Fortissima Read online

  “I can.” Although I’m not at all sure I believe it.

  Then we’re off, heading south on the trail along the river. I look behind me, give my family one last wave. But I quickly turn back to face straight ahead. I can’t stand to watch them grow smaller.

  Alderwood is only a day’s ride away. The sun still hasn’t risen, so we don’t push the horses. We especially don’t want to stress Pearl, carrying two of us.

  None of us says anything for at least an hour. The sun finally rises and quickly warms the crisp, clear dawn.

  Catriona is the first to speak up. “So, what’s the real reason we’re going to the Bastion?”

  Chapter 5

  How should I answer Catriona? Should I tell her the truth? That I’m trying to escape possible execution by King Araroa? Even if she doesn’t high-tail it back to Baldachin, the knowledge would make her a conspirator. A traitor.

  It’s probably better she doesn’t know the truth. At least that way she could claim ignorance if we’re caught. But it’s really her decision. I can’t make that for her.

  “Let’s stop and give the horses a break. We don’t want to overtire them,” I say.

  At the bank of the river we dismount to let the horses drink. I grab a bag of biscuits from one of the saddlebags.

  We sit down on rocks at the edge of the water, and I watch the water flowing around them, under my feet. I listen to the trickle and bubble before I finally speak. “Do you want to know the truth?”

  Catriona takes a deep breath and looks up at the brightening sky. “I do. But only if you think it’s safe for me to know.”

  “I don’t know if it is. You’ve probably already guessed we’re not going to the Bastion to help my grandmother.”

  “Yes. I knew that was a cover-up. But I understand that knowledge can be dangerous, and that you’d tell me all I need to know for now. Still, I’m curious.”

  I decide to give her some of the story, withholding the most dangerous parts for now. “We are going to the Bastion, but I’m continuing to the port. I’m to take a ship to Nuimana. That’s where I’m going to live for a time.”

  “I won’t ask why.”

  “You’ll find out eventually, but for now that’s probably all you should know. Assuming you still want to help us get there?”

  “Of course I do. Even more. It must be important, and I’m honored that your family asked me to help,” she says, wiping the crumbs from her lap. They fall into the stream, and I watch as they slowly drift down, back toward Baldachin. I wish I could shrink myself and hop on one of them. Go back home.

  Catriona stands up. “We’d better get going. There are still lots of hours of riding left before we arrive at Alderwood. And while I love sharing Pearl with you, I can’t wait to horse shop!”

  The trail to Alderwood is flat and shady and meanders along the river, an easy ride. Even so, when we arrive in the late afternoon, Catriona and I are stiff and sore from sharing Pearl’s back. Pearl is relieved when we hop off at the edge of town and continue on foot.

  Alderwood is a tiny outpost. It sees few travelers, as most journey along the plains of the east. I hope we aren’t asked too many questions.

  Tui stables the horses at the inn, while Catriona and I organize rooms.

  We meet in the dining room for supper. There’s nobody else around, so Catriona pulls out her map and places it on the table.

  “I thought we’d do a little route planning,” she says. “We need to decide how far we want to go tomorrow.” She brushes a handful of curls from her face and places her finger on Alderwood, nestled in the valley between the two mountain ranges. “The gap is not far, here—” Her finger traces the river south, then the eastern range. “It’s not steep, but there are … residents we need to be careful of. So we want to make it through as quickly as we can.”

  “What kind of residents?” I ask.

  Tui grins. “Oh, just the ferocious fuzzy variety,” he says excitedly.

  My eyes widen as I realize what they are talking about. “You don’t mean bearcats?”

  Catriona nods. “Yep, that’s bearcat country. It will take us four or five days to travel through their lands to get to the Bastion road.”

  “Isn’t there a way to go around?” I ask. I’ve heard the bearcat stories. They are extremely territorial, fierce and—worst of all—unpredictable.

  Catriona’s finger traces a wide path on the map, circling around the bearcat lands. “We could go this way, around the mountains past the sea. No danger of encountering bearcats. But that route would add weeks to our trip. And we don’t have that kind of time, right? We’ve got to travel straight through.”

  She doesn’t sound nervous at all. I can even detect a hint of eagerness in her voice. She looks up and sees me gazing at her quizzically. “Don’t you worry, Raven. I’ve gone this way before. I’ve got my ways.” She’s grinning broadly.

  I force a smile, feeling no better. “I’m sure you do,” I say with a sigh. Neither choice is appealing. We either travel through the bearcat lands, or risk getting stuck when winter arrives.

  The innkeeper returns with our meals. We eat in silence, then retire to our beds exhausted.

  Catriona is soon snoring in her bed, while I’m awake in mine, watching the shadows the moon is casting onto the ceiling. An owl’s call echoes through the air. But otherwise the world is dark and still, and everyone’s asleep. Except me.

  It hadn’t really sunk in on the trail today, but now it hits me: I’m on a one-way ride away from the only home I’ve ever known. And this is just the beginning.

  Will I ever see Mum and Papa again? My old teacher, Miss Indigo? Tui’s parents? Miss Lilith? I could be living on Nuimana for the rest of my life. If I make it that far.

  But I have no choice. My heart starts pounding when I think of the consequences of failing to get away: if I’m captured they’ll be sure to find out where I’ve come from. My family will be in mortal danger. Miss Lilith, my parents; they’ll be punished for keeping me hidden all these years. Imprisoned forever or … put to death. It’s far worse thinking about that than my own certain death if I’m found. My stomach clenches.

  I can’t get caught. That’s all there is to it.

  We sleep in until well after sunrise the next morning. We have the entire day to find a horse for Catriona and stock up on fresh food for the next week. The plan is to go in search of a man named Jonas, whom Papa told us was the town’s horse man (although he apparently sells only two or three a year—not many people come to Alderwood to buy horses).

  As we eat big bowls of porridge, I realize something. “We’re going to have to coordinate our stories,” I say. “We can’t let on that we’re from Baldachin, or tell anyone where we’re going. But how would we have gotten this far with only two horses? And the grandmother story won’t stick here, otherwise why would we be buying Catriona a horse?”

  The “grandmother story” is that Tui and I are siblings on the way home from staying with family in the Western Mountains. We met up with Catriona weeks ago, and decided to travel together.

  “Not a problem. We’ll just tell this Jonas person that Catriona’s horse became lame and we were forced to put it down. Happens all the time,” Tui says. He takes a long swig of his coffee.

  Catriona and I agree; it’s probably best to keep it simple.

  With breakfast over, we step out into the rutted road. Following the innkeeper’s directions, we continue on past the last building in town, then follow a long driveway on the left. At the top of it, we find the small ranch nestled against a steep hillside. The land is laced with fenced-in fields of horses, sheep, and cattle. It doesn’t take us long to spot who we presume is Jonas, shoveling hay next to a large black barn.

  He doesn’t seem to notice the three of us standing there, watching him. Finally I speak up. “Hello, mister! We’re looking for Jonas. We need to talk to him about a horse.”

  The man finishes tossing the last two shovelfuls of hay before turning
around to consider us. His face is sun leathered, and his squinty dark eyes quickly scan each of us. It sends a shiver down my spine; it’s like his eyes are boring right through me.

  “What do you need a horse for?” he says, getting right to the point.

  Tui straightens himself up before he speaks. “We’ve been traveling together for weeks on horseback. But one of our horses was injured a few days ago and had to be put down. So, we need another one.”

  “Where are you going?” The man juts out his chin and squints his eyes even more.

  I make a split-second decision to stall. “Are you Jonas?”

  The man nods his head. “I am. Where did you say you were from?”

  Oh boy. We didn’t think we were actually going to have to use our made-up story, but this guy is clearly going to put our tale to the test.

  I hope he hasn’t noticed our hesitation. “We’re on our way to the Bastion. We’ve been staying with family in the mountainlands. But our grandfather has died,” I put my hand on Tui’s arm to indicate we’re siblings, “and we need to help our grandmother. Before winter sets in.” I really hope Jonas doesn’t want any more details. Those are all I’ve got. I’m so nervous now that I know I’d screw up if I had to start concocting more lies.

  “You aren’t running away from home, are you? Or in trouble with the law? Anything of that sort?” He peers into our faces again, one at a time.

  I laugh and shake my head. It sounds completely artificial to me. “Of course not!” I say, trying to sound breezy. But then I remember we’re supposed to be sounding serious, since our grandfather has just died and all. I gather my face back into the most forlorn look I can manage. “We really need to get back to help. Our grandmother … she doesn’t have anyone else.”

  Happily, my awkward explanation seems to satisfy Jonas, who gives me one more suspicious look before he turns to examine Catriona again. “And who are you? Hang on, you look familiar.”

  “I’m their cousin,” she replies, without hesitation. “Originally from the Bastion. Heading back home. I’ve never been to your charming town before. You must have me confused with someone else.” She folds her arms across her chest and pointedly gets back to the subject. “Anyway, we’re shoving off again in the morning, so we really do need that horse.” Her steely eyes meet his.

  She wins.

  “Yes, yes, I can help you with that,” he says.

  We breathe a sigh of relief that the interrogation seems to be over.

  Jonas stabs his pitchfork into the ground and starts for the opening to the barn. “I’ve got a few mares that are good riders. Young, already broken in. Follow me.”

  Several lovely chestnut horse faces appear over their stall doors. Enormous brown, long-lashed eyes peer at us as we walk into the barn. Jonas stops to pat them one by one. “Any of these fine ladies will do you well, take your pick.”

  Catriona stops to touch their velvety noses and look into their eyes. She spends the most time with the horse on the end, the one with the white star on her forehead. “Can I try this one?”

  “Of course. This is Hazel. She’s my favorite.” Jonas puts on her bridle and leads the horse to the saddlery. Catriona follows.

  Tui and I head back outside to wait. He checks to make sure nobody else is around then exhales dramatically. “Man, I was starting to sweat a little there. Who knew that a horse man would be so suspicious of a couple of kids wanting to buy a little old mare?”

  “I know. I almost blew it too.”

  He looks at me quizzically. “How’s that?”

  “You didn’t notice? How I cracked up laughing when we are supposed to be mourning our grandfather’s sad demise?”

  “Oh, that. Yeah, that was a pretty good recovery there.” His face quickly turns serious again. “I sure hope we don’t get questioned like that too often.” Tui looks up at the blue sky. I can sense him pondering something.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “I was just thinking. We probably shouldn’t have told him we were going to the Bastion. It would have been better to say we were going in the other direction. In case anyone comes asking.”

  Tui’s right. I hope that wasn’t a bad move. If anyone does question Jonas, or anyone else in Alderwood, they’ll find out that three sixteen-year-olds are making their way to the Bastion. If they were suspicious, they could follow along right on our tail.

  “Hang on, I have an idea,” I say.

  An hour later, we’ve exchanged a large handful of golden coins for Catriona’s new horse and tackle. Jonas is helping her adjust the saddle when I decide it’s now or never.

  “What do you know about the bearcat lands?” I ask him.

  He looks at me skeptically. “What do you want to know?” he replies.

  “Well …” I hesitate. I know I’m taking a risk here, but quickly decide it might be worse not to. “It would be faster for us to go through their lands, since we’re getting so late in the season. Probably safer to go all the way around, but I’m just not sure we have the time. Have you ever been in there?”

  Jonas nods his head slowly. “Yes, I’ve gone through there. But only the one time. It was years ago; I was just a young man. My father and I were delivering a horse to Blackpool on the other side. The fellow had paid us extra to bring the horse across to him. But in the end, it wasn’t worth those coins at all.” He stops.

  We’re rapt, and Catriona urges him on, her eyes wide. “What happened in there?”

  “Those bearcats lived up to their reputation, that’s what. If they don’t want you in their lands, they’ll kill you. Almost killed us—we had to plead for our lives. Had to promise they’d never see us in there again. And they didn’t. Once we’d delivered the horse we took the sea route back. Took another four weeks, but at least we made it home. I haven’t set foot in there since.” He motions with his arm toward the break in the mountain range just south of us. The entrance to bearcat country.

  The three of us say nothing at first. I know we have to pass through, regardless of the bearcats’ reputation. We have no time to spare. But Jonas doesn’t need to know that.

  “Well, that’s some story,” I say to him. To Catriona and Tui I say, “What do you both think? We should probably bypass around, take the sea route? Sounds terrifying in there.”

  They both nod in agreement.

  “The days are still long,” Catriona says. “If we keep moving each day as far as we can, we’ll be fine.”

  “Definitely sounds like the best route to take,” Tui adds. “We’ve got a long way to go. No need to waste time tangling with bearcats.”

  Jonas smiles at us. “I think you’ve made the right choice. Well, good journey to all of you.” He pats Hazel’s neck one last time, including her in his wishes too.

  As we head back to town, Catriona rides Hazel while Tui and I try to keep up on foot. The more I think about it, we probably should have told Jonas we were going through the bearcat lands while actually going around the other way. I’m not liking the idea of having to bargain for our survival, at the will of ferocious wild beasts.

  “So, what do we actually know about the bearcats?” I ask.

  “I think the horse man was exaggerating,” Catriona says. “Like I told you, I’ve been through there a few times. I’ve never even seen a bearcat. If you’re just passing through, keeping to yourself, it’s not a problem.”

  I look over at Tui’s face. It’s clear he’s not quite as sure. “What do you think, Tui? Are we ready for this?”

  He sighs. “Ready as we’ll ever be. I wish we had time to go around, to be honest, but we don’t. We’ll just have to take our chances.”

  We continue on in silence. I have no doubt my friends’ minds are reeling with the possibility of what’s ahead, just as mine is.

  We stable Hazel with Pearl and Pango, who greet her warmly, like they are old friends. I’m happy I’ll have Pearl to myself, and I’m sure my horse will be glad to have one rider.

  Then we find the g
eneral store and stock up on fresh bread and cheese. When Tui’s not looking, I grab a bag of honey candy and hide it away. If he knows about it he’ll pester me constantly for some.

  As we’re going about our errands, nobody questions us about who we are or where we are going. That’s not to say we aren’t noticed. Everywhere we go people stare at us, wondering. Even fewer travelers must pass through here than I originally thought.

  Back in my bed that night, I fall asleep quickly. But a huge, snarling, hairy creature sneaks into my dreams. It comes up behind me, grabs me. With rotten-meat breath it growls and hisses.

  “Who are you?” it asks.

  “Nobody!” I insist.

  “I don’t believe you. Tell me the truth or you’re never getting away!” It roars in my face, fierce yellow eyes boring into me.

  I am paralyzed with indecision. Do I tell it the truth and hope it follows through on its promise to let me go? Or do I keep my secret and perish?

  I never make the choice because I gasp awake. I’m shaking. I’m disappointed to see it’s still dark outside; I have no desire to go back to sleep. I lay there, listening for the inn’s clock strike and finally hear three of them. I’ve got to go back to sleep, but I can’t stop replaying the dream in my mind. I have no idea what it means, except for one thing: I do not want to go through the bearcat lands.

  A few hours later, the three of us are eating breakfast in the inn’s dining room. I motion to Tui and Catriona to lean in. “I really don’t think we should cross the bearcat lands. It’s too dangerous. I know it will take longer to go around the mountains, but at least we’ll make it. Those creatures … they don’t … they won’t tolerate being messed with.”

  Catriona finishes chewing and swallows her mouthful of porridge. “I hear you. I don’t, either. But we haven’t got the time,” she says.

  “It won’t matter how much time we have if those creatures don’t let us pass!”

  “Shh! Lower your voice, Raven,” Tui whispers.

  I glare at him. “Look, I had a dream last night. A bearcat was in it. It had me, and it wouldn’t let me go until I told it the whole story.”