We would have no trouble leading it home now.
“Come on down,” he called to us. “Let’s take a rest.”
He climbed down and took some jerky from his saddle pouch. We descended slowly with Monsieur Leóne and the horses. “What’s that bridge near the mountains?” I asked.
“Leads out of the province,” Pierre said.
“Across the gorge, then through the mountains.
Eventually, if you keep going, you get to the royal palace in Versailles.”
“That would be exciting, to see the palace.”
Pierre shrugged. “I hear the King’s corrupt.”
“Who says that?”
“My father. He says the King won’t talk to Duke Laurent at all. We get no support from the court. The Duke keeps asking them to send soldiers here, but the King won’t even answer his letters.”
53
“I heard Papa talking about that with the Duke in the Fall, when he told Francois about the banquet. I wish you could come. We’ve been waiting for it all winter.”
He shrugged again. “Only rich people there, besides you and your parents. Heard they invited a couple of people Francois knows, but it’s mostly the Duke’s friends. Think he’s trying to impress everyone with a show.”
“You think so?” I asked, concerned.
“It’s what royal people do. They don’t necessarily do anything to help, just make it look like they’re doing something. I think the party’s more for the Duke to look good than to honor Francois.”
I considered that, then waved it off. “That may be. But the Duke’s not like other royal people.”
“True,” Pierre said. “If everyone at the court were like him, we’d probably have those soldiers by now.”
“Why do we need soldiers?”
He stopped Diamond and turned in his seat, narrowing his eyes at me. They were brown and beautiful beneath his shaggy dirt-blond hair. He could have told me anything right then and I would have sat on his horse and listened for hours.
“Because of the wolf,” he said.
A lump gathered in my throat. Riding with Pierre through the mountains and rolling hills after being penned up at our cottage these last two months, I had forgotten about the wolf today.
“Oh,” I said.
54
“You and your Grand’Mere weren’t the only ones attacked, Red. Other people have been killed over the years. And people are still being killed. But no one’s seen this other wolf in time to stop it. We need soldiers to find it and kill it, so it’ll be safe again.”
Safe again. The idea sounded so strange to me. I couldn’t imagine any number of soldiers making me feel safe in La Rue Sauvage. “Do you miss your mother?” I asked. I wanted to change the subject. It was easier to talk about Pierre’s grief than my own.
He swiped at his thick hair, showing his forehead for an instant. “Sure. ‘Course I do.” He bit his lip. “But we’ve been pretty busy. Papa’s teaching me all there is to know about smelting and making tools and pots. He tells me I’ve got the skill for it, as much as he did when he was my age.
Thinks I’ll make a great blacksmith some day.”
Diamond shifted to one side as Pierre maneuvered him past some holes in the side of the hill. I leaned forward and clung tighter to Pierre. “I think so, too,” I told him.
“Easy there,” Monsieur Leóne called to both of us, his belly shifting from side to side as he led Ruby down the foothill. “It’s steep. Don’t want to tumble off the edge.”
“Yes, Papa,” Pierre said.
Below him, Papa stood chewing his jerky.
“Everyone all right? Frayne, thanks for spotting her.” Valiant barked as if in agreement. Papa gave him a biscuit from his pouch.
55
“Thought it looked like yours,” Monsieur Leóne said, struggling to climb down. “Next moment, it
