Graceling (Graceling Realm #1)(85)

“It’s time for you to go,” Po said, and he leaned forward, balanced himself, and stood. Katsa bit back her protests and gave him her shoulder. Bitterblue untied the horse, and they made their way back to the cabin.

Your balance is better, Katsa thought to him. Come with us.

“Cousin,” Po said, “don’t let her run the horse ragged. And be sure she sleeps and eats every once in a while. She’ll try to give all the food to you.”

“As you have done,” Bitterblue said, and Po smiled.

“I’ve tried to give you most of the food,” he said. “Katsa will try to give you all of it.”

They stopped at the entrance to the cabin, and Po leaned back against the door frame. Come with us, Katsa thought as she stood before him.

“They’ll be on your tail,” Po said. “You must not let them get close enough to talk to you. Think about disguising yourself. You’re dirty and bedraggled, but any fool would recognize either of you. Katsa, I don’t know what you can do about your eyes, but you must do something.”

Come with us.

“Bitterblue, you must help Katsa if she’s confused by any words she hears. You must help each other. Don’t trust any Monsean, do you understand? You mustn’t trust anyone who may have been touched by Leck’s Grace. And don’t for a moment think you can defeat him, Katsa. Your only safety is in escaping him. Do you understand?”

Come with us.

“Katsa.” His voice was rough, yet gentle. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I understand,” she said, and when a tear trickled down her cheek, he reached out and wiped it away with one finger.

He studied her face for a moment, and then he turned to Bitterblue. He bent down on one knee and took her hands.

“Farewell, cousin,” he said.

“Farewell,” the child said gravely.

He stood again, gingerly, and leaned back against the door frame. He closed his eyes and sighed. He opened his eyes and looked into Katsa’s face. His mouth twitched into the slightest grin. “You’ve always intended to leave me, Katsa.”

She choked on a sob. “How can you joke? You know this isn’t what I meant.”

“Oh, Katsa. Wildcat.” He touched her face. He smiled, so that it hurt her to look at him, and she was sure she couldn’t leave him alone. He pulled her close and kissed her, and he whispered something into her ear. She held on to him so hard that his shoulder must have ached, but he did not complain.

Katsa didn’t look back as they rode away. But she gripped Bitterblue tightly; and she called out to him, his name bursting inside her so painfully that for a long while, she could feel nothing else.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE




They followed the edges of the Monsean mountains and pushed the poor horse south. They ran occasionally over open land, but more often than not their progress was slowed by cliffs, crevices, and waterfalls – places where there was no footing whatsoever for the horse. There, Katsa needed to dismount, backtrack, and lead the beast to lower ground. And then the hair would stand on the back of her neck and every sound would stop her breath; she couldn’t breathe freely until they’d climbed again. For the lower land gave way to the forest, and Katsa knew the forest must be swarming with Leck’s army.

The army would comb the forest, the Port Road, and the land between. They would comb the mountain pass at the border of Sunder and Estill. They would make camp in Monport and watch the ships that came and went, searching any ship likely to be hiding the kidnapped daughter of the king. No. As the day turned to evening, Katsa knew she was fooling herself. They would search every ship, suspicious or not. They would search every building in the port city.

They would comb the coastline east of Monport, and west to the mountains, and search every ship that chanced to approach the Monsean shore. They would tear the Lienid ships apart.

And within a day or two, Katsa and Bitterblue would be sharing the base of the Monsean peaks with hordes of Leck’s soldiers. For there were only two paths out of Monsea: the sea, and the mountain pass on the Sunderan-Estillan border. If the fugitives weren’t found on the Port Road or in the forest, if the fugitives had not appeared on the mountain pass, in Monport, or aboard a ship, then Leck would know they were in the mountains, trapped by forest and sea, with the peaks that formed the border of Monsea and Sunder at their back.

When night fell, Katsa built a small fire against a wall of rock. “Are you tired?” she asked Bitterblue.

“Yes, but not terribly,” the child said. “I’m learning to sleep on the horse.”

“You’ll have to sleep on the horse again tonight,” Katsa said, “for we must keep moving. Tell me, Princess. What do you know of this mountain range?”

“The range that divides us from Sunder? Very little. I don’t think anyone knows much about these mountains. Not many people have gone into them, except up north, of course, at the pass.”

“Hmm.” Katsa dug through her bags and unearthed the roll of maps. She flattened them in her lap and flipped through them. Clearly, Raffin had taken Po at his word when Po said he wasn’t sure where they were going. She thumbed past maps of Nander and Wester, maps of Drowden City and Birn City. A map of Sunder, and another of Murgon City. Numerous maps of various parts of Monsea. She pulled a curling page out of the pile, laid it on the ground beside the fire, and dropped stones onto its edges to hold it flat. Then she sat back on her heels and studied the princess, who stood guard over the roasting quail.