A moment later, there’s a gasp. A scuffle. I run over as Dain appears, pushing Alianor in front of him.
“She was spying on us,” he says.
“Spying?” she yelps. “I was walking toward you. I wanted to help you get away.”
Dain snorts. “I didn’t see you running in when your brother was trying to kill Rowan.”
She turns to me, eyes widening. “Lanslet?”
“Unless you have another brother,” I say. “He called you his sister. He’s about sixteen years old. Light brown hair. Blue eyes. Carries a sword etched with wolves. I wasn’t sure what was on the blade at first, but I got a close-up view when he tried taking off my head with it.”
She stares at me, her face paling. “He must have just been trying to stop you.”
“No, he was trying to kill me. He said that was the way to fix this. Make sure I can never tell my mother what happened. Pretend you rescued me, and I died on the return trip.” I turn away. “Go back to your clan. I’ll keep my promise. You helped me get Malric, so I won’t tell my mother I was kidnapped.” I look at her. “I won’t lie to her, though. If it comes up somehow, I can’t deny that it happened.”
“I understand, your highness. But my father needs to know. I have to tell him before Lanslet does. He’ll be at the castle already for the negotiations. That was my plan—I bring you after he arrived, and the queen would be grateful, and my father would see…”
Her shoulders slump. “I’m sorry, your highness. I didn’t mean to doubt you about Lanslet. He can be cruel, but I never thought he’d harm a princess. I beg your forgiveness, and I swear, you aren’t in danger from the rest of my clan.”
I suspect she’s right. I remember Lanslet pausing when the others approached. He didn’t dare kill me in front of them—he wanted to do it before they arrived.
Alianor continues. “Please let me go with you to the castle. I need to confess to my father before Lanslet gets there. I can guide you back. If I give you any reason to doubt me, you have my permission to tie me to a tree and leave me there.”
“We wouldn’t do that,” I say. “But if you trick us again, I will tell my mother what you did. She won’t negotiate with your father after that.”
“I understand.”
* * *
We must get away from Lanslet’s camp and avoid any trackers he sends after us. But we also have to rest, or we’ll be bumbling around, easy prey. Alianor says Lanslet will expect us to head into the forest. The problem is that we need to go there. Dain can’t leave Wilmot alone for long in his condition. As much as I might want his training, I need to worry about that later, and it’ll be easier to get it if we bring Wilmot to the castle.
The solution is misdirection. We’ll leave a trail suggesting we’re making straight for the nearest village. Then we’ll loop south, where we’ll re-enter the Dunnian Woods closer to Wilmot’s cabin.
Everyone’s exhausted, and Malric’s still dopey from the sedative. No one complains, though. Even Jacko valiantly tries to hop alongside us rather than sleep on my head. But we’re going to collapse soon. So I must take the initiative. I am the princess. If I say we rest, we rest.
I find a spot with enough trees to hide us. Then we take turns dozing. Two sleep while the third stands guard. When it’s my turn to guard, I wander about while munching an apple and dangling pieces of dried meat to make Jacko jump for them.
We’re enjoying the moment, staying close to camp, eating and playing. Then a huge shadow passes overhead. Jacko squeals and jumps on my leg. I scoop him up and run for the trees. When I see what’s casting the shadow, I skid to a halt.
The pegasus filly circles once, spots me and then lands gracefully, tucking her wings in before trotting over.
“Smelled the apples?” I say.
I hold out my half-eaten one. She noses it, her nostrils flaring. Then she nudges my pocket.
“What? You want a whole one? I’m not the only princess here, am I?”
I set Jacko down and take out an apple. She tries to snatch it, but I throw it in the air and catch it again. She tosses her mane like a girl tossing her hair. I can’t help laughing at that.
“You want it?” I ask.
She prances with impatience.
I throw it as far as I can. She takes off at a gallop, catches it and chomps down the apple before trotting back and eyeing my pockets again.
“One more,” I say. “That’s it.”
This time I throw the apple high. She runs and spreads her wings to sail up and grab it in midair. When she returns, I’m crouched, petting Jacko.
She walks up to him and lowers her head, coming nearly eye to eye with the jackalope. He lifts one paw, claws extended, as if in warning. She exhales a blast of air that bowls him over backward.
I’m still laughing—and cuddling Jacko to restore his dignity—when Alianor and Dain appear.
“Pegasus, jackalope, warg…” Alianor motions at Malric, watching us from the grove. “Princesses really do get everything, don’t they?”
“She doesn’t get them because she’s a princess,” Dain says.
“I know,” Alianor says. “Sorry. I was teasing. She’s a monster hunter. She has a special connection with animals.”
Dain walks closer to the pegasus filly, getting a good look at her while staying out of kicking range. “The monster hunter blood helps, but they trust Rowan because she respects them, and she is kind.”
Alianor makes a face.
Dain looks at her. “She saved your life. Was that not kindness?”
“She saved me because she’s a good fighter. It was kindness that got her captured in the first place. Compassion is a luxury a warrior cannot afford. Tamarel could have lost its princess because she tried to save someone who betrayed her.”
My brows shoot up. “Are you saying I should have let that spider kill you?”
“No, I’m just warning you, Rowan. You need the teachings of Clan Bellamy. Others will take advantage of kindness.”
“Like Clan Bellamy does?” Dain says. “Robbing and raiding strangers?”
I can see this is leading to a fight, and I step between them.
“Alianor?” I say. “Would you mind scouting before we go? Make sure our path is still clear? I want to be at Wilmot’s before sundown.”
She nods and leaves. Dain watches her go. Then he takes a carrot from his pocket and holds it out. The filly ignores him and looks at me. Dain sighs and hands it over. I feed it to her.
“I’m bringing Alianor along because Lanslet is dangerous,” I say. “If he gets to their father first, it means trouble for the peace negotiations. Also, when she speaks to her father, I intend to spy on her. I want to be certain this was her idea, and he knew nothing about it.”
Dain smiles. “You wouldn’t have been such a bad queen.”
“A queen is supposed to send someone to spy. I want to do it myself.”
I grab a handful of young ferns and feed them to the filly. As she eats, Dain circles her, getting a close-up view.
“Speaking of kindness,” I say, “Wilmot was kind, taking you in.”
Dain chuckles. “I’m not sure it was kindness.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
“On the way, yes.”
I’m not sure if he means that or he’s putting me off. I search around, gathering more shoots for the pegasus.
“What she really wants is another apple,” he says.
I sigh, take one out and pitch it high. The filly leaps into the air, wings unfurling…Before she can grab the apple, Dain shoots it down with his bow.
I laugh as I jog to retrieve it. “Show-off.”
I pluck out the arrow and toss the apple to the pegasus. As I return to Dain, he’s smiling, his eyes glinting with mischief, and I can’t believe this is the same boy I met chasing the warakin.
I’ve proven I’m worthy of his trust and his companionship, and I didn’t need to tame a pegasus to do it. I did it just being myself.
“I meant it when I said I’d like to learn how to shoot like that,” I say as I hand back his arrow. “I wasn’t just flattering you.” That smile twitches. “Not just flattering me. Sure, I’ll teach you to shoot…in return for that pegasus filly.”
I must look horrified because he laughs.
“I’m joking,” he says. “You can keep your monsters, princess.”
“Are you certain?” I lift Jacko, who’s hopping around my feet. “I can offer a lovely young jackalope.”
“Sure, I’ll take him. And, by the way, dinner tonight will be rabbit stew.”
Jacko hisses and gnashes his teeth at Dain. I’m about to say something when Alianor announces that the way is clear. It’s time to go.
* * *
“She’s still there,” Alianor says, glancing over her shoulder.
I look back. Sure enough, the filly is prancing along after us. When she sees me watching, she gallops over…and butts Jacko, who is riding on my head. He swipes at her, chattering. She continues past and then looks over her shoulder, as if expecting Jacko to come after her. He grumbles and settles in on my shoulders.
We’re nearly at the forest, and the filly has followed us the whole way.
“She knows I have one more apple,” I say. “Let’s just get this over with.”
I throw the apple. She soars up, snatches it…and brings it back, dropping it at my feet.
“Uh, okay,” Alianor says. “She doesn’t want the apple.”
When I try to keep walking, the filly noses the apple, flipping it toward me. I pick it up. She prances past and looks back expectantly.
“I think she wants to play fetch,” Alianor says.
I throw the apple. The pegasus flutters after it, tosses it in the air, catches it again and then trots back to me.
“She’s lonely,” I say. “I don’t know what happened to her mother, but pegasi live in herds, like horses and unicorns.”
“So we’re her herd now?” Alianor says.
“Temporarily maybe?” I look toward the forest. “But we need to go in there, and it’s too dense for her.”
“I know another way,” Dain says. “There’s a dried-up riverbed a little farther north. It’ll take us close to Wilmot’s cabin. We just don’t usually use it, because it cuts along a mountain ridge.”
“And mountains mean monsters.” I shake my head. “No, that’s dangerous. We can’t change routes for…”
I look at the pegasus. She’s prancing around Malric now, bowing and trotting, trying to entice him to play. He’s pretending he’s still sleepy from the sedative. When she nips at his hindquarters, he wheels, snarling. She darts out of the way…only to charge and feint to one side when he snaps again. He gives me a look.
“Sorry!” I call. “But look on the bright side, Malric. Being pestered by a playful pegasus is better than being held hostage by bandits, isn’t it?”
His grunt says he’s not so sure. But the next time the pegasus comes at him, he gives her what she wants—chasing her clear across the field. Jacko squeaks, leaps from my shoulder and races to join in.
“Guys, no,” I say. “We need to keep moving.”
Malric lumbers back, looking at me as if to say he didn’t start it. In the field, Jacko tears around with the pegasus.
“We…we need to leave her behind.” I force out the words. “She’ll have to find me later. I can’t take a more dangerous, roundabout route to suit her. Not when she might just want to play for a while and then take off again.”
“She might,” Dain says. “She probably will.”
My shoulders slump. That’s not what I want to hear. He’s right, though. The filly isn’t like Jacko, who’s had to be peeled from my side since the moment we met. The filly was living fine on her own. She came to me for extra food and attention and companionship, but once she’s had enough, she’ll take off, like she did after saving me from the spider.
“But…” Dain says. “There’s a problem. She’s accustomed to people now. Wilmot always says there are two reasons for relocating a monster. One, if it’s a threat to livestock. Two, if people are a threat to it. We’re as much a danger to monsters as they are to us. Maybe more. Capturing a young pegasus would be like finding a crate of gold coins. People will try to capture her. They’ll get hurt trying, and she might get hurt, too.”
“So you must let her follow you,” Alianor says. “For her own good.”
This is a gross exaggeration. The filly won’t even take food from Dain’s hand. She’s not going to swoop into a villager’s yard hoping for handouts. Dain knows that. He’s giving me an excuse.
I want to seize it.
I want to say, Yes, you’re absolutely right, Dain. I cannot, in good conscience, abandon this beast.
I would love to keep this filly. I picture myself on her back, racing across fields. I imagine us in the air, flying over forests. This is a dream come true, and I want it so much it hurts.
That doesn’t matter. My mother taught me that being a princess is a privilege. I serve the people. I must put their needs first.
Dain and Alianor have chosen to come with me, like Jacko does, like the filly does. They put their safety in my hands, and I can’t risk it because I dream of riding a pegasus.
“I…I can’t,” I say, forcing the words. “I shouldn’t ask you to—”
“You’re making a request,” Alianor says. “Not issuing a royal command. We already agreed, so it’s settled.”
“And it’s not too dangerous,” Dain says. “Wilmot only avoids that path because there’s no reason to take it. I’ve only ever seen centicores there and, once, a khrysomallos.”
Centicores are mountain goats with sharp horns, one out the back of their head and one out the front. Those horns are dangerous, but only if you force the beast to defend itself. A khrysomallos is a flying ram with golden fur. It’s a beautiful creature, like a firebird, and no more deadly than a regular sheep.
When I still hesitate, Alianor says to Dain, “Which way is it?”
He points, and she sets off. Dain jogs after her…and I follow.
I tell myself I don’t have a choice, but I do. I choose to follow.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
e reach the old riverbed. It makes a natural road into the Dunnian Woods. At first, that’s all it is—a wide trail through the forest. Then we come to the foothills, and the path turns into a canyon cut through rock.
The pegasus filly is still with us. She’s calmed down, and she’s trotting along, sometimes behind, sometimes in front. Jacko had been hopping with her, but his baby legs gave out long ago, and now he’s dozing on my shoulders.
As we walk, I marvel at the red-striped canyon walls looming above us, higher than the castle spires. Every now and then I spot a mountain goat. Once I think I see a centicore, but it’s too far away to be sure. Whatever beasts are in this canyon, they hear us coming and stay clear.
There are caves, too. Natural ones worn into the rock by the river that once ran through here. I imagine the mighty waterway must have run all the way up these canyon walls.
“Oh, I know what this is!” I say. “It’s the Michty River. I studied it in history and geography. Long before the clans united under Clan Dacre, this was a huge river flowing from Mount Gaetal. It was the widest and fastest river in the land. The most treacherous, too, full of rocks and monsters. Clan Hadleigh were the only people who knew how to navigate it. That’s my father’s tribe. He used to tell family legends about it. They could bring people clear through the mountains on this river.”
“What happened to it?” Alianor asks.
“I was hoping you could answer that.”
“Me?”
“Clan Bellamy are the people of the mountains. All my father knew is that the river stopped running. One winter, it froze over for the first time ever. Then, when spring thaw came, all that melted water rushed down to the lake…and the river emptied, like someone pulling the plug on a bath basin. No more water flowed from Mou
nt Gaetal. His clan tried to travel to the source, but no one ever returned. While they continued being river guides elsewhere, once this river was gone, so was their fame and their fortune.”
“We don’t know how the river stopped,” Alianor says. “Our people stay far from Mount Gaetal. Once, when I was little, I declared I would go there one day, to prove my bravery, and my mother told me the story of—”
Thunder cuts her short. For a heartbeat, I ignore it. Every time I’ve heard a loud noise or felt a wind or seen a shadow pass overhead, I’ve scurried for cover like a frightened mouse. And it has turned out to be nothing. So when the thunder claps, I only glance into the clouds, expecting a downpour.
Then Jacko bolts upright on my shoulders. The pegasus filly whinnies. The sun vanishes as a massive shadow creeps over us. I squint up to see a white head and feathered wings, and I think it’s a pegasus. The filly’s mother has found her.
That’s when I see the beak. A yellow beak and yellow talons.
“Cover!” I scream. “Take cover!”
Even as the words leave my mouth, I realize they’re pointless. We’re in a canyon. There is no cover here.
“Rocks!” I say. “Get behind—”
The gryphon swoops straight for the filly. I pull my sword and run at it. Jacko leaps from my head before he falls. Dain fires an arrow. It hits the gryphon in the neck, and the beast changes course. It flies over our heads. Then it lands with a thud that vibrates through the canyon floor.
The gryphon lands fifty feet away. That’s still close enough for us to see its tongue when it opens its beak. Close enough to hear the clack of its talons on the rocky riverbed. Close enough to spot blood on one foreleg, where I cut its tendon last week. The beast limps but only slightly, its three good legs compensating.
I see the gryphon coming at me. I smell it. I hear it. I swear I feel its talons wrap around me again, dragging me into the air. I see it throwing Rhydd, and I live that moment again, when I thought my brother was dead. I see Jannah on the ground. I watch her dying right in front of me.
A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying Page 17
