CHAPTER 30
Helena
Hunting with Cap was a great improvement over cooking with Rouge.
Snow crunched under Helena’s boots as she followed him across the mountainside. To keep the hunting parties from overlapping, she and Cap were heading for a stand of trees on the far side of a large bare stretch filled with slippery, snow-covered rocks.
She’d already lost her footing once. Cap, gentleman outlaw that he was, had caught her hands and steadied her. She was half tempted to slip on purpose so she could feel his strong hands in hers again.
But the first time, her mind had been full of his reaction when she implied that his offer was one of courtship. The shock of his sudden nearness and support had put a little pink in her cheeks that wasn’t from the cold. So naturally, she had jerked away with an “I don’t need to be rescued!”
As a result, she wasn’t certain he would help if she fell again. Especially since his hazel eyes had shadowed afterward.
“What are we hoping to catch today?” she asked, keeping her voice light and casual. “Anything and everything?”
He shook his head. “Adrien’s group will set some traps for smaller game.
You can shoot a squirrel or rabbit if you see one, but our job is to find a deer.
An elk would be better from a meat perspective, but it will take longer to haul back to camp.
” He glanced over at her. “Unless you’re stronger than you look. ”
She wrinkled her nose. “Are you saying I look weak?”
“No. Five hundred pounds is a lot to carry for several miles, even split between two people.”
Scanning the mountain peak across from them, she hid a wince at her error. “Got it. No elk.”
“We could quarter it and take multiple trips, but we might lose some to a scavenger,” he added. “Even so, it’s worth the risk if we find one. We have no guarantee of a deer instead.”
When they reached the trees, Cap turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “Would you like to find a trail for us to follow?”
“Me?” She blinked at him. “But I don’t…” She didn’t want to admit weakness, even in front of Cap. Lifting her chin, she challenged, “You find the trail, and I’ll follow it.”
“The idea was to teach you.” He reached his right hand up to fiddle with his arrows and looked past her. “I can’t do that if I do the work for you.”
And she’d thought the idea had been to spend time with her.
Pulling up his hood, he waved her forward. “How much do you know about hunting?”
Helena pulled her cloak tighter and debated with herself. She did want to learn. And Cap seemed willing to teach her…even if he wasn’t looking at her.
“Not much,” she finally admitted. Dipping her head, she added, “I didn’t have the chance when I was younger, and my brother only took me a few times after I came back.”
He slowed and faced her. “After your kidnapping, you mean?”
“My—?” It took her a moment to remember his assumption about her curse.
“Oh, yes. I’d been back for less than a year when I left for Amitié, and A—” She stopped herself and switched to her brother’s stage name.
“Gunther was busy until spring, and then his son was born. I joined a few hunts with some of the nobles, but they…”
“Didn’t appreciate your skill?” he finished with a tiny curve to his mouth.
“They were all men,” she replied tersely. “They told me I should be doing needlework.”
Huffing in amusement, he stepped to the side and motioned for her to join him. “They’ve clearly never been to Castellia. If I ever return to the capital, I’ll introduce you to Daphne – you would get along. All right, when you’re hunting, the first thing you want to do is…”
Cap was a much better teacher than her brother. He walked her through the basics, explaining things clearly and pointing out signs she would have missed. His manner was very calm and professional, but Helena missed the warmth of the day before.
Still, he was good company even when he wasn’t teasing her, and by the end of the day, she was feeling much more confident in her tracking skills.
He continued to take her hunting while Jean-haut and Rouge experimented with their magic over the next several days.
On the fourth day, he approached her with a staff in one hand and a rough piece of mica in the other.
“Planning to teach me another weapon?” Helena quirked an eyebrow as she tied the bag of flour and stowed it. “Seems a bit awkward to switch between it and my bow.”
“We need disguises to hide in plain sight,” he told her simply. “Jean-haut has been working on more than new communication methods.”
Her bow was already on her back, but his was nowhere to be seen. “Are we not hunting today?”
“We are.” He winked. “And now I know you don’t listen to me.”
Instead of explaining, he handed her the mica and headed out of camp. Helena pocketed the stone, tossed her water skin in her satchel, and followed.
“Why do I have a rock?” she panted once she caught up. He was only a few inches taller, but she had to work to keep up this morning. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“We’re assisting today,” he replied. Tilting his head, he asked, “Are you up for running?”
She would never admit it if she wasn’t.
A few minutes later, they were in the same area they’d been hunting for the last few days. Cap reduced their speed to a standard hunting pace once they arrived, and Helena began searching for trails.
When she finally caught up with a deer, she took the shot without asking. Cap only had a hunting knife, a staff, and a hammer hooked in his belt, after all.
Helena pulled her arrow from the animal while Cap began field-dressing it. She grimaced at the placement. If their archery competition included moving targets, she would lose.
She would simply have to take advantage of their hunting trips to improve that area of her skill.
As Cap was cleaning his knife with some dry leaves, Helena knelt to tie her rope to the deer. Suddenly, her pocket buzzed. She frowned down at it, wondering what bug would be out in the middle of winter, let alone in her pocket.
“Is something wrong?”
Looking up, she saw Cap watching her with shrewd eyes. He knew something.
The buzz came again, accompanied by a prickling sensation on her thigh. Magic.
Stuffing her hand into her pocket, she pulled out the rough piece of mica. It vibrated in her palm, just like when Jean-haut sent a signal through one of his wooden tokens.
“Rouge,” she muttered. “That’s where this came from.”
But Cap had given it to her…
Holding it up, she asked, “Should I know what this message means?”
A grin twitched his mouth before he took it from her. He squeezed it in his palm with a look of intense concentration.
“No. Either the magic or the sender needs work.”
As he handed it back to her, his eyes crinkled. “But Laurent should be the one sending. They’re getting closer.”
~
Each day after that, the magic improved. Jean-haut and Rouge had only created a few objects that could send a signal, but Cap insisted that everyone learn to use them.
He didn’t say why, but Helena knew it was a battle precaution. If the carrier was incapacitated, one of his companions could still send a message.
Several days later, Helena was waiting for a plump doe to step out from behind a tree. They hadn’t found anything the day before, and she’d been following trails all day. Just one more step…
The stone in her pocket began buzzing. Helena tried to block it out, but the pattern was the quick beat of the distress signal.
She frowned. No one was supposed to practice that one unless they were all in camp.
The distress signal repeated, paused, and repeated again. After a beat, it was followed by Adrien’s signature.
And Adrien wouldn’t have sent it by mistake.
Lowering her bow, Helena ripped the stone from her pocket and handed it to Cap. Her heart tried to pound out a matching rhythm. The guards couldn’t have found them, could they? All the way out here?
Cap looked at her quizzically, but then his eyes widened. His head spun to the north. “The boys!”
Trees flew past as Helena sprinted after him. Her breath came in ragged gasps, but she didn’t slow. Cap couldn’t help Adrien and the boys with nothing but a hunting knife, a staff, and a large hammer.
When they reached the area Adrien hunted, Cap slowed. He bent low, searching for the clues he’d made Helena find for the last week and a half. She veered off to one side to expand their coverage.
“Here!” she called in a low voice. “I think I have their trail.”
Cap quickly joined her. They jogged down the path together, eyes and ears alert for danger. Helena was tempted to pull an arrow from her quiver, but running with it wouldn’t be safe.
A frightened cry sounded from the treetops, and then a low growl rumbled toward them. Cap grabbed Helena’s arm and pulled her behind a tree. Her momentum carried her into him, smashing him against the trunk.
A low grunt of pain escaped, but he wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest. She took a moment to appreciate his soft cloak under her chilly fingers and the firm muscles beneath. Then tugging her bow out from between them, she tried to pull away.
His arms tightened. “Bear,” he breathed in her ear. “Can you climb?”
It was the wrong time to notice the thrill of his lips brushing her skin. Nodding, she replied, “Every tree in Reineggburg.”
“Go.” Releasing her, he darted out of cover. Not to a different tree, but into the open. All alone, with nothing but a staff and a hunting knife to defend himself.
A grizzly bear lumbered out of the trees toward him. Helena felt her breathing quicken at the sight of its large maw and long claws. What was Cap thinking?
She whipped an arrow out of her quiver, but her hand shook as she brought it to her bow. Where should she aim? Its chest? An eye?
Just as she released her arrow, the bear threw itself up on its hind feet, causing her arrow to fly harmlessly past. The bear released a roar, then charged.
Cap reached for his quiver. What did he plan to do, stab the bear when it got close enough? Helena grabbed another arrow, then startled when Cap slammed the end of his staff on the ground...and drew the strung bow that sprang out of it.
His arrow buried itself in the bear’s shoulder, but the animal didn’t even slow. Helena released another of her own, grimacing when it landed on the bear’s hip instead of its abdomen. She hadn’t properly accounted for its speed.
Cap stumbled backward, sending another arrow into the bear’s upper chest, but it was almost upon him. He wouldn’t be able to get another shot off at that range.
Helena’s heart lurched, and then she yelled.
“Pick on someone your own size, you nasty brute!”
The bear ignored her, lunging toward Cap with its huge teeth and massive paws. He threw himself to the side but let out a cry of pain. The bear’s claws must have clipped him.
Helena sent another arrow into the bear’s side. It roared and turned toward her. “That’s right, look at me! I’m the one turning you into a pincushion.”
Behind the animal, Cap pushed himself up, but he was favoring his right side. She couldn’t count on his ability to draw.
And the bear was coming for her now.
“Margit, climb!” Cap shouted as he pulled the hammer from his belt. When the bear kept coming, Helena stuffed her bow in its sheath and jumped for the nearest branch.
She swung up just before the bear reached her. It stood on its hind legs and swiped at her, but she scrambled to her feet, leaning on another branch for balance.
Could she shoot the bear again from here?
It wrapped its forelegs around the trunk, and Helena scurried higher. Why in the heavens had Cap told her to climb a tree if the bear could follow?
“Relachez!”
Pausing, she looked down at Cap’s cry. The hammer in his hand stretched into a sword as he rushed the bear.
Their magic-users had been getting quite creative, hadn’t they?
Helena pulled out another arrow. Cap was injured; he would need help.
And between his sword and her arrows, the forest was finally quiet again.