Chapter 9 – Dangerous Tricks
"Oh," Kaide replied, her tone blank. Judging from Blaire's facial expression, she didn't take this response well.
"Is that all you can say? "Oh?"" Blaire replied, leaning uneasily on Kaide's door and mimicking Kaide's blank tone.
"Yes." Kaide sat up, resisting the urge to groan as she stretched. "But as you can see, I can't help you hunt." Kaide pointed at the bandages around her head, suppressing a smile at the thought that she didn't need to hunt for Ashen and Bitterblue. Seeing as she helped them escape, she had no wish to bring them back to the wrath of Leck.
"No can do, Kaide. Leck specifically requested you because you are our best tracker. Anyway, I'm sure those bandages are an excuse. You'll be fine in days," Blaire yawned, looking unsympathetic.
"You suck. You do know that, right?" Kaide muttered harshly, finally stepping off the bed and standing beside Blaire. "Do we go meet Leck again for another one of those damn briefings?"
"No need to yell, Kaide. And no, you don't need a briefing. Leck had no desire to see your 'street muck scum' face as he termed it. We're to go together into the surrounding forest with some dogs and get tracking."
"Lovely. Just what I wanted to do. Get out into the cold snow and get tracking. Oh joy," Kaide replied sarcastically.
"Just come," Blaire sighed, leading Kaide out of the room.
"Blaire, I need to go on ahead to track these tracks. Bitterblue and Ashen seemed to have split paths, so you should go one way, and I'll go the other," Kaide stated, staring intently at the faint indentations on the forest floor, the only sign that someone that run though.
"Kaide, I can't see anything. Can't we just follow your scent when you follow the tracks?" Blaire answered back, a slight whine in her voice.
"Fine, but it'll be longer. Seriously, we should follow only one track, or we'll lose the both. Once the snow falls, any tracks that they have made will be gone," Kaide replied, mentioned the forecasted snow fall that would arrive later that night. Once the snow fell, any sign that Ashen and Bitterblue made would be covered, erased, and even the sharpened sight of Kaide from her Grace couldn't let her read tracks that were under snow.
"Which one?" Blaire ordered, motioning for the lead dog master to come forward.
Kaide frowned at the floor where the tracks split. She was pretty sure that Ashen and Bitterblue only split in order to confuse the dogs – if she followed one track it would lead her to the other one. Staring harder, Kaide noted that one of the tracks was deeper than the other, showing to the trained tracker's eye that whoever had made those tracks was heavier than the other. Ashen.
"That one," Kaide answered, pointing to Ashen's trail. "The debris is larger, therefore Ashen went that way." Kaide pointed to the small gap in the trees.
"And why are we going that way?" the lead dog master asked, holding a golden furred dog by a leash.
"Queen Ashen went that way. Her actions are more predictable than Bitterblue's. Where would a frightened girl go? It's unpredictable. But Ashen? Her first impulse would be to get to Lienid. So any path she takes will lead to a port town. Bitterblue would probably meet her there, so that is my deduction," Kaide stated.
"That's what I thought," the dog master replied, staring hard into the woods. "I'll get my dogs to follow the other scent. Is that agreeable?"
Blaire nodded, and the dog master began yelling orders at his men to organise the dogs. Meanwhile, when Blaire looked up, Kaide was several metres ahead in the forest, walking while crouching and doing something on the forest floor.
"Kaide? What are you doing?" Blaire asked, a suspicious feeling arising within her.
"What?" Kaide jumped, looking startled and slightly guilty. "I'm looking at the tracks."
Blaire made a snort of amusement, clearly not believing Kaide. "Let me help." As she walked further along, she noticed that the tracks were clear enough for her to see. "You sure that they are the right tracks? They look awfully...fresh."
"They're fine. Okay?" Kaide replied, hoping that Blaire would not get any more suspicious. When Blaire had been distracted with the dog master, Kaide had gone up ahead and created a false trail, as well as covering up the scent trail left by Ashen. As long as the tracker dogs didn't try too hard to look for Ashen's trail, she would be hidden, as would Bitterblue. What Kaide had said about Ashen's tracks earlier was true. But what she carefully didn't mention was that the other trail with Bitterblue's scent was a fail trail set by Bitterblue to detour the dogs away. Bitterblue had then walked back the way she came, and Ashen probably carried her long enough for the dogs to believe that it was just Ashen walking alone.
"A dangerous trick," Kaide murmured in approval. "Guess she listened to my ramblings."
"What?" Blaire asked, her voice sharp. Kaide ignored her, more pressing thoughts on her mind. For instance, how mad would Leck be once they reported they lost Ashen and Bitterblue? With Kaide's interference, they would be lost.
"This trail is screwed. It doesn't make sense," Kaide replied, frowning.
"Why?" Blaire said, coming forward.
"Look."
Blaire came forward and looked at the mess that was the trail, the result of Kaide's handiwork.
"If you don't understand it, why would I?" Blaire finally said, looking up into the setting sky where it began to snow.
"You lost them..." Leck's voice was dangerously soft, and it reminded Kaide of his tone when he tried to lure Ashen and Bitterblue out of their room. A dangerous beast about to pounce.
"Yes, my king. Both Kaide and I couldn't decipher the tracks, and the dogs lost Bitterblue's scent. 'Disappeared into thin air' is a direct quote from the dog master," Blaire said, noticing Kaide's sudden tense posture and wondering what that implied.
"YOU LOST THEM!" Leck exploded, most in the room falling to their knees, their minds confused by the order Leck's Grace of persuasion gave them. Kaide clutched her ears and almost jumped high into the air, abnormally high for an ungraced person before controlling this instinct and falling backwards instead. But it had been a close call. If Leck saw her jump that high...Kaide knew that Leck already suspected, but jumping several metres into the air was a dead giveaway.
The room was silent, as Leck remained in the dining hall, breathing deeply.
"Go," he said finally. "GO. And I do not want to see you again until you bring me any positive news."
Kaide and Blaire left without fail, never once turning back.
"King Leck!" The shout came from a young man with a bow on his back. "Ashen! I saw her run on the grounds! She's come back a reason!"
"You positive, hunter?" Leck asked, his Grace confirming what he hoped.
The hunter nodded, as Leck smiled. He turned to a well-dressed man that stood behind him, deep eye bags showing how Leck used him. "Give this man a generous reward. And organise my army! I must hunt down my queen!"
The man tried to nod, but looked as exhausted that he wanted to drop dead. "And you aren't tired either. You are filled with energy and will obey my commands."
"Yes, of course, my king!" the man yelled, feeling a sudden boost of energy before leaving.
"Now, Ashen, where have you hidden my Bitterblue?" Leck smiled, malice showing in his only eye.
It was midmorning on the same day that the young hunter had announced that he had seen Ashen, and Kaide couldn't be more puzzled. Why would Ashen return to the castle? Unless she needed something...? Kaide realised as she brushed the morning's snow off her hair. Something for Bitterblue. Both she and Blaire were wrapped in thick wolf furs, their weapons hidden by the thick pelt. In front of them, leading the party, as Leck, carrying a bow and arrow in his hands. Kaide had the feeling that he intended to kill Ashen. Leck had wanted Bitterblue alive. Not Ashen. But what did Leck want with his daughter?
As they continued to travel through the fields towards the forest, the men that Leck had assembled got their bows to the ready. Then suddenly, the eerie silence was shattered when someone yelled "There!"
Kaide and Blaire both turned, and saw a small figure wearing a black dress run desperately with her arms raised into the forest.
"Follow here!" Leck commanded, and the silence was filled with the loud thundering of hooves and yells as everyone rode towards the defenceless form of Ashen.
"What's that?" Blaire asked, pointing towards a figure that had appeared out of the forest, in front of Ashen, who was followed seconds later by a figure that Kaide recognised.
"What the bloody hell in Monsea's name are those two doing here! Katsa and Po!" Kaide yelled in horror.
"No way..." Blaire said slowly. Leck raised his bow with a slow, fatal power and shot an arrow that hit Ashen squarely in the back. Ashen tumbled face first into the snow, the blood pooling onto the white snow, dead.
Kaide looked towards Po and his face was blankly emotionless. He was frantically yelling something at Katsa, who held a bow poised to strike, but had suddenly frozen.
"Oh! What an accident!" Leck cried out in a sob. Katsa was frozen, and slowly pulled down her bow.
"Accident?" Blaire murmured, looking confused.
"Dummy! Leck's Grace!" Kaide hissed. Blaire suddenly jerked up, as if she had woken up from a stupor.
"Sorry. I got caught in there for a moment," Blaire replied, embarrassed.
"What a terrible, terrible accident!" Leck screamed. "My wife! My beloved wife!"
Kaide felt a pang of loss for Ashen, but couldn't resist snorting. "He's laying it on really thick, isn't he?" Kaide noted, nodded towards Leck.
Kaide was snapped out of her amusement when Po suddenly yelled, "No! Shoot him!"
"How does he...?" Blaire asked. "He's not under Leck's Grace! Even I'm struggling to keep my thoughts at the moment!"
"Perception," Kaide murmured. "His bloody Grace is perception. He knows exactly what Leck is!"
Blaire noted that rather than sounding concerned, Kaide seemed glad that Po knew what Leck was. Kaide and Blaire watched on as Po and Katsa bickered, Katsa under the influence of Leck's Grace and wondering why she should shoot Leck.
"-I'm not going to shoot a grieving man whose wife has had such an accident-"
"-Give me the bow. Give it to me!"
"No!" Katsa yelled back. "You're not yourself!"
"I'd like Leck dead, but it's amusing watching them bicker on who gets the bow," Kaide said, amused.
"What?" Blaire asked, concentrating on the situation with Katsa and Po.
"Will you do something else, then?" Po asked. Kaide's head snapped back as she strained her ears to hear.
"Yes, if it will hurt no one," Katsa replied, confusion etched on her face.
"Will you run with me now, back into the forest? And if he starts to speak, will you cover your ears?"
"Po knows exactly what Leck is going to do!" Blaire exclaimed. "It's more than perception! Po can read minds, right?"
"No..." Kaide said slowly, enunciating clearly. "He knows what Leck's Grace is. He knows Leck's personality. He knows that Leck is going to put a million arrows through him if he doesn't get his princely self out of here."
Katsa and Po turned and ran back into the forest, Katsa covering her ears as Leck barked orders to kill Po, but to capture Katsa alive. The air sprang to life with the twang of bowstrings as the archers released dozens of arrows, all aimed at Prince Po of Lienid.
The horses charged madly into the forest, following the clear footprints left in the snow by Katsa and Po, and before long, Kaide and Blaire reached where Leck was seated, waiting on his horse and staring angrily at the forest.
"Can we follow them on foot?" Blaire asked breathlessly. "The horses will get stuck in the forest and they will no doubt go deeper into the forest where the snow gets caught on the branches."
"Go. Bring me Katsa alive. The Lienid prince dead. I bet both of you have a score to settle," Leck replied, face still etched in fury.
"Excellent," Blaire hissed, eyes alight as she drew out two bone daggers from her belt. "Let's get forest killing!"
Kaide and Blaire hopped off their horses, weapons drawn as they walked deeper into the forest. They both maintained a silence as they walked in, the snow leaving a clear trail, but trail was harder to follow as the canopy got thicker and the snow got caught in the branches. They soon reached a part of the forest where the floor was untouched by snow.
"All tracks stop here. Either they hid their tracks really really well, or they climbed trees," Kaide said, looking at a great wide tree with brown needles. The ground was littered with dead branches that had fallen from its trunk, and it looked slightly disturbed.
"Damn," Blaire muttered, throwing a dagger angrily at the tree, where it slammed into the dead centre of the trunk.
"They're good. There's a limit to tracking with the eyes. We need some dogs," Kaide sighed, mimicking Blaire and throwing her sword at the trunk, where it quivered next to Blaire's dagger.
"No point. They've hidden too well. All we can tell Leck is about Po's Grace," Blaire replied.
"But with the juicy news that Po pretends that is Grace is fighting. Imagine how his family would react if they realised that Po has been lying to them?" Kaide added, feeling vengeful.
"Now, I feel a hell of a lot better," Blaire smiled, as they turned back to return to Leck's Castle.
Kaide paced around her room, fatigue nonexistent despite the fact that it was long past midnight. What should she do? The opportunity to leave Leck was right in front of her, to follow Katsa and Po if she could find out which way they went and help them destroy Leck.
"They would be just trying to leave. I don't need to track them directly," Kaide thought out loud. Kaide thought of Blaire, and the long years that she had spent with her. It was true, Blaire had taken her off the streets and given her the chance to try new things out physically with her Grace, but she had also cost Kaide her liberty. Kaide was tied to Blaire and her controlling parents until they ran away together and started working for Leck three years ago. She had given away her liberty to Leck, wanting to stay with Blaire, and never realising that it was Blaire that was holding her back.
"Freedom..." Kaide whispered. She needed to lose this fear of leaving Blaire and take this chance. This chance to destroy Leck and to finally feel what freedom was for the first time in her life.
Well, there was a long wait for this chapter. Something called yearly exams, you know ;0. Quite nasty and the studying was plan mean. Anyway, the usual disclaimer applies for this chapter, and please review :D, and I will update ASAP! :D Thanks for still reading this too!
