Chapter 11

Cat

I woke up to the chill of the ground seeping through my clothes. I blinked. Where was I? The shadows already stretched wide over the ground, and I turned to look around, my head throbbing at the movement. I lay on a river bank covered with coarse sand and pebbles that dug into my back. Somewhere out of view, I could hear the river tumbling, drowning out all the sounds. I didn’t recognise this place, or maybe I was too dizzy to remember seeing it.

I shivered and through my hazy mind, the image of the traitor Unicorn surfaced, and I was suddenly wide awake. I had to leave; she could be here any moment. I pushed myself up, but something weighed down on my chest, and I looked down towards my feet. A girl lay sleeping on me. I blinked. The… elf… In an instant, the memories rushed back: the elf girl shoving me into the river, washing ashore on the bank, the girl coming toward me, saying she didn’t want to hurt me, her kneeling down to sing to me and… The memories faded. I groaned, my head falling back on the ground. What had she done?

She mumbled in her sleep. She’d… told me she didn’t want me to die. Why? She should have been happy for my death. I closed my eyes, remembering her song. I could vaguely remember colours flashing before my eyes as she sang. I’d felt… safe… She’d… saved me. I stared at the sky turning into dusk. No one had ever saved me before. In the castle, you fended for yourself, or else you’d end up at the bottom. I pushed back the thoughts. No, the castle had made me strong; I didn’t need anyone to save me.

The girl groaned in her sleep, and only then did I realise she held my hand. It felt so soft against mine and I remembered her kind voice as she kneeled next to me. She should have just left me, but she wanted to save me. I shook my head. The Queen had taken care of me. She cared for me. I pushed myself up. I had to go.

I wrenched myself out from underneath the girl, struggling to get free, and paused. It… didn’t hurt. I carefully flexed my limbs. They moved without pain. Had the elf girl done that? I had a vague memory of the Queen once telling me that the elves could heal with their songs. Is that what the girl had done as she kneeled next to me? I tugged myself free, sat up, and had to steady myself on the ground as my head swirled. The girl stirred, blinked and slowly looked around until her eyes caught mine.

“You… are awake”, she said.

I looked away. She was still the enemy. The moment the traitor Unicorn came, the girl would run to her, and I would be gone. I forced myself to stand, swayed, and stumbled.

“You need to rest”, the girl said.

“I need to go.”

I staggered away, but she got up and ran over to me, taking my hand. I pulled it away.

“Leave me alone!”

I turned to look at her, and her eyes glistered.

“You can’t go”, she whispered. “You need to rest.”

I turned and continued to stumble along the river bank. At least I might have a chance to get away before the traitor came. I heard the girl following behind me, but I ignored her. I didn’t have any other plan than to get away as far as possible from here, and once I was safe, I would think of something. I reached the forest's edge, and when I turned to look, the girl was just behind me.

“Go back!”

Her lips trembled.

“No, I won’t leave you.”

“Stupid girl”, I muttered as I turned and continued into the forest.

I had only taken a step when my foot caught in a branch, and I stumbled and fell to the ground. The girl was by my side in a moment.

“You need to rest, you can’t leave like this.”

She put her hands on me. I wanted to protest, tell her to get away, but an eerie warmth took hold of me and I closed my eyes. She began to sing, and I must have drowsed off because when I came to, the moon shone through the trees. The girl sat next to me.

“You’ll feel better soon.”

I groaned and struggled to sit. It was too dark to travel; I would leave early tomorrow morning. I stood up, and to my surprise, I didn’t stumble. I turned to her, suddenly angry.

“What have you done?”

“I healed you.”

So I was right, after all, it was her.

“You should have just left me.”

“You don’t deserve to die.”

She was wrong. I did deserve to die; I’d failed the Queen. She wouldn’t forgive me for this. I’d never failed a mission before, but I wouldn’t get another chance to strike at the Unicorn. Not in this state. In any case, Jale was gone, and I wouldn’t find the traitor again without him. It was lost.

“We need to make a shelter”, the girl said.

I ignored her. What would happen now? I was sure the Queen would keep me, but I would no longer be her Whip. With some luck, she would put me to work in the stables. It would have been better if I had been gone by the hand of the Unicorn. I spun around to face the girl.

“Why did you save me!?”

She looked at me, and her eyes glistened in the faint moonlight.

“I didn’t want you to die”, she whispered. “I don’t want anyone to die.”

Stupid girl. The elves were just as naive as their reputation claimed. The Queen did nothing but save this land, and as for people dying, that’s what happens in war. I shuddered, suddenly aware of the chill. The girl was right, though. We needed to make a shelter.

It wasn’t winter yet, and we would survive the night even without our equipment. It was too dark to make a fire, so we just had to do with what we could. I got up and looked around. A tree not far from here had branches reaching out far from its trunk; it would give us enough shelter for the night. I began to collect leaves to make a bed underneath the tree. The elf girl followed without a word, and when the last of the bed was laid, I crept underneath the branches and lay down. I heard the girl lying down next to me, her faint breathing close to me. She should have left me; we were enemies. It would have been better to tell the Queen I’d died a warrior's death. Now, I had to run back as a failure.

I drifted off into a restless sleep. Or was it a memory? A stable boy caught me in the castle. I wasn’t a trained warrior when the Queen had saved me, and he’d sneaked up on me and beaten me with a stick. By the time he’d got me to the ground, I’d been too terrified to move. The stable master had chased him away, but as I got up, I saw the Queen watching me from her window. She’d seen it all and not interfered. No, I shouldn’t think that way. She had housed me; she had taken care of me. Without her, I would be nothing.