“Give me the reins,” she said.
Quint tossed them to her. “Do you want to split up?”
“Perhaps,” Amaria looked back, and then she gasped. “They are coming from the rear, too!”
“Follow me,” Quint said. “Keep your head down!”
She did as he commanded Amaria to do as he plunged into the thickening forest. They heard enemy soldiers running down the road toward the line of officers.
“They must have three times the soldiers that Racellia brought,” Quint said.
“If you say so,” Amaria said.
They encountered a thicket of bushes. Trees were on the other side, so Quint dismounted and urged Amaria to do the same.
“Inside!”
“Where are we going?”
“Into someplace safe until dark when we can continue our escape.”
Quint used his sword to cut an angled entrance into the thicket that opened into a protected copse. The thicket surrounded the trees within. There was room for the horses and themselves.
“In our forest back home, there are thickets like this. I don’t know why, but I used them as hiding places when I played with my friends. The secret is how you get inside. The Gussellians will only go around the thicket, not knowing there is a small clearing inside.”
“You hope,” Amaria said.
“Do you have a better idea? The forest is full of Gussellian soldiers,” Quint said.
“What are we going to do until it’s dark?”
“We aren’t going to be singing, and we shouldn’t get into an argument and raise our voices.”
Quint reviewed his strings and then wrote about his experiences on the trip. Amaria grumbled to herself and eventually fell asleep. He had brought his notebook, the only irreplaceable thing. He cast a string for water to fill up his water jug, and he did the same for Amaria, who had forgotten she had a jug in her saddlebags. It was empty when Quint found it.
As the sun went down, voices were heard in the forest. The enemy came closer, but they were speaking willot. Quint heard someone rustling the thicket, but he could tell by the sound of their voices they didn’t find anything, and the sounds faded away.
He sat against a tree facing Amaria. She opened her eyes.
“Do you want to know what they said?”
Quint nodded. “All I could tell is that we weren’t discovered.”
“They were looking for the Level 3 wizard who had deserted in the middle of the battle. They didn’t even mention me,” Amaria said, sounding disappointed.
“Why would they want me?” Quint asked.
“Level 3s and Masters are always in high demand by an enemy. Often a time for hostage exchanges.”
Quint laughed softly. “Who would want a teenage hubite?”
“I was asking myself the same question.”
“Will your father’s people be able to sniff us out with the tracking spell on your clothes?”
Amaria sighed. “I left that tunic in the tent.”
Quint looked for the telltale blush and didn’t see one, but the light was dimming. He hadn’t expected her to admit she knew about the spell so easily.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Amaria asked.
“I have a string for that,” Quint said. He wove the tendrils and cast the string. “North is that way. I think we are still north of the border. So, south,” Quint pointed in that direction, “is where we need to go, but we will head west since the camp was directly south, and the capital is southwest of here.”
Quint led his horse and relied on Amaria to follow him out of the thicket. Quint still sensed direction, and they headed away from the camp. They passed over a few roads and then Quint guessed they were back in Racellian territory.
Chapter Sixtee
n
In the dark, Quint still led Amaria southwest, having had to pause a few times and backtrack into the woods or move across a road ahead of them until they reached the main road.
“Can you sense people?” Quint asked Amaria. “There is a string for that.”
“A psychic string. I haven’t been able to learn any yet.”
