Memory Hunted (7 page)

"The white blob? Your eyes are glowing, Sis. You can
see just as well at night as I can in the day can’t you?"

"Not as well as you think. Yes, that’s it. We are
going to run over there and get our supplies."

"I wouldn’t want to try to leave without blankets
and food," Yuzu said. "I don’t have a tail to keep me warm."

"I know where they are, so I will climb in. You
watch for movement. You will see that before anything else."

Yuzu nodded.

They crouched at the side of the lodge, just below one
of the common-room windows. Kit could hear Timothy’s muffled voice.

"Dante wrote…"

Kit peered around the mossy stone foundation. Motion
by the stables caught her gaze, and she tensed. "What is it? Did you see
something?" Yuzu whispered.

"…Paradise…" Timothy’s voice fluttered into her ears.

The moon peeked from the clouds. It’s silver light
slipped into the stable, revealing the mule tied just inside.

Kit closed her eyes and breathed for a moment. She wanted
to take the wagon, but it would slow them too much. She hated leaving all those
supplies behind. She had a time finding apples and berries this time of year. She
had to keep her shepherd healthy after almost losing him at Honheim. He couldn’t
get sick again like that. He was still too thin. She didn’t want him to travel in
this cold, but they had to move. With luck, they would be able to get to Belafonte
before Daeric knew they were gone. The main road had to take them there.

Her eyes snapped open. "It was nothing. Ready?"

Yuzu nodded in the wane light.

Kit slipped around the corner of the lodge and dashed
on silent feet across the clearing. Yuzu followed close behind. Kit slammed her
back against the wagon’s wheel and slid to the ground. Her heart thumped. Yuzu fell
beside her, gasping. The fool girl wore an excited grin.

 "Listen for anyone coming." Kit felt like a horsefly
was pestering her ears. They wouldn’t stop twitching.

Yuzu widened her eyes and watched the lodge. Yellow
lamplight lit the lodge’s windows.

Kit lifted part of the oiled canvas tarp covering the
wagon. She hoisted herself over the wagon’s edge until she balanced on her
stomach. Her feet kicked the air as she reached into the wagon with both hands.
 Using memory and touch more than sight, she found the three knapsacks. She stuffed
the first one with packets of hard bread, smoked meat, and a small pan. She slipped
the first knapsack out of the wagon. It thumped on the ground. She began to stuff
the second. After a few moments, the second sack thumped on the ground for Yuzu.
Kit squirmed deeper under the tarp as she blindly filled the last knapsack.
There
was a box of tea somewhere here.
The edge of the wagon dug into her stomach,
and her legs dangled.

Kit heard Yuzu hiss. Hands snatched Kit’s dangling legs
and heaved her into the wagon bed. She smacked her face on one of the lanterns.

 Yuzu peered over the wooden rail. "Tell’s coming
this way. We have to hide." Without waiting for Kit she snatched the edge of
the tarp and sank out of sight, pulling the tarp closed.

Kit blinked in the sudden darkness.
And you didn’t
think to pull me out of the wagon instead of pushing me into it?
She checked
her teeth with her tongue. The lantern hurt!

Tell’s voice drifted to Kit’s ears. "Tell, do this. Tell,
do that."

Suddenly the wagon jolted as something shoved
against it. The motion bounced Kit’s  face off the metal lantern again. The
wheels creaked as the wagon rocked back and forth."It’s been awhile since I had
any fun." The tarp muffled Tells voice. The wagon jostled again. "And this is
balanced enough. They are all gone."

A mule brayed.

"No. I don’t need you," Tell said. "I can—" Kit
heard him grunt and the wagon began to move. The wagon steadily gained speed.

The motion combined with the darkness made Kit feel
disoriented. She shoved aside the various wrapped packages and lay flat.
That
helps a little. I’ll just wait here until he is done moving the wagon and then
slip out.

The wagon lurched at an unnatural angle. Wrapped
packages, pots, and other supplies sluiced over her. The uncomfortable vision of
teetering on the edge of a cliff flashed in Kit’s mind.

Without warning, the wagon’s floorboards dropped away.
She floated in the air for a stomach-wrenching moment before crashing back to
the hard wood. Her teeth clicked off a curse. The wheels groaned and protested.
Supplies slid and skidded around her. A part of her mind wondered if a leaf
caught in a river felt like this as she struggled to find something to hold
onto. Rushing wind flapped the canvas. Boxes and bundles smashed into her.

Suddenly, the wagon fell away. The tarp tore from the
nails that had secured it.

Kit exploded from the wagon, landed hard on the ground,
and rolled. The tarp tangled around her, binding her arms and legs. Her head popped
out of the canvas just enough to see the forest whirl. She bounced off a stone and
tumbled helplessly as thistles and brambles snapped around her. A fat tree appeared
in her vision several times.

The fat tree approached far too fast.

The tarp snagged on something and squeezed. The canvas
rubbed her arms. A small part of her mind sighed in pleasure as the motion eased
her itching arms.

The world bucked, and air squeezed from Kit. She closed
her eyes.

Sorry, Timothy. It looks like this is it.

The tarp squeezed her until her eyes wanted to pop and
her lungs burned for air.

Then she stopped.

She opened one eye. The base of the fat tree loomed uncomfortably
close. She squirmed against the tight bonds of the canvas, forcing herself to take
short breaths until she was able to free her arm and push against the tattered fabric.
She wormed her way free from the canvas tarp and kicked it away. Snow clung to the
maple branches that spun high above her. She closed her eyes against the still spinning
world and waited for her stomach to come down from the hill.

Her pounding heart slowed. She sat back for a moment
against her would-be murderer and let the world stop spinning. Far to her right
a log spring house squatted against another hill. A trail curved from its weathered
door and up a steep hill. A path of destruction cut up the hill close to that trail.
Saplings pointed down the hill. Two wheel ruts sliced through the leaves and snow
coating the ground. Clods of earth and uprooted plants pointed toward the small
spring house. The path barely missed several unforgiving trees and boulders.

The wagon lay shattered a short distance from the springhouse,
its wheels tilted at odd angles. Tell walked along the wreckage, gathering the paper-wrapped
supplies. He lugged an armload to the springhouse and dropped them into a pile.
He whistled a tuneless song.

Why do men cause me so much trouble?

Kit groaned. She felt as if she had hit every tree in
the forest. Her cheek hurt from hitting the lantern. She noticed the knapsack close
by. The lantern reflected moonlight from the open flap. She touched her cheek and
winced. She would have a bruise in the morning. Her body complained as she stood.
She limped over to the lantern.

"I should leave you here to rust," she muttered at it.
Instead, she stuffed the metal demon back into the knapsack and drew the flaps closed.
She hoisted the knapsack over her shoulder. Her head still spun. She may have
been hurt, but at least her hands and forearms had stopped itching.
Maybe I shook
all the fleas off.
She slunk through the trees toward the base of the hill.

"I wonder if Yuzu would want to try a ride like that,"
Tell said to himself. He looked up the churned path. "She looks like one who
likes to have fun."

"She’ll take a ride like that only if she wants to break
her neck," Kit muttered. She started up the hill, using the trees to shield her
from Tell. Her breath was coming in gasps by the time she topped the rise, and her
thigh had knotted. She saw the lodge a fair distance away.

At the top of the hill, Gert looked down the devastation.
Kit crouched behind a tree. The man’s pipe lit the pale night with color. Kit tightened
her grip on the knapsack and the lantern stuffed in it.

"Fool boy. I’ve told him twice now not to do that. He’s
going to break his head."

Timothy appeared. "What happened?"

Gert turned. "I told you to stay inside."

Kit saw her chance. She burst from the undergrowth and
charged Gert. She swung the heavy knapsack with both hands. A satisfying metallic
clink sent the man’s pipe flying and him crumpling to the ground.

She swung the pack over her shoulder and winced as the
lantern smacked into her. "Fool lantern," Kit muttered.

"You look like you rolled down a hill and hit every tree
on the way down." Timothy pulled a leaf from her hair. His breath frosted the air.

Kit rubbed her thigh. It felt like a bruise was
beginning to form. "Not every tree. Just most."

Timothy glanced at the hill. A twig burst. Kit twisted
and crouched.

"That looks like fun." Yuzu stepped from behind a tree.
Blankets weighted one shoulder, and her knapsack pulled at the other. She glanced
at an unconscious Gert. "Remind me not to make you angry, Sis."

Timothy shivered. "We should get moving. If we get on
the road, we can get some distance."

"Which way is the road, Sister?" Yuzu said.

"I—I don’t know."

"But you grew up around here, right?" Yuzu asked.

"I said I don’t know." Kit scratched up her sleeves and
allowed herself to feel miserable for a moment.

Timothy pointed east. "The road was over there. I suspect
it will take us to Belafonte, but Daeric will come looking for us."

Kit looked at Gert. The man didn’t stir. Her fingers
found her belt knife, miraculously still in its sheath. "We need to take care of
him before we go."

Timothy grabbed her arm. "No, Kit. You can’t."

"We wouldn’t be in the mess if I had with Daeric. And
with Tahd. With Treblin."

"That’s not you, Kit. You aren’t a killer."

"I killed your mother." Kit swallowed and set her jaw.

"He hasn’t tried to hurt us. E-Evelyn was trying to kill
me."

"And you think they will not?" Kit’s hand tightened on
the knife’s grip. "Daeric wants me. He has to know what I am. What else could it
be? It is always back to my tail and ears. People always want me because I am a
fox. I am done with it."

"I don’t care about your ears and tail, Sis. I just want
to pet them," Yuzu said.

"Kit, if Daeric wanted to hurt us, he would have tried
already. He has something else in mind."

Kit shook her head. "Not even this place is safe. I had
hoped home would be safe. After Grammie died…nowhere is safe for me. I don’t belong
anywhere."

Timothy laid a hand on her shoulder. "Y-you belong w-with
me."

Oh, Timmy.
She
laughed. She shoved the knife into its sheath and patted his hand. "As long as you
don’t treat me like one of your sheep, shepherd." She wiped her eyes with the back
of her hand.
I will regret this, but Timothy is right. I am not a killer.

Kit pulled up her sleeves. The cold air felt good against
her skin. Red blotches covered the backs of her hands and ran almost to her elbows.
She thrust her arms at Timothy. "Look at them! This is your fault, Shepherd of the
Fleas. Look what your fleas have done to me."

"I can’t see them, but I tried to warn you. It’s not
fleas," Timothy said."It’s sumac."

"We should get moving. I don’t like Daeric enough to
stay here. Tell is cute, though," Yuzu said.

"She’s right, Timmy. If you spend more time talking me
up, we will be caught."

Timothy rolled his eyes. "Lead the way then."

Yuzu trudged into the woods, and Kit followed. Timothy
matched his pace to Kit’s. She glanced at him.
Thanks for being you, Timmy. Although,
I won’t ever tell you that.
If she had been prepared to kill Trent or Tahd,
she would have never met him.
But I am different now. I was about to kill Gert.
Her stomach felt sour.
Anything to protect my woolhead.
She wasn’t sure
about the existence of God, not after what she’d seen from those who claimed to
belong to him. But she would risk anything for the idiot who walked next to her.
She felt her cheeks heat.
I can’t have him know that. Not with his fragile pride.
He’d make a nuisance of himself.
She smiled.
I never thought a kind fool
like him would muddle me so much.

"It’s all your fault, sheepbrain."

"What did I do now?" Timothy asked. "Shouldn’t we be
quiet, considering we are trying to get away from people who hunt Inquisitors?"

Yuzu cleared her throat.

"If Tell’s noise didn’t draw them," Kit said, "they are
some distance away. Besides, I am listening."
Now I am, anyway.
To her ears,
they cracked and crunched loud enough to be heard for miles. "You should have told
me about that plant." She plucked a burr from her left ear.

"I tried. I stuffed some oats in a pocket for you before
we left." Timothy whispered. His foot snapped a stick. He winced. "We can make something
to help with the itch." He muttered about how much noise they were making and fumbled
with a low tree branch, only to have it slap him in the face. Kit shook her head
and smiled. As worthless as her shepherd was, he always tried to consider her needs.
She wondered if seeing a village she barely remembered was worth all of this.
All that she put Timothy through. Her smile faded. She hadn’t shared her doubts
about the journey with him. After her grandmother died, even a small chance of
remembering her roots seemed worth it. Not to mention it would have been an
adventure. 

Some adventure it turned out to be. I
spent all my time being hounded.
She watched Timothy
tangle himself in a patch of brambles.
At least I found someone who accepts
me for me just as Grammie did. But what will I do after all of this? What will I
do when I don’t have to run anymore?