The next morning, Amichen was woken by Naissus. "Time to get up," he said quietly.
She cracked open an eye to see a solitary candle on the nightstand. Naissus was already out of bed and in the process of getting dressed. Before Amichen could blink the sleep out of her eyes, he tossed some clothes on top of the bed.
"For you," he said.
She pushed herself upright and looked at the clothes lying across her legs. "Your clothes?" she asked, confused.
"Would you rather go out in a dress?" he asked, perking a brow.
If he wanted her to wear his clothes, she wouldn't argue with him. Her mother—and even Tiger-Lin—usually wore men's clothing when they practiced their swordplay or went riding. And hadn't she just read about Zelda wearing men's clothes while she had been on her quest? In Amichen's mind, wearing pants was a sign of a powerful woman, and if someone said she could wear them, well, she wasn't adverse to that.
She found Naissus' clothes loose and comfortable, although it felt a bit strange to wear them—but good at the same time.
"Let's see about some shoes for you," he said, pulling a pair of boots out of his closet. But they were too big for her feet. He called in a servant and sent him in search of a smaller pair of riding boots.
"We need to make sure you have some riding clothes and boots made if you decide you like to do this sort of thing," Naissus said.
"I do."
He laughed. "We haven't even made it out of the castle yet. You may find that reality isn't nearly so pleasant."
The servant came back in with several pairs of boots in his arms and another servant tagging along behind him with another few pairs.
The man knelt in the floor, helping Amichen try on boots until they found a pair that fit.
"Whose boots are those?" Naissus asked, as he watched the servant lace them up for Amichen.
The man looked up him, slightly panic-stricken. "Um . . . I'm not sure, Highness." He turned to his companion, but that man just shook his head.
"Were you not paying attention to which boots we took from which room?" the first man hissed.
"I thought you were."
Amichen had to suppress a laugh.
"Well, when you get it figured out, can you tell my mother to have some more boots made to that size? Amichen needs some riding boots of her own."
"Yes, Your Highness. My apologies."
As soon as they were ready, Naissus and Amichen went downstairs. The big front doors were thrown open to the cool morning air. There was only a little spot of green on the eastern horizon.
Outside, the courtyard was full of men and horses and stableboys and servants. Most of the men were lightly armored, wearing maile shirts or lightweight jacks with thin plates sewn into them. Many were bareheaded, although a few were wearing mail coifs or metal kettle hats.
The queen and the princesses were standing on the landing, holding trays of food.
"Who else hasn't eaten anything?" the queen shouted over the assembly. A few more men came over to get something.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, Highnesses," each man said with a bow.
"Have anything left for us, Mother?" Naissus said, coming up behind her.
She turned around. "I always have something for my youngest son—even if he is late."
"We're not late; no one's left yet." He took food from her tray. "Besides, we would have been earlier if we weren't trying to find Amichen some riding boots."
"Oh, I hadn't even thought about that." She turned to her daughter-in-law. "Did you find some, dear?"
"Yes, thank you," Amichen said, showing her the boots she was wearing.
"Although we don't know whose boots they are," Naissus continued. "Apparently the servants just took them out of people's closets without noting which shoes belonged to whom."
"We'll sort it out later; don't worry about it." Maris offered the tray to Amichen. "Get something for your breakfast, dear. It will be a long ride and I doubt anyone will stop for lunch. In fact, you better take two."
Amichen took two of the large pastries from the tray and Naissus took an extra. "Let me see where our horses are," he told Amichen. "Hold that for me," he said, passing her his spare pastry.
"Ask Talent," his mother said, nodding to indicate Talent's general direction.
Amichen took a bite of the pastry and found it was filled with sweet-spiced meat and vegetables. It was a hearty start to the day.
A few minutes later, Naissus came back to the steps leading a horse. A stableboy trailed behind him, leading another one.
"This is the best we can do," Naissus told Amichen. "It belongs to Tosh, so it's a good horse, but it's not as docile as the one I had for you before. But we'll be moving in a group, so it shouldn't matter; it should follow all the other horses."
"If you think it's safe, then I'll ride it," Amichen said. Her experience on the road had made her much more confident as a rider.
"He's safe. And I'll be beside you the entire time. If you get into trouble, I'll get you out of it."
The queen handed her tray to one of the other women and then opened her arms to Amichen. "Come, give me a kiss."
Amichen smiled and went to her mother-in-law. Maris enfolded Amichen in her arms, then kissed her on both cheeks. "Be careful, darling. Make sure you don't go anywhere without the men."
"I won't," Amichen promised. She had no desire whatsoever to go anywhere outside the palace walls without an escort—preferably a large one.
"And take care of Wyliss, if you can. When her blood is up, she can be quite reckless."
Amichen chuckled. "I'll try. But I'm not sure if someone from Shi-Ha can ever rein in someone from Erenrue."
"Are you saying we're stubborn?"
"No, Your Majesty. I said that I'm not sure my people are a match for yours."
"A rare admission indeed," the queen said with a smile. Then she kissed Amichen again. "I knew there was a reason why I loved you from the very beginning."
Naissus came forward for his mother's kiss a moment later. "May the gods be with you both," the queen said, blessing them.
A horn sounded and all around the courtyard, men began to mount up.
Naissus tucked their spare pastries into his saddlebag, then helped Amichen onto her horse. He got onto his horse, too, and pulled up beside hers. "We'll ride at the front with Talent and the others," he told her.
They walked their horses towards the gate and found Talent, Wyliss, Renault, and Laertes already in position.
"Where are my scouts?" Talent called out, standing up in his stirrups so he could see over the churning mass of men.
Half a dozen men moved forward. "We're here, Your Highness," one of them said. "Ready when you give the word."
"It is given."
The men pushed out past the others, then trotted out of the gate. Amichen could hear the horses' hooves ringing against the cobbles in the silent city as they broke into a canter.
"And my magicians?" Talent called out again.
"Here, Your Highness," said a man almost directly behind him.
Talent turned around in his saddle. "Oh, there you are. You four ride in front with us. We will need your skills as soon as we arrive."
"Yes, Your Highness. Although, may I warn you, once we arrive, we will need about half an hour to set up and cast the spell. It's no small undertaking."
"I understand. And I will be impressed if you can do it in half an hour. But you need not worry; we'll keep you safe while you do your work."
"We have every confidence in your force, Your Highness."
Talent took a look around the courtyard again. "Everyone ready?"
There were some nods and responses in the affirmative and none to the negative, so Talent raised his arm. "Forward!"
From somewhere, a horn blew and everyone moved their horses forward. Once they were clear of the castle gate, they kicked their horses into a canter. The guard at the city gate had the doors thrown wide open, so there was nothing standing in their way. They loped out of the city and onto the road that took them across the Great Plain. The sky ahead of them was rapidly turning pink.
Amichen felt a thrill as she rode out in close formation with all the princes and knights of Hyrule. She had never been on such an expedition—had never even been considered for going—and it was easy for her to forget that they were riding into danger. But the men around her hadn't forgotten; they were all grim-faced and determined.
But her initial enthusiasm waned somewhat as the morning dragged on. The rising sun shone directly in their faces and made the early summer day feel even hotter than it was. They kept up a steady pace, too, only occasionally breaking from their slow lope and never stopping completely. Amichen found that, despite her couple of weeks of practice riding, her legs were becoming sore. Apparently spending most of her days in the saddle at a walk with breaks whenever she wanted was not the same as spending a day in the saddle at a canter with no breaks.
It was mid-morning—or a little later—when Talent finally called a halt next to a little creek that more closely resembled a ditch than a proper body of water.
"Let's water our horses here and take a little break. We have half an hour," Talent announced.
Everyone dismounted; Amichen was glad to hear more than one person groan and complain when he got down; it wasn't just her who was sore.
Wyliss tossed her reins to squire who ran up to take care of the royal horses, then she grabbed Amichen by the elbow, whispering in her ear, "My bladder is about to burst."
"I need to relieve myself, too," Amichen agreed.
"Come on. Let's go find a place."
Wyliss and Amichen walked downstream fifty yards or so and found a place where the grass was high enough to conceal them from the men.
"I don't think Talent would have stopped at all if I hadn't complained," Wyliss spoke to Amichen through a screen of grass while they relieved themselves. "I told him we either stop or I was going to stop by myself and I'd catch back up later. He's such a slave-driver when he's serious about something. He'll work until he collapses. But it's not good for morale to make all of your men do the same. And it's definitely not good for your relationship with your wife."
Amichen chuckled.
A moment later, though, they were interrupted by the sound of grass rustling—even though there was no measurable wind.
"Did you hear that?" Wyliss whispered.
"Yes."
The grass rustled again and there was an animal grunt, followed by chewing sounds.
Amichen could just see Wyliss slowly pull out the short sword that she was wearing. Amichen suddenly wished she had asked Naissus for one, too. Even if she wasn't good with a sword, she still liked the idea of having it between her and whatever was steadily munching its way towards them.
Wyliss and Amichen both slowly pulled up their pants and peeped over the top of the grass.
"What the hell is that?" Wyliss whispered as she stared at the rough gray back of the huge beast that was only ten or fifteen yards away.
"It's a rhinoceros," Amichen whispered back. "There are some in Shi-Ha, but I had no idea they were this far west."
"I've never seen one before—or even heard about one."
"They're very, very dangerous—especially the bulls. Very aggressive."
"Let's back up—very slowly."
They began to slowly step back. Amichen hunkered down a little, trying to make herself less obvious. Wyliss did the same thing.
And then the beast suddenly lifted its head, pausing in its chewing, and looked at them with its beady little eyes.
"Stop!" Amichen hissed. She and Wyliss both stayed still. So did the rhino.
Then the wind kicked up, blowing from behind them towards the rhino. It lifted its snout, sniffing the air.
From farther behind them, there was a shout among the men.
"Talent's coming," Wyliss said.
The rhino lowered its head, but it didn't go back to grazing.
"He won't be fast enough," Amichen said. She knew the rhino was preparing to charge.
"Do we run for it?"
Amichen hurriedly considered their options. Wyliss could teleport to safety, but she couldn't. Together, they had a chance of confusing and distracting the beast. Alone, though, Amichen would be its only target. And she knew she had no hope of outrunning it.
"You run for it," Amichen quickly decided.
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You run for it; it will chase you," Amichen continued. "Then, when it's close, you can teleport to safety. The men will get to it before it can come back for me."
Wyliss apparently saw the wisdom in Amichen's plan. "Right."
"Now!" Amichen shouted, ducking down, beneath the top of the grass. Wyliss wheeled around and began running for her life back towards the men.
Amichen could feel the ground vibrate as the rhino went charging past, intent on running Wyliss down.
She stood up and watched as it quickly gained ground on Wyliss. It was going to overtake her before Talent and his men could.
"Teleport! Teleport!" Amichen screamed at Wyliss.
She was afraid Wyliss hadn't heard, but after a few moments, Wyliss blinked out of existence. The rhino pulled up, looking confused. But within moments, it was surrounded by men on horseback with spears. The men rode around it in a circle and the rhino had trouble tracking just one of them, which made it confused. It began to bellow in anger and frustration.
A minute later, Naissus came galloping up. He grabbed Amichen by the arm and jerked her up so that she was behind him before she knew it. Then he raced his horse back towards the main force while additional men galloped forward to help deal with the rhino.
As soon as they were back to the road, Wyliss ran up to them. "Oh, Amichen, I didn't want to leave you behind!"
"You did the right thing. I knew if you ran, it would chase you and leave me alone. I was only afraid that you might not teleport in time."
There was a cry of men and the almost-human scream of a horse. They all turned around to see the rhino goring a horse. The other men were on it in an instant, stabbing it with their spears, but the horse and its rider went down and were lost from sight under the rhino.
"To His Highness! To the Prince!" came shouts from the men trying to fight against the animal.
"Oh, gods, Talent," Wyliss gasped. Then she was running towards the fray—even as the rest of the troops galloped in to help.
Amichen jumped off the back of Naissus' horse and ran after Wyliss. She wasn't very athletic, but she was half the other woman's age and Wyliss was still a bit winded from running away from the rhino. Amichen caught up to her and tackled her to the ground.
"Wyliss, no!" Amichen shouted, as they tumbled to the earth.
Wyliss was crying hysterically. "Talent's hurt. I have to go to him! I knew something awful was going to happen!"
"Wait until they kill it. You'll just be in their way and likely to get hurt if you run in right now."
Amichen kept her arms wrapped tightly around Wyliss, holding her immobile while the other woman sobbed. Amichen tried to see what was happening, but there were so many men engaged now, she could no longer see the beast. The only possible thing to be thankful for was that Naissus was in the outer ring of knights, so he was likely safe from the rampaging animal.
Time seemed to move insufferably slow. It seemed that days passed before Naissus turned back to the few non-combatants left on the road. "Master Graydon, we need help," he called, gesturing for one of the magicians to come in.
That was the only signal that Wyliss needed. She wrenched herself free from Amichen's grasp and ran across the plain, towards the circle of men who were only slowly breaking up.
Amichen got to her feet and followed almost as quickly. She had to push her way through the cluster of soldiers, but she finally found the center of the group. The rhinoceros was lying on its side with several broken spears sticking out of its tough hide and many bleeding cuts and puncture wounds. But most of its blood was pouring out of a gash someone had managed to cut in the lower part of its neck. It was still thrashing, but it was clear that it was only a matter of minutes before it died.
To one side, Talent's horse lay on the ground with a deep hole in its belly that was still spilling blood, turning the green summer grass red. Talent was propped up against it, holding his hand tightly on his right thigh where his blood was running down to join that of his horse's.
A knight was kneeling beside him and Wyliss knelt at his other side, taking his hand tightly in hers.
"How bad is it, Your Highness?" the knight asked.
Talent pulled his hand away for a second and a spray of blood shot up into the air, causing men all around him to shout in alarm.
The knight stripped off his maile shirt, then pulled off his lightly-padded gambeson. "Here, Your Highness, let's use this."
As quickly as possible, Talent removed his hand and the knight pressed his gambeson to the wound. Then he leaned on it, pressing down so hard he made Talent scream.
"Where's that damn doctor?" the knight yelled.
A moment later, Master Graydon pushed his way through the men who were worriedly watching their prince bleed out.
"It hit an artery," the knight explained to the magician.
Graydon paled. "He'll need a physician."
"I thought you were one?" the man said, sounding outraged.
"No, I have only a little medical skill."
Talent half-smiled. "We didn't bring any physicians with us."
"Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but that was a stupid," the man snapped.
"Right now, I have to agree with you."
"I can put a tourniquet on him, which should stop the bleeding long enough for a physician to take care of him," Graydon offered.
"Do it," Talent said.
"I need a belt."
Half a dozen men hurried to strip off their belts. Graydon took the first one offered to him and wrapped it around the top of Talent's thigh and tightened it up until he cried out in pain again.
"Put a belt around that shirt to hold it on," Graydon said, nodding to the knight. Another man stepped forward and tied the belt on while the first knight kept pressure on the wound.
"He's fainting," Amichen warned, watching Talent's face grow more ashen and his eyelids flutter.
Wyliss leaned in and patted his cheeks. "Talent. Talent, stay awake."
Someone passed her a canteen and she splashed some water on his face. That seemed to startle him awake for a moment.
"You need to teleport home, Your Highness, before you lose consciousness," Graydon warned.
He nodded a little. Then, a moment later, he disappeared. Less than a second passed before Wyliss also disappeared, leaving all the men staring silently at the bloody ground where their prince and future king had been only a moment before.
Amichen looked up as Naissus moved to stand beside her. "You were right: she suspected something would happen to him," Amichen whispered to him.
Naissus nodded a little.
"This is a hell of a bad omen," Renault said darkly. "We're not even there yet, and we've already lost Talent."
"Do we go on?" a man asked.
Everyone turned to look at Laertes, who, as the second-eldest son, was the next in line to take command. Amichen didn't know him very well because he was very taciturn—preferring to sit to the side and listen while the rest of the family chatted—but he was big and strong like his older brother and he seemed a good man to carry a heavy burden.
"We must go on," he said in his slow, deep voice. "If the bandits have any spies in Castle Town, then they'll know we've moved out. Maybe the lie that we're out here for military maneuvers will give them pause, but it won't last. If they suspect that we're coming for them, they'll leave before we can trap them."
"How much farther do we have to go before you can cast your spell?" Renault asked Graydon.
"We'll need to be within sight of the forest, at the very least."
Renault nodded. "That's probably an hour away."
"Plus we need at least half an hour to complete the spell," Graydon added.
"Then we need to get moving," Laertes said. Then he looked at Naissus. "Will you take over Talent's unit when we move in?"
Naissus nodded.
"Everyone mount up!" Laertes called out.
Within five minutes, everyone was back on their horses, riding east again. Although Amichen had not felt worried when she decided to go with Naissus, she had a sense of unease now that he was going to be leading one of the units. She hoped that she was just feeling paranoid because of what happened to Talent; she hoped she wasn't getting a premonition instead.