by Cheree Alsop
Trae lashed out with a hoof and my attention returned to the battle at hand. Three Breizans circled us, wary of the horse’s quick hooves. I cringed when a spear slipped past my sword to lay open a gash along Trae’s flank. Trae let out a shrill cry and backed toward the sheer mountain wall near the entrance to the clearing. A Breizan on our right side threw an axe. It whistled by only inches from my head.
The Breizan laughed, showing crooked, pointed teeth, then hefted his other axe. From the look in his feral eyes, I knew he wouldn’t miss this time. Fear shot through my heart. I ducked as low as I could as his arm came forward. He was about to let the axe go when a gray blur leaped through the air and pummeled him to the ground. Andric’s wolf silenced the screaming creature with a quick flash of his jaws.
My heart pounding, I turned to see a mounted guard fight his way to my side. We urged our horses forward, covering each other through the fray. By that time, Landis, Danyen, and Brynna had all made it over the wall. I looked up in time to see Kenyen gallop by, his face pale.
Nyssa was the only one left at the entrance to the clearing. The wolves around her fought off four Breizans who tried to reach her with their spears. “Ride, Nyssa. You can make it!” I shouted.
But it was obvious by the terror on her face that she wasn’t in control of her actions. She sat frozen on her horse, her hands motionless at her sides.
“We’ve got to help her,” I said to the guard beside me.
He nodded without a word, and turned his horse toward Nyssa. Two Breizans attacked us. The guard’s horse reared on its back legs and stopped them both with heavy hooves. Trae charged forward. His shoulder caught another ice man and trampled him underfoot. I swung low to defend his flanks.
When we reached Nyssa’s side, she merely looked at us and shivered. The guard grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her in front of him on his horse. “Can you make it?” I shouted above the screams of the creatures around us. Several of the other guards fell back toward the wall to clear a path for us.
“We’ll make it,” the guard answered in a tight voice. He urged his horse forward. The animal galloped across the broken, blood-spattered snow and leaped across the wall. The horse’s hooves cleared it by barely inches. Nyssa’s horse followed close behind, unwilling to be left with the savage men. I galloped after them with two more guards behind me. I sliced at the Breizans who attempted to stop our escape, then leaned down as Trae’s powerful muscles bunched underneath me. He soared over the wall and kicked up snow when he landed. We rode to the other end of the walled circle before I dismounted; the two other guards cleared the wall after us.
The soldiers lined the walls with Andric to fight off the Breizans who tried to follow. The Prince gave a short, sharp whistle. Seconds later, the dark gray wolf and a white one jumped onto the wall. The other three followed close behind. They paced back and forth, snarling at the ice men below. Andric and his guards threw knives into the fray. I could hear the shrill answering screams from those that met their targets.
Then the screams stopped. The sudden silence hurt my ears. I wanted to climb up with Andric and his soldiers, but I couldn’t reach and I was afraid of what I would find. As quickly as the Breizan screams had stopped, they started again; it was louder this time and even higher than before. The voices mingled, creating a bone-jarring dissonance that rattled my teeth. I put my hands over my ears to shut out the noise, then glanced over to see the others doing the same thing.
“Get close to the wall,” Andric shouted. He and his guards jumped down to join us.
The ground rumbled. I crouched and closed my eyes tight as the thunder grew louder. I forced my eyes to open just as a blanket of white shot over the wall. Horses screamed in terror, then ran toward us out of the way of the snow. Fur touched my hand and I looked down to see a slender white wolf crouched near me. I pulled her closer to the wall. She didn’t fight me and instead crawled between my arms. Her heart pounded with mine as the avalanche poured around us.
Chapter 5
The rumbling finally stopped. The ground still trembled, but faintly, as we rose from our hunched positions against the wall. The wolf whined and shivered against my leg. I rubbed her head, my fingers numb from the cold.
Brynna stood next to me; Landis was on my other side, his arm tight around Tisha's shoulder. She stared at nothing in particular, her green eyes huge in her pale face. Kenyen and Danyen were a few feet away, wiping the blood from their swords on the snow. Horsemaster Drade assessed the horses’ wounds, while Andric and two of his guards checked the perimeter of the wall.
Snow had piled along the far side where the avalanche dumped it after leaping the wall. Snow piled high past the wall on our other side, the side we had come from. I shuddered to think of the Breizans buried beneath.
“How are the horses?” Andric asked. He spoke quietly, though it sounded like he was shouting after the dead silence that followed the screams and the avalanche.
“Good enough, for the most part. They’ll need some patching when we stop,” Drade replied, his jaw tight.
Andric nodded. “Let’s move. We can’t be caught out here when the Breizans return.”
“Return?” Landis cut in, his voice tight. “They have half the mountain on top of them now.”
Andric gave him an understanding nod, then spoke to all of us in a gentle but firm tone. “There will be more of them, so we have to go now. There’s a cave less than a mile from here where we’ll be safe. We can make it before dark.”
The thought of being caught in the open mountain pass at dark scared all of us into action. Drade had already climbed the wall to check the ground on the other side to see if it was safe for the horses to jump. Satisfied, it took only a low whistle from him for the animals to follow. Trae was last, the wound on his flank dark red against his light brown fur. My heart clenched. He wasn’t the only horse carrying wounds from the battle, but it was one I felt personally responsible for.
The guards helped us over. My knees buckled when I hit the ground, but hands caught me before I could fall. I looked up to see Andric looking down at me. “Good call on the swords,” he said with a slight, tight smile.
I straightened up, embarrassed. “Thanks for trusting me,” I replied, then realized I didn’t have my sword anymore. I turned back to the wall, but he stopped me.
“Don’t worry about it; it’ll be buried by now. You dropped it before Trae jumped the wall.” He turned to help Brynna down. “And a good thing, too,” he continued in a quiet voice. “You needed both hands to hold on.”
I stared at him, and was surprised to see his eyes crinkle slightly at the corners when he looked back. He was making fun of me! I glared at him. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been riding since I was five. I’m a competent rider.”
He nodded, suddenly solemn. “Yes, you are, and I owe you my thanks. You’re good with a sword.”
My cheeks grew red and I turned away on the pretense of looking for my horse. Trae stood near a scraggly tree, his injured hind leg held so that the hoof rested lightly in the snow. I walked over to him and rubbed his neck. “Sorry, boy,” I whispered. The warmth of his shaggy fur brought the feeling back to my frozen fingers.
I started to shiver as the adrenaline from the battle wore off. I saw the whole fight again from a neutral point of view. The Breizans rose in front of my vision in sharp, realistic form. I buried my face against Trae’s side.
“We’re going, Kit,” Kaerdra said quietly behind me.
I turned to see her ride after Danyen and Nyssa, Trevin at her side. Four guards waited so that they could bring up the rear. I couldn’t see the wolves, and wondered if they were already scouting the area for signs of more of the ice men. The thought made me shudder. “Come on, Trae. Let’s get out of here,” I said to the horse. He whickered quietly and limped behind me toward the guards.
“I think I’ll walk,” I said to them when I was near enough. “Trae shouldn’t be carrying anyone in his condition.”
Landis sat on his horse next to them. He looked down at me and said in a worried tone, “Tisha wouldn’t mind sharing her horse; she could use some company.”
I looked up at Tisha’s white face. The Princess stared off toward the front of the group with blank eyes. Her hands shook where they clung tightly to her brown horse’s mane. “Tish,” I said.
She didn’t hear me until I repeated her name for the third time. Then she stared at me with wide eyes. “Is it alright if I ride with you?” I asked gently.
She nodded.
I looked up to where Drade sat on his mount nearby. He watched us with a concerned expression. “Can her horse carry two?” I asked him
He nodded. “Easily. Pantim can handle it.”
When I swung up behind Tisha, Trae whickered and pawed the ground with a front hoof as if to prove that he was fit to be my steed. We fell in with the group and he limped behind us making little disgruntled sounds.
Everyone rode quietly. I wondered if their senses prickled with the same feeling of being watched that mine did. I saw Breizans in every shadow until my nerves were completely frazzled. The guards rode with swords ready; the wolves paced the perimeter of our group with ceaseless diligence. The few glimpses I had of Andric at the front of the column were of him giving silent orders to his men.
They obeyed him without question, treating him like a true leader instead of the way I had seen some soldiers take orders from regular crown princes. He was in charge and in his element, not some teenager trying to prove his worth. Andric showed no sign of the sword wound he had gotten protecting Kaerdra. I wondered how bad it was.
By the time we reached the cave, my legs were tired from gripping Pantim’s wide sides and my arms ached from reaching around Tisha to hold onto the horse’s mane. Tisha had fallen into a stupor and it was all I could do to keep her from falling off of the horse. I hoped that some rest and food would help her come out of her shock.
The cave loomed between two huge slabs of rock. The horses picked up their pace when they saw it, as anxious to rest in safety as we were.
Jesson, the healer, helped me lower Tisha down. He carried her into the black crevice that marked the entrance to Andric’s cave. I followed him on wobbly legs and found to my surprise that the cave widened into a cozy chamber about three feet past the entrance, and separated into an even larger chamber through a hole in the back wall. The guards helped their injured into the larger cave where Jesson immediate got to work. Tisha settled numbly onto a pile of blankets in the first chamber, which grew warm from the fires Captain Jashe and Falen lit.
Drade led the horses to a small glade nestled against the side of the sharply rising cliff wall where they were protected from the wind by a thick grove of trees. He was already tending to Trae’s leg when I found them. The Horsemaster looked up when I stepped into the glade, then turned his attention back to his work. Trae’s ears were back, but he didn’t move a muscle as Drade carefully stitched the long wound across his flank.
“He’s a really good horse,” I said.
Drade nodded. “You’ve taken good care of him.”
I walked forward through the snow and ran a hand down Trae’s shaggy forehead. “Not really,” I admitted quietly.
Drade turned and stared at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. “You feel bad for this?”
I nodded with a lump in my throat.
The Horsemaster smiled, surprising me. “He’ll live. And it’s not your fault. These are the best horses in Antor. They’ve been through worse than this.”
It was my turn to stare. “You mean you’ve fought the Breizans before?”
He nodded, but didn’t comment further. I watched him tie off the thread, and then smooth a thick salve over the wound to seal it from the elements. Trae lowered his head to sniff at the ointment, snorted, and turned away with a shake of his head. The scent of evergreen, lavender, peppermint, and another plant I didn’t recognize tinged the air.
“We don’t brainwash them,” Drade said.
His tone was quiet, and I looked up, caught off guard.
He must have taken my silence for disagreement, because he continued, “I know that’s the rumor, but it’s not true. I’d hate for you to think that of any of us, let alone Crown Prince Andric.” The worried expression on the old soldier’s face made me realize how important this was to him.
I tried my best to understand. “Then why do they follow you? It’s unnatural.” I blushed at the blunt words as soon as they left my mouth, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t think I could explain it in a way you’d understand.” At my pensive expression, his eyes tightened. “Not every Antoran has the ability to connect with animals, and no one can predict what kind of animal a person will match with. It’s like we have a connection with them since birth, a sort of unique bond with that type of creature. And then it's up to the animal to accept us as well.”
He glanced at me to gauge if I followed him. Though I had to force my tired mind to keep up, I nodded.
He smiled and continued, “For me, it was horses. Before I could speak, I was already drawn to the fields near our house. My mother told me one time she thought she lost me and had the whole town out looking only to find me hours later in the horse field playing with the foals.” He smiled, his gaze distant. “She kept a closer eye on me, but knew what my inclination would be. By the time I was five, I had befriended every horse within four miles of our home. Farmers from leagues away brought their horses over for me to gentle.”
I smiled at the thought of Father's horses back home. He could really use someone like Drade with the new racing stallion they were training. That horse didn't like anyone, and showed his feelings with his teeth. Homesickness and weariness that came from deep in my bones made my eyes prick with sudden tears; I buried my face against Trae's shoulder.
Drade pretended not to notice my sudden surge of emotion. “I was recruited by the King to train his horses,” he continued, “And I bonded with Sorn and his mare.” He indicated the brown horse he normally rode and the tawny colored mare Brynna had been using. “The rest of the herd naturally followed.”
He patted Trae's side, then headed to the cave. I gave Trae's nose one last pet, then followed the Horsemaster inside. My eyes strained to adjust to the sudden darkness of the cave and I stumbled around one of Andric's wolves. When I made it past the tight crevice, welcoming warmth seeped into my chilled skin. I went to the fire in the first cave to thaw out while Drade continued to the next one.
All of the Crowns were there. I was grateful to see that Tisha slept with Brynna and Kaerdra sitting close by. Kenyen held a cloth to his arm. I caught Danyen’s worried glance. “Are you alright?” I asked on impulse.
Kenyen glared my way, but his anger wasn’t directed at me. “I'd be fine if the thief hadn’t kidnapped us. What right does he have to put us in danger?”
“We could’ve been killed,” Danyen echoed in agreement.
I knelt down and looked at Kenyen's arm. He didn't resist and I felt a pang of guilt when I realized that the Crowns' hostility toward me had become temporarily replaced by their hatred for Andric. I knew I should be mad at him also, but I kept seeing the way Andric let himself get hurt to save Kaerdra. I kept telling myself he must have a reason for what he was doing.
Jesson looked in our cave and when he saw me tending to Kenyen, he brought some of his ointment and bandages. He already had his hands full taking care of the other soldiers' wounds and it was obvious he was relieved that someone else tended to the Crowns.
I cleaned Kenyen's arm, put salve on it, and wrapped it in a clean white cloth. His brother gave me a grateful smile when I finished and moved on to Landis. The Crown Prince of Faer had twisted his ankle quite badly, but hadn't noticed until Tisha rested peacefully. He winced when he eased off his shoe to show me that it was already swollen. I used the same numbing salve Drade had put on Trae; the oils would quickly absorb into the skin to ease his pain. I then wrapped it
and told him to elevate it while he slept. He settled down near Tisha and propped his foot on a convenient outcropping of rock. It wasn't long before I heard him snoring softly.
When Nyssa made a fuss out of a small purple bruise on her arm, I humored her by rubbing salve on it, then turned away to make my bed.
It surprised me when Andric walked into the cave. I didn't know he had been outside all that time, and wondered if he had been scouting the area to make sure the Breizans hadn't followed us. The others grew quiet upon his entrance, but he didn't seem to notice any of us. He looked tired and pale when he leaned against the rocks near the crevice and stared out into the darkness, the ever-present gray wolf at his side. I then remembered the sword wound he had received protecting Kaerdra.
“Let me look at your back,” I said quietly.
He didn't respond.
Kenyen and Danyen glared at me, but I ignored them and spoke louder. “Andric, let me see your back. Someone needs to take care of it.”
This time, he turned his head to look at me, surprise clear in his dark eyes. I motioned for him to come over. He looked past me at the twins; then gave a minute shake of his head before he turned back to his watch. Exasperated, I glared at the Crown Princes of Tyn, then gathered up my supplies and made my way over to Andric. Even though he might be the enemy from their point of view, there were worse creatures out there and I wouldn’t leave an injured person untended.
Andric turned to me when I drew near, a guarded expression on his face. I willed my beating heart to slow and set the supplies out carefully on the cloth Jesson had given me. I forced my tone to be light. “You won't be any good to us if you bleed to death or the wound gets infected.”
He watched me. His jaw clenched and unclenched and I knew he debated whether to trust me. If he denied my offer, I would at least tell Jesson that the Prince was injured so the healer would take care of him.
The Antoran Prince surprised me when he finally nodded, knelt with his back to me, and eased off his shirt. He turned his attention back to the cave entrance. The white wolf that I had sheltered during the avalanche appeared for a minute, looked at him, then vanished again like a ghost into the darkness. I bit my lip and turned my attention to the Prince's back.