With his armor and sword under his arm, he ran for the stables. When he got there, he discovered that there were two horses already saddled and ready. "Hurry up!" one of them whinnied, laying back his ears as he stamped with impatience. "We need to run! She has us so full of magic we are about to pop!"
"She" was undoubtedly the Godmother, and he was not at all unhappy about these being two of her mouse-horses. He tied his pack and armor onto the back of the saddle, then literally leapt into the saddle without using stirrups; Leopold did the same, and the two of them galloped out of the Palace grounds while the rest of the Palace was still buzzing in confusion alter being roused from sleep.
At this hour the streets were empty, which meant they could gallop without encountering any obstacles. The occasional head popped out of a window, but otherwise there were no signs of life. He was still trying to think of what he was going to do if the donkey hadn't seen anything as they pounded into the silent marketplace — but the donkey was already waiting there for him.
"The men with the Princess!" the little beast brayed. "They came through here, riding straight for the Forest Gate!"
Oh, bless you, little beast!
With a wave of his hand to the helpful creature, Siegfried reined his horse over to the left and urged him down the street that led to the Forest Gate. Too late, he forgot that the Gate was probably closed and locked —
But the moonlight beating down on it showed that it wasn't. In fact, it stood wide-open. And the Gate-guards lay motionless beside it, on either side of the street.
He couldn't stop to see if they were alive or dead — and he couldn't help them either way. Someone else would have to take care of them, and he only hoped that all Desmond had done was to knock them out. Meanwhile, every moment that passed took Rosa farther from him, and that was all that mattered.
Leopold was right on his heels, though his friend probably couldn't imagine how he was getting directions. Still the open gate and the guards alone would tell him that they were on the trail.
The horse made straight for the forest without any guidance, but slowed as they neared it. The Forest Road paralleled the edge, with dozens of smaller paths and trails leading in and wandering off in wildly different directions. Siegfried peered at the forest, looking for a sign of where their quarry might have gone in.Nothing...it's too dark....noth —
The horse abruptly reared on his hind legs, screaming with alarm;
Siegfried fought to stay in the saddle, his heart accelerating with alarm. What — he couldn't see anything —
"Don't be foolish, mouse. I am not going to eat you" What Siegfried had thought was a shadow detached itself from the other shadows and lumbered forward, further spooking the horse, who half reared again, then stood, trembling.
"Bear?" he said in astonishment, as Leopold's horse also danced sideways.
It was, indeed, the bear that he had rescued from the showman. A scar across the bear's muzzle identified the beast.
"Wolf is tracking them. I will guide you, for I have his scent, and he will take care to lay it down thickly" The bear whuffed at them. "I told you that we would not forget your kindness. Now follow me" The bear lumbered into the forest, shoving his way into a game trail.
"Siegfried, what the hell — " Leopold sat atop his trembling horse, his own teeth chattering.
"The bear is a friend....Remember, I can talk to all animals, not just the bird." He shook his head. He probably should have told Leopold about the animals he'd been rescuing, but he hadn't thought it was that important. "I'll explain later. We need to follow the bear, because a wolf that I know is tracking Desmond for us, and the bear is tracking the wolf."
"A wolf...a bear..." Leopold shook his head. "Friends. All right. I have either gone insane or you did just say that, and if you did just say that — " He paused. "I have accepted the Queen turning into the Godmother in front of my eyes, mice becoming horses and squash becoming carriages. What's so hard about you talking to wild animals as well as tame, and making friends of them?" He dug his heels into his horse's ribs, causing it to nervously leap forward after the bear. "Come on! Rosa is getting farther away from us all the time!"
* * *
Once she had magicked up the mouse horses and their gear, Lily had transformed back into Queen Sable. It would be too much trouble getting the servants who hadn't seen her actually resume her real identity to obey her orders otherwise. She ran back up to her rooms, and from there, she sent out the servants to rouse the whole Palace. Desmond probably thought he had time to get back to the Palace before he was missed. Well, too bad for that plan; it had been disrupted the moment that Siegfried's cat saw him steal the Princess.
That means either he has taken Rosa somewhere close by, or he has some variation on a spell of transportation.She didn't think they would be lucky enough for the former, so it was probably the latter. She didn't think he'd have the "All Paths Are One" spell, since that was, as far as she knew, the peculiar property of Godmothers. But there were others, many others....
"Seven League Boots" — possible but unlikely; there were two of them, and neither of them would care to carry Rosa for very long. Probably they had left on horseback....
"Seven League Horseshoes" were possible. They wouldn't be restricted to paths...but they'd seriously disturb birds in their wake, and creatures with magic in them would sense the passage. But they were rare, and required not just a magician, but a blacksmith-magician. There were none here, and none that she knew of in the surrounding Kingdoms; most of them were up north — or Dwarves.
She also hadn't felt any huge perturbations of magic power, so he probably hadn't built anything as powerful as building a Portal.
Likeliest..."Pass Unhindered." That was an old, old spell, it was likely that Desmond knew it, and it would let the horses go at top speed through the densest of forest as if they ran on a smooth road. And if he was willing to kill his horses — which he probably was — he could layer on another particularly nasty bit of work, making it "Pass Unhindered Swiftly", that would make them run at three times the pace that any normal horse could do. "Pass Unhindered Swiftly" absolutely required the life of the creature it was cast on, a form of blood magic that took the sacrifice at the end, rather than the beginning. A fresh horse at his destination, and casting the spell again, would get Desmond back in no time at all, comparatively. Her head pounded as she dropped down into a chair. Their best bet would be if he came back and didn't discover that the Palace had been roused against him until it was too late to flee. She could get the location out of him — not easily, but unless he was extremely powerful, she could, if only because she could bring in as much help as she needed to.
But catching him by surprise wasn't likely.
So they would have to hunt for him.
"Jimson," she began.
As usual, he practically read her mind, answering her question before she asked it. "There's a pair of mirrors in Siegfried's saddlebag, and a second pair in Leo's. I'll speak to them through one of them at the first halt."
"Is Desmond — "
"There is nothing shiny on his harness or his person." Jimson's face swam into view in her mirror; he looked positively haggard with worry. "We have to assume he knows about mirror-scrying at least, if not mirror-travel. If he is in league with the Huntsman, that would be how both of them evaded my scrutiny. So there will be no mirrors where he takes her."
She swore. So at the moment it was all in the hands of Siegfried and Leopold, and whatever other searchers went out.
"Lily, the cat was not the only friend that Siegfried has made." Jimson paused, his head cocked to listen. "The animals he has helped saw Desmond pass, and they are showing Siegfried the way. A wolf is tracking him, and a bear is tracking the wolf and leading Siegfried." He smiled wanly.
"He is?" Lily nearly went limp with relief. "Desmond won't have thought of that."
"No, he won't. Typically that sort doesn't think much of animals except as something to eat and som
ething to hunt." He paused. "Also, may I point out that if the wolf can track them, they are on the ground and not traveling by any other means. That is good for us."
It was, very good news. It meant that one or the other variation of the "Pass Unhindered" spell was likely what he was using. Unfortunately, she could not leap ahead of the young men and join the wolf, because she didn't know the wolf herself.
"He's a sorcerer or a wizard," she said aloud. "He knows magic. He never let slip a hint of that while he was here except for the simple charms and spells that anyone could have gotten. He probably knows about mirror-scrying, as you pointed out. We have to assume he has defended his stronghold."
Jimson nodded grimly.
She drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. There were so many ways that he could defend that stronghold...but there was one that was very, very likely. Especially if he kept Rosa asleep. The Tradition would only aid him. She could get through almost any defense that wasn't an army. But..."I can't do anything until they get there and lay out a mirror."
"Exactly so."
She needed to give him an aid, a very special helper. Short of a dragon or a unicorn, this would be the best possible help he could get. "Except...one thing. And I hope that I can do this at a distance."
When the bird had taken a bath, a single brown feather had been left in the saucer. As any magician would, Lily had kept it safe. Just in case. Well, this was just in case...and the spell was very, very complicated.
At least it would keep her mind occupied. But when it all came down to it, everything rested on Siegfried. Exactly as The Tradition required.
"We have...to rest...a moment," Siegfried's horse puffed. Beneath his legs, the poor beast's sides heaved. He suspected that the Godmother's magic had finally run out, which was hardly surprising, considering the pace they had set. "Please. And water."
The bear looked over his shoulder at them. He was not in nearly as bad a case, but then, as Siegfried knew, bears could go for immense distances at a fast pace. "I need the same. There is water ahead."
Siegfried would have very much liked to tell them to press on, but — no. Desmond might be willing to kill his mounts, but Siegfried was not going to exhaust his friends. Never mind that they had not yet caught up with the villain. They would. "We'll pause there until you are ready to go on," he said, trying not to feel as if the words marked defeat. They were not defeated; they hadn't even fought yet. They would find Desmond, and Rosa, and they would rescue her.
At the promised water, a small forest pond sheltered by trees, green with algae and tasting of old leaves, but otherwise good, he dismounted, to let the bear and the two horses slowly sip, pause for a moment, then sip again. They needed the water, but — thank goodness — they were all three intelligent enough to know not to drink their fill at once. Their sides heaved, and the horses were dark with sweat.
He put a comforting hand on his horse's rump — and jumped as he heard a muffled voice not a handbreadth from where it rested.
"Siegfried, we must talk. Open the saddlebag, Siegfried. This is important. I'm speaking for Godmother Lily."
"What the hell — " said Leopold, staring wide-eyed.
"You've been saying that a lot." Siegfried cautiously opened the saddlebag. A glowing green face looked up at him from inside.
"Yah!" he yelped, and jumped back, dropping the flap.
"Oh!" said the bird, flitting down through the branches to land on his shoulder. "That's just Jimson. He's the Godmother's Mirror Spirit. It's all right."
"Mirror — there's a mirror in that bag?" Siegfried blinked.
"There's two, in case you drop one," said the muffled voice. "Leopold has two, as well. Please open the bag."
Once again, Siegfried raised the flap.
The face looked up at him, brows furrowed with anxiety. "That's better. Siegfried, when you find Rosa, put this mirror on the ground, and put the others you have left next to it — if you have all four, make a square. We are going to try something dangerous then, and we will only have one chance. Meanwhile you can talk to me through the mirrors, and Lily through me." He transferred his gaze to the little bird. "Bird, how fond are you of being such a small plain bird?"
The bird cocked her head to one side, considering the question. "Not all that fond, I wouldn't mind being an ea — "
"Good."
A brilliant, flame-colored light enveloped bag, bird and Siegfried's head, blinding him. Leopold shouted. For a moment, all that Siegfried could see were flashes of color. He knuckled his eyes, blinking away tears of pain and hoping he hadn't just been permanently blinded.
Odd. The bird had gotten alot heavier. And...warmer.
His vision started to come back but — it was strangely bright on the side where the bird was. As things around him blurred and swam back into focus, he turned his head to see what was so bright, and so big. What was on his shoulder was a bird, still. She was easily eagle-sized, though not eagle-heavy. She had a tall curving crest of flame-like feathers, bright gold eyes, red-and-gold wings now held open with delight, and a pair of scintillating tail-plumes that trailed down his back and ended in a pair of peacocklike eyes. Allof her feathers were red and gold, and glistened and sparkled like living flames.
"Bird?" he said incredulously. The bird was craning her long neck around and looking down at herself in astonishment.
"I — you made me a firebird!" she exclaimed in delight. "You made me a firebird! Is this permanent?"
"Unfortunately, yes, I'm sorry," Jimson said apologetically. "There was no time to do anything reversible."
"Oh, don't be sorry! I'm not!" The bird lifted her head and gave vent to a joyous trill. If anything her singing was sweeter. "I don't mind dodging a few feather hunters to be able to look likethis! Do I turn into a human girl, too?"
Jimson shook his head. "Unfortunately, no, I'm — "
She caroled with delight. "Even better! No clumsy old men wanting to marry me and sending people to catch me so they can!"
Jimson coughed. Evidently he had not anticipated how pleased she would be. "Erm, well, good. I'm glad you approve. I apologize that we did this, but Siegfried may need your new powers when — "
"Siegfwied! Siegfwied! Wait!"
Once again, Jimson was interrupted. This time it was from a bell-like voice that rang through the forest. The face in the mirror looked frustrated, then resigned. "You had better deal with that," he said. "I'll talk to your bird while you do."
The bird hopped down onto the horse's rump and stuck her head into the bag. Muted mumbling came from it.
"Siegfwied!" A crystalline horn shoved the undergrowth aside, and to Siegfried's dismay, though not his surprise, the unicorn leapt through the gap. "Heah I am!"
Oh, no —
"Luna, we're going into danger," he said, as gently as he could. "We don — "
"I know!" said the unicorn, stamping one hoof impatiently in the dead leaves. "I aweady know that! I'm coming wif you!"
Siegfried's mouth opened and closed several times without being able to get a word out. This was going to be dangerous...and Luna was such a delicate little thing. She would probably be more hindrance than help, but how to tell her to go without crushing her? Leopold said it for him.
"Uh, pardon, unicorn — "
"Luna," said the unicorn.
Leopold flushed, and tried to find the same words that Siegfried had been unable to muster. "Luna then — you don't — I mean, it's very sweet that you want to help, but I don't know how you could — we're going to be fi — "
It seemed that being interrupted was the order of the day. Leopold's words stuck in his throat, as Luna reared up, lashed the air a fraction of an inch from his left ear with her fore hooves, pivoted before he could wince away, sent her rear hooves flying through the air a hairbreadth above his right shoulder and pivoted a second time to drive her horn deep into the trunk of a tree just under his right arm. She wrenched it loose with a splintering and creaking of wood, then stood back
from him, lashing her tail triumphantly.
It was Leopold's turn to stare with his eyes gone round and his mouth open, and Siegfried was in almost as much shock.
Siegfried cleared his throat carefully.
But Luna wasn't done yet. Still swishing her tail, she trotted down to the little pond they had all been drinking from. She knelt beside it and dipped her horn in the water.
Something like softened lightning laced across the surface of the pond as the tip of her horn touched the water. When she stood up, the water, which had been a little murky and green with algae, was now crystal clear.
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