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I held her small hand in mine as we ran down the beach toward the village. Every part of me hurt and felt dirty and ashamed. I fought back the tears and ignored the pain, because I couldn’t let that slow me down. Not when we were so close to freedom.
I told myself that I would be back, though. I would find a way to save Melodi from this hellish prison, too. Just because her fate wouldn’t be as awful as ours, didn’t mean she deserved to be stuck in this place with that horrible woman.
Rose tripped and fell so many times, her sleep-deprived body unable to keep up with my pace.
We were almost there, though. I could hear the lapping of the water against the wharf.
We turned a corner, and the cargo ship came into view. I had been eyeing it for months, but it was a risk, one I hadn’t been willing to take until tonight.
We made it all the way to the loading bay before I saw him. Damian. Relief whooshed out of me. He had gone ahead to pay our passage. This was it. We were almost free.
But his expression was all wrong. A slow, malicious smile spread across his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but I knew what he was going to say before he got the words out. I had already lost.
“I’ve found them for you, Mother.”
I'm not even trying for stealth, though I don't know what I will say when I catch up with Einar. Even if I could trust him with the truth, I’m not even sure what that is anymore.
Regardless, he doesn't get to order me around like one of his dogs and expect me to sit and stay where he tells me to.
As usual, it’s easier for me to focus on my anger than any of the other thoughts competing for first place.
Gideon flies down a small embankment, pulling me momentarily out of my vicious thoughts. It is clear that he struggles with changing speeds. He is all or nothing, and we begin to slide and stumble more than we were before. The path ahead is getting steeper and slicker, and if I was on any other horse, I know we wouldn’t have made it this far. Though, I’m not certain Gideon will make it much further, either. Or at least, not with me atop him.
My balance clearly isn’t what it used to be, and I seem to be tilting or sliding far more than normal.
But in spite of all this and the incline, Gideon is undeterred and continues upward.
I lean forward as far as I can to lighten my weight in the saddle, which propels him forward even faster. My core and lower back burn from the strain, but I somehow keep my seat.
I turned to run, knocking on doors at random in a plea for help. But the islanders knew who we were. Who webelongedto. They couldn’t risk their lives for ours, and in the end, they sealed Rose’s fate.
We seem to be going in a nearly straight line northwest, toward the snow-capped mountains in the distance that already feel so much larger as we approach them. It makes sense why they don't bother with regular horses here. None of them could manage this terrain or the freezing temperatures.
With Gideon’s thick coat, he doesn’t seem even the slightest bit fazed. Even Khijha was made for this. She has no trouble keeping up, though I worry that we are making our presence too obvious.
If my hestrinn and cat are larger than life, then whatever is potentially lurking within this forest could be as well.
But they can’t be any worse than other monsters I’ve faced.
By the time we were back at the château, my tears were spent. I was silently resigned to the punishment we would face. I held Rose’s head to my chest as sobs wracked her body, assuring her that she wouldn’t take any of the blame. It was my idea, after all.
We bolt around towering spruce and fir trees, up increasingly steep trails. I want to trust that Gideon knows what he’s doing, as he has so clearly taken the lead, but I get anxious every time we come too close to the imposing trunks and branches. This is the last place I want to be injured.
I am neither weaponless, nor defenseless, but I won't pretend to know how to escape or kill any predator here.
And I haven’t forgotten the dragon.
Gideon has not slowed even for a moment, though. He is spectacular, even with his eyes rolling around in his head a bit and the crazed noises he makes on occasion. I have no way of knowing how much faster he is than an average hestrinn and no way of gauging our progress, though.
All I can do is hope we are gaining on them and hope I will catch up to the king in time to get some sands-blasted answers.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Nearly three hours have passed, according to the position of the sun, when Gideon starts to act fidgety. He even slows his pace without my tugging on the reins.
I am already nervous, because I’ve heard the sound of streaming water for the past half hour. I try to trust Gideon, try to believe that he won’t come upon a river and stop so suddenly that I pitch forward, but my trepidation won’t quite buy it.
I look to Khijhana, and she is fixated on a space beyond the trees, but not necessarily on guard. Have we caught up with them at last?
