Sir Xavier winked at her. “I was given to understand that you might not want to dance all of the dances,” he said. Alassa had to have told him that. “If you like, I can mark your card for every dance and we can withdraw.”
Emily grinned. “You don’t learn anything useful from dancing?”
“Not really,” Sir Xavier admitted. “Nothing ever gets decided on the dance floor.”
“Please,” Emily said, after a moment’s thought. It was unlikely that he had an ulterior motive, apart from wanting to escape the ball. She held out her card and watched as he neatly signed his name in each box. “I just want to go to bed.”
“Hunting tomorrow,” Sir Xavier said. He gave her a rather droll smile. “All of the princes will be trying to show off in front of a princess who happens to be an enthusiastic hunter herself. It should be fun to watch from a safe distance.”
Emily made a face. She hadn’t liked the idea of hunting, even though she’d eaten meat from animals the sergeants had caught during expeditions. Sergeant Harkin had made a remarkably tasty venison stew. But Alassa had been keen for her to come, pointing out that most of her attendants couldn’t keep up with her. The alternative was being permanently surrounded by the princes.
“Yeah,” she said, as the servants started to move the tables to one side. “I suppose it will be fun.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
SERGEANT HARKIN WOULD HAVE EXPLODED WITH rage, Emily decided, if any of his students had shown such a…lazy…attitude to departing the castle. They’d been told that the hunt would begin at ten bells, after breakfast; the princes and their various retainers hadn’t been ready at eleven bells, with the sun rising ever higher in the sky. Alassa’s growing impatience had been contagious, with the effect that many of the huntsmen and the maids in waiting were growing equally annoyed. By the time the princes–seven of whom were clearly suffering from hangovers–joined them, a large part of the day had been wasted.
“Maybe we won’t bother to dress for dinner,” Alassa muttered. “Do you think Father would allow us to eat in our hunting outfits?”
“Probably not,” Emily said. Besides, it was hot–and she was already starting to sweat. They’d be dirty and smelly by the end of the day. “Why don’t we eat down there?”
“Father wants a dance every day,” Alassa explained, quietly. “I think Mother wanted to make sure she got a good look at the princes before he made his decision. She will insist on having a say.”
“Good for her,” Emily said. She looked up as the grooms brought their horses over to them, already saddled with the new stirrups. One of the grooms helped her onto the horse, which snickered unpleasantly at her. She could tell that the beast was wondering if she really knew what she was doing. “Is this horse a safe one?”
“I told them to give you the most docile horse we have,” Alassa assured her. She scrambled up into her saddle without apparent difficulty. “And compared to this one, that one is a lazy old nag.”
She smiled, then raised her voice. “Open the gates!”
The gates opened. Alassa’s horse cantered forward, passing through the gates and heading down the long road towards the forest outside the city. Emily shivered as her own horse started to follow Alassa, praying that the citizens had heard they were coming and made sure to get out of the way. The last thing she wanted to do was watch a child crushed by her horse’s hooves. She clung on tightly as the horse picked up speed, the princes cantering past her and closing in on Alassa. Behind them, the retainers and huntsmen followed at a more sedate pace.
I will learn how to teleport, she promised herself again. Maybe she could convince Void to teach her the moment she was old enough to channel so much power. Or maybe there were potions that boosted one’s power…no, that was dangerous. Several necromancers had started out that way. But anything would be better than riding a horse. No matter how many times she rode, she doubted she would ever grow used to it.
The buildings started to fade away as they passed through the gatehouse and headed towards the forest. From what Alassa had said, it was clear that the forest had been preserved by royal authority and kept well stocked with game. Commoners were not allowed to hunt in the forest, at least not without special permission. Reading between the lines, Emily suspected that obtaining permission required a huge bribe for the royal gamekeepers. No doubt there were hundreds of poachers who risked killing deer, boar and whatever else there happened to be in the forest. They needed the meat to feed their families.
They paused just outside the forest. The huntsmen advanced forward, into the gloom, while the retainers handed out weapons. Emily was offered a long spear and then a bow, both of which she declined. Alassa winked at her and stuck out her tongue, then accepted a spear and a sharp knife that looked almost large enough to be a small sword. Emily made a face in response. She might give chase, but she wasn’t going to kill the poor animal.
“They’re all going to try to impress me,” Alassa muttered, the moment Emily was close enough to her for the princess to whisper without being overheard. “Just watch them.”
Emily rolled her eyes, causing her friend to giggle. Most of the princes were swapping stories about hunting creatures in their own kingdom, including a handful of beasts that had been touched by wild magic. Emily had some problems accepting that the story of a rabbit carrying a knife–and proving extremely difficult to defeat–was actually true, although she had heard of stranger things. Other princes bragged about the number of boar or deer they had taken in a single day, reducing the entire population to nothing if all of their claims were true. Was it actually possible, Emily wondered, to kill two boar with the same spear, at the same time?
A horn blew from the gloom. Alassa let out a hunting cry and spurred her horse forward, the dogs yapping as they raced ahead. The princes followed, cheering loudly as they trampled their way through the undergrowth; Emily sighed and grabbed tight hold of the reins as her horse gave chase. She leaned down and pressed her head into the horse’s neck, praying that she wouldn’t run smack into a branch that would knock her off the horse’s back. A fall at such speeds might result in serious injury.
The trees started to blur into a confused mass of green light as the horse moved faster. Hundreds of birds and rabbits fled from the hunters, although the hunters largely ignored them. They were after bigger game. Emily could barely see anything past the Princes, all of whom seemed to be trying to cluster together as they chased Alassa. Alassa herself was almost hidden behind them, only her long blonde hair visible as it streamed out. The maids hadn’t tied it up very well.
Emily shuddered as the horsemen started to split up, the trees growing thicker and thicker. Just for a moment, she caught sight of a brown shape ahead of them, ducking and weaving in a desperate attempt to escape before it was hidden again behind one of the pursuers. The deer was moving too fast for her to get a clear look at it, but there was no mistaking it for what it was. Emily felt a brief stab of guilt, remembering the movies she’d watched as a child, before the deer was cornered. It came to a halt and stared around, looking for an opportunity to jump past them and flee again. But between the hunters and the dogs, there was no way out.
No, Emily thought, as Alassa dismounted. But there was nothing she could do.
The deer hissed at the princess as she advanced with a spear, pawing the ground in its helpless fury. It couldn’t seem to decide if it wanted to attack Alassa, or the dogs, which were hanging back. They were well-trained, Emily decided; no one was holding them in place. She looked away as Alassa braced herself, then heard the howl from the animal as she drove the spear into its head. A moment later, the retainers were moving forward to pick up the carcass and carry it back to the castle.
Emily felt sick as she saw the blood on the ground. She knew–of course she knew–that people hunted for food. Hell, she knew that meat came from animals, rather than simply appearing out of nowhere, as some of her old acquaintances had seemed to believe. The price of roast beef
or a simple hot dog was a dead animal. But knowing it and actually believing it were two different things.
But is that really what’s bothering you? She asked herself. Or is it that they turned the hunt into a blood sport?
She considered it as the huntsmen headed off in search of the next deer. The sergeants had hunted deer, rabbits and fish–and she hadn’t felt disgusted, even when they’d made their students help prepare the meat for cooking. Gutting a fish was thoroughly disgusting and yet she hadn’t felt so sick…
Maybe it was because she’d been hunted.
“The hunt often affects people that way,” Lady Barb said. “At least on their first true hunt.”
Emily turned to see Lady Barb sitting on her own horse. She hadn’t even realized that Lady Barb was accompanying them, but it shouldn’t have been surprising. Alassa’s retainers needed someone in charge–and Alassa herself needed a chaperone. Emily wasn’t sure why they bothered when her father could simply interrogate her if there was any doubt about her conduct, but maybe they just didn’t want the question to arise.
“Oh,” she said, finally. “How many more are they going to kill?”
“All of them will want a turn,” Lady Barb said. “Right now, they’re trying to decide who gets to go next. Then they will split up into smaller groups and start charging through the forest.”
“Alassa said that there would be a reward for the prince who kills the most,” Emily muttered, resentfully. It was stupid–and yet she couldn’t help it. “Why don’t they just flip a coin to determine who gets to sit next to her every day?”
Lady Barb shrugged as the horns blew again, in the distance. “Protocol,” she said. “Besides, this keeps them out of mischief.”
Emily scowled as the horse started to move again, following Alassa and the princes. Lady Barb was probably right; if they were hunting, they weren’t trying to make agreements with King Randor’s nobility. It would be easier for the king to decide who his daughter should marry if the aristocrats weren’t trying to bring pressure to bear on him.
This time, the creature they were hunting looked nastier than the deer. Emily caught glimpses of a large black shape crashing through the forest; for a moment, she thought she was looking at a panther. Were there panthers in Zangaria? It didn’t seem too likely. And then the creature turned and threw itself at one of the horses, knocking Prince Jean off the back of his mount. The other princes laughed as Jean hit the ground with a thump. He didn’t seem to be badly hurt, but his dignity had been bruised.
A mortal wound, Emily thought, and smiled.
Alassa kept her face under control, but Emily could tell that she was amused. “The black boar is a cunning foe,” she said, deadpan. “He’s slipped off while we were laughing.”
Prince Jean got to his feet, muttering in a language Emily didn’t recognize. It had to be old, Emily guessed, old enough to be unrelated to the Empire’s official language. Or maybe it was something from his kingdom. It was quite possible that the various kings would encourage their people to start speaking in a different dialect, even though it struck Emily as absurd. Unless, of course, they didn’t want their people talking to people from neighboring countries.
Alassa didn’t bother to enquire after the prince’s health. “We split up,” she ordered, imperiously. The princes didn’t try to argue. “I’ll lead one party that will give chase; I want two more parties to try to outflank the boar. The creature is too fast to be caught easily. Then Prince Hildebrand can take his shot at him.”
The sergeant would probably have approved of her manner, Emily decided. They’d had lectures on command presence, but it wasn’t easy to learn, particularly for her. There was no easy way to avoid the simple fact that she was the youngest and least experienced student in Martial Magic–and would remain so for at least two years, unless someone else from her age decided to try to join in second-year. Jade had been able to command with ease; Emily had been morbidly convinced that her teammates were laughing at her when she took command. It had always seemed harder for her to get them to do what she told them to do.
She sighed as her horse started to follow Alassa’s horse when the hunting party broke into a gallop. The black boar was definitely a wily foe, even though the creature should have been easy to see against the greenery. It was black, Emily realized, as black as the night–and very fast. It rounded on Alassa, ran between her horse’s legs and past Emily before she could do anything. Alassa winked at her as she pulled her horse around and gave chase again. The princes thundered past Emily in hot pursuit, ignoring her completely.
Two more of the princes had suffered small, but humiliating accidents by the time the black boar was finally cornered. Up close, it looked fearsome, with nasty tusks ready to leave their mark on its tormentors. Its eyes were disturbingly humanlike; mouth lolled open, revealing very sharp teeth. The creature snarled, a long sound that made Emily’s blood run cold. If it hadn’t been for the dogs, Emily realized, it might have been able to nip past the hunters again and vanish into the undergrowth.
But it was cornered.
Prince Hildebrand dismounted, sword in hand. The boar eyed him maliciously as he stepped forward, the growling dogs shifting aside to let him pass. Emily stared, unable to look away, as he lifted his sword…and the boar moved backwards at terrifying speed. The other princes tittered as Prince Hildebrand’s first swing missed the boar completely. Behind him, the dogs started to bark. And then the boar lunged forward.
For a heartbeat, Emily was convinced that Prince Hildebrand was dead. Who knew what would happen if a prince happened to be killed while hunting? And then he stepped to one side, lashing out at the boar as it crashed past him, through the dogs and into the forest. Emily saw a trail of red blood from where Prince Hildebrand had managed to wound the creature, although it wasn’t immediately fatal. The dogs yapped, scenting blood, and gave chase. Alassa and the princes followed in its wake.
This time, following the boar was easy. There was a trail of blood leading right towards its final resting place. Emily was tempted to ask if they could let the beast go to die in peace, but she knew it wouldn’t happen. They’d eaten roast boar at two of the kingdoms they’d visited and it had presumably come from the hunting parties. Besides, Prince Hildebrand wanted to have a trophy, his first kill of the day. There was no way he was just going to let it go.
The boar had come to rest in a hollow, turning to face its tormentors one last time. There was a desperation on his face that made Emily’s heart wince in pain. Prince Hildebrand dismounted again and advanced forward, not bothering to be careful. It was clear that the beast was weakening fast; he would only be able to claim a kill if he actually killed it directly. A wound that caused the beast to bleed to death might not count, although the logic escaped Emily. Maybe it just wasn’t as heroic as killing the beast with a swing of the blade.
Prince Hildebrand lifted his sword and the beast stopped, almost as if it welcomed the final swing. Emily stared, unsure of what she was seeing, as the sword swung down and bit into the beast’s head. It emitted a long growling sigh and then lay still. A moment later, Emily felt a burst of magic twisting through the air. It seemed to be coming from the boar…
Her eyes went wide with horror as she saw the boar change. She’d seen enough animal transfigurations to know what they looked like, but somehow this was different. The magic that trapped someone in beast form snapped the moment they died. She stared, realizing just why the boar’s eyes had been disturbingly human. There was a shimmer, then a middle-aged man was lying on the ground where the boar had been. And he was very definitely dead.
One of the huntsmen dismounted and stepped up to the body. “Black Andrew,” he said, after a cursory look at the dead man’s face. “He deserved his fate.”
Emily stared at Alassa, unable to speak. What the hell had they done?
The huntsman didn’t seem to notice her shock. “I will record you as his killer,” he said, to Prince Hildebrand. He sounded busines
slike, as if it were all in a day’s work. Perhaps it was, to him, but it was still horrific. “There will be many people who will wish to thank you.”
Emily made a strangled sound. Alassa’s head whipped around to stare at her. Had she known? Of course she’d known, Emily realized; Alassa had been hunting since she had been a little girl, barely tall enough to carry a small knife. She had to have known that they were hunting humans…after months, perhaps years, as a boar, the humanity would be almost gone, but the beast would still be intelligent. It would have proven–it had proven–challenging prey.
“How…how could you?” Emily asked. She barely recognized her own voice. “That was human.”
There was a snicker from one of the princes. Emily felt her magic start to boil up within her, ready to lash out at him. A single thought would be all that was required to blast him into fire, to wipe him completely out of existence…she’d thought that Alassa was her friend, but how could she do that to anyone? How many others had died in the hunting grounds, killed by noblemen for their sport?
She had known that permanent transfigurations were possible, certainly when the victim had no protections, but…she’d never realized where it could lead. How could she? It had been unthinkable. How could anyone be so evil?
Fighting her rage, she wheeled the horse around and dug in her spurs. The horse broke into a gallop, taking Emily away from the hunters, even though she had no idea where she was going. But it didn’t seem to matter.
All that mattered was getting away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
SOMEONE WAS FOLLOWING HER. EMILY HEARD the second horse coming after her, even over the noise her own horse was making. One person, as far as she could tell…Alassa? Or one of the princes, coming to laugh at her. Raw magic crackled around her hand and she forced it back into her wards, trying hard to calm down. But it was so hard to think. She just couldn’t escape the final horrific view of the dead man.
Lessons in Etiquette (Schooled in Magic series) Page 23