Memory Hunted (15 page)

"Looks like it’s good that you have a hard head too.
I learned where Belafonte is." Kyle held up his hand. "No need to think me. I asked
around, and finally Balwar told me. It’s not too far from here. It’s only two days’
walk north through those trees. Kyle’s such a good friend. I know."

Kit smiled. "Kyle
is
a wonderful friend."

Kyle rubbed his cheek. "They are leaving without me.
I’d better go." He winked. "Remember, I will see you soon. You will owe me a drink
for the information." He trotted out of the gate.

The wind lifted snow from the roof of the empty barracks
and cast it over the palisade. Yuzu looked after the soldiers. Kyle turned and waved.

"You can go with them, you know." Kit tugged her hood
down.

"I go where you go now," Yuzu said.

"With some luck Daeric will think we left with them,"
Timothy said.

"And we are back at the beginning." Kit sighed.

"We could stay here. It’s warm." Yuzu crossed her arms
and shivered.

"No. We finally know where my home is. We are going.
Now."

"Let’s get our supplies first, Kit."

"You do that."

I hope she isn’t disappointed.
Timothy
trudged to the barracks and gathered the supplies Kyle had left them. Timothy already
missed his friend. After months of wondering what had happened to him, Kyle’s appearance
was a bright spot on a journey that had almost ended his life many times. More than
a few times he worried he had made a mistake.
This journey has changed me. The
stories said to beware foxes. They were tricksters and shapeshifters that would
take advantage of the unwary. But some stories claimed foxes were a blessing
once they trusted you. Kit is certainly all of that. Her moods shift enough. But…but
getting to know her was worth it.
He shouldered his pack and one of the folded
tents. He hefted the other packs and trudged outside.

"You can’t go to Belafonte." Tell’s voice reached Timothy.

Kit stood with her arms crossed, her foot tapping in
the snow. Yuzu mirrored her. Tell looked from to the other. "There are ghosts. You
can’t go there. You won’t come back. Not even Jan goes there."

"We are going," Kit said.

Timothy tossed a pack at Kit and another at Yuzu. "You
are wasting your time, Tell. Kit’s made up her mind, and Yuzu goes where she goes."

The young man shivered. "It’s a mistake."

"Whatever happened to Daeric last night?" Timothy asked.

"You don’t have to go, Telly." Yuzu shouldered her pack
and strolled out of the gate. Kit spared a hurry-up glare at Timothy before following.

"I don’t know. I lost track of him." Tell slumped. "I
will go if you are. I don’t have anywhere else to go now anyway."

Poor kid.
Timothy
clapped Tell on the back like Kyle used to do to him. "If not even Jan will go,
wouldn’t you coming with us make you braver than Jan?"

Tell looked up. "I hadn’t thought of that."

"You don’t have supplies."

"I don’t need them." He touched a sling hooked on his
belt and his knife. "These are all I need. They taught me how to hunt."

"The girls will leave us behind if we don’t go."

 "You…aren’t like Daeric and the rest," Tell said.

Timothy kept a short distance behind the women. They
whispered between themselves. Kit shot a look over her shoulder that told him he
chose his distance well. "I would hope not."

"I am Jan’s son, you know."

Timothy tripped. "You are…what?"

Tell stopped. "He doesn’t claim me. I’m not Accepted.
I—I think he also blames me for Mom’s death. They caught her when she tried to protect
me."

"Accepted? They? You spoke about being Accepted before."

"Inquisitors. They burned Mom. Sometimes I dream of her.
At least I think it is her. Jan….he still hurts over it. I see it every time he
looks at me. But it will all change after I am Accepted." He wilted. "Although that
won’t happen now. I betrayed them."

"Why did you help us?"

"You are different. You pay attention to me, and Yuzu…"
Tell blushed.

"But you went against your father—"

"He’s not my father." Tell’s shout made both Kit and
Yuzu turn. Timothy held up a hand.

"What is this Accepted?"

"Becoming part of the tribe. It’s a ritual that will
change me, Gert said. I think is when they will cut…" Tell sighed. "It doesn’t matter.
It won’t happen now."

They walked for a time. Tell suddenly stopped and pulled
his sling free.

"What is it?" Timothy asked.

"I hear a rabbit." Tell pulled a smooth stone from a
pouch and loaded the sling. He gazed into the skeletal undergrowth. Timothy couldn’t
see anything. Tell spun the rock and let it fly. A soft thunk followed. Tell entered
the undergrowth and returned with a hare. "Dinner."

"Much better than the hard biscuits we have."

Timothy let the conversation with Tell fall silent.
The young man seemed to welcome the silence. Timothy concentrated on the trees around
them. Only the women’s whispers and crunching snow broke the silence. They walked
through the afternoon. Timothy watched the forest, but Tell had sharper senses.
He killed another rabbit and pointed out a bear’s den. They trudged through the
remainder of the day and well into nightfall before Kit called for them to stop.
Tell and Timothy set up the camp while the girls argued over something, judging
by their gestures. Tell skinned, skewered, and set the rabbits over the fire.

"You two could have helped," Timothy said.

"Oh, you had it well in hand. You are such masculine
men, after all," Kit said. Yuzu laughed.

"At least you can keep better watch," Timothy muttered.

"I am paying attention." Kit whispered something to Yuzu,
making her laugh harder.

"You are getting along too well. It makes me worried."

"You are a wise woolhead, Timothy." Kit’s smile wilted
for a moment before it turned garish.

"Are girls always like that?" Tell asked.

"I wish we had more of that sauce." Yuzu stared at the
rabbits as they cooked.

"Don’t try to understand them, Tell." Timothy watched
Kit.
Her theatrics may fool Tell and Yuzu, but I can tell she’s worried. She
will come and sit beside me on my watch and complain about her tail.
"I’ll take
the first watch. We’ll let them sleep." Tell nodded. Timothy raised his voice. "They’re
certain to get grouchy if they don’t sleep."

"Anyone would be grouchy if they had to put up with you
lagging behind." Kit jabbed a finger at Timothy.

"And you watching my behind, Tell." Yuzu crossed her
arms. "I’m not going to wear skirts just because you won’t stop looking."

Tell spluttered. "I—I wasn’t….I didn’t…"

Timothy laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder.
The
poor guy makes me look experienced,
he thought. "If you let it get to you, it
will encourage them."

"I don’t need encouragement, Timmy." Kit grinned.

Timothy chuckled. "Be glad Yuzu isn’t as bad as my wife."

Kit rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the
cooking fire.

After the rabbits finished cooking, the women heckled
Tell while they ate. Then Timothy found himself alone with the fire. Yuzu snored
from her tent, and the heel of Tell’s boot peeked from the other. The night felt
too much like the evening Timothy’s mother had tried to kill him. He rubbed his
forehead, trying to sooth away the memories. He huddled in his coat. Bits of ice,
lifted by the wind, glittered in the firelight. Daeric would have to be on top of
them to see the small fire, but it did give off some welcome heat.

Kit stepped into the edge of the light with a blanket
around her shoulders. She padded over, hooked one end of the blanket on his shoulder,
and nestled beside him without a word.
I should say something to her, shouldn’t
I?
Kit hugged her knees and watched the fire as she fanged her lower lip.
No.
I’ll just leave her to her thoughts.
He yawned. Her warmth reminded his body
of the day’s march. He watched the flames, remembering the feel of Kit as they had
danced.
Kyle might have planned everything just so we could do that. That would
be just like him.
Kyle could find a moment to laugh even if the moon was falling.

"I lost the comb for my tail," Kit said. "I don’t think
I will ever get the snarls out of it."

"Better than having fleas, isn’t it?"

She nodded and rested her chin on her knees. Behind them,
Yuzu tried to inhale her tent.

"Thinking about your home?"

"It’s all I ever think about. Is all of this worth seeing
just a pile of stones? Everyone says it is abandoned. Forgotten."

"It can’t be forgotten if everyone talks about it."

Kit elbowed him.

"One day you are going to crack a rib."

"I would have already if I wanted to," Kit said. "You
are still too bony." She fell silent for a time. "How many times have we done this
now? I sit here moping about a home I never knew while you listen."

Timothy shrugged. "I’ve lost count."

She glared at him. "I am being serious."

"And so I am. I’ve lost count of how many times you moped."
He smiled.

"So says the man who moped about his sheep, his books,
his friends, his manliness, his—"

"I get the idea."

"I haven’t asked you. What do you think of me going home?
After all this trouble."

"A little late to ask, isn’t it? We should see it tomorrow."

She looked away. "I know."

"‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’"

Kit frowned.

"What I’m saying is it is fine to want to have a home."

"But I don’t. That’s just it. No one is left."

"We don’t know that. Tell said it was haunted. Maybe
the ghosts are other foxes."

"Maybe. I…I don’t want this journey to end. Yet the end
is here, and I don’t know what will come after."

So that’s what is bothering her.
"I
don’t think you will be rid of Yuzu, and Tell will probably follow her."

"And you?" She watched him from under her eyelashes.

"I need to tell Aunt Mae about Evelyn."

"Is it strange to say that I miss your Aunt Mae? Maybe
I—may I go with you?"

"If Aunt Mae sees us together again, she’d marry us for
sure."

"You sound as if that is a bad thing." She flashed her
fangs. "I would get the short end of that arrangement."

Timothy swallowed. "We could build a cabin in the woods.
Far enough away that you wouldn’t have to worry about your tail. I could copy manuscripts
and raise sheep."

"I am not a sheep dog." Kit yawned and shivered. "A warm
cabin sounds nice. You could keep my tail warm, and maybe the rest of me."

Timothy felt his face heat.

Kit giggled. "With how manly you’ve been talking to Tell,
I began to worry about your blush disappearing." She faced the fire. "After I see
home, we will go see Aunt Mae again." She yawned hard enough to make Timothy’s jaws
ache. "I need to sleep. I don’t want to be grouchy tomorrow, after all. Just don’t
stay up all night fretting over Daeric, all right?" She slipped from the blanket
and climbed to her feet. "Or thinking about how you can get away from me. You are
between my paws, shepherd."

"And we will be at Aunt Mae’s mercy if we return."

Kit turned away and glanced over her shoulder. She lifted
a finger. "When. Not if. I never did figure out why you came with me."

"Well, you call me a woolhead, muttonhead, and every
other kind of fool."

"And you are my kind of fool." She lifted her skirts
enough to reveal her tail. The white tip swished at him. "Just a little thank you.
You will see more of me soon enough." She laughed deep in her throat and sashayed
out of the firelight.

Timothy huddled under the blanket. It smelled of Kit.
Even I am starting to think about how people smell. I am well and truly trapped
between her paws.

Kit trudged through the snow. Yuzu muttered about something,
but Kit couldn’t muster any attention.
That man’s scent addles my brains.
Timothy
and Tell cut through the piling snow. A branch cracked under the weight of the snow.
The branch hit the ground, sending a plume of white into the air. She had to squint
to be able to see him through the barrage.
Telling him he could keep my tail
warm.
She sighed.
Fool man has my tail in his fist and doesn’t know it.

"Aren’t we going to stop? It’s snowing hard." Yuzu asked.

"I hadn’t noticed." Kit blinked snowflakes from her eyelashes.
"And no. We are not stopping."
The last few days speaking with Yuzu was…nice.

But the journey was nearing its end.
Timmy was right
about Yuzu staying with me, though. If she drags Tell along, maybe Mother Mae will
marry them off too.
Kit smiled. "We decided where we are going after I see my
home."