Chapter 11 – Hunting Leck

Despite the fact that Kaide knew she was running for her life, she still enjoyed travelling through the trees, climbing from one to another with her rope, which came in handy whenever she needed to climb up to a higher tree. The only annoying thing about this was that every time she shook a branch too hard, snow or droplets of water would shower onto her, making her wet.

Kaide made sure that she never strayed too high from the ground, as she looked for any signs that Katsa and Po had made as they travelled. However, after several long days of searching, it was clear that she was either in the wrong place or they could cover their tracks well. It was at that point that Kaide decided to make a gamble, and decided to see if she could find Leck and his entourage. They would not be able to hide their tracks, and she knew that they would be after Katsa and Po, and possibly Bitterblue if Katsa and Po had found her.

"Let them do the hunting," Kaide smirked, as she swung towards another tree, which shook slightly and showered Kaide with some more powdered snow, making her look as if she was covered by flour. Kaide also had the hunch, the one that had caused her to take this gamble, the hunch that either Katsa or Po was going to find Leck and try to kill him. But there was too much about him that they didn't know that would hurt them.

Kaide heard a loud yell echo from the south west, and recognised it immediately. Leck. Leck was close by. And he was going to lead Kaide to the people she was looking for.

"They found her here," Blaire murmured to Leck, pointing to the strands of hair and cloth that were fluttering in the gentle wind, the hair colour matching Bitterblue, the cloth the same colour of clothing that Bitterblue had been last seen wearing.

"Excellent job," Leck smiled, grabbing Blaire's unresisting face, giving it a gentle kiss, before slapping it hard. Blaire continued to smile as she looked at Leck with an expression that was a combination of blankness and curiosity. Leck concealed his evil grin from his inner guard as he realised that he could do whatever he wanted to Blaire without her resisting. It was about time that he got to experiment and torture someone else. Blaire would be perfect. She would smile as the blood dripped down her body. She would smile as she followed Leck's every command.

"You will do everything I tell you because you love me, don't you Blaire?" Leck smiled. He turned away as Blaire giggled and yelled to his men, "We must hurry! Bitterblue has been spotted!"

The cheers from the men filled the forest, as Leck looked forward to killing that Lienid prince, who was surprisingly resistant to his Grace, and getting the Graced Lady Katsa. She would be the absolute perfect servant for him to order around to do his orders. There would never be a need for the annoying pair that was Blaire and Kaide.

"They've...stopped," Kaide whispered to herself, slightly shocked as she tried to make herself comfortable. She was sitting about half way up a medium sized tree, and was hidden from view but could clearly see the scene in front of her. Any closer and she would be easily spotted.

Below, Leck and his guards had stopped, his five Graced swordsmen walking in a tight formation around Leck, as the other ten Graced members of Leck's guards spread themselves around the clearing that Leck waited in. Kaide knew he was waiting, waiting for something, but for what? Kaide's train of thoughts changed direction when she saw Blaire, horror, anger and hatred crossing her eyes at the same time.

Blaire's face was purple, black and red, but her eyes were blank yet adoring at the same time. She had a broad smile for Leck as she kissed him, then leaped into the forest, following Leck's red bearded guard. Kaide's huddled back into the leaves of the tree, hoping they could conceal her. That red bearded man had a dangerous Grace, Kaide knew. He had extraordinary sight and hearing that Kaide knew was a lot better than hers. If he saw her...Kaide's plan would be ruined.

Suddenly, Leck began talking. He began talking about Bitterblue, how he loved his daughter so much that his heart was torn simply knowing that she had disappeared. How he missed her so much that he wasn't whole until she was resting in his arms. The guards that surrounded him gave him looks of sympathy, murmured words of hope, and as the sun hit early afternoon, Kaide saw a small movement out the corner of her eye she would've missed if she weren't looking at that direction, as she resisted the urge to cover her ears to block out Leck's voice, his Grace digging into her ears.

Kaide squinted, but had trouble seeing - even her Grace couldn't let her see so clearly from this distance. The glare of the sun in her eyes made this even harder, but it was the glint of silver and gold that made Kaide realise who the cause of the movement was. Po. He had just arrived, a quiver of arrows on his shoulder, a bow taut in his hands. His eyes held an expression of hatred and disgust as Leck continued to prattle on about Bitterblue, how he would punish those that would kidnap his only daughter.

Kaide let herself smile slightly, fearing that even the smallest movement would attract attention to her hiding spot. She had found Po, and merely needed to follow him to find Katsa and Bitterblue, but it was his presence here that confirmed Kaide's hunch. Po was here to kill Leck. But Kaide had the sinking feeling that they were expecting him, as the Graced swordsmen around Leck grew tighter, and never once left him.

Kaide stared at Po, curious at what he would do. If he needed a distraction, Kaide was prepared to give one. She knew she had a chance of escaping Leck's outer circle of guards. But for Po, even with his Grace of perception, Kaide wasn't sure that he could. Was he fast enough to dodge arrows and possibly daggers?

It stayed like that for hours. The sun dropped steadily down the horizon as Po remained in his position just within bow shot from Leck, as Kaide looked around the clearing for any sign of Leck's outer guard. This monotony was getting boring, and Kaide knew that they would not be able to afford to remain hidden any longer. The night would give them the advantage in an attack, but Leck would also get even more cautious and reduce the already small chance that he could be killed.

Kaide let out a quiet sigh as she eased her sword slowly out of its sheath. She stared, hard into the bushes where Po was hiding. Hopefully, he would get the message that she was an ally and not shoot her. Even better, he could shoot Leck for her. But before Kaide could act, Po had suddenly drawn his bow and fired at one of the members of Leck's inner guard, that had been a second ago, defending him.

The moment the man fell, Kaide jumped up into the branch above her, as Po fired another shot, grazing Leck's neck. His inner guard blew into a conch, and with a thrill of horror, Kaide realised that Leck hadn't just brought his inner and outer guards with him, but that she completely forgot about his foot soldiers.

One of Leck's outer guard shot an arrow that was unnervingly accurate towards Po, but Kaide caught his slight movement before he should've known where the arrow was coming from. Kaide, however had more to worry about when a small shadow suddenly slashed at her legs.

Kaide screamed as she crashed through several branches, before coming to a stop. She saw a pair of mismatched eyes before she instinctively slashed her sword, still clutched in her clammy hand, and slit the throat of the extremely fast Graced man that had undoubtedly tried to kill her. Kaide roughly pushed his body off her and didn't wait for it to hit the forest floor, before jumping up and wincing at the pain that sparked within her chest. Several fractured or cracked ribs in any case.

Kaide climbed towards where she last saw Po, dodging arrows and fighting soldiers around him. There were about five archers, five Graced archers firing at him, but yet even they seemed to just miss him. Kaide looked down and saw a figure that looked more like a squirrel to her and knew who this was. Bastien, Kaide thought. Graced with the power to climb trees and branches like a squirrel. And hell he could fight. Kaide bit her lip as the pain in her ribs protested at every movement as she tried to move as quickly as possible across, not caring that she was seen, just wanting to reach Po before Bastien could outrun her.

There was a sudden, ripping pain in Kaide's sword arm as she failed to deflect the arrow that had been shot at her. It sliced through her armour like butter and Kaide could feel the sharp arrowhead in her arm and the warm, sticky blood that dripped from it. Another arrow came flying her way, and Kaide cut the arrow in half with her sword, grimacing as she felt the arrow dig deeper into her arm. She looked down again and swore when she lost sign of Bastien.

Kaide kept moving, trying to move further into the trees to try and prevent the arrows from hitting, but was surprised, when suddenly, she felt she couldn't move.

"Gah!" Kaide muttered, as she craned her neck around to see a familiar white dagger shot through her clothing and pinning her to the tree. Kaide used her free and uninjured left arm to pull the dagger out of the tree, and without thinking, aimed it at the ground. It was only when Kaide saw Blaire on the ground, furious expression on her face that Kaide realised that it was Blaire that had thrown that dagger at her.

Kaide instinctively moved to the branch above her, another dagger sailing uselessly below where she had been standing a second below. Kaide had always found herself to have quite the instincts, and she was never sure whether these instincts came from her Grace or were honed by her years training. Kaide didn't care as she looked down, and saw that Po was ten metres below her, on his horse, was covered in arrows.

"Wait, wait!" Kaide muttered, as something suddenly pulled her up. Kaide was thrown heavily into a thick tree, where Kaide could swear she heard something crack again. Kaide panted heavily and blinked her eyes before she realised that a small figure was charging towards her, a short sword in its hand. Bastien, Kaide thought dully. Kaide pulled on a dagger that she had suddenly found tangled in her belt, where Blaire must've thrown it at her and Kaide hadn't realised. Kaide snapped her wrist forward at the last moment, and the dagger flew true into Bastien's heart, who collapsed limply through the trees.

Kaide slowly stood up, coughing up some blood in her hand, as she stepped down, willing the adrenaline running through her to dull the intense pain she felt in her back, her ribs, and especially her arm. No way could she fight with that much pain in her arm. Kaide shakily placed the hilt of her sword in her left hand, and looked wearily around her. She couldn't take much more pain before falling unconscious, as she scrambled down the trees. Kaide wasn't sure that she could trust her sword fighting skills with such highly skilled opponents using her left arm.

Kaide had almost reached where Po was, desperately trying to get up into the saddle, when she turned to see one of Leck's outer guard grab her left arm. Kaide let out a roar as she elbowed the guard in the nose with her right arm, as he used the strength from his Grace to break her left arm. Kaide could feel herself biting her tongue in an attempt to prevent herself from screaming, as arms useless, her sword slipped into its sheath and Kaide kicked the guard in the chest, where she heard his ribs crack.

Kaide didn't waste any time running towards Po on foot, kept conscious only by pure adrenaline and fear. Kaide somehow managed to dodge the arrows that were aimed at Po and herself, and Po seemed to as well, as Kaide jumped onto the horse's back and grabbed Po's waist. Po didn't seem to notice, an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, his torso moving as he dodged arrows. Kaide's right hand went shakily to her belt as the arrow in her shoulder bit in even deeper, and she threw something, anything to help them escape. To her surprise, Kaide must've thrown a smoke bomb, as her vision suddenly got obscured, as she heard the pursuit behind them fade away.

After several minutes of panicked galloping, Po's head drooped onto the horse and the horse suddenly turned to the left. Kaide poked him, hard on the side with her right hand.

"Stay awake," Kaide gasped, as Po gave a sudden start. "You...must stay...awake." Kaide coughed up more blood, and knew that, even with her faster healing rate provided by her Grace, her injuries would take a while to heal, time that she simply didn't have.

"Why did you help me?" Despite the fact that Po looked worse than Kaide, his injuries where nowhere near as severe. It was Kaide who took the full brunt of the attack by Leck's outer guards.

"Leck...went too far. I've been wanting to see him dead for a long time, but never was the timing right," Kaide replied, speaking in an attempt to remain conscious. "I want...to help you. Kill him." Kaide felt weary, the pain in her body dull, but still sharp, every movement making her eyes water.

"Bitterblue said she and her mother had help in Leck's castle. It was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Kaide groaned. "You have no hard feelings for what happened in Sunder?"

Po let out a quiet laugh. "It's fine. I think we should stop here."

Kaide nearly fell off the horse, but with a grunt, Po caught her. They both dismounted gingerly, as Po grabbed an arrow from his quiver and started cutting away Kaide's clothes. He took one look at her and shook his head.

"You're really badly injured," Po stated, tearing some fabric of the base of Kaide's shirt. "If they get infected...you'll be even worse."

"It can't get much worse than this," Kaide grimaced. "Do you have anything strong to drink? I'm going to pass out any moment. My senses are too strong."

Po shook his head, as he gave Kaide a thick stick he found on the ground. "Bite this. Your tongue is already bitten, and this time you won't want to bite it off." Kaide nodded, grabbing the stick and putting it between her teeth. Po suddenly cut the skin around the wound before suddenly pulling the arrow out. Kaide let out a strangled scream as everything went dark.

Kaide was aware of the heavy thundering of galloping hooves, and the lack of light in her eyes. She opened her eyes to see herself on Po's battered horse, covered in arrows, and the cliff face on her left. Kaide was suddenly aware that Po was drowsy, and barely controlling the horse.

"Po! On your left!" Kaide yelled, as the horse, fatigued by its long travel and fatally injured from all the arrows, veered towards the cliff face. Kaide turned her head as she fell off the cliff, to see two figures running madly towards the lake where they were falling into.

The water was icy, and Kaide landed hard. She felt the water burning her wounds, and was suddenly aware that her left arm was in a sling, her torso felt stiff from the cloth wrapped hard around it, but the worst was the burning on her upper right shoulder as the water seared her arrow wound. Kaide burst out of the water, gasping for breath, as she saw Po, metres away, floating towards two yelling figures. Kaide felt a pang of jealousy. No one had ever cared for her that way, as she felt something pull her in the opposite direction. Kaide didn't have it in her to resist. Who would care if she died? Death would probably be easier. No worries. No pain.

Everything went dark as Kaide's surroundings turned fuzzy. She couldn't feel the air in her lungs, she couldn't be bothered to fight. All she was aware of was the instinct that yelled at her to not give up, the instinct that told her that she would never be able to kill Leck if she died. Kaide somehow found it in her to kick. But the darkness kept coming.

Kaide was about to fall to it, when she felt something hit her back hard , and the weight that had been pushing in her chest disappeared as Kaide took a shivery, heaving breath. Kaide was aware that she was lying on her side panting, as another person gasped.

"Nearly didn't make it, did you, Brynn? Fate bought you to me, young child," the voice said, in a motherly voice.

Kaide didn't register anything that was said. All she could marvel was the fact that she was alive.

Sorry if this chapter is slightly late, but I was occupied with all these school activities and totally forgot to write. Next chapter will be one of the truth finally revealed and what Kaide's Grace is (if you haven't figured it out :D). Reviews are appreciated, especially as they make me type faster :D :D *hint hint* :D