Page 27

At first light, Papa brought out a packet of dried fruit and nuts to share, and they both drank from a rivulet splashing over rocks on a hillside. “Are you strong in spirit, my Lenka?” he asked.

Still chewing, she paused, then nodded. “I feel stronger today. No matter what follows, I’m glad Solara is free.”

“That is the bird’s name?”

“Yes, I remembered as soon as I released her.”

“The bird who stole the apples and gave up a feather.”

“Yes.” Lenka met his gaze squarely. “She asked for truth and mercy to prevail.”

“I remember.” He smiled. “She does glow like the sun.”

Moments later, the fox joined them in his subtle way, slid his gaze over them both, then ordered, “Follow me.”

The humans shouldered their sacks and followed the fox until he cautioned them to keep to the shadows.

Ahead, on a flat hilltop surrounded by tree-dotted lawns fenced into pastures rose a square red-brick castle with towers at each corner.

To Lenka, it looked more like a manor house than a castle. Such a pretty place!

The fox turned to face them, his expression calculating.

“Prince Szymon is lord of Plock Castle and has a large family. Like Baron Aleksy, his principality is a vassal state to Ostrów. He raises fine horses.” He spoke in a near-monotone, focused on Lenka.

“His greatest treasure is a horse of pure gold. The stable block is located behind the castle. The grooms will not wake unless you make a foolish mistake.”

Lenka nodded, but her exhausted spirit and body struggled to focus on the directions.

“Listen closely, boy: only you, not your servant, must enter the stable and lead the golden horse outside. You may speak aloud to the animal, giving it orders. One more rule of primary importance: place on the golden horse only the bridle and saddle of leather, not the golden ones hanging nearby. If you ignore my directions again, things will go badly for all concerned.”

Lenka nodded, trying to take in the profusion of orders. “Are the grooms simply napping or are they under a?—”

The fox vanished.

“—spell?” Lenka finished with a little sigh.

“The instructions seem clear enough,” Papa said.

“And this time I must follow them.” She nodded with reluctant conviction.

“Unless you must not.”

She turned to search Papa’s face. “What do you mean?”

His beard twitched as he twisted his lips in thought. “Do you believe this fox is honest and good?”

“No,” she admitted. “He is hateful, but he is our only guide.”

“Why?”

Lenka shook her head. “Why, what?”

“Why is a talking fox your guide? Who is the fox, and why is it helping you? No ordinary fox can carry humans around, running faster than the wind. Is it helping you or the other way around?”

Lenka frowned, so tired in spirit that she struggled to think straight. “Do you think he’s evil? He’s been guiding me.”

Papa drew a deep breath. “I can’t know a creature’s heart, but I can question his motives. What does this fox have to gain by your bringing him a bird or a horse?”

“Maybe he was their friend? I don’t know.” She sounded annoyed even to herself.

“What if this horse can speak as well? Why not ask its opinion before you decide, just as you did for the bird?”

She nodded, tears burning her eyes. “I will do my best, Papa.”

When she met his gaze, she saw those keen eyes soften. “I know you will, my brave girl.”

Suddenly weepy, she walked into his arms, and he gently held her, patting her back. “Now go and do what you know to be right.”

Lenka nodded, then turned on her heel and entered the courtyard through a gate in a tall brick wall.

From there, she circled behind the castle, using trees and shrubs for cover in case anyone in the castle might peer out a window.

She couldn’t help wondering why the place was so still.

Sure, the grooms were enchanted, but what about the household servants and the family?

Lady Kornelia’s prince might be here, she thought . Not that I will know him if I see him . Aside from horses grazing in the pastures, she didn’t see a living soul, yet she felt watched.

After studying the stable block from hiding, she dashed across the open stretch of lawn, then slid along the side of the building, her heart racing.

When she peered around a corner and saw booted feet, she nearly let out a yelp before ducking back.

Nothing moved, yet she heard a sound she couldn’t identify, constant like a cat’s purr but louder.

With the last of her meager courage, she leaned forward enough to see a man’s hat tipped over his face, revealing only the black-bearded chin resting on his chest, which rose up and down with each gentle lip-blubbing snore.

The stable hands were all napping, just as the fox predicted. Another man lay sprawled facedown atop a blanket chest, emitting an occasional snort.

Aware of time ticking past, Lenka slipped into the stable.

A few more grooms and stable hands dozed in random places, but she no longer feared they would wake.

The men were obviously enchanted, but the handsome horses were not.

She peered into each stall in passing. Some horses calmly nibbled stray bits of hay or noisily chewed their grain. Others dozed with twitching ears.

And then, over the door of a huge box stall, she saw the most beautiful horse imaginable.

Muscles rippled in his shoulders, neck, and haunches, and his flanks glowed as if lighted from within.

His ears pricked toward her, and his nostrils flared.

Shimmering lashes framed his dark eyes, and his abundant mane and tail rippled like rivers of molten gold.

Like the golden bird, he was a living, breathing work of art.

“Hello,” she greeted him quietly. “Would you like to come with me? Can you speak?”

His tail swished before he ambled across the roomy stall and thrust his head over the half door.

His golden nostrils gently blew in her face and inhaled deeply, as if to catch her scent.

Although she had no memory of horses from her past, she knew better than to lower her guard around a stallion.

But somehow, as if remembering, she knew the right places to rub a horse, and they were soon friends.

He wriggled his lips in approval when she scratched his neck beneath his mane.

“ Hunh-huh-huh! How may I serve you, my friend? I am inexpressibly pleased to see you.”

Lenka froze, unable to think, let alone form words.

Instead of speaking into her head like the bird did, the horse spoke aloud in a rich, slightly accented baritone, and his eyes twinkled.

“You find me beautiful, do you not?” Those incredible lashes swept down and up as he blinked.

“You may address me by my name, Geoffroi.”

“Thank you. And yes, you are very beautiful,” she admitted. “And you are magical?”

“In a sense I suppose I am magical, but not like Solara.”

“Who—? Oh!” She remembered.

“Yes, none other than the bird you set free— Was it yesterday? Or the day before? Time seems meaningless during this curse. But she dropped in before sunrise to prepare me for your arrival.”

“Are you also a prisoner?”

He simply regarded her from under those lashes, his silence a clear answer.

“Are you really a horse?” Lenka asked, opening the stall door.

Geoffroi clopped into the breezeway, shook himself with a sound like distant music, and said, “I am a magical horse, just as you are a magical human. Few of my kind remain in this world, which increases our monetary value to humans.”

“I don’t think I have magic.”

The horse snorted. Was he laughing at her? Lenka stood back as he pawed the stone floor with one huge hoof, tossed his gorgeous mane to the other side of his powerful neck, then gave her a penetrating look. “Do you intend to steal me?”

“I was told to steal you, but I won’t if you object.”

He rumbled a horse laugh. “Please do help yourself to my magnificence! I would steal myself if that would help anything. To be fair, the prince of this castle may be dishonest, but his heir is a good man trapped in an impossible situation. So, how do you intend to steal me? These attendants sleeping all around us were enspelled by a hired hedge witch, but servants at the castle windows are watchful.”

Lenka pondered the situation for a moment, then asked, “Are you fast?”

Geoffroi tucked his chin and arched his flowing tail. “No horse is faster.”

“Good! Now, I was warned not to touch that fabulous golden saddle and bridle,”—she pointed at the tack hanging on nearby racks—“but would you object to the simple leather versions? They look dry and cracked . . .” She had no memory of riding a horse, so just in case she was a novice rider, she wanted a saddle for stability.

“That vulgar bridle and the bejeweled atrocity they call a saddle are enspelled to betray any thief that steals me. I am able to tell you this only because you’ve already chosen to follow the fox’s rules.

” He chuckled as she laid the old leather saddle on his back and picked up the dry and disintegrating bridle.

“The mage who set up these tests intended only an honorable person to succeed. I am grateful to serve you, a maiden of honor and intelligence.”

“Maiden?” Startled, she dropped the bridle. “Oh. I suppose your magic helped you see through my disguise.”

Again, Geoffroi laughed. “I have lived long enough to recognize a female when I meet one, and you are not only female, you are also native to this land,” he said just as she tightened the girth strap.

“How do you know that?” she blurted.

The horse flinched and grunted. “Ooof! I must have been eating too freely of Prince Szymon’s fine grain and hay.”

Realization hit her, and she quickly loosened the strap. “I’m so sorry for pulling too hard! Are you all right?”

“I expect I shall recover . . . eventually.”

Nervous, she smiled at his good-natured reply, but her mind was spinning. As soon as the horse suggested she was traveling in her homeland, she knew it must be true. But where, exactly, did she belong?

“Uh-huh-huh-huh-hurry!” Geoffroi gave her a nudge as one of the grooms stirred and attempted to sit upright.

“Oh!” Without a thought she shoved the old saddle off his back, gripped a hank of mane, then jump-climbed, pulled herself up, and swung her leg over his bare back.

Geoffroi was in full gallop before she was settled.

Obviously, she was an experienced rider.

Hearing a shout behind them, she flattened herself against the great horse, and his mane entirely engulfed her in silken gold.

She had no idea where they were going, but Geoffroi obviously knew how to escape the place better than she did.

No ordinary horse could outrun her magical steed. She doubted even the fox was faster. Within minutes, the castle on the hilltop was far behind them.

But what about the fox and Papa Hrabik? They had both promised to wait for her.

She called to Geoffroi, and even though the wind seemed to shove her voice back down her throat, the horse’s pace slowed.

“Weeheehee-huh-huh-hunh,” he cried as he slowed, tossing his head with joy and stamping his great hooves.

“I haven’t run like that in much too long! Now, where would you like to go next?”

Dappled sunlight revealed the forest around their path as Helena shook her head. “We must go back and find my Papa Hrabik, who accompanied me on this quest. And the fox who brought me to the golden bird and to you has been our guide since we arrived in the country.”

Geoffroi turned his head to show her one skeptical eye. “You know the reputation of foxes, I hope. Do you trust this creature with your life and well-being? Is he helping you or the other way around?”

Lenka had to think about that question. “I’m . . . not sure. But I think we need him. Without him, how will we know where to go next?”

“A wise lad, to recognize the value of my guidance,” a whiny voice said.

The fox crouched in the middle of the path.