The Bravest Princess by E. D. Baker Page B

back on his horse and took a deep breath as he glanced at the fallen tree. When he turned to Annie again, he looked calmer and no longer sounded angry. “All I’m doing is trying to keep you safe, so will you please listen to me? A tree has blocked the road, and as you can see it’s too big to move. Wedon’t have a saw to cut it, and it’s too high for most of these horses to jump, so we’re going to have to go around it. However, the rocks just past the tree make it impossible to get back to the road for quite a distance. This tree didn’t just happen to fall here. It was meant to force us off this road and down this hill. I’ve sent two men to scout the area to see what lies in that direction. We’ll make our decision when they return.”
    â€œIs that them now?” Annie asked, peering at two shapes moving toward them from the shadows under the trees.
    â€œWe didn’t see anything unusual,” the men called as they drew closer. “The ground gets a bit marshy, but there are ways around it.”
    â€œIf you think it’s a trap, maybe we should go back and find another road,” said Cozwald.
    Andreas frowned. “I say we go downhill. Maitland already has a head start. I don’t want it to get any bigger, and who knows how much time we’d lose if we looked for another road.”
    â€œHorace, are you familiar with this area?” Annie asked him.
    The old guard shrugged. “A little. It’s safe enough—no trolls or dangerous beasts, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    â€œWe might as well go this way,” said Liam. “As we’ve already seen, the witch can turn even the most innocent stretch of road into something dangerous. We’llprobably end up facing her vile magic again, no matter where we go.”
    â€œDo you see any crows?” Annie asked Liam as the riders turned their horses to the downhill slope.
    â€œTwo in front of us and two behind,” Liam said, glancing back over his shoulder. “They’ve been with us since we reached the forest.”
    â€œMaybe they’re staying back because they’re afraid of you. You reduced their numbers by quite a few.”
    â€œI doubt that would make much of a difference to the witch,” said Liam. “I think she’s saving them for something.”

    Both Liam and Horace kept their horses close to Annie’s as they made their way down the slope. They began to look for a way back to the road as soon as they could, but Liam had been right when he said that the rocks made it impossible. Although they tried to ride side by side, some of the trees grew too close together, forcing them to go single file. Annie didn’t realize that they’d reached the marshy area until her horse’s hooves began splashing through water.
    â€œYou said there were some ways around this,” Liam said, turning to the guards who had scouted ahead.
    â€œThere are, Your Highness. At least there were,” said one of the men. “The thing is … I don’t see them now. Do you?” he asked the other guard.
    â€œI could have sworn there was a path right over there,” said the second guard. “But those trees … I don’t remember seeing them.”
    â€œAnd I thought there was an old stump next to a path over there, but the stump seems to be gone, and there doesn’t appear to be a path.”
    â€œWe know where the road is,” said Cozwald. “We’ll just head back that way and—”
    Cozwald gasped, and everyone turned to look behind them. Trees now blocked the way they had just come, and water covered much of what had been dry ground only moments before. Something created ripples in the water, and one of the horses in the back of the line shied away from the water’s edge.
    Digby snorted. “You’re all a bunch of ninnies! That’s just an illusion. Nothing can move trees like that,