“Cozbi?” I called out.
A nicker came from my right.Over here,Cozbi said, sticking her head out. She blinked at me sleepily.What is it?
“We need to get to the city. There’s a fire,” I said.
Fire?She drew back, stamping her hooves.No, thank you.
I pressed a hand over my forehead, trying not to appear too frantic as I concocted a plan. “You’re one of the fastest horses I know. You can get us there quickly before the fire spreads. Think of all the pears you’ll get once you come back as a hero,” I said.
Her nostrils flared.Hero?
I nodded. “You’ll be a hero. And so will the other horses who come, if they choose to,” I said, raising my voice. “You all will be rewarded.”
The crown prince’s gelding stuck his head out from his stall.Why should we go?
She did help us with the mice problem, a chestnut-brown horse said.
Another horse whinnied.Will there be sugar cubes?
“Sugar cubes for all,” I promised, opening Cozbi’s stall. I frowned at the gelding. “But you should stay.” Endangering Bennett’s horse would only make him hate me more.
Only fitting. Heisa coward,Cozbi thought to me.
I reached for the saddle hanging above her when the door creaked open.
“Narcissa? What are you doing?” Maddox said, rubbing his eyes. Hay clung to his tunic and hair.
I hurriedly explained as I saddled Cozbi.
“Is there another riot? Did someone set the fire on purpose?” Maddox asked, alarmed.
“I don’t know. But there is a chance,” I said, putting Misty into the saddlebag. “I’m going to help.”
“Wait here. I’ll tell Lord Frederick and the crown prince.” He turned to leave, but I grabbed his arm.
“You can’t!”
Maddox scrunched his brows. “Why not?”
I swallowed. I was being selfish, wanting to solve this alone. Lives depended on my desperate need to prove myself. But what else was I supposed to do? Sit in my room and wait for Lord Frederick and Bennett to publicly condemn me in the morning?
I was half-tempted to bribe Maddox with heroism and Father’s approval.
“There’s no time to get them. I have a plan,” I managed to say. It was a half-baked plan at best, one that I had scrounged together during my flight to the stables. “Do you trust me?”
He dragged a hand over his face. “I really don’t have a reason to.”
“Maddox—”
“And yet,” he said, looking heavenward, “I do.”
Once Maddox readied himself, we galloped past the flax fields with a fleet of horses behind us. There were about twelve, not counting Cozbi and Maddox’s horse, all equipped with buckets, saddles, and lengths of rope we had begged from a bewildered stableboy who performed his duties with impressive haste.
The city came into view. The cobblestone streets were sleepily silent with the exception of the pattering rain. No one was yet aware of the chaos on the other side.
As we got closer, the night air grew thick with smoke, the surrounding buildings set aglow by the raging inferno ahead. Witches ran to and fro, crying in dismay as crackling flames devoured the thatched roofs of their shops and homes.
They had enchanted their roofs to stay dry. It seemed someone decided to take advantage of that.
