She was nearing the lowest point of the shallow valley when she heard Owen’s first birdcall. For a moment, her heart hammered desperately and she could hardly breathe. They were that close? They must have pushed hard to make it up the valley after their adventure crossing the river.

Her feet continued running without her brain telling them to, and she suddenly caught sight of water below. Hope leapt within her. Maybe she could fool the trackers. It was worth the gamble, and Owen’s warning had given her time to act.

As she finished the distance to the water, Kaz ran over what she knew of tracking. They would obviously be looking for her footprints. She had a second pair of shoes in her bag. If she changed shoes, would the slight difference in tread be enough to throw them off? It couldn’t hurt. They would also be looking for fragments of hair or clothing caught in trees. She couldn’t just head off down the creek; the absence of footprints on the other side would tell them exactly what course of action she had taken, if not which direction she had gone.

She could lay a false trail. Leave a few clues leading in one direction and then very carefully head in the other, waiting until they passed before taking off back the way she had come. The redirect probably wouldn’t work for very long, but it could give her time to come up with something better.

She ran the last few steps to the water and stopped to take in her surroundings. It was a shallow creek, barely ankle deep. To her right the water flowed down a rock face. To the left it flowed over large, mossy boulders before disappearing into the trees.

For a moment she just stared at the water trickling over the stones. Her brain was a complete blank. She felt her ragged breathing, her heart’s pounding sending blood throbbing through her veins. The exhaustion and adrenaline of her flight and the added weariness of the day’s heat seemed to drape over her like a heavy blanket, adding weight and slowness to every limb. For a moment the stream ebbed and flowed in her vision, as if the landscape itself surged like the waves on a beach. She felt her balance waver and fought to stay upright.

Come on, Kaz. Think! She thought fiercely. If she didn’t pull herself together, then the trackers would find her standing here staring at the water. This thought galvanized her into action. She wrenched her attention back to the stream.

They would expect her to go left, by far the easier, and therefore faster, route. Even if she laid the false trail to the right, they’d never believe it. She’d have to lay the trail left and then go right, even though the thought of clambering up rocks and continuing off the trail made her want to whimper and curl into a ball.

Fine. Just get it done, she thought tiredly. Whining won’t do anyone any good.

Sighing, Kaz got ot work. She pulled tufts from her woolly jacket and shoved them into her pocket until she had a small collection. Then she pulled off her shoes and shoved them into her pack, before splashing downstream. She carefully placed the fluff on strategic branches, with a few strands of loose hair.

As she worked, she remembered her younger brother with a pang. Was he still alive? Would she ever even find out? She knew her father was dead, along with most of the rest of the royal family. How many had managed to flee Vidar’s purge? Was she the only one left alive?

Her brother Blaze had been her best friend. He had been the one to teach her tracking - and how to fool trackers. He was one of the very few people who understood how much she hated being a princess. He had helped her escape her duties and lessons whenever he could and passed on what he learned with the other princes.

Suddenly she couldn’t see the trees or the wool in her hands anymore through the blurriness in her eyes. A huge, wrenching sob forced its way out of her throat. It was all too much. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t outrun the trackers forever. They were so close already; they were bound to catch her.

The wool fell from her fingers as she lifted her hands to her face. More sobs wrenched their way out of her. Another spell of dizziness hit her, and the heaviness of the day bore her to her knees.

The cold water shocked her back to herself. The sobs receded, and she focused on the sensation of the bitterly cold mountain water stroking her skin. Black spots floated across her vision, but she blinked them away. Time to get back up so she could finish laying her trail and get out of this stream.

As she stood, she heard a splashing ahead. Rather than wait to discover the source, she headed towards the bank to hide among the trees. Or tried to. Apparently her dizzy spell had not abated completely, for she tripped and fell headlong into the cold water. Her knee stung where it struck one of the boulders and she came up spluttering.

“Hello?” said a soft, female voice. “Is somebody there?”

The young woman standing on the bank looked like an apparition. They stared at one another for a moment, as Kaz momentarily forgot what she had been trying to do. The figure wore a simple, brown dress with bright blue patterns woven into it. She held a bundle of plants in her arms. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tail, and there was something oddly familiar about her features.

“Sweet dreamer, are you alright?” said the girl, for Kaz realized dimly that she was very young, possibly too young to have even gone on her first vision quest. She dropped the plants onto the riverbank and started into the water, traversing the stream carefully.

Kaz tried once more to stand, and tripped over another stone, splashing backwards towards the other bank. She kept trying, moving on her hands and feet. A moment later she realized that she was speaking.

“No, Please. Get away from me. Don’t want anyone else to get hurt. They’re coming. Don’t get caught with me.”

“Hey, hey, easy now,” said the girl. She had reached Kaz and crouched beside her. “Slow down. It’s alright. I can help you. My father’s just downstream. He’s a shaman. I don’t know what trouble you’re in, but I’m sure we can help.”

“They’re almost here,” Kaz shouted at the girl. “You have to go. If you help me they’ll hurt you too.” It was very important that she make the girl understand. Too many people had already been hurt.

“Who’s almost here?” asked the girl. She had reached down and grasped Kaz’s shoulders, meeting her eyes with infuriating calm.

“The trackers. They’re after me. If I can’t disappear, then it’s all over. You shouldn’t get hurt too. At least someone should survive this.”

“What’s going on here?” A loud splashing signalled the arrival of a man. “Jess, who is this?”

“I don’t know papa,” said the girl. “I found her like this. She’s terrified. It sounds like there are trackers after her and they may want to kill her. I’m not sure. She’s not very coherent.”

Some of the girl’s first words seeped through the panic ringing in Kaz’s head, and she looked up at the man. “She said you can help me,” Kaz said. She had to work to get the words out. Suddenly it was a struggle to speak at all, but the deepest truth of the last few days forced itself out, on a breath barely more than a whisper. “I don’t want to die.”

At these words the man crouched down beside his daughter. He put a huge hand on Kaz’s shoulder. There was something reassuring in his touch, in his presence. He looked Kaz in the eye, and she could feel the kindness in his gaze. “Of course we’ll help you. You’re not going to die.”

Then he did something strange. Taking his hand off her shoulder, he plunged both hands into the water, closing his eyes and murmuring. Kaz stared at him. What was he doing? How would this help her escape? She glanced uncertainly at the girl, and opened her mouth to ask. But the girl just held out a hand and gave her a look that clearly told her to keep quiet.

Kaz held her tongue, but glanced at the path. She didn’t know what this unexpected pair were planning to do to help her, but she didn’t feel that she could count on them. She sat forward and recentered her weight over her feet. The girl grasped her shoulders again and pushed down. It wasn’t hard enough to prevent Kaz from standing, but was obviously meant to ask her to. Kaz wasn’t convinced. She began to stand again, but this time the girl leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

“Wait,” she said. “He’s consulting with Yaku.”

Kaz settled back onto her feet, uncertain. She had never met a shaman before, and she wasn’t used to this level of communication with a person’s element. Most people related to their elements in a more perfunctory way, in word and prayer. It was understood that the elements protected their chosen in return for their devotion. And most people only had direct communication with their elements a few times in their lives.

Only shamans and mages worked directly with their elements. At the palace, most of the interaction with the elements had been ceremonial, and shamans, though powerful, were not considered as important as mages. As such, they usually were not employed by the nobility. She had seen mages at work, wielding the elements in sometimes spectacular ways. But this quiet, casual relationship was completely new to her.

Despite her fear, she found herself staring, fascinated, at the shaman. He nodded a few times, and the murmuring came and went. After about a minute, he pulled his hands out and looked directly at Kaz.

“Yaku says that we must help you, for this is bigger than any of us. She also says that the trackers after you are close. Is this correct?”

Kaz nodded, numbly.

“Give Jess your shoes,” the man continued. “You can wear hers, if they fit well enough. She will lay a false trail for the trackers to follow. Then you will come with me through the back trail to our village. We will be able to hide you there.”

Kaz let out a great sigh of relief. Somewhere in her exhausted mind she knew that this was a solid plan. But mostly she was relieved not to have to do everything for a little while. She pulled her pack off and grabbed the shoes, handing them to Jess. She kept rummaging, and when Jess offered her shoes, Kaz shook her head. “I have another pair,” she said, finding them near the bottom and wrestling them out.

“Can I put these in your pack then?” asked Jess. Kaz nodded, and shoved the shoes in.

Jess stood up and started towards the path. “Wait,” said the man. “Take your herbs. You’ll need a reason to be traveling.”

“Right,” said Jess, heading to grab the bundle of plants.

“Wait,” said Kaz. “Jess, is it?” Jess turned to look at her, nodding. “Are you sure about this? The men that are after me are cruel and won’t hesitate to hurt you.”

Jess’s lips tightened. “If they notice these are your shoes, I’ll tell them I met a nice lady at the stream who gave them to me. And I have no idea where she is now.”

Kaz looked at her doubtfully. “They might still hurt you.”

Jess swallowed, but looked determined. “My father’s a shaman. They won’t hurt me badly enough that he can’t heal it. Right, papa?”

The man’s expression was worried, but he nodded. “I wish there was another way,” he said. “I’m proud of you, Jess. And if you’re not back by nightfall I’m coming to find you.”

Jess nodded, then finished splashing to the other bank to grab the plants. “How far should I go?” she asked.

“If they haven’t caught up to you by the time you get to the top of the valley, take the ridge back. It’ll lead them to the village, but you know what everyone’s like with strangers. They’ll lose you there.”

“Got it,” said Jess gravely, and splashed off towards the path.

“Be safe,” called her father.

“Thank you,” Kaz called after her. Jess shot a grin over her shoulder at both of them, then started up the path out of sight.

“Well, are you ready to go?” asked the man. He stood up and held out a hand to Kaz. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. The world spun again and she started to fall. The man caught her.

“How long have you been on the run?” he asked her, quietly.

Kaz had to think for a moment. Time had lost much of its meaning. “Almost three days,” she said.

The man nodded. “Let me take your pack,” he said. Wordlessly, she handed it to him. He slung it over his own shoulder and placed an arm around her waist. “Lean on me,” he said. “If the trackers ask in the village, I was helping a wounded hunter back to their home. It’ll match the footprints.”

Kaz wanted to ask how he knew so much about tracking, but was too tired to form the question. She just nodded and leaned on his reassuring form.

The path up to the village felt at least as long as the rest of her day had been. She could no longer ignore the tremendous weight of exhaustion that had been gathering for days. Without the man’s help, she knew she never would have made it. She learned his name was Orlando. Other than that, the entire journey was more or less a blur. She had fragmented impressions of trees and a narrow path, many more switchbacks and eventually the forest opening onto terraced fields. By the time they arrived amidst the stone huts with their thatched roofs, Kaz could barely keep her eyes open. Orlando murmured encouragement and support to her the entire way.

She had a vague memory of a woman settling her on cushions, of ravenously wolfing down food of some sort, and then gratefully succumbing to sleep.

Next Chapter: 6. Owen - Choices