The Alarming Scent of Cinnamon

XVI

"We need to get off the horse," Gretel hissed.

"Ros?" 

"Yes!" she said. "Any ideas?"

"Uhhh," Hansel said. "We could jump off?"

"That's an awful idea," Gretel said. "I've got a better one."

"Ros?" she called. Ros's ears turned towards her.

"I have to go," she said.

Ros snorted, but slowed down.

"Just give me a minute," she said.

Ros transformed back into a human. "Nope," she said. "Not with your hands untied. Wait here a second. You move, he dies," she said, grabbing Hansel roughly and unsheathing a knife that  was well-hidden in the folds of her long skirt.

She slid her bag off, holding the knife close to Hansel's throat. Hansel's vision split and he found it hard to focus.

Ros kicked her bag open and fished a loop of rope out of it, then kicked it up into the air and caught it without dropping her knife. She sheathed her knife and grabbed Gretel by the shoulder, tying her hands together and leaving a long length of rope attached to her, like a leash.

"Go," she said, as if talking to a dog. Hansel scanned the sky, but didn't see Baba Yaga. She must have landed, he thought.

Gretel walked behind a thick patch of brush. Hansel turned away. A minute later, he heard something fly through the air, neatly wrapping itself around Ros, who fell to the ground.

Baba Yaga stood up from behind the brush and walked towards Hansel, Gretel following close behind her with freed hands.

"I leave you two for a few hours and you get caught by a bounty hunter," she said, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

"Hansel bumped his head pretty hard," Gretel said. "He has headaches and trouble seeing now. Can you fix him?" 

"Hmm," Yaga said, moving Hansel's head around as if examining it from different angles. "I'll need some rarer components, but I should be able to,"

Baba Yaga turned to address Ros, who had unsheathed her knife and was trying to cut through the snakelike cords that held her.

"Is this the girl you told us about?" she said. "the shapeshifter?"

"Yes," Hansel said, looking at his feet.

"Well, I guess we aren't going to find many more shapeshifters, are we?" she said.

"What are you saying?" Gretel asked.

"I know I haven't done a very good job at training you," Yaga said to Hansel.

"No, you've done- you've been a great teacher," Hansel said, flustered.

"You and I both know that's not true," Yaga said, watching Ros try to wriggle out of the cords.

"What's your name?" she said to Ros.

"None of your business," Ros replied.

"Hm," Baba Yaga frowned. "I suppose it isn't."

"Then I guess we can go now. The house is waiting," she said, turning around and beginning to walk away.

Ros sighed. "Ok, you win," she said. "My name's Ros."

"Ros?" Baba Yaga said, making her way back over. "I believe that's a nickname."

Ros muttered something under her breath.