“Can you hear me?” the deer asked.
Cole looked at his companions. Twitch mimed buttoning his lips shut. Cole nodded.
“That isn’t a very safe road,” the deer called. “Where are you trying to go?”
Cole waved good-bye to the deer.
“Think you know these woods better than I do?” the deer asked, turning away. “Your funeral.”
“One and one makes two,” said a voice at the other side of the autocoach. Cole swiveled to see another deer. “Two and two makes . . .”
His mind automatically answered “four.” But he kept his mouth shut.
“Row your boat, gently down the stream,” the deer recited. “Merrily, for life is but a . . .”
He could hardly believe the deer was so blatantly trying to get them to say something. Twitch shooed the deer away with his hand, and it bounded off.
The autocoach rolled onward, and the trees continued to diminish until they resembled an ordinary forest. They passed a crossroads. Their autocoach went straight, but behind them, one of the autocoaches turned right; the other, left.
Cole and the others stayed silent for another long stretch. Finally Mira tapped Bertram and pantomimed talking.
“What’s the trouble, my dear girl?” Bertram said. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to speak up. My hearing isn’t what it once was.”
Leaning close to him, Mira whispered in his ear. Cole couldn’t hear a word she said.
“Oh, yes, we’re in the clear,” Bertram replied. “Feel free to converse. After all, we’re on holiday.”
“That’s a relief,” Mira said.
“I was honestly ready for the two of you to get us killed back there,” Twitch said. “I was set to fly away.”
“Sometimes you have to stand up for what’s right,” Jace said.
Mira kicked at his shin from across the compartment. “You were like a spoiled kid who complained until he got the treat he wanted.”
“What did that make you?” Jace asked, having twisted to avoid her foot.
“The adult who relented,” Mira said.
“It worked out perfectly,” Jace said. “I waited for you to give me what I wanted, but I let you be the nut job who got the last word.”
Mira sprang out of her seat, crouching because of the coach’s roof. She didn’t kick him too hard, but this time it connected. Jace laughed along with the other boys.
Then Mango flew in the window and perched on Mira’s shoulder. “Good, good,” the bird approved. “You’re having fun. I hate to spoil the mood, but we have company.”
“What?” Mira asked, settling back in her seat, all playfulness gone.
“Legionnaires coming this way. On horseback. Lots of them.”
Chapter 25
ON THE RUN
“Legionnaires?” Cole exclaimed. “How many is lots?”
“One hundred and forty-four,” Mango said. “They’re west of us, coming this way in four equal groups, along four different routes.”
Jace yanked open the hatch to the compartment where their gear was stashed. He handed Mira her Jumping Sword, then Cole his bow and his sword.
“How’d they find us so quickly?” Twitch asked.
“They haven’t found you,” Mango replied. “They’ve fanned out over a broad area. They’re searching.”
“They might suspect we ran off this way,” Mira said. “Or they might just be checking everywhere. Either way, I guess they know we’re alive.”
“Like Declan warned us,” Cole reminded her. “Your father must be able to feel that you haven’t died. He must have told them.”
“What matters is what we do now,” Jace said, all business. “Mango, will they find us if we stay on our current path?”
Mango gently pecked at Mira’s silver necklace while talking. “If they don’t double back or change course, they’ll overtake you before the end of the day.”
“Can we go in other directions?” Mira asked.
“You could leave the autocoach,” Mango said, nibbling at one of the pins in her hair. “They’re sticking to the roads. But traveling cross-country on your own can be dangerous in Sambria, especially in a wild area like the north of the kingdom.”
“We should stay with the coach until we know we’re going to be found,” Twitch said. “You can warn us when they get really close, right, Mango?”
“Yes, sirree,” the bird replied.
“If they find an empty coach, they may heavily search the nearby area,” Jace pointed out.
“I don’t mean we should desert the coach a minute before they find us,” Twitch clarified. “More like an hour before. The autocoach will travel a good distance before they find it, and we’ll have time to get well away from the road.”
“Good thinking,” Cole approved.
“We want the autocoach as long as we can keep it,” Mira said. “We’ll be much slower on foot. And Mango is right. This part of Sambria is unsafe.”
“Maybe we can use that to our advantage,” Jace said. “Sort of like the cloudwall all over again. Is there anywhere we can go where the legionnaires won’t want to follow? Someplace they would expect us to avoid? Especially if it’s away from where they’re headed.”
Mango flapped her wings and gave a soft squawk. “There are plenty of dangerous places. The legionnaires are west of you, some moving northeast, others southeast. Going west isn’t an option right now, and I don’t think you could get ahead of them cutting straight south. If you flee north, you’ll end up back in the Quiet Wood, and eventually you’ll get pinned against the Boomerang Forest. If you try to get around the Boomerang Forest to the east, you’ll end up against the Brink.”
“I don’t mind the Quiet Wood,” Jace said.
“But we don’t want to get pinned with nowhere to run,” Twitch said. “The Boomerang Wood is a dead end. With no skycraft, the Brink is too.”
“For most of us,” Mira said.
Twitch blushed. “We can talk about me later.”
“The Brink continues east of the cloudwall?” Cole asked.
“Yes,” Mira said. “The cloudwalls only mark off a portion of the Brink. The Boomerang Forest keeps people from looking behind the Eastern Cloudwall, just like the Briarlands keeps people away from the Western Cloudwall. But beyond the Boomerang Forest, the Brink keeps going. Floatstones don’t work there, so having skycraft wouldn’t matter.”