A Story of Blood and Thorns

Chapter 18

We reconvene as the sun sets for the second time since we left the palace. Isadora, laden with animals. Me, holding bundles of plants. I dump my collection next to the fire Isadora has started. Already roasting on the spot are two animals, one of which has wings. I fill up a large shell I found with water and set it next to the fire, close enough to heat but not boil. After I'm satisfied with the temperature, I add some plants. Watercress, cattails, water chestnut.

Hopefully, they'll add flavor to the catch Isadora got.

Isadora snaps her fingers as she hums a song, rotating the spot. She doesn't pay me any attention, even as I begin to soak the plants.

"Isadora," I say when the silence weighs too heavily on me. "Did you come up with a plan?" I have the strings of one, but I don't think it's work.

She swings her head in time with the tune in her head. I snap my fingers. Her head pops up, finding me in the growing dark.

"What?"

I sigh. "Did you figure out a plan?"

"Yeah. Did you?"

"Maybe." I tell her my idea. She listens with a thoughtful expression, her face the picture of curiosity. While I talk, she switches the animals with two others.

When I'm done, she thinks for a moment, then says, "That's kind of what I was thinking."

She tells me hers. Combined with my plan, it could work. We would need to fix a few things, but it's a start.

The fire pops and a few embers jump out, landing on our bags. Isadora stomps them out before they catch.

"For our plan to work," she says. I perk up, placing my hands in the water to stir the plants. "We need to get you in a dress and rough you up." I open my mouth to tell her that I'm already roughed up, but she interrupts. "More than you are now."

"Such as?"

She swings at my face. I duck out the way, raising my hands to block her attack. Her hand collides with my stomach, knocking the air out of me. Before I can think, her other fist meets my cheek. I yelp.

"Sorry." She wrings out her hand, wincing. A few punctures drip blood onto the forest floor. Something sticks out of one, and she pulls out a thorn gingerly. I touch my cheek. It smarts, and I hiss. Rough up, I'll say. More like make me unpresentable and her seem like an abuser.

My jaw throbs as I speak. "That's the plan? Punching me?"

"You have to look the part when you go into the castle. They won't believe I kidnapped you unless it looks like you put up a struggle."

"You're coming with me, right?" I ask. Butterflies flit around in my stomach as I wait for her answer. Even as she looks at me, I hold onto the hope that she will.

Even as she says, "I can't. You'll have to do it yourself."

I close my eyes briefly. When I open them, Isadora hovers in front of me.

"You'll be fine." Her fingers brush over my pulsing cheek. "I swear. Just remember the plan."

The plan. The plan I have to carry out myself, in the home of my enemy.

I can't do it.

But I'm not stupid enough to voice my concerns. It will have to be done, whether I like it or not. The king needs to be stopped. Already, the kingdom is rioting against him. With me gone, hopefully, the people will do some of the work for me.

Anything I want to say sticks in my throat. Isadora takes my silence as acceptance and she hands me some food to chow on, taking some for herself. The plants add a bit of taste to the otherwise bland meat. After emptying the water from the shell onto the fire, effectively snuffing it out, we go over the plan again. Get in, take down the king, get out.