"I think his nose was a little bigger." Ignacia had taken to leaning over in her saddle, watching Cricket sketch, and making a general nuisance of herself. Neither of which did Cricket appreciate.
"You didn't even see him." Cricket grumbled. "Wider or longer?"
"Wider." Ignacia nodded, looking pleased with herself. "Abner painted a very good picture with his words."
"I should have just had Abner sit with me while I did this." Cricket huffed. He shut the sketchbook and stuffed it back into his satchel. "He would have been more reliable than a secondhand account."
"Firsthand accounts are never totally reliable."
"More so than secondhand I'm sure."
"You're awfully grumpy, Your Highness. Does this have anything to do with the fact that the white knight put you on your butt?" He looked over to glare at her. Ignacia was of course, smirking, entirely pleased with herself. "Thought so."
"Tell me again, everything Abner told you," Cricket said, and narrowed his eyes on her thoughtfully.
"We've gone through this three times already." Ignacia whined. She slumped forward on Saber, her shoulders hunching. "And Anstice is just going to make me tell her when she calls."
"Then you'll be well practiced, won't you?"
"You're a horrible task master Prince Yue." She shook her finger at him, but there was a smile on her lips. She was...proud of him.... Huh. That felt weird. Ignacia glowing with pride? (Perhaps not quite glowing, but as close to glowing as Ignacia would ever get.) He'd never thought he'd see the day, but there it was. He stared long and hard, vowing to sketch it later, for posterity. "All Abner said was that he bought it off some traveling trader. The guy was selling all sorts of junk. Jewelry, books, talismans. He had a big caravan of the stuff, bright blue."
"And didn't know what he had?"
"That's what Abner thought, anyway. It seemed like the man didn't realize that he was carrying an amplifier at all. He gave it to Abner for a couple copper pieces."
"He was headed west?"
Ignacia nodded, pulling the map from her saddle bag to check it again. "You think he's the cause of all this?"
"Honestly?" Cricket sighed, scrubbing at the freckles along his nose. "I don't know. He could be innocent. He might not have known that what he was carrying could hurt people in the wrong hands."
"Or?"
"Or we have a bigger problem." They were still a few hours out from the next village, but they'd been riding for a day already and Cricket was tired. He was tired of sleeping outside. He was tired of the stress of this whole thing. He was tired of losing Ignacia over and over again. He just wanted to rest, and they'd only been gone from the capital a little over a week.
"Let's hope it was an accident."
Cricket nodded. He did hope. That the amplifier was just a coincidence. That whatever magic had been used to curse the other towns, cities, and villages were just spells. Spells that would wear off when no longer in direct contact with the magic user. But if they weren't. If they were magically infused items...well...he didn't want to think about the kind of chaos that could cause. Cricket let the conversation lapse; his face pressed into a serious line.
It didn't take long before he found the silence unbearably boring. About an hour. (Beating his previous record by at least ten minutes.) There was much to think of, but he didn't want to stay in his head all day. It wouldn't do either of them any good if he got lost in there.
"Are we there yet?" Cricket whined.
"Another twenty minutes or so." Ignacia didn't even bother to look at him, and see the slight pout he'd spread across his face. Which might have been for the better as he didn't think he wanted to be scolded.
"His Highness is hungry."
"His Highness can wait another half an hour until we are settled in Gülay."
"His Highness might starve by then." By this point he was well and truly sulking, poking out his bottom lip, and making his eyes round and glassy. It usually worked, but never on Ignacia. Still, he'd never stop trying.
"His Highness will survive longer if he does not test his handmaiden's patience."
Cricket huffed, pulling in his lower lip and looking ahead again.
They made it to Gülay without any more mishaps, pouting, or whining. The innkeeper was delighted to have the prince staying with them, and offered their largest suites for himself and Ignacia. Excessive. Cricket didn't see the point in it. He'd never been the type to want to be fawned over, and this whole journey was leaving him frayed.
"Just the one, please. We don't need two rooms so long as there are two beds." Cricket smiled serenely at them, shaking his head when the innkeeper opened their mouth to protest. "Really, I mean it. We'd hate to put someone else out of a room just because we were being greedy. Right Iggy?"
The innkeeper looked back at Ignacia who was standing behind Cricket with her arms crossed over her chest, looking thoroughly displeased, as per usual. Their eyes were pleading, asking her for her help.
"There's no use looking at me, he's made up his mind." Ignacia snorted.
Cricket raised a brow, and waited. He'd get his way, he usually did. It was just a matter of getting the other person to see sense. Thankfully, it didn't take the innkeeper much longer to come around.
"Yes... yes, Your Highness." The innkeeper grabbed a key from the rack behind them. "You will have a lovely view of the courtyard garden, Your Highness."
"Splendid!" Cricket clapped happily.
Cricket and Ignacia headed up to settle in, taking their time to unpack, or Ignacia unpacked anyhow. Cricket had never much seen the point in unpacking when they'd be leaving again in the morning, but he watched Ignacia hang up her cloak, and pull out her spare clothes to fold neatly into the drawer.
"I'm going down to grab us some supper. Go on and call Anstice to get her caught up," Ignacia said before heading out again.
Cricket flopped onto the bed, pulling off his scarf and slinging it towards the end of the bed, then he pulled the mirror from his satchel.
"Yoohooo, Anstice," he called to the mirror, lounging back on one elbow.
"Cricky." Anstice's face appeared with a wide smile. There were circles under her eyes again, exhaustion seeming to weigh her down, but she looked happy to see him. "How was your journey to Gülay?"
"Well enough. I'm saddle sore from being on my horse for so long." He groaned, leaning back further, and propping the mirror up on a pillow so that he could lay on his belly. "I'm sure Buttercup is happy for the rest."
"I'm sure you all are." Anstice was still smiling, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "You'll be headed out again in the morning?"
"That's our plan. Is there something wrong at home? How is Father?"
"He's still on bedrest, but the doctor says he should be fine by this time next week. Don't you worry about him, I'm taking good care of him. You worry about our people."
"Are you sure he's all right? I could come home. Iggy can do this on her own.... Or we could send someone else." A knot had formed in his stomach—he wasn't sure when, but it was there now, and it would probably remain until he had seen Father for himself—weighing down his insides like lead.
"Cricket," Anstice said seriously, the smile falling from her lips so she could give him her full attention. "You trust me, don't you?"
Cricket nodded, fists clenching in the pillow under his chin. He did trust Anstice. He trusted Anstice with his life, with Father's life, with Uncle's life, with his kingdom. Anstice had never been anything but good to him, and he had no reason to think that she would lie to him.
"Then trust that your Father will be fine under my care."
"Okay." It was a struggle to get the word out with his tongue feeling like it had stuck to the roof of his mouth all of the sudden, but he managed. "Okay."
"Good." Anstice let her shoulders relax, her face calming into a small grin. Not happy or joyous like the ones Cricket had known all his life but it was enough. "Now, you're off to Taini next."
"So you said." Cricket rolled to grab Ignacia's journa,l which had become his own, from his bag as well as his pencil. "You said you'd have more for us by the time we got here."
"And I do." Anstice stepped away from the mirror for a moment, and Cricket could hear her digging through something at her desk before the victorious crow of, "Ah there it is!"
Cricket laughed, scribbling the word Taini on top of the page. Notes were good, they'd keep him from forgetting things. Most things. Or at least he hoped they would. She moved to sit in front of the mirror again, a few sheets of loose paper in her hands.
"You know it's going to take us at least a fortnight to get to Taini."
"I do. But if you could cut down on that time..." Anstice sighed. "They really need your help, Cricket."
Cricket pulled out the map again, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he plotted the road from Gülay to Taini. "We could cut it down by a couple of days if we don't travel the main road through the towns, and camp out instead. But Iggy isn't going to love that idea."
"No. She probably won't." Anstice sighed, shoulders heavy. She looked like she'd aged since the last time they'd seen each other. Maybe it was more than just Father's illness...maybe there was something else...something... No. Cricket had to focus. If he let himself worry too much, they'd never make it to Taini because he'd turn them around and head home.
"How urgent is their need?" He had started scribbling a little bunny rabbit into the corner of his Taini page, to calm his nerves. It didn't help like doodling usually did. It was a very cute bunny, even still.
"They've had several people get hurt. Nothing life threatening yet, but it's just a matter of time." There was heaviness to her words, Anstice was worried. Far more worried than she'd been about a whole disappearing town. It settled like a stone in the pit of Cricket's stomach, right alongside the lead.
"Iggy will just have to get over it then." He nodded. Ignacia wouldn't like that he had made that decision without her, but he didn't see where they had much choice. People were getting hurt; it was their job to stop that from happening. That was all there was to it. "What do your sources say?"
Vaguely, Cricket heard the door creak open to let Ignacia back in with their tray of food. He waved to her to sit everything on the short table in the middle of the room, hunger momentarily forgotten.
"The citizens say it's a ghost—"
"A ghost?!" Ignacia yelped, dropping the tray. Cricket winced at the sound of dishes shattering.
"A ghost stag," Anstice continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "It's beguiling the men, and some of the women. Leading them out on hunts at all hours of the night that end in many of them hurt."
"We're not going after a ghost." Ignacia announced, her strides taking her to the bed Cricket was happily splayed across. She snatched up the mirror to look at Anstice, her hands shaking, and her face pale. Cricket had seen her frightened plenty of times in his life (mostly when there were spiders), but this was a new level of fear. "I will not go after a ghost."
"We don't know that it is a ghost, Iggy. Calm down," Cricket soothed, taking the mirror from her tight grasp. "It's probably another curse, like the one we dealt with in Tochtli."
His words did nothing to calm Ignacia, who had begun to tremble where she stood. Cricket pulled her into a one-armed hug, pressing her face into his chest.
"I don't think it is a ghost," Anstice said, her own voice soft and soothing. "I think it's a white stag. A manifestation of someone's magic that they either don't know how to control, or are deliberately using to hurt people."
"We won't make you chase the ghost stag until we're sure it's not a ghost, promise." Cricket held up his hand, fingers pressed together in an oath. He never broke a promise, ever. "Until then, I'll deal with it."
"Ghosts aren't real." Anstice rolled her eyes.
"Not helping Annie," Cricket hissed. "You know how she gets."
"Fine. Fine." Anstice grumbled. "That's all I have for you, unless you have something for me?"
"We do. Iggy fill Anstice in on everything Abner told you. I'm going to get this cleaned up and get us some more supper." He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, gave her another firm squeeze, and waited until she nodded to pull away and gather their ruined dinner.
After their meal, and plenty of conversation with Anstice about everything they were missing back home, Ignacia went out into the courtyard. Cricket could see her through the window as she practiced with her bow and a quiver of arrows.
"Iggy said you met a white knight," Anstice teased, her expression soft. He hated it when they gossiped about him, but he supposed it was better than the alternative which was Ignacia letting herself dwell on her fear.
"She told you that did she?" Cricket huffed, ignoring the blush he could feel creeping up the back of his neck, and thanking Selene for his long hair.
"She did. She said he was terribly handsome. Did this charmer who put you on your butt in the middle of the town square have a name?"
"He didn't—" Cricket growled through his teeth. "Okay he did put me on my butt. But that doesn't make Yoshi a charmer. He was just... I was just distracted all right? He won't get the better of me next time."
"Yoshi?" Anstice's neatly plucked brows wrinkled in the middle.
"Yes. That's who he introduced himself as. Which I thought was strange, usually knights are all 'I'm Lord Fancypants of the Gilder Fancypanstses.' But he just said his name was Yoshi." Cricket's eyes flicked from the mirror back out the window. Ignacia was still outside, but she'd stopped and turned to glare at the stone bench for some reason.
"Yoshi... Yoshi... Yoshi..." Anstice said as she tapped her fan to her lips. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
Cricket shrugged.
Anstice looked up suddenly, eyes wide, and mouth open. "You don't mean Takayoshi, do you?"
"No. He said it was Yoshi." Cricket didn't look at Anstice, he was focused on Ignacia who had...who had drawn her sword. Hopefully not on another innocent spider. "Anstice, I've got to go. Iggy is..."
Ignacia lunged towards the bench, presumably to end the existence of whatever she'd taken a dislike to.
"Oh no."
"Wait! Cricky, I think you ought to be nice to this Yoshi. Try not to cross him."
Cricket stopped mid-leap to his feet, and crouched to look at Anstice in the mirror again. "Don't cross him? What? Why?"
"I think he might be—"
"DIE you eight-legged beast!" Ignacia's war cry carried through the open window. And that was his cue.
"No time! Tell me later! Send Father and Uncle my love!" Cricket blew a hasty kiss, and waved his hand over the mirror to severe the connection, before turning to holler out the window. "Iggy! You leave that spider alone! He didn't do anything to you!"
Comments (0)
See all