14: Lessons

After changing into a more presentable outfit, I let Shail escape down the stairs first. The crag cat, who disappointingly did not have a single snarl reserved for the beefy stranger at my side, thudded down on the tight corners while the Walrus and I huffed after him. Well, the Walrus huffed. The climb up the tower seemed to have taken a bit of wind from his sails, and he entirely recovered even with the time it took me to figure out the lace on an old fashioned 'bra.'

"Here's the thing," the middle aged man panted, wiping sweat from his forehead as his feet touched the bottom stair. His ruddy beard and mustache positively glittered with moisture. "There ain't much the King or I can be doing for ya, not without cheating."

Pulling my hair into a braid, I secured the end with a bit of ribbon and tried walking slow enough for him to catch his breath. "Is it even possible to cheat?" I asked, shoving Shail away from the now-sparkling spot of floor where he'd taken care of business the previous night.

The last thing I wanted to do was encourage the cat to make a habit out of using that spot, even if it was just for a few days. Prince Chiro had been rather tolerant of me and at some point today he was going to return upstairs to a smashed bed frame. The last thing I needed was for him to be cursing me all the way up the stairs because he stepped in cat poo.

My winded companion continued to wipe at his face. "'Course. Hard to do, seeing as the rules are mighty simple, but not impossible. You can have your weapons and your shields and your wits, but you can't be having outside help. For example, can't have me out in the field axing men for ya."

As we walked down to the gardens I'd glimpsed from my room, I ran through my pitiful list of ideas and options. I didn't want help, didn't want to find out at a later date that I owed someone for it, but I wasn't stupid enough to refuse any generosity sent my way right about now.

"What if you partner with someone?" I asked as the floral fragrance of nature slipped through the morning air. The pale green dawn brought the garden to life, dying white petals a springy color as we strolled deeper into the gardens. There was no one here, not that I could see, as we wound our way through one dirt path after another.

The Walrus considered my question a moment, then nodded. "Nothing wrong with that, far as what I've seen in the past. Formed a partnership myself, quite some years back. Must've brought home thirty girls 'tween the two of us. Divvying the spoils though, that's what got me this scar." He held out one chubby hand. A thick, mangled line ran from the base of his thumb, over his wrist, and disappeared into his furs. "Now I know what you're thinking," he rumbled, laying the same, damp hand on my forearm. "I wouldn't be wheeling and dealing with nobody, not even the Prince. He's being what we call 'a good host.' Might go so far as to say a great one, considering the circumstances."

The man cast a long, long stare in Shail's direction. Impervious to the demon's displeasure, the crag cat patrolled the edge of the walkway. His head jerked up suddenly. He paused, ears curled forward, then dove face first into violet tiger lilies. His clubbed tail smashed the nearest flowers, but the Walrus steered me away with a whispered, "Didn't see who did that there."

The garden was, I had to admit, the most relaxing place I'd been to thus far. I actually almost felt human again, normal, like I was taking a walking tour through some old English castle. It wasn't the place I'd expected to do any kind of training, but being surrounded by dense, gentle vegetation was enough to boost my concentration on what mattered: learning about the Hunt.

"So what can you do for me before things take off?" I asked the man as he waddled down the path a step behind my unhurried pace.

"Well, I can be getting you some armor and weaponry. Some food rations, if you'd like. State what you want and I'll have it ready for ya."

"No strings attached?"

He thumped my back with his fist. "That's the proper attitude!" He exclaimed. "Seeing as you are a Lady without land or wealth, the King agreed to spot you this time. Little whelp like you won't be costing him much, I reckon, and if you lose, you won't be costing him any more trouble at all."

"I'll give you a list later," I promised, running my hands through small, weedy white flowers along the path's edge. "I want to think about it first."

"Smart," he agreed. "But if I were you, I'd know my own strength. Take only what you and your cat are comfortable to carry. "

"May I ask you something, Mr. Walrus?" He nodded. After glancing down the path in both directions, I leaned in toward the burly man. "You've been quite kind to me, apart from letting Chiro run me through and all. Why is that?"

"Wondering why an old fart like meself was out catching maidens?" He scratched at the stale sweat of his face.  "Your father ain't here no more, but I knew he had you. Knew you'd be starting to show soon. Got to say, I was proud of the way you handled yerself. Not everyone's so stupid. You've inherited that from him at the very least. You know, alongside your esteemed ladyship." His belly made his silly bow more of a bob.

"What did you mean, 'starting to show'?" I said, frowning.

"Lesson one," he declared. "We aren't all just men turning into monsters. Some of us have powers like you. They just ain't so amplified."

"Mine aren't exactly amped up, either, if you haven't noticed," I said, flexing my fingers.

I had the innate ability to not be bothered by cold. Dusting spiders wasn't going to help me much, either, even if I could figure how how the hell I'd managed to freeze the nasty bloodsucker that one time.

"So you knew I was somewhere out in the world," I said as we strolled along. "How did you know where?"

"There ain't much in the world like you, Tay Wilson. The king's hounds can suss that stink right on out."

"And can they smell me now? Can demons?"

"If they've got the snout for it. Now about the Hunt," he said, clearing his throat. "You all start same time, same place, down at those gates beside the Malumbrian Oaks."

"The maidens too?"

His laugh seemed to shake the ground. "Can't be telling participants where they're out or when. Makes it more of a challenge to find the smart ones when they've got a head start. The others, well, won't make much of a difference."

This whole time I'd been trying to get myself situated, tried to fight for my own spot here, but down in the garden, in my good clothes and high spirits, I started to feel guilty. And angry. Where were they keeping the others? How were they treated? I was mostly alive because of men like the Walrus and Chiro. What were they doing to the other women? Did they even know what was going to happen to them? I ripped a plush red rose off its stem and settled for tearing the petals off one by one. "How many brides are there?"

The man muttered a count under his breath, and settled on a pensive, "'Bout two hundred I'd say. Give or take a couple."

"And how many Lords?"

"Thirty one and yourself."

I dropped my ruined rose. "For that many women?"

He shrugged. "When you factor in incidental deaths, and then intentional ones and then their plans for the lovely lassies after, I'd say we gathered a small crop this year. Going to be quite competitive."

"That's horrible!" I gasped.

"That's the Hunt. The maidens are dropped off in the wild to fend for themselves. Not altogether, of course. Alone. If they meet up, they meet up. If they die, they die. When the Hunt begins, the goal is to get the wives you want, either by finding 'em yourself or taking 'em from somebody else."

"How do you know when everyone's found?"

He scratched his scalp. "Ah, well, we don't exactly. I'd say some maidens have escaped, but it's more likely they ended up dead or devoured. Hounds usually give us a good idea, fill in the info missing from the hunters and maidens."

"I see," I said. "And —"

He cut me off with a cough. "Now about that start. You and your cat need to run like hell. You might be a Lady of the Hunt, but you're still a woman. They'll come for you the moment they're able to. They ain't gonna be noble about it and give you a fair chance."

"You don't have a rule against that?"

The Walrus gestured at the castle. Higher up, I recognized the Akta's face among a small crowd of watchers. They had gathered along the narrow windows, staring down at us, at me, I realized with an uncomfortable knot in my chest. "We're demons, Tay Wilson. The fuck do we care? We kill each other all the time. No reason they can't take you for a bride if they don't feel like offing ya. Only rule is you get your ass back to the castle with a maiden, you're safe. Until Hunt's end anyway."

He stopped to watch Shail bite something small and squealing between his paws. "It's dangerous being a Lady. You'd probably make it out alive as a bride. We might know your name, but there's a lot we don't know about you and what you're capable of. There's some lads real keen on seeing what kind of babies you pop out."

On instinct I clutched my stomach and groaned. "I don't even want to think about having kids until I'm like thirty." Maybe by then I'd warm up to the idea of enduring nine months back aches and constant bathroom breaks. And to cap it off with the 'blessing' of childbirth pains, as Mom called contractions... No. Just no. And God help any man or demon that dared try to knock me up.

"It's your best shot at seeing this through," he said with a dubious frown. "Say the word, and I can change your status. Won't stop them from finding ya, but at least you can choose the time and place."

What came after the Hunt, I didn't know, but I didn't want to ask. I had too much on my plate to worry about the distant future. My goal was survival. My goal was to bring back another girl, hopefully more than one. She and I could figure it out together.

To my silence, the Walrus simply kept wobbling along through the lush scenary. "I can't be any more straight with you, young miss. I were you, I'd find me the first girl I can and hightail it back while the rest are beating each other's asses off. Once you're in the castle, you're locked in safe an sound 'til the bloody thing's over. If you don't have a plan, I'd start there."

In the shade of a broad-leaved tree, the Walrus squatted on a stump to rest. The pale bark was papery and patterned like camouflage. It seemed to shed its skin in wide sheets at the lightest touch. I pulled one curled ivory strip and glanced over at the resting, retired warrior. "How likely are deaths in this thing?"

"Wouldn't be a proper Hunt without a dozen demons going down. Never keep track of the ladies from year to year, least I don't. Somewhere in the archives I'm sure it's listed. You find a girl, she's yours. You lose her, she's dead or someone else's. That's all most of us care to know."

"And what happens when you die here?"

"Ain't that the mystery of life?" he chortled, squinting up at the high stone walls, where several faces still remained. "Find it's best not knowing that answer. Do yourself a favor and don't get worse 'an injured. Your body'll heal quicker in the Mid. Cuts and scrapes within an hour. Burns, poisons might take a day if they ain't fatal. Limbs chopped off...can't help with that. If you had better arms than those twigs you've got hanging off yer torso, I'd say lop off their heads, but you'll have to settle for being a sneaky bastard, pardon my language."

I smoothed the bark back into place. Somewhere behind us, I could hear the rattling breath of Shail stalking a swaying rose bud. "So what you're saying is I'm better off avoiding trouble where I can."

"What I'm saying is you're better off being a maiden and hoping someone like the Prince takes pity on you." Hand on his knee, he twisted around to stare at me. "You know he ain't wanting any kids, either."

Abandoning the tree, I sat cross legged in the shade beside the Walrus, keen on hearing an answer. "Why is that?"

The man turned politely in the other direction and spat. "He might walk on two legs, but he's a cat at heart. Who knows why the hell he does what he does. He's never joined a Hunt 'til this one. What he does with his brides'll be a surprise to us all."

*

Maneuvering around the palace with a man like the Walrus made life infinitely easier. I could eat lunch and dinner in peace. When it came time for bed, we returned to the garden to wrangle Shail. The Walrus stood watch at the end of the hall, and when the coast was clear I was able to sneak to the Prince's room without incident. My four-footed companion was all-too eager to follow, as I'd stolen a bowl of meat from the table.

Chiro clearly hadn't returned to the room since I'd left in the morning, because the door was unlocked and the room remained exactly as it had in the moments after Shail destroyed his bed. With no sign of the Prince, I shut the door. Shail sat obediently, and I sat across from the cat, setting the bowl of roast-something in my lap. Taking a deep breath, I held it between us and concentrated hard.

The crag cat licked his lips.

The meat stayed utterly unfrozen. Annoyed, I flicked the bit to Shail and picked up a new piece. Eventually the bowl was empty of everything but a bit of juice, which the cat eagerly lapped up. By then the sky had been dark for at least an hour and I wasn't sure how to work an oil lamp, so Shail and I lounged in the growing darkness.  At some point I grabbed my pillow from the previous night, changed into my nightgown and settled down on the straw mattress. There was a crack and groan of wood, and when I looked over, Shail had settled himself in the bed's remains.

Sometime in the night the door groaned open. Shail lifted his head, chuffed softly, and returned his face to the Prince's cushions.

"What the—?" Chiro cursed under his breath. I shut my eyes tight. He strode over to the bed, sighed, and then his footsteps carried to other side of the room, where I lay pretending to sleep. He crouched beside me. "I know you're awake," he hissed against my ear.

I kept perfectly still. The man grumbled about stinking humans, and in the next instant he'd rolled me to one side of the mattress and laid down beside me.

I spent the rest of the week listening, learning, trying not to piss Chiro off, trying not to let Shail piss Chiro off, and failing to freeze so much as a flower petal. The Walrus refused to talk about my father. He made sure I knew how to use my knife and got me fixed up with a couple packs I could strap to Shail. By the end of the week, the only thing I was confident in was my crag cat. He was firmly on my side. Sometimes he even gave me his paw when I asked for it.

And on the final day, when the sun had yet to reach the itchy mattress I'd been assigned to, Chiro shook me awake. "It's time," he said.