Seven was perched on Lot’s shoulder, and kept up a steady stream of angst that her former master would see her once they went out into the open. I called out to her once we veered down a road without foot traffic. “It’s okay, Seven. Your old master’s dead. Lot knows to cover your ear if he hears any other flutes playing. No big deal. Just stick with Lot, or you’ll be seen.”
Draper shifted his weight behind me on the horse, hugging me close as he gripped the reins with both hands, encasing me in that cozy feeling of protection you need when you’re about to fall apart. He was good like that. Though we were still getting to know each other, Draper let me lean on him. As I rested against his chest while he rode us slowly through the town, I realized that though I was leaving behind bits of me I wished I could take on the journey, having someone to lean on through the transition was a small miracle I was wise enough not to be ungrateful for. When I winced at Abraham Lincoln’s heartbroken roar in the distance, Draper nudged his cheek to mine. “It’s alright, pumpkin. Everything will work out in the end.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“Then it must not be the end.”
I knew he was making stuff up to pacify me, but I decided to believe him as much as I was able.
When we reached the edge of the city with no real upset, Bayard drove his horse forward in a run, his tail flapping out with the beast’s, and floating through the air like a chestnut waterfall. Draper snapped the reins and set us for the open road, out toward the east where I prayed my gut wasn’t leading me over a cliff.
10
Avalon’s Wolf Yeti
When the sun fell over the horizon, I was exhausted. The others were hungry, so we broke for dinner. “I think we should set up camp here for a while. There’s no point traveling in the dark through those woods.” Lot motioned to the thick mess of trees we were gearing up to cross through. It had been mostly open fields all day.
Rousseau dismounted, tied his horse to a tree near the narrow stream that separated us from the woods, and stretched his arms over his head. “That’s fine. I’ll take Desiree into the woods to see if she can’t find some food for us. No use plowing through the apples if there’s game around.”
“Desiree?” Damond asked, touching his toes to stretch out his back after he dismounted.
Rousseau pointed to Seven. “The bird. I thought she should have a proper name.”
Draper slid off the tall horse like it was nothing and held his arms out for me. I quirked my head toward Rousseau. “She told me her name’s Seven.”
Rousseau let out a derisive exhale. “Seven’s her number. These birds are soldiers to the army, not pets. Seeing as she’s not enslaved no more, I thought she might like a name.” He stroked her leathery feathers, marveling at the black beauty. “Had a lady friend by the name of Desiree a long time ago. She was lovely, smart. If I could take anyone on a long ride, it woulda been her.”
“What happened to her?” I asked, though I knew I shouldn’t. I slid down into Draper’s arms, giving him a squeeze after my feet hit the ground. He was tense, and kept looking at the woods with a wary expression.
Rousseau kept his eyes on the bird under the darkening sky, the blue moon lending itself to storytelling and waxing poetic. He pulled out his panpipes and blew a few notes that instantly pushed a wave of calm over me. I watched the bird’s wings relax, too. He pulled the pipes from his lips to study the effect the simple few notes had on Desiree. “The Queen’s Army happened. They took her crops as a tax – all her crops – and when she tried to stand up to them, they knocked her down.” His eyes were far away as the others quietly took their canteens out to refill in the stream. “That’s the thing about the ones worth holding on to. Nothing gets them down, so she got back up. Fought hard until they knocked her down again. If I’d been there, I would’ve told her to stay down, but then she wouldn’ta been my Desiree, and I wouldn’t miss her as much as I do.” He nuzzled bird-Desiree with his cheek. “I almost wish she was forgettable. Would make everything loads easier.”
Bayard coughed twice in a “dude, you’re killing the fun” kind of way. Rousseau glared at Bayard, and then went back to his panpipes. He cleared his throat and wiped off the tips of the small wooden pipes, giving Desiree stern instruction not to be afraid of the instrument that could control her. Despite the gruff demeanor I thought to be permanent, Rousseau was sweet to the bird. After all she’d been through? A little sweetness was exactly what Desiree needed. Though he perpetually smelled like fresh farts, she bumped her feathers to his hairy cheek affectionately.
Rousseau set off to go into the woods, but Draper stopped him. “You can’t go in there. None of us can. We’ll go around.”
I couldn’t even see the sides of the woods to gauge how long a trip that would make this. Lot voiced what Remy and I were wondering. “Why can’t we go into the woods?”
“That’s the Désespéré Woods. The Gévaudan lives there.”
The many gasps and hesitant steps backward informed me of the only logical conclusion: the Gévaudan was some sort of Yeti Boogeyman.
“Then we go around,” Lot ruled. “I’ll not try my luck against that. It’ll be a few extra days to travel the long way, but we’ll arrive with our heads still on. In the end, that’s what matters.”
“Then we shouldn’t stop long. Let’s eat and keep moving through the night,” Bayard suggested, leading his horse to the stream to drink.
Something felt wrong about that plan, but I didn’t know enough about anything going on to be able to voice my opinion. I drank a bit of my water and refilled my canteen with Damond, who wouldn’t take his eyes off the Désespéré Woods even as he dipped his canteen into the stream. “I don’t like being this close to the Gévaudan. We should hurry.” He got up and went back to his horse. We’d all been grateful to get off our mounts, but now they were itching to ride again only a few minutes later.
Even Lane looked worried as she peered into the woods. “Rosie, stay with Draper. I mean it. Draper, don’t leave her side.”
I was alone at the stream, I realized. Everyone else was getting ready to ride through the night after they watered their horses. “Hurry up, Rosie,” Bayard called over his shoulder without looking at me. “You don’t want to be so far from your horse when the Gévaudan comes looking for a fresh kill.”
I screwed the cap back on my canteen and stood to find Draper standing right behind me, his hands at the ready, like a goalie preparing to be fired at. “Dude, I’ve got no idea what a Gévaudan is. I’m guessing we don’t invite him to our little tea party?”
Bayard steered his horse over to me, squaring his shoulders and puffing out his chest, as if I needed to be intimidated by him. “The Gévaudan is a wolf that tears out the throats of its victims. It lives in those woods and hibernates until it smells fresh prey.” He gave me a dark look that was laced with a bit of his loathing for me and my apparent higher position than his. Whatever. “The Gévaudan will take one whiff of your little princess blood and come running for you. Some bodies are found with their heads torn clean off.”
Draper glowered at Bayard. “Do you have to put it like that?”
“Like what? The truth? Why not? You might coddle her, but I don’t have to. Now that Bastien’s gone, there’s no need to pretend to get along. We’ll do the job and go our separate ways.”
“A wolf? That’s what we’re dealing with? Can’t I just talk to him? Maybe ask him to let us pass?”
Lane spoke up, already on her horse with Reyn, and ready to go. “No, Rosie. Bayard’s calling it a wolf, but it’s really not. It’s bigger than an elephant, and it’s not a normal animal. It’s a monster, and as good as your abilities work on animals, I won’t gamble whether or not they’ll work on a monster by testing it out on Gévaudan. We’ll go around.”
“Okay.” Everyone was ready to go, except for me. Draper lifted me up, but I couldn’t tell my leg to hook over the horse. It felt wrong somehow. “Hey, put me down for a second.” Draper
obliged, but I could tell he didn’t want to.
“We should get going, Rosie. The Gévaudan doesn’t come out of the woods, but it’s still a risk we’re taking, being so close like this. He’ll be able to smell us a mile away.”
With my feet planted firmly in the grass, I shook my head, unable to make myself obey. “Guys? I don’t know how to explain it, but we can’t go around the woods. That whole Compass thing? I think it’s telling me we have to go straight through.” I pointed to the exact spot we needed to enter the woods. “Right there, actually.”
This broke out a steady stream of protests and arguments, none of which I was willing to engage in.
I held up my hands. “Look, you all brought me in on this to tell you where to go. I’m not saying it’s a good idea; I’m saying it’s where we need to go to find Roland. Take it or leave it, but I’m not defending my gut any more than that. It’s never been wrong before.”
The others argued, while Draper pulled me aside. “Rosie, what you’re asking us to do is beyond dangerous. We might all die in there. Horrible, gruesome deaths.” He put both his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t want to doubt you, but I’ve got to know, how sure is this Compass thing?”
I looked up into his eyes apologetically. “I don’t know exactly. I only just learned it was a legit gift when I got into Avalon. But my whole life, if I wanted to find something, there it was. I don’t need maps, but it’s kind of more than that.” I lowered my voice, digging deeper into the things I’d tried not to examine too closely. “This one time when I was in junior high, I overheard Lane begging the landlord to give us a few more days to come up with the rent. She was crying, and it was awful. I felt that tug in my gut.” I slapped my abdomen. “I snuck out my window and went on a walk wherever it led me. I just so happened upon a hundred dollar bill.” I remembered the shock and the glee of that day. “Then I felt another pull in a different direction, and I walked for a bit and found a twenty. Then the same thing brought me to a few more bills, some change, and by the time I got home at dawn and snuck back in, I’d found enough to pay our rent and buy groceries to fill the cupboard.” I smiled at the memory. “That was a good day. I think I scared Lane a little. Scared myself. So I know what I’m saying sounds crazy, and I’m not thinking it’s a great idea or totally safe or anything, but that’s where my gut’s pulling me. Take it or leave it.”
Draper studied my face in the moonlight, and I let him, not looking away or trying to hide myself from the scrutiny. “If you’re sure this is where we need to go, then okay. I’ll follow you to my death, if that’s what’s needed.”
I butted the crown of my head to his sternum, banding my arms around my stomach. Somehow we’d gotten to the place where that felt natural. “I don’t understand how you can say giant things like that. This is what it’s like to have a brother?”
I could hear the slight smile in Draper’s reply. “No. This is what it’s like to have me.”
The others started listening in to our conversation, so I took a small step back and chose my words carefully. “Why don’t I go in by myself? If it’s this dangerous, I don’t want to get everyone killed. How about I travel through while you guys go around, and I’ll meet you on the other side?”
This did nothing to ease the tension. Draper frowned, standing straighter and crossing his arms over his chest. “Absolutely not. You’re not to be out of my sight. The last time I took my eyes off you, I lost you for twenty-one years. I won’t make the same mistake again. You’re my responsibility.”
“Splitting into two teams isn’t a bad idea,” Rousseau commented, looking around the group and then to the woods warily. “If the gems and Roland are in the woods, then she can bring him out to us on the other side. No point in us all going.”
“Two teams, then?” Lot suggested. “Draper’s most familiar with the area, so he can lead one team.”
Draper postured, his voice seeming to deepen a few notes. “I’ll lead the team with Rosie straight through the woods. All other royalty should take the long route around. If anything goes sideways on this, I don’t want a kingdom falling because of it.” He held up his hands at the protests from Damond and Lot. “Say what you want, but beyond honor and all that, most of you have got a whole province that depends on you being alive. If you die, Morgan might absorb your land. The whole point of this is to defeat Morgan, not hand the lands over to her on a silver platter.”
That seemed reasonable to me, but Lane, Lot and Damond had something to say about it. “I’m not leaving my daughter,” she said, resolute. “Or my son.”
Remy moved to stand beside Damond. “He’s a boy, Rosie. Don’t let him go into the woods.”
I spoke up, “Damond can lead the second team. He led us to Draper, so I know he can handle leading the group. Can you make sure you all make good time, Damond? Our journey’s shorter, so you guys will have to ride kinda quick.”
Draper exhaled, and Damond seemed slightly mollified since he was heading up a team, and not kicked out of the cool kids’ club for not being old enough. “I can do that.”
“Everyone take your teams, and let’s go,” Bayard complained. “Moving through the woods with no light will be tricky enough. We won’t be able to take the horses in. The trees are too close together, and no one can see well enough to make sure the horses can navigate.”
I batted my lashes up at Bayard. “Does that mean your charming mouth is coming with us?”
“Like I’ll leave an asset unprotected. You’re going to be the death of me, Rosie. Here’s hoping I get in a few good jabs before that day comes.”
Internally I groaned. Bayard was such a pill. “Awesome. Let’s go, then.”
Lot hopped off his horse and stood before me, gearing up to say his piece privately. “If I’m being sent away with the other group, I want you to take my sword.” He pulled out his giant sword that went up to my waist. When he handed it to me by the ornately decorated hilt, I grimaced. I could barely hold it correctly; it was so long and heavy. I handed it back, shaking my head. “Look, thanks, but I’m alright. It’s a little too big for me. I can’t really use that thing, and you might need it.”
He took the sword back and pulled a dagger from his belt. “Take this, then.” He closed my fingers around it, pulling me closer to look into my eyes with his Prince Charming smolder that made me bite my lower lip. His voice was quiet as he instructed me. “If you come across the monster, show no mercy. Don’t hesitate to gut him if you can. Running will do you no good in these woods.” He jerked the dagger in my hands toward his flat stomach. “Stick him and tear upwards.” He moved the dagger slowly up toward his clavicle.
“Stick and rip? I think I can remember that.”
Lot shook his head. “It doesn’t feel right, leaving you.”
“I won’t let you get hurt if I can help it, so go with Damond. Make sure the whole group gets there without anything bad happening. You don’t want to know how many times killer flamingos from outer space come down out of nowhere and attack.”
He cracked a small smile. “I’ll be on the lookout for such harrowing assaults.”
Lane tried to dismount to go over to our group that was going on foot, but Reyn grabbed her from behind, holding her tight in the saddle. “Where you go, I go,” he said like a vow.
She was hesitant, but quietly said her piece that I tried not to overhear. “You can’t, Reyn. Think of your condition. We might come across the Gévaudan. Then what?”
Reyn’s tongue ran over his teeth, his anger evident. “Just because my magic is broken doesn’t mean my sword is. I can fight alongside anyone just as good as the next man. I won’t leave you. So either we both go through the woods, or we both go around.”
Draper held up his hand. “You’ll both go around. As much as the thought of you leaving for even an hour scares me, I know you won’t abandon Rosie. I know you’ll come through for her and meet us on the other side.” He didn’t say it like a bitter jab, but Lane looked gutted all the sa
me. “You’re royalty, whether you like it or not. Whether you sit on a throne or not. If we don’t make it, you have to find a way to take Morgan down and unite the provinces. You’re one of the only people I know who stand a chance at being able to deliver on that.”
“No, Draper! You’re my children.”
Draper’s rebuttal was calm, as one who understood he would win the fight. “The people need someone to rally around, and we all know it’s you. You’re the sister who lived. You’re the sister who stole something valuable from the queen. You bested Morgan le Fae. They need you.”
Her passion came out as fury, but I knew it stemmed from her broken heart. “I won’t leave you! I won’t leave my daughter! I won’t send the two people I love most in the world straight for the Gévaudan without me there to make sure you get out okay!”
Draper kept his voice low and steady. “You don’t have a choice. Either go with the others, or I’ll tie you to a horse myself and send it off. You have a kingdom to think about. Royalty goes around, non-royals go through.”
There was much heated back and forth I tried to distance myself from. The thought of leaving Lane always brought about a small amount of panic in me, but the idea of her lying in the woods with her throat torn out was unthinkable. I was on whatever side kept her safe, even if it meant I wouldn’t be under her wing for a time.
Remy checked my leg to make sure it was up for the task, marveling on the good job he did, considering how much trauma my body had been through. I could walk just fine now, and while I didn’t expect to be running down soccer fields anytime soon, I felt confident my leg was nearly good as new, which was a relief of epic proportions.
“I’ve never seen the Gévaudan before, but I was once brought a man who’d been torn apart by one. Not sure what they expected me to be able to do; the man was dead long before he reached me. We must be careful as we move through the woods.”
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