Chapter Ten: Distorted

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.

-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

ooOoo

The first thing Bearskin noticed was a tall iron fence surrounding a great deal of land. The second thing she saw was the pale grey stones that made up the manor within the walls, still a good distance away.

It seemed a little rude to just hop over the fence, so she walked alongside it at a comfortable pace. 'This is it. I'm going to meet the man that might be able to cure me. Oh, please let him cure me!' She did some breathing exercises and wondered why her heart still felt like a cold stone.

Ahead, she could hear some violent whimpering as well as a struggle from two men.

"Calm down, will you? Blimey; it's as if they're smelling a ghost!" one man exclaimed as she came into view.

Two guards were struggling to keep control over a pair of panicked dogs.

Bearskin sighed, wishing they were like the cat. "They're acting like that because of me."

Both men looked over at her and gaped shamelessly. One man was even shocked enough to let go of the dog he was holding, making it run into the trees as fast as it could. The other one could only whimper in fear.

"Not to be a bother, but would this be the von Gikkingen estate?" she asked in a gruff voice while knocking on one of the iron bars of the fence. "The baron would like to have a word with me."

The older man snapped to attention and actually bowed to her. "This is, but you've come at a terrible time, Bearskin. The baron's gone missing, you see."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What? What happened?"

"We don't really-"

"Henry!" a man snapped as he ran through the courtyard to stand on the other side of the gate. "Why haven't you let Bearskin in yet?"

The guard seemed surprised. "Isn't Baron still miss-"

"Of course he isn't, you simpleton. He was found in his rooms just this morning. Now let Bearskin in immediately!"

Both of the guards exchanged relieved looks as the younger guard opened the gate.

Bearskin slipped through, gave the men a polite nod and turned her attention to the man in front of her. His fine, yet simple attire nearly screamed that he was in the higher ranks of servants.

"I hope the guards didn't keep you waiting all that long, Bearskin," the man apologized, sounding only a little less self- important than before as he led her into the large manor. "The lord's brief disappearance really gave us all a turn."

"May I inquire what happened?" she asked gruffly.

"He simply wished to be alone for a while. He frequently wishes for that, but forgot to tell anyone that he was leaving for a bit. He truly has been looking forward to meeting you for a while, you know."

"So he said in the letter," she confirmed, unable to shake the uneasy feeling. What could possibly be wrong?

The man led her up a staircase and down a long hallway before poking his head through a door. "My lord? Bearskin has arrived."

"Splendid. Send him in," an aristocratic voice replied, almost making the girl's hair stand on end.

'Why am I reacting like this? I know there's nothing to fear.' Keeping her face blank, she nodded at the man as he held the door open for her and walked through it at a brisk pace.

The room was a study and a large one at that. She really wanted to stare at all the books lining the walls, but forced her attention to the desk on the other side of the room.

The man seated at it was alarmingly handsome; more so than she was used to seeing. His hair, she was surprised to see, was the exact same orange as the fur on the cat she had shared the cave with. It took several steps closer to the desk to see that he had the same eyes as well.

No. They weren't the same at all. The same color, perhaps, but… the cat's eyes had been much warmer.

The baron studied her silently for a minute, taking in her features with his gloved hands folded together in front of his mouth.

"Is something wrong, sir?" she asked gruffly.

"Oh no. I was merely expecting you to be older, that's all." He gestured for her to take a seat on the other side of the desk.

She grunted while shrugging one shoulder before sitting down. "I get that a lot. Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about first?"

"… Please forgive me, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. Would you care for a brandy?" he asked, about to get up from his chair.

"No thank you. I never drink in public." 'I'd have thought for sure that he would have known that, if he collects stories about me.'

He looked at her in surprise, but settled back into his seat. "Ah. Well, I did have a bit of a problem recently, but it took care of itself in the end. I'm sorry that you made this trip for nothing."

She cocked her head in confusion. "You stated in the letter that you didn't need my help."

"I was being modest. But, nonetheless, the problem fixed itself only recently, although I thank you for answering my call for help."

Bearskin stared at him, growing suspicious. 'He said he was hoping for an excuse to contact me. Why didn't he take it?' "You had another reason for contacting me. Do you recall what it is?" 'He didn't need my help, why is he saying he did?'

"I'm afraid I don't. Would you mind refreshing my memory?" he asked with a tolerant smile.

The foreboding feeling increased, as well as a barely suppressed rage. She slowly stood up as her fists began to shake.

"If you can so easily forget what you wrote me in the letter," she said in a slow growl, "then coming here was a waste of both of our time. Have a pleasant day, sir." She turned on her heel to leave.

"Hold on," the lord snarled as he stood up from his seat. "You're going to storm off just because I don't remember?"

"If it didn't matter enough to you to remember, you couldn't have done what you said, anyway. Don't bother calling for me again, even if you need my help." She slammed the door shut behind her and marched down the hallway at a brisk pace. The march continued down the stairs and right out the door; not stopping for anything or anyone, even as the servants got out of her way with horrified expressions.

Was the horror because of the look on her face? It had to be, because she couldn't imagine any other reason.

"What? Out already?" one of the guards asked as she marched right out the gate and kept going.

"Your lord should have stayed lost, if he can't remember his promises," she snarled, just before breaking into a run. Not because she was scared, but because she needed to blow off steam.

But, really! How could he have just forgotten that he had promised to help her find a cure? How dare he get her hopes up if he had no intention of following through? She should have at least punched the man before storming off.

After leaving the road and dissolving into the forest terrain, she kept running in an attempt to leave her disappointment behind her.

It didn't work.

Without warning, something slammed into her back at a focused point; a sensation she was well-familiar with by now.

Someone just tried to shoot her. If her cloak wasn't thick enough to deflect arrows and knives, she surely would have been killed by now. She whirled around in an instant, pulled on the hood to protect her head and charged in the direction that the arrow had come from.

"It didn't work!" one archer wailed as a slightly familiar band of thieves tried their luck with various weapons.

"This was the wrong day for revenge," Bearskin snarled as her body began the familiar dance.

One man tried to bludgeon her over the head, but she was quick enough to use his momentum to slam his body to the ground. Another man tried to grab her cloak to hold her in place, but instead of struggling against the hold, she slammed her head back into his, knocking him out like a light.

Another thief got in a lucky stab at her leg, but was rewarded with getting both of his own legs broken. One by one, all of the thieves fell until she was breaking the archer's bow over her injured leg.

"No!" the archer wailed as she tossed both pieces into the underbrush.

"If any of you value your lives," she snarled at them, or at least the conscious ones, "you'll forget about revenge and take up honest occupations. Next time we meet, I just might decide to kill all of you."

The pale trapper was no stranger to killing without her berserker blood by now. She just avoided doing it whenever possible. She tied a handkerchief over her bleeding leg and took up running until she was a good distance from the fight. The young woman had to force herself to walk after that; it wasn't good to aggravate her injury just because her temper hadn't cooled off yet.

It took her another two hours of walking to get back to the little cave. By then, the sun beginning to set.

Much to her surprise, the little orange cat was still there, although he was meowing in worry and circling around her as he looked at her injured leg.

"Don't worry about this. I get worse injuries all the time," she assured him through a forced smile, crawling into the cave again with difficulty. "Some old enemies of mine must have heard about the measures the baron-"

He meowed once sharply.

She gave him a surprised glance as she sat down comfortably. "That the baron-"

He meowed again.

"Stop that," she scolded while fishing around her satchel for a jar of her healing ointment. "That… well, they heard I was going to be in the area at some time and set up an ambush. They won't be setting another one for a while. I didn't kill them," she quickly defended when she saw the horror in the cat's eyes. "I don't kill unless I don't have a choice. Killing's what got me into this mess in the first place."

He gaped at her, so she busied herself with finding enough bandages for her leg. Once they and the healing ointment were found, she unfastened her belt and pulled off her pants so that she could get at the injury. The ointment stung slightly as she worked it into the deep cut, but she was used to that by now.

Halfway through doctoring her bare leg, Bearskin suddenly noticed that the cat was being unusually quiet. She looked up to see if he was still around.

He was around, all right. But he was staring at a wall with his back to her, not even a muscle seen to be moving. Was it because she wasn't completely dressed?

"Well, whatever else you are, at least you're a gentleman," she laughed after another moment, returning to the knife wound in the dimming light. "That's a lot more than I can say for the Baron-"

He meowed again, but didn't turn to look at her.

"-von Gikkingen," she finished in irritation. "Do you really have to do that every time I say 'baron'?"

He meowed the affirmative while nodding vigorously.

The pale trapper growled in exasperation. "You know, if you keep doing that every time I say the word, I'm going to start calling you that," she informed him; intending it as a threat.

The tawny cat sighed tiredly and then purred at her.

She stared at him in surprise as she finished bandaging her leg. "… You want me to call you Baron?"

He purred again, although keeping his eyes on the wall. Eyes that were only a shade different from the obnoxious nobleman she just left. Even the fur was about the same orange as the man's hair…

"All right, that's your name now," she surrendered with a sigh while pulling on her pants. "Besides, I'd much rather call you Baron than that… that sorry excuse for a lord," she snarled in disgust. "I mean, honestly! How could he have just… forgotten what he promised? You would think that if he was going to offer to help me with the curse, he would have the decency to remember what he wrote!" She slammed her fists against the side of the cave in frustration, making it groan and loosen little rocks from the ceiling.

The cat remained silent. A little too silent, when considering his earlier behavior. His ears were also hanging low and his shoulders were slumped over.

"… Sorry about my temper, Baron," she apologized, feeling ashamed of herself. "It's sometimes hard for me to keep a grip on it. But, I really was hoping that the bar- I mean, the lord… he said he could help me and forgot. If he really could have helped, he wouldn't have forgotten. It's… just… it would have been nice, to find out what it's like to be normal," she said wistfully. "It's been so long since I've been normal... I don't remember what it was like."

Baron made to turn around, but then quickly faced the wall again while twitching nervously.

She bit back a melancholy laugh while buckling her belt. "I'm decent again if that's what you're worried about."

It was only then that he turned around to look at her, now very melancholy. On an impulse, the cursed woman held her arms out to him. He padded across the cave to hop into them without question.

She rubbed one ear carefully, making him lean his head into her touch. "So, Baron… I'll take it you're not opposed to the thought of aimlessly traveling with me?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

He purred an affirmative.

"Then it's settled, we'll leave first thing in the morning. I think I'll skip on trading again until out of the baronetcy though; the innkeepers he paid were very insistent on me accepting the hospitality and I don't want to indebt myself to that sorry excuse of a lord more than I already have."

Her new cat gave her a very mournful look and bumped his head against one of her cheeks.

"All those warm baths were turning me soft, anyway," she mumbled as she opened her satchel. "Are you hungry, Baron? I've got some more meat, but I didn't think to grab any firewood on the way-"

He pressed a paw over her mouth; a mischievous twinkle in his eyes just seeable in the dimming light. Then he hopped out of her lap and padded a little deeper into the cave.

Bearskin had to squint a bit to see in the darkness, but she was able to make out a decent pile of twigs and branches that hadn't been there when she left that morning. Baron sat down next to it and patted the pile with a smug purr.

"… It must have taken you all day, to gather that much," she concluded numbly.

He nodded with another purr.

A wide, true smile came over her face as she crawled deeper into the cave to start a fire. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Baron."

When the flames came to life, she could see that the cat was smiling, perhaps in agreement.

ooOoo

"Me-ow," Baron groaned, limping behind after a mere three miles through forest terrain.

"You're not used to walking, are you?" Bearskin asked sympathetically, turning around to pick him up. "Here, you can ride for now."

Purring gratefully, he climbed onto her shoulders and licked one of her cheeks as he found a comfortable position around her neck, almost like a stole. She rubbed one cheek against his fur and kept walking. "Maybe it would be better to just plain get out of the kingdom itself. I was told that the Baron von Gikkingen was the prince regent's most trusted advisor and he might tell the man something to make me a wanted criminal."

Baron growled, shaking his head firmly.

"I'd rather not take chances. After all, his reputation was misleading; how hard would it be to make up a few unflattering things about me?"

He rubbed one cheek against hers, still growling defiantly.

She gave him a slightly annoyed look. "Has anyone ever told you that you're opinionated? Because you are really opinionated." A shy smile crossed her lips. "At least talking with you isn't going to be boring."

He purred at the compliment and bumped his nose against her cheek. Bearskin could only assume that it was an affectionate gesture.

Her feet kept pounding against soft earth and cool grass, with only occasional leaves crunching from her weight. She could feel Baron's claws cling to her cloak as she jumped over large rocks and small cliffs. Thankfully, that was the only sign he gave that he was still nervous, other than a slight tremble in his body.

"Relax, I'm being careful," she scolded with a small smile, patting his back with a gloved hand. "Be glad I'm not in a hurry, or I'd run. But running's not a bad idea," she continued thoughtfully. "If my map's accurate, the Piaal baronetcy is pretty big. Isn't it strange? I mean, a baron's fairly low-ranking in the aristocracy and yet the Baron of Piaal has a pretty large area to look after. Maybe it has something to do with all those intermarriages."

Her cat chose not to comment and she was at the wrong angle to see his facial expression. Since he didn't seem interested in hearing her talk anymore, the next several miles were walked silently, with him raising a bit of fuss when she had to cross a river.

"Oh, will you stop it?" she scolded as his fur stood on end and he was standing up on her shoulders. "It's only to my knees, nowhere close to getting you wet."

He meowed worriedly.

"Seriously, Baron, calm down," Bearskin sighed, keeping one hand on his body to brace him in case she tripped on the slick rocks.

His claws sank into her cloak, but at least it wasn't her clothes. She would be sure to have more scars in the morning if he was gripping anything but her cloak.

"Honestly, what's gotten into you? You're acting like I'm going to give you a bath. … You know, a bath doesn't sound all that bad," she mused thoughtfully. It had been almost three days since her last one and it was such a hassle to safely bathe in the winter.

Baron meowed in terror.

"I meant for me," the pale woman explained with a sigh. "I'm getting a feeling that cats don't like baths."

He nodded firmly, mewing in relief as she reached the other side of the river.

'… Not here. It's too close to civilization for my taste and most of my clothes are still clean.' "I'll worry about baths another time," she decided, much to her cat's approval.

But he seemed to change his mind when she gently set him on a rock and waded into the water again.

"Fish sounds good for dinner, wouldn't you think so?" she asked, pulling her trusty net out of the satchel to start casting it into the water.

His next meow was much more enthusiastic and he made himself comfortable on the rock. At least for minute, then he decided to hop off and start dragging branches into a pile.

"Isn't it a little early for that, Baron?" she called out to him as she almost caught a fish. "I mean, its hours until dinner time."

He briefly set the branch he had been dragging down so that he could meow at her before picking it up again.

"If it will amuse you," she sighed, managing to snare a trout with her net.

It took her another hour to catch enough fish, after figuring out that the cat wasn't going to let her skip out on lunch as usual.

But once she pulled out a knife and started cleaning the first fish, Baron began retching strangely.

Bearskin looked up at him curiously, but he was now facing away from her. His entire body was shaking as he stared at a distant rock.

"Baron? Is something wrong?"

He only gave a shudder for an answer.

She gave him another strange look but shrugged it off to return to cleaning the fish. They still had a long way to go, and she wanted out of the kingdom as soon as possible.

Once she was done cleaning all the fish, she started a fire to start cooking them whole. "Thanks for gathering fuel for the fire, Baron. It means we'll be back to walking that much faster."

He finally turned enough to look at her, his expression still haunted.

Bearskin used two sticks to skewer a pair of fish for lunch. "You know, I kind of wish I could understand what animals say so that I could really talk with you. But then, I really wouldn't be able to cope with being a trapper if I could understand animals," she couldn't help but admit, fighting back a laugh at the thought.

He gave her a sad look as he mewed softly. The sound seemed to be an agreement.

She gave him a tiny smile and returned to cooking lunch. 'Not that I ever really enjoyed being a trapper.'

ooOoo

By the second day, they were out of the Piaal baronetcy, but still in the kingdom of Lycea. Bearskin had been careful not to let herself be seen in public over the three days, but now that she had company in the form of Baron, she wasn't feeling as lonely as usual.

For now the little cat was walking, so the trapper was taking an easier trail through the forest to make it more manageable for him. She pulled out one of her maps to look over it carefully. "According to this, we should be crossing the border in another day or so. Which kingdom do you think sounds better; Alsdea or Thegui?"

He answered with a low growl that sounded like a grumble.

Bearskin looked down at him feeling silly. "Oh, right. I keep forgetting you can't talk." She stopped walking in order to kneel next to him. The pale woman spread the map carefully over her lap. "Go ahead, Baron. Pick our next destination."

He gave her a strange look, but scratched at his chin with a paw while studying the map with a serious expression.

"Would you like me to tell you what the places are? Because this one's-" she tried to name the places.

"Meow," he cut her off firmly, hesitating only a minute more before placing his paw on the thick paper.

She looked at the place he wanted. "Very well; Alsdea it is. But it looks like I'll need to get another map soon, if we want to see what's beyond it."

Baron mewed in agreement and gave her a warm smile as they started walking again.

Even walking through the forest didn't feel as lonely as it used to. Bearskin smiled to herself while keeping an eye on her cat. 'Even if the lord couldn't help me, at least I have Baron now.'

Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Meow?" Baron asked, but she shushed him excitedly.

Kneeling down to keep behind a large bush, her eyes were glued to a small cottage that was still a good distance away.

It was a very run-down sort of place, with a slightly caving roof and a curtain instead of a door. There was a thin young woman working in a muddy garden, but she was too far away to make any details other than the fact that she was blonde.

"Stay close and stay quiet," Bearskin whispered, carefully moving from foliage to tree to get closer to the small hut.

The girl, perhaps her age, was weeding her garden with only a stick and her hands. Much of her was smeared with mud, including her tired face. She wiped at the sweat on her face with one arm, even as she suppressed a shiver.

Now that Bearskin was closer, she could see why the woman was shivering. Her dress was very thin and her slippers were no good for living out in the woods. If this was summer, there wouldn't be a problem, but… winter was coming soon.

If that was all she had for clothing, the girl wouldn't survive long after the first snowfall.

Baron snuck a peek at the woman from under the large bush he was hiding behind. For a second, Bearskin could have sworn that he gasped, but it might have been a breeze. From behind the tree, the trapper studied her latest prey with glee.

This was exactly what she needed to help her forget about the arrogant lord of Piaal. Even better; she looked to have the same body build as the cursed woman.

For over an hour, they studied both the girl and her humble home. Once she was convinced that the girl was the only one who lived there, the trapper motioned for her cat to follow her from the scene as discreetly as possible.

Just as soon as they were a safe distance from the cottage, the tiny feline started meowing insistently.

"Baron, my friend," Bearskin said while grinning at him. "You're about to get introduced to my favorite part about being a nomad."

He gave her a confused look, but kept meowing.

"Don't worry, I'm not… we're not going to let her rough it on her own. Now, let's see what I've got," she murmured while sifting through her bag. She pulled out a thick winter jacket that was one of her favorites. "This one would look nice on her, don't you think?"

Baron gaped at her.

"Well, I think it would," she informed him while folding the jacket neatly to drape it over a thick branch. "I wish I had known that I was going to run across her when I last traded. She looks like she could use a new dress, though shoes aren't going to be a problem."

It took another hour for her to sift through her bag, but by the time she was done, a modest pile of her best and warmest clothes were in the pile, as well as a long covered dagger. Even her best and warmest set of boots had made it into the pile.

Bearskin looked at the pile with a sniff, before sweeping everything into a burlap sack. "Gold will have to suffice for what I can't give her. Besides, people will talk if they see me buying things for ladies."

Baron nodded numbly, still lost in a silent spell.

"I better go hunting again. She looks like she could use some fresh meat, don't you think? Plus firewood; she's going to need a lot of firewood for the months ahead."

Baron nodded again, although a slight tremor was returning to his body.

Bearskin looked at him, remembering the last time he had shaken like that. It had been when she had caught that rabbit for supper the night before. "My friend," she said slowly. "Do you hate watching me ply my trade?"

Her cat flinched guiltily, looking at his perfectly white paws in shame.

The pale woman sighed and extracted her hand from one glove to run her fingers over his soft fur. "It's okay, Baron. It took me almost two years to get used to skinning and such. Or was it three?" she couldn't help but wonder aloud. So much of her childhood had been absorbed by her father's trade that it was hard to remember things like that.

He looked up at her, his expression still shamed as he licked her bare wrist.

"If you want to wait for me here, you don't have to watch me do it," she offered, although a small part of her was worried that he was going to take the opportunity to escape.

Baron looked around and nodded with a comforting mew before licking her wrist again.

She gave him a half-hearted smile while standing up. "I'll be back in a few hours. There's still a lot of daylight left and we're going to need it."

ooOoo

The full moon was out, when the two came close to the cottage again. In Bearskin's hands was the bag from before, but it was now stuffed to capacity with spare blankets and carefully packaged deer meat. It wasn't much, but at least it and the bag of gold she had included should be enough to help the young woman settle comfortably in for the winter.

As silently as possible, Bearskin avoided the branches surrounding the area so that she could set the bag next to the entrance of the small home. Now that she was closer, she could see that the curtain was made of what looked like the remains of a long robe or dress. In the moonlight, she leaned closer; trying to discern the barely legible pattern in the worn cloth.

Baron pawed at her leg, reminding her why they were here. Shaking free from her thoughts, Bearskin nodded at him while untying a stiff package from her torso.

Her largest tarp was now stained as white as the rest of her, but it had been the quietest way to bring it that she could think of. Walking around the cottage to the side, she started unfolding it. The stiff material crinkled at her touch, making both human and cat turn stiff with horror. It was a cool silent night and the sound seemed louder than thunder.

But since no sound came from the cottage, the trapper took a deep breath to calm her nerves and laid the tarp out on the ground. She started unfolding the material, unable to keep it from occasionally crackling in protest. When it grew too big, Baron began stationing himself on the opposite side, using his entire body to unfold it. But since there was more tarp than him, he had to resort to dragging the cloth with his teeth. The resulting sound made avalanches seem quiet by comparison.

"Shh, she'll hear us," Bearskin cautioned as her heart beat louder than ever.

There, it was halfway folded now. Just one more fold, and then they could-

A sharp gasp interrupted her thoughts, making the cursed trapper drop the tarp and wheel around on instinct.

The pale woman was awake and standing just outside the curtain. A thin dirty blanket was around her shoulders as both hands flew to her mouth in complete shock.

Bearskin's flesh ran colder than ice. This wasn't the first time someone had woken up, but it was definitely the first time anyone had seen her in the act. "Drat," she growled under her breath while looking at her cat. "I told you she'd hear us."

Baron mewed defensively, but a sentence from the young woman made them forget about waking her up.

"Did… did my father send you?" she whispered in horror.