Free Memory Hunted by Christopher Kincaid Page B

her. She adopted me."
    "Does it matter? She knows what you are. Did she run
or yell when she saw your ears? No. She accepted you, same as I did."
    Kit crossed her arms and frowned. Finally her arms dropped,
and she sighed. "You are right. Yuzu—" Kit leapt forward and threw Timothy aside.
He stumbled into a wide oak tree and twisted around.
    A shape appeared from the trees.
    Tell raised his palms. His eyebrows disappeared underneath
his bandana. "W….wait…"
    Yuzu peaked around him. "Don’t, Sis. He came to help."
    Kit held her knife in her fist. Tell’s wide eyes latched
onto it.
    Her ears! Timothy
tackled her.
    "Get off. What are you—"
    He tugged her hood over her ears.
    Kit smashed her forehead into his nose. "Are you an idiot?
What if I’d stabbed you?" She sheathed the knife. "Do you want me that badly?"
    Yuzu sighed and looked down on them with her hands on
her hips. "They are like this all the time."
    Tell fidgeted. "D-Daeric has your trail. We should—"
    "Why should we trust you?" Kit pushed Timothy aside and
scrambled to her feet.
    Timothy let out a breath. It looks like Tell didn’t
notice Kit’s ears. Maybe Yuzu has him too flustered.
    Yuzu grabbed Tell’s arm. "He came to help me. Right?"
The boy blushed. She smiled up at him.
    Timothy rolled his eyes. Poor guy is going to have
to learn how to handle women better.
    Tell bobbed his head. "I—I don’t want anything to happen
to you, Yuzy."
    Kit pursed her lips and curled her nose. She shook her
head and glanced away.
    "They are my family, but—but they are wrong. You didn’t
do anything so I—I decided to help you get away. I—"
    "Do you know where to go?" Yuzu asked. "You are right,
Sis. Men do like to talk."
    Tell nodded. "Belafonte is—is—"
    "I won’t make the same mistake again. I am done with
this." Kit’s voice grew louder.
    "Kit. Don’t." Timothy rubbed his forehead.
    Tell paled. "I hear them. I don’t understand how—" Worry
edged his whisper.
    Timothy swallowed. "Do you hear anything, Kit?"
    Her hood rustled. "No, and I would if they were there.
He will lead us into a trap." She reached for her knife.
    "Perhaps you should listen more closely."
    Timothy whirled. Daeric stepped into the falling snow.
He held his stoat boar spear.
    "I—I didn’t bring him, Yuzu. I wouldn’t do that to you,"
Tell said.
    Timothy tensed.
    Daeric’s hands tightened on his spear. "I tried to be
nice. I gave you a choice." He shook his head and walked toward them. "I am not
that type of man. But you refuse to see reason."
    "You’re right." Kit bared her fangs. "I should have killed
you back at that inn."
    Timothy fumbled for his belt knife. Must it always
come down to fighting? I can’t fight.
    Suddenly, Daeric twirled his spear in a arc. The
iron point whistled, and the flat side smashed into the side of Timothy’s head.
His knife flew from his hand and disappeared into the snow. Black pain engulfed
his senses, and he collapsed onto the snow. .His ears buzzed from the hit.
Slowly, the buzzing became the sound of curses and yelling. He flipped onto his
back and tested his jaw.
    A few feet away, Daeric advanced on Kit. His
twirling spear forced Kit backward one step at a time toward until her back was
pinned against a tree. She deflected his thrusts with her belt knife.
    "Stop this, Daeric," Tell shouted and waved his long
hunting knife. "You don’t have to do this."
    Daeric’s spear stopped with its butt end angled at
Tell. "Jan won’t be happy to hear you helped them escape. I was going to
recommend you be Accepted, but I can’t trust you enough now."
    "What you are doing is wrong," Tell said.
    Daeric shrugged. "From where I stand, you are
wrong." He shook his head. "I just don’t see how you could betray your own
blood, Tell. I am disappointed in you."
    Tell wilted under Daeric’s words. "But it’s not
right. Kit doesn’t want to be with you, and those soldiers didn’t do anything."
    "You will understand when you are older. Last
warning.