But there’s something else. The sight causes me to have to fight the urge to turn Pearl and run back up into the fog. Ahead of us, just down the road, is a solid wall of waiting violet.
We’ve found the Hunters we were looking for.
Chapter 22
Leif
I start to fold Papa’s note back up, but I angrily crinkle it into a ball instead and throw it against the opposite wall. Why, oh why, would he put all this in writing?
I should be thankful, really I should. It turns out Papa’s been safe and sound all this time, after all. He was never in the hands of Araroa. He’s away from the Bastion, with a band of Treasoners in the woods. I have his exact location. Well, more or less.
And now so does King Araroa.
This note he intercepted—to be delivered to Raven and me—told Araroa all he needed to know: We’d arrived back from Nuimana. Together. Directions to Papa’s camp. Instructions to find him there.
I laugh out loud, the sound echoing down the damp corridor into the darkness. What irony, that I should be the one in the dungeon, and Papa out free as can be. With things going as they are, Raven’s probably found the man herself. And here I sit, helpless. A fool.
But it’s not funny. Not at all. I put my head in my hands and breathe deeply. I must quell my anger. I must not punch the stone wall behind me. Not shake the bars of my cage until the sound rattles Araroa himself, tips the glass of wine over that I’m sure he’s drinking from right now.
If I only knew where Raven is. Please gods, oh please, do not let her be on her way here.
Chapter 23
The wall of violet is so solid. The men and horses are completely still—like statues. There are dozens of them, completely blocking the road ahead. The dark horses are nearly touching one another, several rows deep.
The faces are resolute underneath bruise-colored hats, and I can tell they are watching us, but not one of them flinches.
“Well, I’m glad the fog cleared so we didn’t run into that,” Tui mutters. “What now, Raven?”
There’s only one choice. “We keep on,” I say, and give Pearl the nudge to move. Leif is just over there, just on the other side of these men. They will not keep me from him.
I listen for sounds of the bearcats as the three of us approach the line of Hunters. But still, nothing. As we get nearer, I can see the men are heavily armed. I’m glad then that Cecil is nowhere nearby.
The Hunter in the center steps forward, a few yards in front of the others. His horse is the most decorated, the poor creature strung with gaudy chains and ribbons of gold. I assume him to be the commander, and stop before him. Tui and Catriona ride forward, positioning themselves on either side of me.
“We’d like to pass, sir.”
He says nothing at first. The pause is agonizing. Without thinking about it, I reach for Fortissima’s grip, and rest my hand there, lightly.
The man manages to smother a reaction. But I don’t miss his eyes glancing down, then back up into my face.
“No,” he finally says. “By the order of His Majesty King Araroa, we are to take you into custody.”
“Who do you think I am?” His brows raise slightly as he registers my question. I want—I need—to hear him say it.
“I believe you are the King’s illegitimate daughter, Raven Araroa. Again, we must take you into custody and transfer you to the King.”
That word burns into my ears. Illegitimate. It makes the anger rise up into my chest and my face burn.
I tighten my hold on Fortissima’s grip and pull her from the sheath. I don’t raise her, not yet. I place her sideways in front of me. A warning.
I study the commander’s eyes. Some of the calm has leaked out. I suspect he hadn’t anticipated much opposition.
“I am not an illegitimate anything. I am the Woman King of Nuimana, and I order you and your men to step aside and let us pass freely.”
The commander’s mouth raises in a half smile. A sneer. “You might indeed be that, but you are in Nadir illegally. King Araroa did not give you permission to land on these shores. I have been ordered to take you to him.”
My heart is pounding. What should I do? If I go with the Hunters, I’ll have my chance to see Araroa face-to-face. Or I’ll end up in the dungeon. With Leif. I know I’ll not have a second chance to escape from there. We’ll be together but doomed.
There is a growl behind me. The deep voice I know so well. “If you take Woman King Araroa, you must take us too.” I can’t help but smile as I watch the commander’s face shift from surprise to shock to horror.
Cecil’s growl grows louder behind me. Then there are others, many more than only Sedgewick and Everett. It’s like a chorus of low rumbling.
I have to turn and look. The sight causes me to nearly fall off Pearl myself. Behind me are dozens of bearcats. A sea of golden brown, gray, black, and white fur. I catch Cecil’s eye as I turn to look back at the Hunters. He winks. “I thought, perhaps, you might require some help,” he murmurs.
“Thank you,” I mouth soundlessly.
I sit up straighter, adjust Fortissima’s position in my lap. I address the commander directly: “Well?”
His horse is starting to get jumpy, the man is struggling to keep the creature calm. “I don’t care who comes with you. But I’m taking you to King Araroa. I must follow my orders,” he says.
I feel the bearcats pressing in. Behind the commander, the other men are trying to keep their steeds in formation. The horses are pulling at their bits, shying away from the enormous creatures coming at them. Pearl, Pango, and Hazel remain calm, already familiar with the bearcats. Still, there’s so many of them. I’m not certain what Pearl will do.
I don’t have to wonder for long. The bearcats continue their steady movement toward the Hunters. Silently they surround Tui, Catriona, and me. Our horses remain calm, but the Hunters are becoming ever more agitated.
And then it happens: One of the Hunters in front loses control of his horse. It rears up, nearly throwing the man off. He manages to hold on and rides off into the trees. The anxiety spreads like wildfire; the horses nearest to us whinny and kick. The straight lines of Hunters disintegrate as the men struggle to keep control of their steeds.
The bearcats move forward. This time, I go with them.
I raise Fortissima now, and she glitters before me in the sunlight. I keep moving, straight for the commander. Somewhere underneath my terror I feel like a kid again, playing chicken like Tui and I used to do in the grass.
The commander’s black horse is snorting, shaking its head. It takes a step backward, despite the commander’s shout to stay steady.
Pearl takes another step forward, as does Hazel and Pango. The bearcats on either side do too.
Without warning, the commander’s horse rears up onto its hind legs, throwing its rider off. The horse escapes into the trees, leaving its former rider splayed out ungraciously in the dust.
The commander stands, wiping the dirt from his coat and breeches. “I say! You are not to pass unaccompanied!” he splutters.
“Oh, I have plenty of company, thanks. I’ll give your regards to King Araroa.” I nudge Pearl on and ride toward the man. He’s forced to stumble out of the way of our approaching line. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cecil give him an extra shove with his elbow, emitting a low growl as he does so.
The formerly neat lines behind the commander are in utter chaos now. Riders are forced to lead their panicked horses into the trees, with the bearcats out of sight. Other Hunters had been thrown off and are now standing, sheepish, at the side of the road. I’m still holding Fortissima in front of me, nodding at each Hunter as I pass, thanking each one with as much graciousness as I can manage. The bearcats plod stealthily behind me; I’m surrounded still by a chorus of low growls.
We march on for another mile. One by one, Cecil’s bearcats disappear back into the forest until it’s only the three left that we know so well. I don’t stop Pearl until I look back and can�
��t see a single speck of violet.
That’s when my hand starts shaking. I can barely get Fortissima back into her sheath, but when I do, I collapse my head down against Pearl’s neck, burying my cheek into her soft mane.
“Damn, that was close,” I say to Tui. He hadn’t left my side the entire time.
He leans over, pats me on the back. “That was magnificent, Raven.”
I sit up again, exhaling noisily. “Wasn’t it? All those bearcats—”
But Tui is shaking his head, a half grin forming. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean, they were pretty awesome. But you … standing up to the commander that way. I mean, that was amazing.”
“Amazingly foolish, you mean.” I whip my head around at the sound of Catriona’s words over my shoulder.
“Excuse me? What do you mean by that?” My face is burning. Not from anger but from knowing that she’s probably right.
“Well …” Catriona is suddenly short of words. “Well, what I mean is if the bearcats hadn’t shown up … if Cecil hadn’t—”
“Then we’d be being escorted to King Araroa, correct? Which is where we are heading. Right now.” I give Pearl a harder kick than I probably need to and leave them behind, both staring at me, as I run ahead.
Eventually, I can hear them catching up behind me. Catriona and Tui keep some distance, though, letting me lead the way on my own. I glance back, glad to see Cecil, Sedgewick, and Everett loping farther behind. When I stop—if I stop—I’ll owe a huge thanks to Cecil. Now I know what he was doing all night: gathering up his clan—and several others from the sight of it—to help me past that wall of Hunters. My heart swells at what those bearcats did. They could easily have been shot down. Any of us could have been. Foolish indeed.
But we weren’t.
I start to recognize the road we are on; it’s the same one we passed all those weeks ago when I’d first left the Bastion. If we keep this pace, we’ve only got two more sleeps until I’m back.
And then what? With the Bastion looming so close ahead, I need some sort of a plan. I can’t simply ride up and demand King Araroa set Leif free, can I? I won’t have the bearcats backing me up this time. They’d never get into the Bastion anyway, and would probably be killed on sight if they did try. Maybe I’ll break into the dungeon, steal a dungeon keeper’s cloak. I could find Imogen again. She’s knows people. There’s got to be a Treasoner who can help find Leif, break him free. And that Hannah girl too, I guess.
By late afternoon, Pearl’s coat is gleaming with sweat, and she’s breathing hard. I know my horse badly needs a break, although I want nothing less than to stop. I walk her for a time and then let her drink from the stream. It’s the same one Tui, Rosie, and I stopped at before. I think about Rosie as I watch Pearl gulping the cool water, and I wonder how she is doing with the Treasoners. I think about her parents, her brother, Callum. I’ll have to remember to ask around about them when I get back to the Bastion. Surely somebody knows something. Perhaps even Leif, having been at Araroa’s prison camp up north.
Catriona and Tui ride up, slowly cooling their horses down. They allow their horses to drink, and Tui brings over some food from one of Pango’s saddlebags. He hands me a hard biscuit first. I take it but offer it up to Catriona. She looks down at it for a moment before accepting it.
“Thank you, Raven. Look, I’m sorry about what I said. I only meant—”
“Don’t worry about it,” I interrupt. “You’re right, I’m sure. I put all of us at risk, the bearcats, everyone, by defying that commander.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she continues. “You were amazing. It was very brave of you to do that. I just … it just … hearing Tui say that …” The freckles on her cheeks stand out starkly as her golden skin turns pink.
I have to try really hard not to laugh. Jealous of Tui complementing me? She’s got nothing to worry about there. Tui’s just my friend—my best friend, true—and we’ve been so since we were toddlers. I take a deep breath before speaking, so I can get the words out clearly. “Catriona, I guarantee Tui thinks you’re amazing too.”
Tui grins hugely, puts one of his big arms around Catriona, pulls her in to kiss her cheek. She looks over at him, her face still a bright shade of pink. I decide this is a good time to go check on Pearl and make sure she’s cooled off at least.
The following day we approach the small Hunter camp we’d encountered on our way out. But this time, it’s empty, as if it’s been suddenly abandoned: gear strewn about, water jugs tipped over, clothing scattered around. We study the scene, hoping to find a clue as to what happened.
My heart suddenly leaps into my throat, remembering what Cecil and his bearcats did to those Loyalists in the woods. I hop down from Pearl and wander through the trees. Searching for what I desperately hope I won’t find.
Thankfully, I don’t. There are no signs that the Hunters came to harm here.
“We didn’t have anything to do with these men’s disappearance.” It’s Cecil’s deep voice, behind me. I jump, startled at the sound.
“Cecil! You’ve got to stop sneaking up on me like that.”
The huge cat’s face falls, his eyes big and sad. He bows his head, deeply. “I am sorry for that, m’lady. I shall not do it again.”
I reach my arm up, placing my hand on his golden chin, and gently raise his face back up. His eyes are sorrowful. “Cecil, when you told me you wouldn’t harm any more men, I believed you. I still do. I was worried these men had come to harm, but not by you.”
“The Treasoners.”
“Yes. I’m worried they will start fighting back. Against the Loyalists … the Hunters … and I was afraid these men had been attacked. But it doesn’t seem like they have been. More likely they’ve recently been called back to the Bastion by Araroa. The person they’ve been searching for is on her way back, after all.” I smile at the giant cat, and Cecil purrs.
“May we continue to accompany you?”
“Of course.”
We rejoin Tui and Catriona and the horses, and are on our way again within moments. I have a dark feeling I don’t have a moment to spare.
That night, I can’t sleep. It’s our last before our final ride across the moor to the Bastion. I still don’t know what I’m going to do when I get there. I toss and turn in my bedroll. Fortissima, tucked against my body as usual, seems cold and hard. The sword has never bothered me before, but tonight I wish I could have my bed to myself. But there’s no way I’d sleep without her, in the open like this. There’s a tree root pressing into the small of my back, and I wiggle around, trying to find a flatter position.
It’s pitch dark and quiet. There’s no moonlight, not yet. I can hear Catriona’s quiet breathing of sleep a few feet away, but not Tui’s. Normally it would be his snoring that would be keeping me up.
“Tui? You awake?”
“Yeah, I am. You can’t sleep either?” His voice comes unmuffled as he pulls the blanket down from over his face. Dried leaves and pine needles crunch as he turns over to face me.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Sleep,” he mumbles.
“Honestly, Tui. What am I going to do when we get to the Bastion tomorrow? They’re not simply going to let us in the gates, are they? And then how am I going to get Leif out of the dungeon? I can’t just break into it either.
Tui makes a sound of disbelief. “Raven, you are going to do what you’ve been doing.”
“And what’s that?”
“Exactly what you need to do, when you need to do it …” His voice fades into the darkness.
“What does that mean? Tui?” But I can hear his breathing now, steady and slow. And loud—he’s fallen asleep.
I think about what he’s said. What I need to do right now is sleep, so I am alert and ready for whatever happens tomorrow. So I do.
We camped on the edge of the forest, where the trees thin out into the wide moor to the Bastion. The sun has not yet risen, but we’ve already had a bite to e
at and are packed up and ready to go. As soon as we’re out of the woods, we kick our horses into high gear and let them run free.
The sun rises in the east behind us and casts its red morning light onto the towers of the Bastion ahead. As the light grows brighter, the towers reflect the redness, like giant pillars dripping with blood. An ominous sight, to be sure. But we don’t slow down, not a bit.
I look over at Cecil, who is panting slightly. He’s got a look on his face of pure joy. Running free.
We stop several hours later to rest. Only a few hours more and we’ll reach the Bastion gates.
Cecil is prowling around in the grass nearby, trapping small mice with his huge paws. He throws the squealing creature up in the air and catches it in his mouth, swallowing with a single gulp.
He notices me staring at him. “So sorry, m’lady. That wasn’t very polite of me.”
I laugh. “Don’t worry, Cecil. I know you have to eat too. How far are you going to go with us?”
“We’ll see you to the gates, m’lady. Best not to go inside, I think. Plenty of rats though, I hear”—he gives me a wink—“but those are not our favorite thing to eat.” His face turns into a sort of grimace. I can’t imagine any creature willing to eat a Bastion rat, remembering the sight of them scrounging through the filth in the gutters.
“Let’s finish this, then,” I say and then climb atop Pearl for our final ride.
It’s a glorious one too: the summer sun is shining, but the breeze from our speed keeps me cool.
I can’t peel my eyes from the Bastion ahead, growing ever larger as we draw near. The sun arcs in the sky overhead. When it drops down in front of us, that’s when my face begins to sweat. My eyes burn from both the light and the beads of perspiration that are dripping down into them. But I don’t slow down: I push Pearl even harder.
We’re nearly to the gates when Cecil and the two other bearcats tear away. I wave to them, yelling out a promise to see them again soon. But to be honest, I have no idea when that will be. I don’t even know what’s going to happen in the next five minutes.
Bravura Page 19