We didn’t live in Brylee back when he was still in charge of the Keep, but all the servants there talked about him affectionately.”
“What do they say of Leander?” Gabe asked.
She frowned, hesitating. “That he’s very different from his father. They don’t criticize him directly, but given how they praise his father, it’s rather implied. He doesn’t mistreat them, exactly, but they don’t much like the merchants he brings in. Apparently he and his father always clashed—they were so different—but it got worse after he returned from studying in the capital eight or nine years ago.”
“How so?” Gabe asked.
“I don’t know, exactly,” she said. “But I think he hates how remote we are out here. I guess his father hoped that letting him go off to study would help him settle down, and that he would come back ready to take on his responsibilities here.”
I snorted.
“Yes, exactly,” Audrey said to me. “Instead he just came back with an even stronger desire to get out of here. He wants to conduct experiments of some kind, but the servants didn’t know any details about them since he spends all day locked away alone in his study. I guess he hopes they’ll help him make a name for himself? Apparently he always used to complain that his father made no effort to improve the family fortunes and earn a higher rank and more important estates.”
“It sounds like a good thing that the people of this region have Cora,” Gabe said, his gaze distant an
d voice thoughtful.
“Oh yes, everyone around here knows to send those needing care and shelter here to Brylee,” Audrey said, her voice proud.
“However did she come to start the haven?” Gabe asked.
“She doesn’t talk about it much.” Audrey sighed. “I think it was all very sad. She was orphaned when she was a year or two younger than I am now, and her remaining relatives sent her to live with her Aunt Florinda.”
She wrinkled her nose. “She sounds like a perfectly horrid old lady. She owned the haven’s building but tried to run it as an inn—not too successfully, since Brylee is hardly big enough to need two inns. Plus everyone says she was miserly and miserable, so who would want to stay with her?”
“Who indeed?” Gabe sounded slightly amused at Audrey’s narration.
“Well, Wren told me that Cora made a vow that if anyone ever turned up at her door, she would give them a better welcome than her aunt gave her. Thankfully, her aunt died a long time ago, and the haven went to Cora. And she’s stayed true to her promise ever since. It’s all a bit beautiful and romantic, really.”
I bit my lip. Except for the parts where the roof leaked, and I’d overheard Cora talking about watering down the soup. With Leander as lord, Cora might have to finally break that promise. Unless we could take him down first.
When flashes of the Keep began to appear ahead of us through the trees, Audrey stopped abruptly. Gabe and I also slowed to a halt, going back to join her. With narrowed eyes, she gazed ahead at the building, and then to either side.
“This way,” she said, her voice low.
We followed, eventually stopping in the trees to one side of the Keep. I could just see the road to our left, and occasional glistens from the sunlight hitting the lake at the back of the Keep to our right.
“I could see the spot from the top of the walls,” she told us. “I looked for it especially after I overheard about its location. I thought maybe I could trace it back, but of course that didn’t work.” She frowned at a tree in front of us, craning her head back to look up toward its crown. “I used to spend a lot of time on the walls when it all began to feel a little claustrophobic.”
My heart seized in sympathy, but she kept murmuring, almost to herself. “It all looks a bit different from down here, but I think…Yes…That must be the one.”
A number of large boulders, some taller than us, broke up the trees in this section, and she stepped toward one of them. Circling around it, she began to pull down the various creeping vines which trailed over it.
We both hurried to help her, sweeping them away rather than completely removing them where possible. We wanted to avoid advertising our presence here.
A small door appeared, made of stone a similar shade to the rock itself. With the vines trailing over it, we would never have noticed it without Audrey’s prior knowledge. But having now uncovered it, we all stood there, staring at it with varying degrees of perplexity. It had no handle or latch—at least not on this side of the door.
Gabe set his shoulder against it and pushed, but it didn’t move even slightly.
“I suspect it opens outward,” he said. “Which means I’m not likely to get far pushing like this.”
I wasn’t sure how it had been built into the rock, but it must have required either a magical tool or incredible workmanship because we could find no weakness. Our attempts to wedge our fingers around the edges and pull met with utter failure, and attempts to lever it open with a sturdy branch were equally unsuccessful. Eventually, even Gabe had to admit defeat.
“I’m sorry,” Audrey said. “It never occurred to me it couldn’t be opened from the outside. I really thought you would be able to get in this way.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Gabe said. “I should have thought of it too. It makes sense, since it was designed as an escape hole for the castle inhabitants, not as a means to allow uninvited guests in.”
And yet, we all lingered, as if hoping a solution would somehow magically appear. Nothing did. Instead an eerie howling sounded. We all took an immediate step closer together, each peering out into a different section of the forest.
“What was that?” asked Audrey.
No one answered, but Gabe swung his bow around, nocking an arrow to the string much more quickly than I would have thought possible. All traces of his usual good-humor had disappeared, replaced by a serious gleam that suggested trouble for anyone who tried to cross him. I gulped and looked away, just in time for another howl to shatter the forest.
“That sounds like a wolf,” Audrey whispered.
“Wolves don’t usually hunt during the day.” Gabe’s voice sounded tight as he scanned the forest around us. “And neither the townsfolk nor Leander would allow a pack to establish their territory so close to the town or Keep.”
I made a soft honking noise, and he glanced swiftly in my direction.
“But, yes,” he admitted reluctantly, understanding my meaning, “it did sound like a wolf.”
Audrey gulped audibly. A streak of gray flashed between two trees, and I jumped, pointing toward it.
“I saw it,” said Gabe.
“And there!” Audrey pointed to another.
I didn’t bother to look because I had already seen two more. It looked as if we were surrounded. Audrey whimpered, and I reached back, groping for her hand. When my fingers found hers, I squeezed, and she squeezed back.
A moment later, my eyes fell on the long, sturdy stick we had used to try prying open the door. Letting her go, I grabbed it, turning so I could pass it to her. She accepted it, eyes wide, and gripped it in both hands. Scanning the area, I tried to find another one for me, but the only possibility was located too far away for me to risk running for it.
I had no time to do anything but press my back against hers when a wolf appeared in full view, racing toward us, teeth bared. This time the flash of movement in the corner of my eye was Gabe, his arm swinging up and an arrow releasing before I had time to do more than register the danger.
With a loud thwack, the arrow found its mark, the wolf breaking off its attack with a high-pitched whine. The other wolves immediately appeared from the trees, forming into a tight cluster around the injured animal, all of them advancing on us, their growls filling the air.
Gabe stepped in front of us, his bow raised again, but something made him hesitate. I could just see the side of his face, his brow furrowed as he stared intently at the terrifying sight.
“Something isn’t right here,” he whispered.
That much was clear, but right now I was more concerned with the fact that we were about to be eaten by a pack of angry animals. Unfortunately I didn’t have the words to say so.
Gabe must have come to the same conclusion on his own, however. Without prompting, he drew the string back, preparing to fire. And this time, he wasn’t aiming to wound.
But a loud wolf’s bark sounded from somewhere in the trees, and he hesitated again. The growls immediately cut off, the wolves all stopping their advance. The bark sounded again, and they turned their noses toward the trees, racing away as quickly as they had appeared. Only three remained behind—the injured wolf, flanked by two others who helped their wounded pack mate along. And soon even those three had disappeared.
For a long moment we all stood frozen, Gabe with his string still drawn and Audrey with her branch raised. But no further animal sounds disturbed the forest, and we caught no more glimpses of gray between the trees.
“What just happened?” Audrey asked, voicing my own question.
Gabe gazed into the trees in the direction the animals had disappeared. “Wolves like to run after their prey. They don’t attack groups of stationary, armed humans.”
“And they generally hunt at night, as well,” Audrey reminded him. “I think we can safely say that was not a normal situation.”
I pulled out the paper and pen which I had kept from the last time Gabe handed them to me. When I finished writing, I angled my paper toward Gabe.
Much of my home kingdom had been filled with unnaturally aggressive wolves and other such creatures—starting from the descent of the curse.
“I think it’s time we investigated these rumors of strange beasts in the forest,” Gabe said in reply.
None of us much liked the idea of lingering in the forest to talk or plan, so we hurried directly back to town. Gabe walked in front, his hand tight around the grip of his bow, and I kept my eyes firmly fixed on his back. It was better than looking at the trees and wondering what might be lurking in them.
My swans flapped above us, quiet after the strange encounter. I was only glad none of them had been on the ground with us. Gazing at them as they soared silently through the air, I wondered if I should assign one of them—Sammy, maybe—to keep a watch on Gabe.
All we needed was for the impulsive prince to go rushing off on his own—as he had done the day before—only this time looking for wild wolf packs. I didn’t much like the idea of having to take the news of his death to the king and queen. And although Gabe himself discounted the idea, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Leander would be quite pleased if a wolf removed the crown prince for him.
The more the idea grew in my mind, the closer I watched Gabe’s back, as if I could keep him tethered to us by a stare alone. Audrey walked beside me, her own gaze flicking between the road and the trees. Her breathing had returned to a more steady rhythm, but she still hadn’t relinquished her hold on the stick. Only when we reached the outskirts of Brylee did she reluctantly leave it behind. Her subsequent suggestion that we not mention anything of our recent encounter to the others at the haven explained her willingness to cast it aside.
Gabe held onto his bow longer, but once we were firmly ensconced among the houses of the town, he returned it to his back.
“I think we should all avoid wandering around in the woods any more than need be,” Gabe said, just before we reached the haven’s doors.
A Captive of Wing and Feather Page 10