Siegfried began, only too well aware that he was perilously close to babbling, when Lily returned with the mother cat he had aided in one arm, the kitten in the other.
"Desmond is missing," Lily told them tersely. "He is the only one of the Princes gone. The Huntsman is missing, too. The cat says she was moving the kittens to establish them here at the stables, and she saw two men take Rosa. So unless the Huntsman has a confederate and Desmond followed them, somehow knowing when we didn't that Rosa had been taken, we can assume they were collaborating all along."
Siegfried snarled an inarticulate oath and headed for the door, but she stopped him dead before he got more than two steps.
"Wait," she ordered. "Just a moment. Think. What will you need?"
She was right. A moment spent now would be saved a thousand fold later when he realized he was missing something. "My armor, my weapons, a horse — " he began.
"A direction," Lily pointed out. She jiggled the mother cat in her arm a little. "Cat?"
"Told kitten to wake you. Followed to market. Lost there," the cat said, tilting her head to the side and switching her tail rapidly. "Ran back here."
Siegfried thought about that a moment; from the market there were a dozen directions that Desmond could have gone, and at the moment he had no clear idea of which. Unless there was a witness...would the donkey have seen them? It was worth finding out. And if the donkey had not, perhaps he could start querying dogs. "There's a stable there. I might have someone in it who noticed them."
"I'll take care of the horses," Lily said. "You get down to the stable." She put down the cat and kitten and hurried off.
"I'm coming with you!" Leopold interjected, now fully clothed, and bundling up what little armor he had. Siegfried wasn't even going to try to dissuade him; first, it would be a waste of time, and second, Leopold had as much right as he did to join in the search.
"Come on, then," he snapped, and headed for his rooms at a run. Like Leopold, he only bundled up his armor rather than pausing to put it on. Speed was of the essence now, though it was unlikely that they would overtake Desmond before he got well, wherever it was he was going. The entire Palace had been aroused now; people were poking their heads out of doors as they passed, and he could hear the steady tramp of booted feet that could only mean Guardsmen on the move. For good measure, he also grabbed his pack, which out of habit he kept ready to go. He'd lived out of it for months at a time. If he needed something, well, hopefully it would be in there.
With his armor and sword under his arm, he ran for the stables. When he got there, he discovered that there were two horses already saddled and ready. "Hurry up!" one of them whinnied, laying back his ears as he stamped with impatience. "We need to run! She has us so full of magic we are about to pop!"
"She" was undoubtedly the Godmother, and he was not at all unhappy about these being two of her mouse-horses. He tied his pack and armor onto the back of the saddle, then literally leapt into the saddle without using stirrups; Leopold did the same, and the two of them galloped out of the Palace grounds while the rest of the Palace was still buzzing in confusion alter being roused from sleep.
At this hour the streets were empty, which meant they could gallop without encountering any obstacles. The occasional head popped out of a window, but otherwise there were no signs of life. He was still trying to think of what he was going to do if the donkey hadn't seen anything as they pounded into the silent marketplace — but the donkey was already waiting there for him.
"The men with the Princess!" the little beast brayed. "They came through here, riding straight for the Forest Gate!"
Oh, bless you, little beast!
With a wave of his hand to the helpful creature, Siegfried reined his horse over to the left and urged him down the street that led to the Forest Gate. Too late, he forgot that the Gate was probably closed and locked —
But the moonlight beating down on it showed that it wasn't. In fact, it stood wide-open. And the Gate-guards lay motionless beside it, on either side of the street.
He couldn't stop to see if they were alive or dead — and he couldn't help them either way. Someone else would have to take care of them, and he only hoped that all Desmond had done was to knock them out. Meanwhile, every moment that passed took Rosa farther from him, and that was all that mattered.
Leopold was right on his heels, though his friend probably couldn't imagine how he was getting directions. Still the open gate and the guards alone would tell him that they were on the trail.
The horse made straight for the forest without any guidance, but slowed as they neared it. The Forest Road paralleled the edge, with dozens of smaller paths and trails leading in and wandering off in wildly different directions. Siegfried peered at the forest, looking for a sign of where their quarry might have gone in.Nothing...it's too dark....noth —
The horse abruptly reared on his hind legs, screaming with alarm;
Siegfried fought to stay in the saddle, his heart accelerating with alarm. What — he couldn't see anything —
"Don't be foolish, mouse. I am not going to eat you" What Siegfried had thought was a shadow detached itself from the other shadows and lumbered forward, further spooking the horse, who half reared again, then stood, trembling.
"Bear?" he said in astonishment, as Leopold's horse also danced sideways.
It was, indeed, the bear that he had rescued from the showman. A scar across the bear's muzzle identified the beast.
"Wolf is tracking them. I will guide you, for I have his scent, and he will take care to lay it down thickly" The bear whuffed at them. "I told you that we would not forget your kindness. Now follow me" The bear lumbered into the forest, shoving his way into a game trail.
"Siegfried, what the hell — " Leopold sat atop his trembling horse, his own teeth chattering.
"The bear is a friend....Remember, I can talk to all animals, not just the bird." He shook his head. He probably should have told Leopold about the animals he'd been rescuing, but he hadn't thought it was that important. "I'll explain later. We need to follow the bear, because a wolf that I know is tracking Desmond for us, and the bear is tracking the wolf."
"A wolf...a bear..." Leopold shook his head. "Friends. All right. I have either gone insane or you did just say that, and if you did just say that — " He paused. "I have accepted the Queen turning into the Godmother in front of my eyes, mice becoming horses and squash becoming carriages. What's so hard about you talking to wild animals as well as tame, and making friends of them?" He dug his heels into his horse's ribs, causing it to nervously leap forward after the bear. "Come on! Rosa is getting farther away from us all the time!"
* * *
Once she had magicked up the mouse horses and their gear, Lily had transformed back into Queen Sable. It would be too much trouble getting the servants who hadn't seen her actually resume her real identity to obey her orders otherwise. She ran back up to her rooms, and from there, she sent out the servants to rouse the whole Palace. Desmond probably thought he had time to get back to the Palace before he was missed. Well, too bad for that plan; it had been disrupted the moment that Siegfried's cat saw him steal the Princess.
That means either he has taken Rosa somewhere close by, or he has some variation on a spell of transportation.She didn't think they would be lucky enough for the former, so it was probably the latter. She didn't think he'd have the "All Paths Are One" spell, since that was, as far as she knew, the peculiar property of Godmothers. But there were others, many others....