I am neither yours nor a horse, Arvin snorted.
I pointedly looked him up and down. “What are you then? A unicorn with a misplaced horn?”
He huffed and spoke with great dignity. Unicorns? Really? Naturally I am not an imaginary creature. I merely meant I am not just a horse. A horse from the Palace of Light should not be compared to an ordinary steed.
“No, you’re right,” I said. “There’s no comparison at all. I liked my last mount far better than you.”
Arvin huffed out what sounded surprisingly like a laugh. Apparently he cared too little for the good opinion of a mere human to take offense at my words.
Reluctantly a smile spread over my own face, turning into a chuckle that I abruptly cut off before it could edge toward hysteria. I had been in dangerous situations before, and I wasn’t going to lose my wits now.
Sierra had followed my lead and also slid down, proving surprisingly adept at dismounting without a saddle. She ignored my conversation with Arvin while she carefully examined our surroundings, but she now fixed her attention back on me.
“The roads of Arcadia are supposed to be safe,” she said. “Which means those may not have been ordinary bandits. If they were targeting you specifically, then we have to make sure you stay safe.”
I regarded her with a creased brow. “And how exactly are we going to manage that? We’re two girls and a talking horse. We aren’t even armed.” I omitted mentioning the small dagger in my boot since I didn’t think it would do us much good in the case of a bandit attack.
“We swap clothes,” she said. “Swap places completely. I will be Princess Giselle, and you can pose as my maid.”
“What?” I stared at her. “So that they kill you instead of me? No indeed! I couldn’t possibly allow you to take such a risk.”
“You believe their aim is to kill you?” Sierra frowned at me. “Surely ransom is more likely or some political intrigue. They could have opened their ambush with an arrow to your heart if that had been their aim. I should be safe enough—for a while at least. This way, if they do find us, you may be able to slip away to get help.” She sounded grim. “They will soon discover that having me in their custody does them little good.”
“At which point they may well decide to kill you,” I pointed out.
She smiled. “I’ll assure them you hold me dear and that I would make excellent bait.”
A reluctant chuckle escaped me. The Sierra of the boat had changed again, the girl in front of me showing a spirit and determination I hadn’t seen before.
“I almost believe you would be able to convince them of the scheme,” I said.
“I always succeed at what I set my mind to.” Her eyes gleamed with strength and certainty.
“Very well,” I said, still reluctant. “I’ll admit I can’t come up with any other plan.”
Her hand whipped up in a silencing gesture. “What was that?”
She looked into the trees and then back to me with wide eyes.
“Quickly,” she whispered. “I think there’s someone coming.”
I glanced at Arvin, but he was staring uneasily in the direction Sierra had pointed. I hesitated for another moment, but she was already starting to unfasten the back of my dress. Her outfit was a much simpler design, crafted to be easily removed without assistance, and a moment later I was slipping it on, my ears straining for any further sounds.
I heard nothing further, but then I hadn’t heard the first sound either. Twice, Sierra’s head whipped up, her hearing apparently better than mine. By the time we’d completed the transformation, keeping only our own boots, I was jumping at the slightest whisper of the breeze in the leaves above us.
“If they’re coming, we can’t stay here,” I said. “We’ll have to risk riding on. It will be easy enough to find the road again among those fields, and the Arcadian guards must be somewhere along its length. They may even be near. If we could find them, we could bring them back here to search for the others. They would no doubt make a much better job of it than we possibly could on our own.”
Sierra nodded silent agreement, so I turned to Arvin.
“Will you carry us again?”
He regarded me for a moment. I don’t like this plan.
I rolled my eyes. “Next time, if you want your vote counted, make it before any changing of clothes happens.”
He gave a haughty huff.
“Will you let us ride?” I pressed again.
He regarded me with one large eye before blowing out a breath and giving a single nod. A fallen log nearby allowed for a much more graceful mounting than our previous one, and we had soon broken free of the last of the trees.
A small trot across a fallow field returned us to the road. Arvin increased his pace to a canter without complaint. It shouldn’t have been a sustainable pace, given he carried two passengers, but just as in the wood, he showed no sign of tiring. The ride was so smooth, in fact, that Sierra managed to rearrange my hair from her position behind me. She soon had my pins free and the careful arrangement replaced with the same simple braid she wore every day.
When I glanced behind me not long later, I found she had managed to put the pins to use in her own hair, pinning her braid to her head in some basic semblance of a formal style.
“It’s the details that give you away,” she said when she saw me looking.
I almost started chuckling again at that and barely refrained from asking if she had a lot of experience impersonating royalty. But the fleeting amusement instantly dried up, replaced with the same circling worries about Daria, Cassie, and Daisy. What had the attackers done to Daisy? Had Cassie and Daria managed to escape as we had done?
Sierra thought the attackers had been after me, but Daisy or even Daria could as easily have been targets. And I knew they had Daisy at least. I shivered at the thought, and Arvin responded to my unspoken message, increasing his pace even more.
No matter how many times I looked behind us, no pursuers materialized, but soon enough we caught sight of a dust haze in the distance ahead. Arvin was already checking his pace, apparently having seen them before I did. He slowed to a walk and veered off to stand by the side of the road.
The three of us waited in silence as the haze became two carriages and a group of riders, most in what looked like guard uniforms.
“It must be the Arcadians coming to meet us,” I said.
“Don’t forget, you are the maid,” Sierra hissed. “We must be sure they are not in league with the attackers before we reveal your true identity.”
We were in a great deal of trouble if it was the Arcadian crown who had attacked us, but I held my silence. A little circumspection would not go amiss.
Sierra commanded Arvin to return to the road, but he ignored her. She dug her heel into his side, trying to propel him forward, and I half expected him to throw us both off. After a pointed moment of stillness, however, he took several steps forward to stand in the path of the approaching group.
A shout and a raised arm from the lead rider caused them all to slow. Every eye fixed on us, some filled with surprise and others concern.
“Excuse our disheveled state,” Sierra said in stately tones. “I am Princess Giselle of Eldon, and this is my maid. Our party has come under attack, and we barely escaped with our lives.”