Twisted

Chapter 22 ~Hansel

Chapter 22

~Hansel

"Bloody hell, this is all a right sodding mess, isn't it?"

Mac Tire nods at me casually as he pads along beside me. Kiara and Gretel are marching a few metres behinds us, Hood is somewhere in the trees alongside the track. The Apothecary's clearing is already fading into non-existence somewhere in the forest behind us.

"I mean, Kiara goes nuts, attacks Hood, disappears, attacks me, turns up again, attacks Hood a second time, finds her magic, loses her magic...Gods I want to punch that girl sometimes."

Beside me, the big wolf smirks. "Thats not what Ches tells me." As he speaks, the grin begins to materialise on Mac Tires shoulder.

"You brought the cat? What did fleabag tell you anyway?"

"I am not a 'Fleabag', nor am I, as your friend so eloquently stated earlier, a 'Freak'. I am the product of the combination of magic, science, a cat and several decades of experimentation by the Apothecary. And what I told m'lord Mac Tire is none of your business."

I raise my eyebrows. "Its my business if the business you were discussing with Mac Tire concerned business that was my business in the first place." I pause. "Too many businesses?"

Ches smiles wider than he is already. "It was interpretable, if not pleasant to listen to."

"Thanks... I think."

Mac Tire growls. "Enough squabbling. We need to be more careful, the closer we get to Greed, the more guards and patrols there will be. You know what he's like."

"Other than greedy you mean?"

"Shut up."

We walk in silence for several hours. The landscape around us changes slowly as we trudge towards the mountain ranges through the middle of Nevermore. The air becomes noticeably colder, the trees paler and slimmer. The path widens into a mud road, and more than once we have to dive into the ditch and construct a hasty Concealment in fear of being spotted by horse-drawn carts and even the occasional horseback platoon.

The six of us slowly drift apart, until Gretel and Hood are way ahead, Mac Tire and Ches are discussing god knows what quietly and at the back of the pack, Kiara and I walk side by side. We haven't discussed what happened in the forest, which I'm fairly sure was Kiaras first real kiss, and I'm honestly shocked when out of the blue, Kiara takes my hand in hers. She doesn't say anything, doesn't look at me or change pace, but all of a sudden we're connected. I give her hand a squeeze and a small smile tugs at her lips.

It takes me longer than I'd like to admit before I notice that we're being followed. Admittedly, it's a lizard that's following us, but I've lived in this crazy world long enough to know that lizards tend to not stay lizards.

Whoever, or whatever, it is, it's certainly doing a good job. All I spot of the thing is a tail once up a tree, and a pile of droppings hastily covered with dust. I step in them deliberately and they're definitely still fresh.

"Mac Tire?" I call nonchalantly. He grunts a reply.

"Have you seen any rhododendrons around recently? I'm considering whipping up a poison."

Immediately, Mac Tires ears prick up. I used the word rhododendrons, our code word for danger. The use of poison in the sentence tells him it's a small but possibly deadly enemy. The improvised language has been used by the rebels for years, and it's extremely effective.

"Sorry Hansel, I haven't seen any. Want me to have a poke around?"

Kiara glances at me questioningly.