"We could make you some too," Edmund jokes, seeing Adan carefully observing the girl.
"If I wanted to walk like a newborn Foal," Adan huffs. Edmund winces and stuffs a hatchet into his bag.
"It's that bad?" he asks, leaving his packing and crossing the cave to stand beside Adan. Unfortunately, the Wolf's comparison was a good one. Edmund watches the girl— her bright lavender cloak unnervingly bright in the early morning light— and her wobbly progress for only a moment before turning away. "We'll wrap laces around the soles," he decides as he backs away from the entrance. He picks up the remainder of the lacing and splits it into two equal lengths with his knife, wrapping the cords slowly around his hand while surveying the saddle bags and other supplies. After a moment of thought, he cuts off another shorter length of cording from his cloak and shoves it all in his pocket.
Edmund crosses to the back of the cave again and moves the blanket and bedroll closer to his pack. He'd stuffed all the food he could into the bag. Most of what was not coming was the heavier cooking gear— pots, utensils, and such that, though nice to have, was neither practical nor essential when they'd be stopping only long enough to rest overnight. Edmund studies the bedroll, considering how to carry it. The down-filled canvas mat will be a bit cumbersome, but it's going to be necessary for bivouacking in the mountains. They'll need a way to keep off the frozen ground tonight, especially if they aren't able to get below the snow line before nightfall.
Edmund pulls out a length of rope and hastily attaches the bedroll to the underside of the pack. The whole thing will be heavy and unwieldy, but seeing the girl's gait confirmed in Edmund's mind that it wouldn't be worth it to split the load between the two of them.
"Was there a good place to hide all this?" Edmund asks Adan, looking over the saddle and other bags. He hadn't gotten a good look around before dark yesterday, and he'd gone out only long enough to scoop up some fresh snow earlier. Adan, turning from his surveillance of the girl, looks over the discarded supplies as well.
"There's a cleft in the rocks above the cave, if you can throw them that far." Edmund picks up one of the saddle bags and considers its weight. With the exception of the saddle, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to toss them a fair distance.
When the princess returns, picking her way carefully up the slight slope to the cave entrance, Edmund is just tossing the last of the saddle bags into the crag on the upper right hand side of the cave entrance. He turns to watch her, holding her skirt in one hand and trying to maintain her balance with the treadless shoes they'd fashioned.
"Here," he says, grabbing her elbow before she can crash to the ground at the top of the slope. He guides her back into the cave and quickly sits her down near the extinguished remains of their fire. He'd already dumped some snow on it, hoping to throw off anyone's guesses of their departure time, and stowed away the pan and waterskin in his pack.
"We'll wrap these around to give them some grip," Edmund explains, kneeling in front of her and pulling the two longer lengths of leather cording from his pocket. He hands the princess one and starts wrapping the other around her left foot. Once finished, he has her stand and test to see if it's tight enough without being too uncomfortable.
"Just wrap the other one and we'll get moving," Edmund says when he's convinced the cords will hold. The girl sits back down and does so. Edmund watches for a moment, but then turns to his pack and pulls out a few bundles of dried foods. He passes some to the girl and slips the rest into his own pocket before picking up Phillip's saddle— a custom piece of expert leatherwork that's only recently been worn in to the Horse's satisfaction. It's a shame to lose it, but it can't be helped. He carries it outside and tosses it as far as he can into the snow-laden trees.
"If we move quickly we can get to the river in a day or two," Edmund tells the princess. She ties off the cord on her right foot and stands. Edmund passes her to grab the folded blanket from beside the pack. "But it might not be any warmer until we get down out of these mountains," he adds, turning back to the girl. The lavender velvet of her cloak is too noticeable, he'd decided, and needed to be covered, but there was no reason to scare her unnecessarily. She hadn't mentioned being followed again after he'd admitted to he and Adan trailing her, so perhaps she didn't realize there were still others out there. Besides that, using the blanket as a cloak would keep her warm and there'd be one less thing to stuff into the overloaded pack.
Edmund drapes the blanket over the girl's purple hood and instructs her to hold it while he pulls the last length of cording from his pocket and the small hunting knife from his boot. After slicing two small slits in the blanket near the princess's neck, Edmund uses the cording to hold it in place and grabs his pack before declaring it time to leave.