The snow had begun in earnest mere hours after Takayoshi and Claudia had saddled up and began the trek down the mountain. Perhaps it was a sign that they should turn back and wait until the spring thaw to make the journey, but Takayoshi would not be delayed. Not when Cricket's condition worsened by the day, or so it sounded given the gossip. They did not have months to wait. And he had already wasted too long combing through the Helio libraries.
Claudia wriggled in her saddle, pulling the thick fur lining of her cloak up tighter around her neck against the chill. "If I'd known it'd be like this, I would have made friends with a prince a long time ago."
"If you had known it would be like what?" Takayoshi squinted through the softly falling snow. He was not sure if they would reach the next town before nightfall. They would need a place to camp if they did not, and all he was able to see was a blanket of white. Not a tree or a rocky outcropping in sight. That would not do. Not if the wind picked up overnight.
"If I'd known traveling with a prince could be so cushy. I mean really, Yoshi, I had my own traveling cloak. You didn't have to lend me one."
"The cloak you had was not appropriate for winter travel in the mountains of Helio. You would have suffered from frostbite within the first day." Takayoshi pulled a compass from deep within his cloak to check that they were headed in the right direction. It was so hard to tell with nothing but snow to go by. "I am hoping we reach Gisli before nightfall."
"The cloak I had had warming magics sewn into it." Claudia shrugged. She did not sound offended; of that he could be grateful he supposed. "How far is that down the mountain?"
"It is half a day's journey in the spring. I have not traveled this path in the winter since I was very young, so I cannot be sure how long it will take us now."
Claudia was quiet for a moment, her lips moving silently, as if she were considering something. Calculations maybe, he was not sure.
"It might be a little after nightfall," she said finally. "An hour, perhaps. Will that be a problem?"
"If it is only an hour, then we can continue traveling." Takayoshi nodded, and pressed Lily forward into the snow. He was thankful that the wind had remained light thus far, not creating drifts that Lily would struggle to wade through.
They rode on with not but the gentle breeze, and soft sounds of snowfall for company for a while. Lily's breath puffed out in front of her in soft clouds as she continued into the slowly piling snow. Takayoshi wondered if Cricket would have found a solution to that. If he would have found a way to clear the path so that their horses could travel more easily along the road. No doubt he would have. He was extraordinarily clever that way.
"So, the prince," Claudia said, drawing Takayoshi away from thoughts of Cricket to the dreadful cold seeping in through his trousers. The cold never used to bother him this way, he was unsure why it was now.
"The prince?" Takayoshi carefully tugged Lily's reins around a slick looking bit of road. "I am the prince."
Claudia laughed, throwing her head back so her hood fell off, revealing a crinkled nose and a head of short, tightly curled hair. "You're really funny, you know that?"
Takayoshi ducked his head, hiding his face in the collar of his cloak. He wanted to tell her it was not intentional. That he really had misunderstood her, but that perhaps would be a lie.
"The prince of Lunette," Claudia said, reaching up to draw her hood back over her head.
Takayoshi tilted his head in question. She would get to a point, eventually, he was sure of it. He just had to wait long enough.
"What's with you guys? I mean he's like your soulmate, right? So why aren't you with him right now? I had heard you guys were traveling together but then you just... came home?"
"We had an argument." Takayoshi frowned slightly into the thick fur at his collar as his eyes narrowed on the road ahead. "Not that it would have mattered. I have to find a way to help him."
Claudia nodded, her fingers flexing in the thick gloves on the reins of her borrowed horse. "Right, the dragon thing. Are you sure severing the connection is the solution? I mean he's already changing; I don't know that it can be reversed."
"We will just have to try." He would not stop trying, he had already made up his mind about that, and if there was one thing Takayoshi knew he had in common with the prince of Lunette it was that they were both stubborn. Obstinate, Uncle had called it. He was not far from the truth. What was far from the truth was that this was a new development. It was not. Takayoshi had just never had something to be obstinate about before.
"If we solve this, and he still wants to be with you... what then?" Claudia's voice was small, almost lost in the wind. Takayoshi was not sure why she was being so quiet, but he was grateful for it, for this was a question he had asked himself, and had found no obvious answer to. What then? What if Cricket still wanted him? Could he allow himself that? He did not know.
"Gisli is just up ahead." Takayoshi's eyes narrowed through the snow. The sun had sunk to kiss the horizon, and the sky was growing steadily darker. Soon there would be only moonlight to see by, as the clouds were rolling in steadily to blot the stars, but there was light in the distance. The town flickering to life just within reach.
Claudia's head spun to look, her eyes squinting behind her fogged-up spectacles. She did not say anything about the fact that he did not answer, and for that he was grateful. Maybe he could waylay that choice for a while longer.
"Come on Lily, let us get someplace warm." He nudged Lily lightly with his heels. The horse picked up her pace, and he steered her toward the light in the distance. He heard Claudia nudge her own horse after them.
The path from Helio to Cytherea would take them close enough to the capital of Lunette that it would have been polite to stop in and call upon the young prince. Takayoshi was never one for formality, and he had never been more happy than he was now of that carefully cultivated reputation.
"But why not? I thought you and the prince were friends?" It was warm enough now that Claudia had let her hood fall back so Takayoshi could see her full expression. Curiosity. He supposed if they stayed together much longer, he might just have to explain this to her. But not yet. Not today.
Takayoshi merely shook his head and pressed on.
Still, in the coming weeks as they drew ever closer to Lunette, he could not deny the pull. It was like a string tugging at his limbs, guiding him back to Cricket's side.
Perhaps it would have been easier if they had merely gone around. It would have added at least a month's travel time to their journey, but then he would not have felt the incessant tug that was Yue Cricket Akio. Nor the constant temptation that was seeing the Lunette crest embossed, carved, and stitched into the very fabric of the little village of Feray.
He glanced down at the map sprawled between their plates and teacups, wondering if perhaps there was a way to subtly head south—skirting around the capital via the river of Selene—without it being obvious to Claudia what he was doing.
"It would add two months to our journey," Claudia said as she sipped her tea with a slurp, her pinky poking out in a nonsensical way that would have irked him not but a year ago. "Look, I know you don't want to stop in and see the prince, but it's not logical for us to go all the way around when we can pass right by the capital and cut our journey in half."
Ah, right to the heart of the matter. She may not be as clever as Cricket where it came to magic, but Claudia was no fool. He had known better than to try, still, he had not been able to resist the attempt.
"It would be rude for us to go through the capital and not pay the prince a visit." Takayoshi's fingers traced the path he had tried to convince her of. It was silly, he knew it. Uncle would have thrown a fit if he heard, and Atsuko would have shaken her head. Neither of them was there with him now, it was just Claudia, and she did neither of these things.
Claudia just lifted her gaze from the map, and looked at him with an expression of frankness. She was straight forward, never unkind, or blunt as Ignacia had been, but far less sweet and bumbling than Cricket. Strange how Takayoshi found himself in increasingly mixed company. First a prince, and his handmaiden, now a warrior turned scholar. What did that say about him?
"We aren't traveling with a full retinue," Claudia said, all logic. Which he normally would have appreciated if it did not mean that she would be forcing him to do something he did not want to. "No one will know you've passed through without paying an official visit unless we tell them you have."
"There will be rumors. If asked, my sister will not deny them."
"Then you're on official business, and we're in a hurry. From what I've heard about the prince, he won't mind. He doesn't sound like he puts much stock in the rules of propriety."
Takayoshi let out a breath, his head ducking to the map once more. It was true, Cricket did not care much for the rules of polite society. But propriety aside, if he were to find out that Takayoshi had been so close, he would be hurt by the lack of communication. Would he not? Or... or would he? They had parted ways on less than amicable terms.
"We'll skirt around the capital, if that'll make you feel better," Claudia said, plotting a new course on the map. Her fingertip left a greasy smear from the steamed bun she had trapped between her other fingers.
Takayoshi nodded.
The first village they stopped in as they skirted the capital, Luna, felt familiar and alien all at once. When he had last visited it, Takayoshi had not paid much attention to the village itself. He had been caught up in Cricket's orbit, and the stress of reaching the capital before disaster, that there had been little time for sightseeing.
He noted, as they rode through the outskirts, that the caravan had been removed some time after they had left. Still, a shadow seemed to cling to the ground where it had been. Spindled wheels digging into the dirt, to leave a scar. Takayoshi tore his eyes away.
Noise filtered out of the tiny inn, even with all the doors and windows shuttered to keep out the cold. With their horses stabled, Takayoshi and Claudia headed in to find a table, and rent rooms.
The dark eyes of the young woman serving them flicked over Takayoshi with interest, as if she recognized him, but she said nothing.
"No. No. Wait. I heard," someone said as they sloshed their beer out of a tall mug. "That he made a deal with the gods."
"Maybe the gods of Styx," the man's friend chortled into his own drink. "That prince isn't human. He's got horns!"
Takayoshi flinched, forcing his attention back to their table. His hands clenched at his sides. This was not his kingdom. He could not reprimand two belligerent, drunken, asses in public. Even if they should know better than to talk about their future king that way.
"He'll bring us all to ruin," another said, and this one sounded far more sober. "Mark my words."
Claudia leaned forward, until she could catch his eyes where he had taken to staring intently at the table. "You have to tell me."
He thought to ask what she meant. To pretend as if he was not following, but he had never been much of an actor. "I do not."
"You do. We're friends, and friends tell each other things. And besides that, I need to know what's going on if I'm going to back you up in a fight."
"There will not be a fight."
"Tell that to your sword hand, my friend." Claudia flicked her gaze to where Takayoshi had gripped his sword hard enough to turn the knuckles white. He released it, shaking out his hand and taking a calming breath. "So, what's the deal? You said you had an argument."
Takayoshi sighed, half wishing that he had requested some ale with their meal, even if he knew that he could not handle it. The black oblivion of drunkenness would be preferable to this conversation. "I did not agree with Yue Sunil's exile. Treason is an offense punishable by death."
"And you told him so, I'm assuming."
"Yes."
"Please tell me it was in private."
"No."
Claudia leaned back in her chair, letting out a whistling breath. "That's... that wasn't very smart of you, Yoshi."
"No," he agreed. "It was brash, and impulsive. He did not take kindly to my advice."
"I imagine he didn't. You undermined him in his own court. Why would you do that?"
Takayoshi looked back down to the table again, picked up the teapot to meticulously pour himself a cup as he stalled. The answer was, he did not know why he had done it. He had never been one to be impulsive, especially not in his speech. But he had found it increasingly difficult to hold his tongue where it came to Cricket.
"You love him," Claudia said, when he took too long to answer. "You wanted to protect him, in any way you could."
"Yes. I also told him I wanted to find a way to cure his..." Takayoshi drifted off, gesturing to the men.
Claudia nodded. "And he doesn't want it cured? Or didn't at least? I could see that, dragons are powerful creatures, all raw magic. With that kind of power, he could protect his people from anything and everything."
"Yes, but at what cost to himself?"
"That," Claudia said, taking a sip from her teacup. "I don't know. But we'll find out when we find the archive, right? That's the point of all this?"
Takayoshi nodded.
"Will you see him again once it's all cleared up? Maybe explain yourself?"
"I..." Takayoshi shook his head, letting out a loud breath through his nose. "I am not sure."
"You've got time to think about it. Let's focus on one problem at a time. Or... two? No, wait, three! It's three problems at a time." She laughed a little, her nose wrinkling.
"Yes. We will reach Cytherea next month."
Comments (0)
See all