Just like that, it was over. Lord MacDonnell checkmated Conor’s king. He stood up.
“Not quite, Conor,” he said.
I knew it, Meilin thought miserably. I could have done this with my eyes shut! What is the point of being on a team if you are the strongest one?
“Please, my lord,” Meilin broke in. “We desperately need to speak to Rumfuss. If I could —”
“No,” Lord MacDonnell said. “Do not ask me again today.”
Just then, Finn burst from the fortress onto the grass of the courtyard. To Meilin’s surprise, he didn’t have Abeke with him. Instead, he had that absolutely ridiculous black cat, Kunaya.
“Abeke is gone,” Finn said. “All I could find was the cat.”
Meilin snapped, “I knew it!”
“Look,” Finn interrupted. He touched the cat’s neck. A piece of string was tied around it — no, not string. Abeke’s elephant hair bracelet. Several frantic knots were tied along its length. “A message.”
“What does it say?” Conor asked.
Finn’s face was serious. “‘Help.’ And then: ‘Devin hunts Rumfuss.’”
14: Hunting
“HE HUNTS?” MACDONNELL ASKED, VOICE CURIOUS, LIKE HE thought he’d misheard the punch line of a joke. Finn repeated what the knot code said. MacDonnell’s face didn’t change, but when he spoke again, his voice had gone dark. “Hunting. In my castle’s gardens, where I alone am permitted to hunt.” He pursed his lips. “They take advantage of my hospitality and break my law.”
“And they have Abeke!” Rollan added, irritated that MacDonnell seemed to find hunting more offensive than kidnapping. He turned to the others. “Why are we standing here? We’ve got to help her.”
“I’m certainly not allowing more people to break my law and hunt on my land,” MacDonnell said, as if this should have been obvious. “My soldiers will stop them. Trunswick won’t be allowed to leave Glengavin.”
“He has the wildcat,” Finn said quietly. “Even if you manage to take him, it won’t be without significant losses to your soldiers.” He motioned to the soldiers, who were pretending not to eavesdrop, though they were doing a terrible job — in his distraction, one soldier had knitted his sleeve into the Highland cow’s hair.
MacDonnell, who had already lifted his hands to clap and signal his soldiers, hesitated.
“You wouldn’t want to be down men, should you have to defend Glengavin from the Conquerors, sir,” Conor said, then reached down to the chessboard. He put his fingertip on MacDonnell’s king piece and slid it toward MacDonnell himself.
MacDonnell took a deep breath, one that seemed to make his already broad shoulders even broader. “A wise move, Conor — Briggan is indeed making you a good leader, even if you aren’t a good chess player. But what will my people think, if I allow you and your friends to break my law?”
“What if we did you some sort of favor in return for permission to break the law? A — a boon?” Conor said.
“Such as?” MacDonnell asked, and Conor furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “I have no need for your money —”
“The hare,” Meilin said, stepping forward. “What if we find your spirit animal?”
“The hare for Devin Trunswick and Rumfuss?” MacDonnell’s eyes widened. “Deal. But I warn you — he’s not a friendly boar. Even if you find him, I doubt he will speak to you. You may arm yourselves from my stock, just in case.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Rollan said. He spun around. “Hey, can I borrow this?” he asked, diving toward the soldier knitted to the cow. He grabbed the soldier’s sword; when the soldier moved to stop him, the cow mooed irritatedly and shuffled away, dragging the man with him.
MacDonnell, who looked a bit overcome with the prospect of the hare returning to him, had a soldier lead them through the palace and down a wide staircase to the gardens. As they came into view, Rollan had to hide his surprise. When Rollan thought of gardens, he thought of little patches of grass with flowers. Maybe a fountain. Maybe even a tree, if it was a really fancy sort of garden. And what lay before him was exactly those things — except times a thousandfold.
The gardens stretched out toward the horizon. The section farthest away was a swath of gray almost the same color as the late morning sky. Somewhere was the wall that kept Rumfuss contained — but Rollan certainly couldn’t see it among the thick trees, climbing vines, and flower beds so ruffled and colorful they looked like ladies’ dresses cascading from their boxes.
“All right, what’s first?” Rollan asked. “The hare, Abeke, or Rumfuss?”
“I had a dream about the hare,” Conor said. “I think I know where he is. Finn, come with me, we’ll go after the hare. Meilin and Rollan, you guys go find Abeke.”
After Conor and Finn had hurried into the garden in search of the hare, leaving Rollan and Meilin on the steps, the two began searching the perimeter of the castle for Abeke.
Meilin was already clacking around with plans and possibilities. “There’s no place to keep Abeke locked up in a garden, is there? She has to be inside somewhere.”
“Surely not in their rooms — even Devin Trunswick isn’t that stupid,” Rollan said.
Kunaya wrapped herself around Meilin’s legs several times. Meilin looked down, clearly annoyed at the distraction. “Maybe a closet? Or another guest room? I wish every door in this castle wasn’t closed — Kunaya, stop rubbing on me!”
Kunaya bit Meilin on the leg, an action that made Meilin hiss and Rollan grin.
“You ridiculous cat!” Meilin snapped.
Suddenly Rollan felt a flash of intuition so strong that he knew Essix must be near. He said, “What if she’s not just a ridiculous cat? Kunaya was the last one to see Abeke.”
“Follow a cat?” Meilin said. “That is the stupidest idea you’ve ever had.”
Rollan said, “Oh, trust me, it is not. Let’s go.”
He started after Kunaya, and the little cat, looking pleased that they understood the game, bounded down the path ahead of them.
They rounded the corner of the castle. The carriage house came into view, a small but tidy building with a thatched roof. Kunaya shot into the dim interior, where carriages were lined up. The cat wove around the wheels, a blur of motion, ever faster. Meilin and Rollan had to hurry to keep up with her.