Chapter 20
‘I’m going to the castle tomorrow,’ Parisar announced at breakfast a few days later.
Everyone stopped eating and looked at him.
‘Who’s going with you?’ Breust asked.
‘No one,’ Parisar replied.
‘No. Not happening,’ Tain said.
‘Keeping the princess safe is more important. I can move quicker on my own.’
‘Rubbish,’ Tain spat. ‘You know none of us would slow you down. Besides, the princess is getting better. She could almost defend herself if she needed to.’
I looked down at my plate, touched and a little embarrassed by Tain’s back-handed compliment. I had been training with the other members daily, and both Cor and Sim had taken turns to spar with me. I knew I wasn’t much of a match for them, but I appreciated them taking time out of their own training to work with me. I wouldn’t say we’d become friends, but it was no longer a cold stand-off between us.
‘I’m not leaving her here by herself,’ Parisar said, not looking at me.
I hated how they discussed me as if I was a vase and not a person. No one asked my opinion on the matter. No one consulted me on whether I felt confident enough to stay here alone.
‘She wouldn’t be alone,’ Cor said. It was rare for her to speak up, but when she did, the others listened.
Parisar sighed. ‘She would be if I took someone with me,’ Parisar admitted. ‘I need to send each of you on a different mission.’
‘Why?’ Zeyr asked, looking around the table. ‘What happened?’
‘It’s just rumours right now,’ Parisar said, rubbing the spot on his forehead between his eyes. ‘I don’t know what’s true and what’s not.’
‘What rumour?’ Breust asked carefully, keeping his eyes on Parisar.
‘War,’ Parisar said. ‘An invasion. The other kingdoms think the queen has lost her mind, and there is talk that they intend to remove her forcefully.’
There was a long silence around the table, each person lost in their own thoughts. As for me, I was worried about my mother. Had she really lost her grip on reality like they claimed? Had the mirror really taken her sanity? I knew the speculation around the mirror had deepened. I knew that the rumours of my mother sending me into the woods to be killed for her own vanity had become almost lore. It was untrue, of course. I was alive and well, and I knew the mirror didn’t do what everyone said it did. Sure, it was magical, a relic from my great-grandparents age when magic was prevalent in Fernweh. But magic had died out long ago, and the little that remained in the mirror was nothing more than an echo of its past power. The mirror wasn’t even right half of the time. A least a broken clock was right twice a day. The mirror was less reliable than that.
‘Then you absolutely can’t go alone,’ Tain declared.
Parisar scrubbed his hand through his hair, making it stick up in all different directions. He needed a haircut and a shave, not that I minded the beard he’d grown. But if he was going to the queen, then he needed to fix his appearance…or maybe not. He was supposed to be exiled and shouldn’t even be showing his face in the castle, so the long hair and the beard might be part of his disguise.
‘Why can’t I go on a mission with someone?’ I asked.
Everyone turned to look at me.
‘What? You need the rumours verified, and you can’t go to the castle alone, and you won’t leave me here alone…why can’t I go with someone?’
‘Uh, because you are the princess,’ Tain replied.
‘But who would recognise me?’ I asked. ‘I cut my hair, I’m wearing a tunic and breeches. I don’t look like the princess, or at least, I don’t look like the princess everyone knows. Besides, if I get recognised wouldn’t that help the queen? If people knew I was alive, then maybe the crazy stories about my mother would stop.’
Everyone looked back at Parisar, who to his credit, seemed to be considering my suggestion.
‘You could send me to one the of the remote villages,’ I said. ‘No one would even know what the princess looks like there.’
‘I’ll take her,’ Tain said. She turned to Parisar. ‘Breust can go with you.’
‘No. I’ll take Zeyr. I need Breust to go to the Werifesteria border.’
‘Werifesteria?’ I whispered. ‘Why?’
‘There are rumours that the thorns are receding, or at least parts are dying off,’ Parisar said. ‘I need to know if that’s true. And if so, whether we can get through.’
‘Or whether they can get through to us,’ Breust said.
‘So I can go with Tain?’ I asked.
Parisar looked at me for a long time and then nodded with a sigh. ‘Okay. You go with Tain, but you are to do exactly what she says. No arguing.’
‘I don’t argue,’ I replied, turning back to my breakfast, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch before I looked away.
‘Of course you don’t, Princess,’ he said.
The rest of the meal was spent discussing the various locations each member would go to and the preparations needed. Tain and I would leave before daybreak and be back at the compound by nightfall, all being well. The others wouldn’t be back until the following day.
It felt good to have something to do. My days had become monotonous and blended into each other, much the same way they had when I lived at the castle. But now there was something new and different, and it energised me. I eagerly listened to Tain’s instructions as we packed. We didn’t need to take much. The village was a couple of hours walk from the compound, and we wouldn’t be staying overnight, so the only supplies we needed were food and weapons.
Tain handed me a small blade about as long as my forearm with a leather-wrapped hilt.
‘What’s this?’ I asked.
‘Hunting knife,’ she replied. ‘Or at least, that’s what anyone else would think. I know we haven’t trained with short blades, but as long as you stab the pointy end into the threat, and avoid getting the pointy end stabbed into you, then you should be good. And put this on.’ Tain handed me a small scabbard with a strap. ‘Tie it around your waist to carry your blade. We’re hunters, or at least I am. You’re my apprentice. We’ll be taking some furs into the village to sell as a cover.’
I nodded, and then asked. ‘Furs? What furs?’
Tain grinned. ‘We’ll get them on the way.’
We didn’t have to kill any animals along the way, despite what Tain said. I knew she’d said it that way to scare me, but what she meant was that we’d pick them up from the storage room where there were already some pelts that had been prepared and were ready to sell. I didn’t know what went into preparing a pelt, and I didn’t want to know.
Light flurries of snow had been falling for the last few days, but the canopy of the woods was too thick for the flakes to penetrate. It was still cold, though. Probably colder, because not only did the canopy keep out the snow, but it also kept out the sun and therefore, the warmth.
Tain set a brisk pace, and before long I wasn’t feeling the cold anymore. I did my best to keep up with her, but my steps weren’t as sure as hers, and I made twice as much sound as she did. I didn’t know how she managed to move so quietly through the leaf litter on the forest floor. Without me slowing her down, Tain would have moved a lot faster, but she didn’t make me feel bad about it, surprisingly. She adjusted her pace so I could keep up, and I was grateful. She only did it because if we got separated, I would never find her or my way back, so I knew it wasn’t all for my benefit. I was grateful, nonetheless.
We stopped once to eat, and then we were on our way again. I couldn’t see the sky, so I didn’t know what time it was…not that I was any good at telling the time by the sun. I could at least tell if it was morning or afternoon.
When we finally broke through the trees and into a plain, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t as late as I had thought.
‘Come on,’ Tain said, breaking into a jog, her heavy pack thumping on her back. ‘We need to get there before they open.’
I jogged after her, my own small pack bumping against me with the rhythm of my steps. I was exhausted, and I knew we still needed to make the return trip, but there was no way I would complain. I’d already slowed Tain down enough. I would do my best to keep up now.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to jog far. The village was around a bend and in a slight valley. I could smell the woodsmoke from the hearth fires and the scent of grilling meat as the market prepared for the crowds. My stomach rumbled, and Tain laughed at me.
‘Business first,’ she said. ‘Then we eat.’
I nodded and followed her as she led the way toward the market.
Tain seemingly knew everyone. They waved to her, and she nodded in return, sometimes even stopping to talk. This was a side of Tain I had never seen before. She was…friendly. Charming, even. It was a bizarre sight, and I was tempted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
‘This is us,’ Tain said, slinging her pack to the ground in a space between two stalls.
I helped her put out the pelts. They were beautiful, although I felt bad for the animals. I knew we ate the meat and that nothing was wasted, but I still felt bad.
It wasn’t long before a steady stream of customers arrived. I knew nothing about the fur, so I left all the talking up to Tain. I listened as she did her selling but also as she got the customers to share the latest news and rumours. Unfortunately, everything Parisar had been afraid of was true. There were rumours of an invasion, although there was no clear culprit. Some said it would come from Querencia, others said Kairos. A few mentioned Thassalonia, saying they would likely come from the sea, but the most concerning were the people who thought the invasion would come from Werifesteria. The rumours also talked about the barrier between Eudaimonia and the forgotten kingdom receding. Some even reported a break in the once impenetrable thorns.
Tain, for her part, didn’t react to any of the news. She nodded, interested in what the customers were saying, and even spreading some rumours of her own. She told some of the more talkative customers she’d heard the princess was alive and had taken up with a secret militia group who supported the queen and were actively trying to squash any invasion. Okay, so that wasn’t exactly a lie.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t long before the rumour Tain had started came back to her. I detected a twitch of her lips as someone leaned in to whisper the information to her. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.
When the last pelt was sold, Tain had a full money pouch and even more news to share with Parisar once we got back to the compound. Tain tossed me a few coins.
‘Go and grab something to eat and buy yourself something pretty, Princess.’ The last she said with a lascivious wink that made me scowl.
‘Where are you going?’ I asked, surprised she’d let me wander around on my own.
‘The tavern,’ she said. ‘I want to verify some of these rumours to see if I can get more clarity. Meet me at the bridge in an hour.’
I walked away from Tain and headed into the market. It was a novel experience for me. I’d been to the market in Port City, but it was fancier than this and catered to the lords and ladies of the castle. This market was for the villages and those who lived outside the village but came in for supplies.
I stopped by a stall that sold meat on a stick. I’d been smelling the delicious scents all morning, and it didn’t disappoint. I had some coin left over to buy a bag of soft taffy balls, and I tucked them into my pocket to save for later. I would need the energy on the walk home.
There were stalls with dresses—not the pretty, colourful silks I was used to—and others with weapons and leather goods. There were also stalls with jewellery and pretty trinkets. I stopped by one of these and ran my hand over the selection of hair combs. They were the type that could be used to secure my hair back from my face, which would come in handy for when I was training and going about my chores. The fact that they were decorated with pretty flowers and sparkly jewels was of no consequence…okay, so maybe I did like the look of them. But they were completely functional too and there was no reason why function couldn’t also be pretty.
I fished out the remaining coins from my pocket and frowned. I didn’t have enough. With a sigh I turned to go, but the comb-seller stopped me.
‘You can’t find anything you like?’ she asked.
‘Oh, I like them,’ I replied with a smile. ‘They are beautiful. But I don’t have enough money.’
The comb-seller nodded in understanding and then stopped, tilting her head to the side and tapping her chin with a finger. ‘I might have something you can afford,’ she said. ‘Give me a moment.’
The comb-seller disappeared behind a curtain, and I could hear her rummaging around before she came back and held out a beautifully carved bone comb.
‘Oh, this looks far too expensive,’ I said, intrigued by the comb even though I knew I could never afford it.
‘Pish,’ the comb-seller said. ‘My husband carves these for fun. The bone is from the animals he skins for his leather work.’
She pushed the comb into my hands, and I took it reverently. It was beautiful. It didn’t have the fancy, sparkly jewels, nor was it painted in pretty colours, but the handiwork and skill of the carvings was even more beautiful.
‘How much is it?’ I asked hesitantly.
‘How much do you have?’
I pulled out my remaining coins and showed her. She swept some off my hand, leaving me with three, and smiled.
‘There,’ she said. ‘It is all yours. Should I put it in your hair now for you? I have a mirror—’
‘No, thank you,’ I said, tucking the comb into my pocket. ‘I want to save it for after I’ve washed my hair,’ I mumbled, embarrassed. I couldn’t even imagine what a disaster my hair was at the moment, not after trekking through the woods and then standing around the dusty market for hours. ‘But thank you. I will treasure it.’
The woman nodded, and I turned away. I hurried toward the bridge where Tain had instructed me to meet her. I felt bad about not wearing the comb immediately, but there was no way I wanted Tain to see it. She would make fun of me all the way home if she knew.