A lot of the passages are too small for me, and luckily, those aren’t the ones Jacko wants, which makes me worry about the size of the creature that’s concerning him. As we pass one dark side tunnel, something inside moves. I freeze, but Jacko only chatters, prodding me along. When a sound comes from that tunnel—a high-pitched whistle—I back up, peek around the corner and shine my fire stick. At first, it looks like a nest of snakes. But then I see legs. Lizards? One lifts its head from the nest. A cat’s head. Its mouth opens and it squeals.
I slap my hand over my mouth before I squeal myself. I tap Jacko.
“Tatzelwurms,” I whisper. “A nest of baby tatzelwurms.”
He’s not nearly as impressed as my fellow monster hunters would be. Tatzelwurms are rarely seen outside the mountains. They have cats’ heads and bodies that look half snake, half lizard—serpentine torsos with clawed legs. Legend says they don’t have rear legs, but that’s just because their back ones are smaller than their front, and they fight by rearing up like snakes.
I don’t see a momma tatzelwurm, but I doubt that would be what concerned Jacko. Full-grown, they’re no more than two feet long. After another look, I reluctantly leave the nest and continue along. The tunnel lightens after that, and I snuff out my fire stick. We turn one last corner, and the rising sun hits so bright, I blink and draw up short.
We’re in another cavern, one that faces east. Also, apparently I’d been crawling upward because I’m looking down on the scrubby treetops surrounding the foothill.
This cavern is smaller than the one we slept in, and I stand on the ledge, looking out at the dawn.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I say, scooping up Jacko.
The jackalope chatters and squirms and shakes his antlers in obvious annoyance.
I chuckle. “Sorry, I know you didn’t bring me here to admire the view. You were pointing out that there’s another entrance, which a monster—or a person—could use to sneak up on us. Thank you. Guess we got lucky.”
I’m not sure it’s good fortune as much as ordinary odds. I can’t imagine a monster being hungry enough to crawl through all those tunnels after us. A human could sneak in, but after we found the camp, Wilmot had been particularly careful about looking for signs of others.
Of course there’s no way for Jacko to know this, and the fact he realized the “back door” could be dangerous is impressive. He must have gone exploring after we were asleep. I’m just glad nothing bad happened, and I need to heed his warnings more carefully in the future.
I look around and consider my options. While the cave is about thirty feet off the ground, there’s an easy slope down, and I can smell our fire from here. It’ll be quicker going around rather than back through the tunnels. I don’t have my sword, but I’m armed with my dagger and my jackalope, and I’ll move fast and keep to the upper ground.
I do that, and I’m close enough to hear voices when Malric comes at a run. That’s almost as impressive as Jacko finding the back entrance. Running really isn’t the warg’s style.
Malric bounds up and snaps his teeth at me, growling his displeasure.
“I went through the tunnels,” I say. “I just came back this way because it was much faster.”
Another snap.
“You were sleeping, and I didn’t want to bother you.”
He growls.
I throw up my hands. “Fine. Next time I’ll wake you up. I’d have loved to see you crawl through that tunnel.”
“Talking to your warg again, princess?” Dain says as he appears. “You’re always easy to find. Just follow the sound of your voice. How was your morning adventure?”
I fall in step with him. “I found a back door. Jacko was alarmed about it. Is everyone awake?”
“They are. Just waiting for you and…” He stops and looks behind me. “Where’s Alianor?”
“Not with us.” I see his expression. “Did she come after me? Oh no. That’s just what we need—another delay.” I sigh. “Would you come back to the tunnel with me? We’ll go through from there and cut her off. Malric can walk back to camp.”
“Wilmot won’t like this. He was already grumbling about losing time yesterday.”
“Which is why we’re going to hurry.” I pick up speed. “Now it’s—”
“Your highness?” a voice calls. We glance to see Kaylein running toward us. “Rowan?”
“We’re going to find Alianor,” I call back. “She isn’t with me.”
Kaylein waves a piece of paper. “Because she’s gone.”
I pause one heartbeat, and then race over to her so fast Jacko, Malric and Dain all give a start.
My heart hammers so hard I can barely hold it without shaking. Alianor has left. She found something that said her clan kidnapped those travelers, and she’s taken off on her own. We drove her away. We judged her, and I didn’t talk to her about that.
I take the letter, read the first few lines, and my heart stops pounding. Seems to stop completely.
Alianor didn’t leave because her clan took the travelers hostage.
It’s worse than that.
So much worse.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I read the note again, to be sure I haven’t misunderstood. I haven’t. Two facts are very clear. Alianor has left, and Alianor is in danger. No, make that three facts: It’s all my fault.
I shove the last one away. Mom says that when a leader makes a mistake, they have to pick up the guilt and set it on a shelf. Not a high shelf where they’ll forget about it, but one just above eye level, where it’s temporarily out of sight. Moving the guilt aside doesn’t mean denying it exists. When I was little, anytime I made a mistake, I wanted to find someone or something else to blame. Dad taught me to take responsibility. Don’t take all
