21. Cover Your Tracks
21
COVER YOUR TRACKS
*Kieran*
“Man, do I have a few things to tell you.” I can barely see Blanca in the darkness of the cave. Her eyes are like polished onyx, and even the whites of them are difficult to make out. It’s probably for the best. I don’t really want to see her at the moment, not when I’m so fucking confused about everything.
“What’s going on?” She sinks down across from me. I wish I would’ve had time to pack something–anything–before we left the castle because my stomach is killing me. Another hunger pang flashes through me as I pull a knee up to my chest. “Did you hear anything through the mind-link?”
“Oh yes,” I tell her. “I heard plenty. That’s what I wanted to tell you about.” I take a deep breath and consider how best to spew this all out to her. On our way here, the chatter in my mind was almost overwhelming. I could tell when we crossed out of range of the castle because my father’s booming voice stopped rattling my brain.
“I’m listening.” Her tone is calm on the surface, but underneath that tranquility, I hear a tremor of apprehension.
I take a deep breath. “As soon as we got out of the line of sight of the castle, I used the mind-link to let the guard know I was chasing you.” When I say the word “chasing” she giggles. It’s a sound I don’t think I’ve ever heard before. I’ve spent so little time with Blanca over the last twenty-one years, I can’t even remember a time when we were together when she was smiling. Most of the time, she was upset when I was nearby.
For good reason.
“Yeah, so they took off after us,” I continue, “and I kept them apprised of our location for a while. I told them the truth, so they will be able to follow our tracks until they get to that little brook we crossed a few hours ago. Then, I told them we went straight, and since there were some fresh tracks on the other side of it, they may mistake them for our sling enough not to pick them up again right away.”
She pulls in a stuttering breath. “I didn’t see any of that.”
I’m not sure what to say to that. I’m not surprised. She has only been outside of the castle walls during the Haze, and no one has any idea about their surroundings when that’s going on. I’m actually kind of surprised she found her way back to the castle from the woods.
I don’t want to think about that right now, so I continue. “Once we changed directions and headed toward the mountains, I started to pick up messages from my father shouting at the guards in other areas of the kingdom, sending them out to try to head you off. He was unbelievably pissed.”
“What?” She is obviously surprised to hear this. “Why? I mean, I know they don’t want me to leave the castle, but why is it such a big deal?”
“I’m not certain,” I admit, “but I have a feeling it has something to do with the pieces of the puzzle we have yet to put together. Whether or not he knows you have discovered your powers, I can’t say, but my father is a pretty intelligent man. He has to know that you are capable of the same sorts of manipulation Blake can perform over the animals.”
Now, I hate that I can’t see her face. I’d like to know what her reaction to that is when she says, “Yeah, I guess so.” I can’t read her tone. “I guess Fath–” she cuts herself off. “Uhm, King Gavin must know more about this situation than either one of us can imagine.”
“I think he does,” I admit to her. “I think he knows a lot of shit he’s not telling anyone, and the people who do know it probably know if they breathe a word of it to anyone they’re dead.” I consider how long ago my father’s conquests went down and how often he’s changed commanders in the army and in other key positions over the years and wonder if any of those people are even alive now. Sure, there are people like Taner’s father who served as warriors in those escapades who are still amongst us, but something tells me my father probably gets rid of people who know information he doesn’t want out if he has any inkling he might not be able to trust them fully.
“What’s our plan now?” she asks. “Do we have one?”
I chuckle under my breath. She’s such a different person than I thought she was. Whenever she questions me like that, like she doesn’t care that I’m the Crown Prince, it impresses me for reasons I can’t articulate. I’m so used to people treating me like I am perfect and the most intelligent person on the planet. Blanca isn’t like that–apparently.
“I think we should sleep here tonight. I don’t think they’ll look over here. I’ve thrown them off our tracks completely, and it’ll be hard to track us over the rocks. In the morning, we’ll get up early, reassess the situation, and then head north, following the line of the mountains.”
“Okay.” She nods–I think. I still can’t really see her. “And… you didn’t just drag my ass out of the castle to lie to me, right? I mean, if you wanted to have me whipped and thrown into the dungeon, you could’ve done that without having to run for a bazillion miles.”
At first, I’m a little offended at her question, but when I think about it from her perspective, something I’ve never really done before, I can’t blame her. “Blanca, I’m sure I didn’t sell you out. I’ve been keeping them off your trail the entire time we were running. I think, if I hadn’t come with you, they probably would’ve jumped out of the woods in front of you.”
“You’re right.” She yawns, and the whites of her eyes disappear for a moment. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m not used to being able to trust you. Or anyone.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t trust me either if I were you. But you can.” I look straight into her eyes, hoping she can see the sincerity in mine, even if she can’t really see my face.
“Let’s get some sleep then. Do you want to use the backpack as a pillow?” she asks me.
It’s kind of her. This woman who has absolutely no reason whatsoever to treat me with any sort of charity has offered me the only slight bit of comfort either of us could have in this rocky, damp cave.
“No, you use it,” I tell her. “I’m fine.”
“Thank you.” Her voice is meek as she finds a spot to lie down on the ground. Once she’s settled, she says, “Maybe I’ll send some skunks out to follow our tracks and spray them down… just in case.”
I don’t know if she’s serious or not, but the idea of an army of skunks going out into the forest, following the path we followed to get here, spraying their noxious stench all over the place as they march along so that they cover up any possibility my father’s warriors have of locating where we are.
A laugh escapes my lips, followed by another, until I’m laughing louder and harder than I have in a really long time.
“What’s so funny?” Blanca sounds like she genuinely doesn’t know what’s tickled my funny bone.
“I was just imagining your skunks out there, spraying the rocks, farting along as they go,” I tell her.
She laughs, too. “Well, I don’t think they actually fart when they release their stench. At least, the ones I’ve seen out by the barn never do.”
“You’ve seen a skunk by the barn?” I’ve seen a couple in the woods when I’ve been out on a run, but I always stay far away from them.
“Yeah. One time Horace, that big guy who handles your father’s favorite horse, got sprayed. It was hilarious. He was so mad! He ran around screaming for people to bring him tomatoes.”
We both laugh for several minutes. When it’s over, my cheeks hurt, and my stomach aches worse. We quiet and try to go to sleep.
I’ve almost reached that tipping point where my conscious mind turns off and I sink into the black abyss of sleep when something Blanca said during her skunk story hits me like a ton of bricks, and my eyes go flying open.
I turn toward her, but I can’t see her, and I’m not sure if she’s still awake. From the even sounds of her breathing, I’m guessing she’s not.
I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to ask her why she said that–why she phrased it that way. Does she know something else, or was it just her instinct to call him that?
She’d said “your” father–not “our” father.