The Princess's Servant

34. The Investigation

Following the tracks was easy, but interpreting them was hard — for the princess, that was. The footprints ultimately lead to some great pine, tangled with the tracks of a bear, before falling into a scrappy dance with a second pair of prints. There was a great pool of blood a small distance from the fir and a few drops of crimson at the base of its trunk. Sybil had initially feared the worst for her poor servant, but Sebastian pointed out that a bear would left far more blood than a mere couple drops. Sebastian soon found sled tracks very near the scene, and the rest was child's play.

And after ten minutes of horseback trotting, the pair approached a familiar campsite.

Sybil felt fury boil just beneath her skin. "In all the seven hells..."

"Been here before?" Sebastian asked, but the princess didn't respond. She peeled out of shadows and rode into the center of camp.

"Eris!" She yelled. "Get out here, now!"

A few villagers poked their heads out of their tents, but Nara was nowhere among them.

"Get out here before I drag you out!" Her voice had a grit that Sebastian had not heard in a woman before. He was not sure how he felt about it. "I swear to the heavens, sister, you went too far this time!"

A woman stepped out from her tent with a toddler in her arms. "Nara isn't here right now," she said, her tone stern and her brow scrunched. "I suggest you follow her lead."

Sybil nudged her horse forward. "I know she has him," she replied. "The Wardian servant. Give him up and I'll go my way in peace."

The woman stared at her still. "He's not here either," she answered.

"But you know who I'm talking about!" A light ignited in Sybil's eyes. "Where did they go?"

The villagers looked around at each other and had no word.

"I have gold," Sybil said, tossing a pouch down.

"Oh, she has gold everyone!" A man said. "Be sure to spend it before she sends her bandits to retrieve it!"

Sybil's stomach dropped.

"You told them about your gold pouch, didn't you?" The man jeered. "You sent them to our site."

"I didn't—" Sybil started. "It wasn't about—" she pulled her chin to the side and collected herself. "Listen," she said. "My anger is with Eris, and Eris alone. Tell me where she is and I'll bring no harm to you."

"A little late for that," an elderly woman spat through her seven teeth. "You want to know where your sister is, do ya? You want to know where she's run off to?"

Sybil thought she had made that clear.

"She was taken by the bandits — the bandits you sent. How's that for irony?"

"And the Wardian?"

"Offered himself in our good leader's place," the old woman said. "But your dishonest thieves took them both! I wouldn't be surprised if they were slow roasting over a dung-fed fire as we speak."

Sebastian tilted his head. "Do your bandits really do that? I thought that was just a myth."

Sybil didn't answer him. "Which way did they go?" She asked the old woman, though nobody responded.

"They probably returned to their camp to decide who to ransom first," Sebastian said. "Did you stumble upon their camp when you hired them?"

The princess turned to the servant at her side. "I encountered them plotting on the outskirts of Lailoy," she said. She turned back to the village. "Which way is it to their camp?" Sybil asked, and again received no reply.

"A trail to the East," Sebastian pointed. "And it looks like... wheel tracks, though I can't be certain from this distance. I see no cart in this town. It could be them."

"Is that where they went? East?" The princess asked in vain.

The villagers answered with a quiet hatred that strongly suggested she was right.

Sybil sighed and encouraged her horse forward, through the camp. Sebastian did the same. "Glad to have you along for the ride," she told him.

"Happy to be here," he told her, and the villagers gave them both looks of bitterness as they exited the camp.

"I sure hope the bandits don't capture you and turn you into a leather purse!" The woman carrying the toddler shouted.

"Yeah I hope you don't twist your ankle in the wheel rut and break your back on the fall!" Another villager caught on.

A kid stood on tip toes as the two entered the brush. "And I definitely hope you don't lose your Wardian—!" Her voice fell as she realized they were out of earshot. "Prince," the kid completed.

And so it was that Sybil and Sebastian rode swiftly along the tracks of the cart, pounding ever closer to the bandit's camp.

A/N: Please remember to vote!! And Happy New Year's Eve!!