Memory Hunted (16 page)

"Where? I am coming with you—as long as it is warm."
Yuzu hugged the blanket she had thrown over her cloak.

"And if Tell doesn’t?"

"You are a bad teacher if he doesn’t."

The girl is more confident.
"If
he does, you will end up marrying him."

Yuzu’s face flooded with more red than the cold could
cause. "M-marry?"

"Timothy’s aunt won’t have you practicing without marriage
vows."
I barely escaped. I doubt she could. Timmy doesn’t know the half of what
his aunt told me.
Kit shrugged. "She’s a nun. A Mother Superior."

Yuzu squinted at Timothy. "A nun?"

"Who do you think married us?"
Will marry.
The
thought filled her with warmth and her stomach with acid.
Who said we have to
go immediately? It’s your fault, muttonhead.
As if he’d heard, Timothy turned
and hooked her with his hazel gaze. She swallowed. "Damn you, Timmy," Kit muttered.
"I never—" Sudden pain flared up her leg and burst into multicolored splatters in
her vision. She fell to her knees and saw an arrow protruding from her thigh. She
gritted her teeth and looked up to see Jan burst from the trees and dodge Tell’s
sling as it whistled toward his head.

"I’m sorry, Sunflower, but I cannot have you run again."
Daeric stepped out and lowered a short bow. His white fur cloak fluttered.

Yuzu yelled and bowled into the man. They crashed to
the ground in a puff of snow. Timothy shouted something before he fell to Jan’s
sweep this his legs. Immediately, Tell attacked Jan with a knife in one hand and
his loaded sling in the other. His shape blurred with the falling snow. Kit clenched
her jaw, grabbed the arrow with both hands, and pulled. Agony lanced black across
her vision.
Not. Now.
Her will kept her from blacking out.
Her skirt’s
fabric tangled around the shaft, but it came free. She staggered to her feet and
stumbled toward her fallen shepherd. Her leg collapsed under her, but she kept the
bloody arrow in her fist.

He lay on outstretched on the ground. Above him Tell
struggled to hold off Jan’s attacks. Jan’s spear darted, driving Tell steadily
backward until he was standing over Timothy. Tell lunged in an attempt to get
inside of Jan’s reach, but the spear whirled and cracked Tell on his upper arm.

 "Why did you betray me, son?" Jan asked.

 "Like you noticed. You never look at me." Tell lunged.

Jan danced back, twirling Tell’s loaded sling around
his spear. "Always the same complaints. When will you become a man?"

Tell took another hit with the blunt end of the spear.
"When will you stop trying to avenge Mom? Sh-she wouldn’t have wanted—" The spear
crashed into the side of Tell’s head. He crumpled.

"You know nothing of Koto. You don’t know anything
about her," Jan said.

Timothy groaned and tried to stand up. Jan twisted
and drive the butt of his spear into Timothy, sending him back into the snow.
Jan caught the whirling spear and thrust the dark iron head into Timothy.

Timothy’s yell ripped at Kit and drove her back to her
feet. She raced toward Jan, heedless of the pain in her thigh, and threw the arrow.
It wobbled through the air only to have a steel blade appear from the curtain of
snow and slice it at the last moment.

Captain Tredere sheathed the blade. "What are you boys
doing wasting time with these people? You never could obey orders."

Kit’s leg gave out again. Something heavy thumped into
her back and pinned her to the ground. She shivered against the frigid dampness
seeping into her clothes. Snow and forest debris obscured her view.

"Don’t think your pattern will continue," Daeric said
above her. "Father, I tried to tell you. I had found the one we looked for."

"I told you, son. We are done with that foolishness.
I expected it out of Daeric, but you, Jan."

"Father, it’s Koto. She’s come back to us." Jan’s voice
arced over crunching boots. "We can…"

Kit’s eyelids felt heavy. Cold. A dim part of her mind
spluttered.
Father?

"Enough." Tredere’s voice rattled Kit’s fading
awareness.

Suddenly the weight lifted. On instinct, Kit rolled.
She crashed into a tree. The shock restored some of her senses. Captain Tredere
had Daeric pinned to the ground.

"We were to get our revenge. I didn’t waste my time kissing
rings and selling my soul to murderers so we can dally with the fool notion of bringing
the past back. Shut your mouth, Jan. You are just as bad as he is. They are dead.
I don’t know why I ever let either of you off your leash. I had hoped I’d taught
you both enough sense. Especially after Koto," Tredere said. "You didn’t see what
I did. Koto had it easy. Burn me if I didn’t love the girl too. Don’t look at me
that way, son. She was my daughter. Blood or no, she was as much a daughter as you
damned boys are my sons."

Kit blinked snow away. Snowflakes began to blanket Timothy’s
unmoving body. Nearby lay Tell.
I feel so weak.
She clenched a hand over
her wounded thigh and dragged herself along with the other. Her teeth chattered.

"But, Father—Kit is—" Daeric said.

"What was I telling you? It doesn’t matter. Gert should’ve
kept an eye on you. Where is that bastard? Not another word, Daeric. Your lack
of focus put everything in jeopardy. That damned Inquisitor has me figured out,
how I would send out patrols for you to kill. I should have killed him that
first night."

Kit worked toward Timothy, feeling her strength ebb.
The sounds of Daeric, Jan, and Tredere arguing faded. Only Timothy mattered. He
lay on his back.
There’s too much blood.
Dark crimson covered his chest.
His pale face turned toward her. His lips tinted blue. "You’re hurt, Kit."

"Be quiet, woolhead." She pressed down on where blood
pooled on his shoulder. "You are hurt worse."

"Some heroes we turned out to be." He wheezed a laugh
and grimaced. "A lot of talk but little ability. We wouldn’t make much of a story."

Hot tears thawed her frozen cheeks. "I swear you’ve been
nothing but trouble. I knew you would be from the moment I saw you fall down that
hill."

"We did that a lot. Falling down metaphorical hills."
His eyes fluttered.

"If I have to stay awake, you have to, shepherd." She
pressed her forehead to his. "You still owe me."

"What?"

"For fleas. For my tail getting tangled. For your good
nature."

"H-how do I owe you that? Seems you owe me one for….for…that."

Kit heard something behind her.

"Someone—" Jan cut off.

Kit twisted to see Kyle barrel into Daeric. A spate of
soldiers crashed in from all directions with Balwar at their head. The Inquisitor
thrust his arms out, and the air cracked with the sound of gunfire. Jan wrenched,
and crimson bloomed on his chest. Tredere freed his short sword and stabbed and
hacked at the soldiers around him. They came on, heedless of the blade, and dragged
the man down. Kyle bashed Daeric across the face.

"Sis," Yuzu collapsed beside Kit. Blood ran from Yuzu’s
hairline and down the right side of her face. "You’re bleeding."

Kit’s vision tunneled. "Tim…help."

Yuzu hissed and thrust her hands over Kit’s, adding pressure.
Timothy didn’t react.

"Truss the former captain," Balwar’s voice leeched into
Kit’s sluggish mind. "See to the wounded."

"Leave that one alone. He’s Tell, right?" Kyle
asked.

Kit’s head slumped. She heard Yuzu say something,
but it didn’t stick in her mind. She poured every bit of strength she had into her
hands. Into her shepherd.
Must stop…bleeding.

"Balwar," Kyle’s voice quivered in Kit’s dimming awareness.
"I need…."

"Sis? Sis…"

The scent of ammonia shocked Kit awake. Her vision and
hearing flared from a pinprick to a torrent. Crimson. Movement. Cold. So much cold.
Within and without.

Balwar shoved a vial to Yuzu. "Stop the bleeding, and
use this to keep her awake. Cold can kill her if she sleeps."

Yuzu grabbed Kit’s shoulders. "Come over here, Sis."

Kit struggled against Yuzu’s grip, but the girl dragged
her away from Timothy. Kyle knelt beside him.

"You really need to leave the heroing to me, Timothy,"
Kyle said. "Get a fire going, boys. Now."

Yuzu laid Kit against a tree and lifted her skirt. Kit
felt too weak to resist. Yuzu muttered and tore strips of cloth from her cloak.
Kyle opened Timothy’s coat and shirt. The shepherd’s thin chest almost matched the
snow.
Don’t you die on me,
Kit thought.

"Heat that knife." Kyle thrust a blade at the nearest
soldier. "I hope this works. I’ve never done it myself. Hold on, Timothy."

A pair of soldiers shoved Daeric to the ground. His shoulders
strained against the ropes that bound his arms behind his back. "If you would have
listened, he’d still be alive. All I wanted was to bring us back. You could have
had a home with us. Lived with us. Had children. You could have been our Eve."

"Shut your mouth," a soldier said as he threw Tredere
beside him. Tredere’s face was a mass of bruises. "You are both lucky we are under
orders not to kill you." The soldier spat on Tredere. "The Inquisitor told us you
were the one who burned our friends in that fire. He figured it all out." The soldier
tapped a key that hung from Tredere’s belt with the butt of his halberd.

Tredere rose to his knees. "It is the least you deserve
for what your kind did."

Balwar stood over them, fingering his crucifix. "And
what would that be?"

Tredere laughed. "Look at where we are, fool. You know
what happened here."

Daeric opened his mouth, but Tredere cut him off. "Quiet.
If you had followed orders, we wouldn’t be here. You are no son of mine." Daeric
looked as if Tredere had stabbed him.

"Watch them," Balwar said. "We will take them to stand
trial for their crimes."

"And what crime is that, Inquisitor?" Tredere asked.
"Defending what is left of our homes? Executing murderers? Who will make you stand
on trial?"

Balwar skewered Tredere with his glare. "For killing
men you were responsible for."

The scent of burning flesh seared Kit’s nostrils. Kyle’s
back prevented Kit from seeing anything. She tried to get up. "What are they—"

Yuzu shoved her back and tugged at the bandage she was
winding around Kit’s thigh. Kit groaned against the pain. "Leave it to Kyle, Sis.
He won’t let Timothy…."

Tell stumbled over to stare down at Tredere and Daeric.
"What is it, boy?" Tredere looked up and spat blood. "I hope it was worth it to
you to betray your own kin."

Without a word, Tell wrenched the men’s bandanas from
their heads, threw the cloths to the ground, and backed away. Soldiers cursed and
crossed themselves. Balwar didn’t move. He continued to stroke the crucifix that
dangled from his neck. Yuzu gasped. White-tufted fox ears swiveled among the men’s
tangled red hair. Kyle glanced over his shoulder for a moment before returning to
Timothy.

I wish Kyle would move. I can’t see him.

"Foxes," one of the soldiers said. The soldiers trained
their weapons at the two bound men.

Balwar held up a hand. "You have nothing to fear from
them. They are powerless now. They will answer to God for their crimes."

Tell slipped away from the soldiers and knelt beside
Kit and Yuzu. "They had cut their tails off to hide. I’m such an idiot. I should
have told you what we are before all of this. It might have helped. But when you
grow up with something…"

"What about Jan? Wait. So you have a tail?" Yuzu asked.

Tell nodded and looked away. "I—I will go. I’m sure you
don’t want to have…anything to do with a demon like me. Jan called me son. For the
first time. In anger, but still. " Tell looked over his shoulder and wiped his cheek.
"I need to go before these soldiers notice I am a fox too. I hope Timothy….I will
go."

Yuzu grabbed his arm. "Don’t go."

The soldiers not tending to the wounded all circled Tredere,
Daeric, and the Inquisitor. They didn’t pay attention to anyone else.

"Go." Kit leaned on the tree and used it to leverage
herself to her feet. "While they aren’t paying attention to you. Before they ask
how you know." She limped toward Timothy, leaving Yuzu and Tell behind. A small
fire burned close to her shepherd.

Kyle finished knotting the cloth he’d used to bandage
Timothy’s chest and used a cloak to cover him. Kit fell to the trampled ground beside
him. "Is he…?"

"He’s a stubborn one." Kyle wiped his brow on his sleeve.
A knife steamed on the ground next to him. He studied Kit. "You two are quite the
pair. I hope you are done trying to be heroes. Just leave that to me." He looked
down at Timothy. "I was always having to bail him out of trouble. But he always
helped me feel younger than I am." He touched his chin. "Not all of this gray is
because of age, you know."

"Will he…?"

"I’m not a doctor. I’ve only seen this done once for
a cut. It didn’t get his heart, but one militiaman I knew who had a wound like this
had trouble breathing for the rest of his life. The other…died." Kyle wrapped an
arm around Kit’s shoulders. "Don’t you worry. He’s got you to come back to."

Kyle’s bravado told Kit just how dire Timothy’s situation
was. "How did you know where to find us?"

"I told you where to go. I dropped you enough hints,
didn’t I? ‘I will see you again soon,’ remember?" He shook his head and rubbed
Kit’s shoulder. "I should have just come out and told you."

Kit shrugged. "You did what you could."

Kyle let his arm drop. "It’s too cold to be out here.
We need to be careful moving him." He turned toward the soldiers standing
nearby.  "Boys, we need a sled for my friend. " The soldiers saluted and went
off to their task.

 Kyle touched Kit’s shoulder. "Stay with Timothy I
have to see to our prisoners. Don’t worry. Timothy will make it." He patted her
shoulder one last time before standing and walking away. Kit laid a hand on Timothy’s
cheek. His skin felt like touching ice, and his breath came in shallow gasps.
You
lived through that illness. You
will
live through this.