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Nay, also for the criminal who’d stolen the child.
Together, the princess and I dug our heels in and flew. With less weight to carry, Briar gained headway, the ties in her hood finally loosening, her red tresses flapping like ribbons as she swerved around the trees. By Seasons, the woman could ride.
I tailed until Briar remembered she couldn’t navigate us to the cottage without my direction, and she slowed enough for me to reach her. We’d had enough of a head start. With any luck, our pursuers hadn’t yet spotted a pair of horses and realized there were two of us. They searched for a single offender clad in a dark cloak, mounted on a chestnut steed.
The princess’s skill on a horse surpassed mine. However, I knew the depth and breadth of these woods. I knew routes and corners that she and the knights didn’t. Not that it made a difference to me, because I also knew what had to be done.
With a sigh, I yanked on the reins.
Briar stalled beside me and trotted back and forth, both she and her ride impatient. “What are you doing?” she demanded, her cheeks flushed and fog pumping from her mouth.
“You’re lighter,” I said. “Therefore, you’ll get to Jinny quicker.”
Briar’s eyes bulged. “The plan was for me—”
“That’s the problem,” I tried to joke. “A jester never listens to anyone’s plan but his own.”
“Poet, don’t. If they catch you—”
“Then bury me here and make sure the headstone is very big. And expensive.”
“No! This is supposed to be my sacrifice, not yours!”
Hearing the frenzy in her voice, Nicu began to cry. He clawed at me as I pried him from my lap and handed him over to the princess. Despite her firm grip, Nicu flailed and reached for me, screaming, “Papa! Papa!”
“I don’t know the way,” Briar cried. “You blindfolded me.”
“Heed your lover,” I told her. “Go southeast—that way.” I pointed through the darkness. “Then trail the first brook you find. Listen for the sounds of the water and keep to it. When you reach a rather phallic looking boulder—trust me, you won’t miss it—veer full east. No matter the obstructions, no matter how dense or narrow it gets, stay your course. You’ll get there.”
Her features collapsed like scaffolding. “Please, don’t. Don’t, Poet.”
I grabbed the princess’s nape and hauled her close. “Briar. Shut up and go.”
My son wailed louder, scrambling for my cloak. I framed his cheeks and kissed his forehead.
Dear ones. Only ones.
I did my best, but I lost my way, for I’m not in your league. If this chase ends badly, and this tale ends worse, I might not see you again. So, remember, try to remember, my heart is yours.
Be good and happy. Be loved elsewhere.
Ignoring their pleas, I swerved my horse around. Slamming through the brush and back onto the main thoroughfare, I emptied my lungs and howled like a wolf into the canopy. The knights heard me and came thrashing, poppies exploding in their path. Needle-like objects whizzed over my shoulder from behind, likely darts pumped with a tranquilizer fabricated by Winter.
I leaned forward, urged my mount faster, and we soared down the road. I wasn’t daft. I didn’t expect to outride the handsome knights and steeds of Spring. This might be the lavish land of artistry and debauchery, but its soldiers rode with grit, passion, and strength.
However, after growing up in this woodland, I possessed a keener eye. A gust tore into my cloak, the chill racing over my sweat-coated skin. I swerved off the road again and slipped into the shadows, spurring my horse over a knoll and weaving around hedges.
Deeper and deeper we went. Those cursed knights kept coming, though their pace wavered as I led them astray by circling the area twice, then snaking down another condensed route. I sensed their hesitancy, which couldn’t be from wariness over locating one of the copses or hollows that spurred reckless acts. Nay, most Spring citizens went searching for those places.
So possibly the knights were recalling the previous rumors I had spread about incubi and demons lurking in certain parts of the forest. I’d explained that to Briar when she fretted over a search party finding us at Jinny’s.
I could have worn the soldiers out, tricked them into believing those rumors more keenly. Except my steed huffed. The beast would tire any moment, driven beyond its limits.
I balanced on the stirrups and scanned the trees, then stood, bent my limbs, and swung my arms. My hands hooked onto a branch overhead, and I pitched myself into an oak tree, a move I’d perfected when the princess had followed me. The boughs’ jade leaves shivered as I flipped upright and crouched on the branch. My horse kept going and vanished into the forest, vegetation shuddering in the animal’s wake.
Moments later, the knights arrived. Their black and dark green capes billowed. They cantered about, murmured to each other, then pointed and pursued my steed into the thicket.
I waited for them to double back. As a trickster and someone who had experience locking hips with a knight or two, I knew their tactics. They ranged from clever to commonplace, this one being the latter.
