Even with my meagre possessions, an immediate departure was not possible. First, we had to return the jewellery to Dame Grendel. And being there, I would like my first shirt back. I could hardly use the dress as a change, for it was neither warmer than the jacket, nor could I move much in it.
Freya clung to me as we walked up the stairs to the wooden door of the palace in the last courtyard. I rang and a servant opened the door. "Welcome, Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra."
"Thank you. Dame Grendel, please." I relieved Freya of this duty.
The servant nodded and led us to the reception room with the mirror. This time I went straight to it. Of course, the elevation to a countess had not changed my face. But the haircut and the jacket made a difference. And if the face was the price to pay for outrunning a horse on an obstacle course, so be it. Still, I wished the ears were a little smaller, or not there at all. I stuck out my tongue. Uh, bad idea, with fangs and ears I looked like a monster again. Well, monster countess.
Dame Grendel let us wait for a while. "Oh, dear Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra. Congratulations on your domain as well. You really are a remarkable person."
Freya translated and I blushed, even though the title was bestowed on me as out of the blue as the lady. "Thank you." And then switched to Earth, leaving the translation to Freya. "Dear Dame Grendel, I would like to return the jewellery. And if possible, I would ask for my shirt, as I will be leaving for Litra."
Dame Grendel nodded. "I see. Please keep the necklace. It is too heavy; I know of no other noblewoman who could wear it for more than a few minutes. As for the shirt, please stay for lunch. My seamstress outdid herself, sewing the dress while you were racing. And she is now working on your second shirt. You can have it fitted after lunch. Please entertain yourself for a short while. I will join you again."
She nodded, and seconds after she had left, a servant arrived with a tray of tea and biscuits. So we sat and waited, enjoying the tea and biscuits and the view of the ridge.
"Constant exposure has desensitised you to freezing in front of nobility," I praised Freya.
She looked confused. "You're playing your stupid word game again," she sighed.
"Not on purpose, sorry. You have overcome your fear of nobility."
"Ah, I understand. Not really, but I am part of your entourage now. So you will feed me and any mistake I make will count on you."
"Oh, Freya. I have no idea of the etiquette or court manners of this world. Nor of a similar era in my world of origin. If anyone makes a mistake, it will be me. Only my inability to speak Kren hides the complete fool that I am."
She shook her head, but the barely suppressed grin revealed her true thoughts. Yes, the blundering beast with broken speech.
A servant hrmphed for my attention. "Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra, please follow me. Dame Grendel asks to join her now."
"Yes, please." I rose and Freya rose a split second later to keep up appearances. The servant held the door open and then led us to the second floor to the same room where we had dined two days ago.
We stood for a moment until the dame emerged from another door. "Please sit down."
We did, thanking her for the invitation. The first course was soup. A rather bland, salty, thin and clear vegetable soup. Fine by me, breakfast had been not so long ago, and we even had biscuits after that.
"Dear, you are going to Litra?"
If Dame Grendel said it like that, it surely meant something else. But I decided to use my otherworldly naivety. "Yes, I should see who I have to care for."
"Indeed, spoken like a true countess. But you should hurry. It seems that the mage will be tried before the end of Igrim." When I obviously did not understand, Freya added, "In twelve days."
"Then I shall make haste to be back before the end of Igrim."
"You should, dear, you should."
Through Freya, I tried to ask her more about Count Larel and Litra, but it seemed the dame and the count had never crossed paths, being too far apart in rank and location. She admitted that she had not known of Litra before.
The main course was a vegetable stew, quite spicy. After a few spoonfuls, my entire tongue was burning, and considering its size, that was a lot. I ate more slowly, with plenty of tea, and refused a second helping, blaming the late breakfast.
The dame then brought up the recent actions of certain members of the nobility. I had the feeling it was intended to bring me up to date on the basic gossip level of countess to entertain a dinner conversation. However, I struggled to remember even the names and had no context to make sense of most of the events, even when I was given further descriptions via mindspeak. I really hoped that Freya's memory for names was better than mine and that she would somehow understand the complex relationships between them. Looking at her glassy eyes, my hopes weren't very high though.
Finally, the eagerly awaited dessert arrived: A sweet creation of berries, breadcrumbs and cream, not unlike a crumble with cream. It did wonders to soothe the burning tongue.
As soon as the last dessert plates were taken away, Dame Grendel rose and nodded for me to follow. We went into the room where I had tried on the jacket two days ago. This time my old shirt and a new one were hanging on the clothes rack. Next to them was a maid who had also fitted my dress last night. She looked tired, which was understandable after sewing a dress and a shirt in two days.
This time Dame Grendel confirmed my guess. "Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra, my seamstress, Claire."
The seamstress bowed deeply. "Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra, my honour."
I bowed slightly. "Dear Seamstress Claire, you have already produced such a beautiful dress in record time." I cursed that I had to rely on Freya to praise her. "Very good doing, very fast doing," I added myself.
She smiled. Then she got serious again and took the new shirt off the rack and we went behind the screen. I took off my jacket. I had not brought the silk vest, so I put it on directly on my skin.
Claire had copied the shape of the old shirt very well. It fit without any adjustments, the new shirt even had no laces like the old one. Only the long green sleeves could be buttoned up to any length. I turned and moved, and it was great. Just the way a tailor-made shirt ought to be.
The seamstress was more critical and thought it was a little too loose at the waist. But I was leaving today, so I asked her to let me wear it for now, promising to come back when I got back.
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I wished I had something to give her. But she was working for Dame Grendel and it would not have been appropriate. So I could only give her my smile and a hug.
* * *
It was mid-afternoon when we finally returned from the dame. I was still determined to leave today and had sent one of the dame's servants to tell the count that we were ready to go.
The three shirts and Freya's clothes, a large blanket for me and a normal-sized one for Freya, several vegetable pies and five cabbages made my old saddlebags bulge for the first time since we left camp. The grooms had repaired some of its but it was clearly at its limit.
The count, his stewards and his servant arrived a little later, each leading a horse. The count introduced us.
"Dear Countess Kiara, you already know Jot, my steward."
Jot still bowed.
"And this young man is Rap, my only servant."
Rap bowed deeply. "It will be an honour to serve Countess Kiara of Earth and Litra as well."
"Let's mounting," I gave the sign to leave.
It was then that I began to worry about Freya riding me. I was fine with that, especially since I had no horse that I could lend her and furthermore, I needed direct contact for mindspeak. But I was not stupid and did not need Freya's reminder. The disadvantages of being a countess.
Instead, Rap, the young servant, would take her on his horse behind him. But for now, she walked beside the horses on the steep road down to the town. Rap also dismounted and talked a lot with Freya. Rap was older than Freya, maybe by five years. They both had blond hair. But while Freya was rather petite, Rap was tall and broad-shouldered. I smiled, good for Freya to have somebody else to talk beside me.
When we reached the houses at the bottom, Rap and Freya were still walking. The crowds in Krenburg made it difficult to go fast anyway. And of course, I was immediately recognised. People cheered and some even waved green ribbons. I waved back and smiled, feeling that I should not be getting so much attention.
"You're doing great," the count encouraged me when he saw my stressed look.
Soon a girl came over and offered me a sweet bun. I stopped and stroked her head. Freya got down and helped her onto my back. It was only a few steps when the next one came, this time with some water. I refused but let her ride too. Soon, children were crowding around me and Freya made sure that everyone could ride on my back for at least a few steps.
The shadows had grown long by the time we reached the city gates and the last children had to dismount. Despite the delay, the count was in good spirits. He too had enjoyed the children.
Out of sight of Krenburg, Freya finally got on my back 'to translate'. A strange feeling. It was not Freya's weight; but after so many days without a rider, walking with her and the saddle bag felt different. Compared to the previous journey, I was much more aware of her now. Anyway, the other riders would wait for me if necessary. Not that I was planning to linger.
We rode at a leisurely pace for a while, and the count even talked to Freya about Litra. Soon we left the main road (and the dreaded cobblestones) to follow a small trail towards the ridge. Soon it climbed in serpentines. The count's horses were used to steep tracks and climbed steadily. I was probably more exhausted than they were.
We reached the top with the last rays of sunlight. I would have liked to rest, but the count led us over the ridge a little down into the twilight until we came to a spring. This was where we would spend the night. As it was a clear early summer night, we would sleep without a tent. Just like I had done with Freya before.
But a few things were different. Now Freya had to address me at least as 'Lady', if not as 'Countess' in front of others. Although neither Freya nor I felt comfortable with that. Fortunately, most of our conversations were in mindspeak and we could still use Kiara and Freya there. Even if it prolonged the confusion.
The supper was light as not much time had passed since the late lunch, and I also had two buns from the children which I wanted to share with Freya. But she declined, I had worked harder carrying her. Well, I did not complain. So I ate just some outer leaves of one of the five cabbage heads that I had brought.
And this time, we had real blankets. Rough blankets, and to be honest, the twigs and needles on the forest floor might be less itchy. But I was civilised now, Countess Kiara. Countess, that sounded to me still like wrinkled old ladies watching horse races. Well, I had watched a horse race, albeit from an unusual first-person perspective.
And a blanket meant that Freya slept close to me but on her own blanket.
Furthermore, my blanket smelled faintly of horses. I should not be surprised: Where else would they have found a blanket of this size so quickly? My thoughts went back to Larina, but if even I had trouble keeping up, poor Larina would have had no chance of going with us.
* * *
I dreamed that Larina had gotten better and we raced together up the ridge, me carrying the Count Radel and Larina with Freya. When we came back to Krenburg, the mage was waiting for us. "Kiara," he said, " using soul magic to create you was a mistake. I must correct this. Let's make you human."
"But," I protested.
The mage just laughed diabolically. Then he waved his hand and ripped out my tail. I screamed in shock. Next, he ripped off my ears. I went deaf and could not even hear myself scream.
"Not good enough," the mage said, still laughing manically, and ripped out my tongue, silencing me completely. Then he produced a new tongue.
"Swallow," he commanded, pushing it into my mouth.
"Lll, ll" was the only sound I could make.
Next, he produced a pair of tights made of human skin out of thin air. "Get in!" His powerful voice had rendered me helpless and I did as he said. I tucked my hind legs in and then pushed more and more of my body into the bulging tights. The tights were swollen to the diameter of a tree trunk and my forelegs were still outside. Then the human skin of the tights began to tear, but the mage ordered more effort.
Larina suddenly stood there, only her face was recognisable. The rest of her body was a bloated caricature of a woman. Through the tears in her bloated skin, her brown fur was visible. "Do it, it feels good to be human," she said and burst into a diabolical laughter as well.
* * *
I woke up screaming. Freya was stroking me and the others were standing around.
"Nightmare, hug me!" I whispered. "The mage forced me to become human." When Freya started to say something aloud, I stopped her. "No need to tell them."
Freya said something short and everyone relaxed and went back to sleep.
Freya was hugging me face to face as I was still sitting on my forelegs and slowly relaxed.
Freya moved her hand upwards and stroked the outside of my ears. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, thank you. Stupid nightmare," I whispered.
"Forget the dream. I will not allow you to change. You are the great gentle squirrel-cat Kiara. Nothing else matters." Freya kissed me.
I glanced at the other sleepers and responded with passion.
* * *
The morning was like ten days ago. The wide empty land around us, a fresh forest morning. Despite my nightmare, I woke as soon as the sun rose and the birds began their morning song. I felt still refreshed and so alive.
The count and his servants awoke a little later. So I rocked her gently until a slightly grumpy Freya opened her eyes. No change to the previous travels.
However, our breakfast was much better. There were still enough vegetable pies for all of us, and they were great. No need for raw cabbage yet.
From now on, our path went up and down through the hilly forest. With my saddlebags full and Freya on my back, I had to work hard to keep up with the horses who had longer legs. And I could not canter with the saddlebag and Freya, just had to trot as fast as I could. Because I had to keep up my image, faster than a horse. And I wanted to see Litra. Even if it meant that I had no breath left for conversation or language lessons.
All the way, squirrel me was delighted and disappointed. The path took us through dark and old woods with lots of sturdy big oaks that would easily support me. But not much rest, and then I did not have enough energy left to climb.
On the more level sections, or when the path was a little wider, the count rode beside me. He also talked about the nobility around Litra and in the Kren Republic. His speech was less fancy than Dame Grendel's, but I still lacked too much context. For example, I had no idea what a conditional domain meant. And I soon gave up asking Freya because, as I said, the horses were going faster than the walk I had taken with Freya on our journey to Krenburg. Now, I really needed all my breath. But I was so proud that I could keep up with them.
We crossed the fourth valley. All day we had seen no signs of civilisation, apart from two trails that had crossed ours.
When we came close to a small pond, we stopped for the day. Freya got off, I almost tore my belt to get the saddlebag off as well, and then threw myself on my back, legs up. "Freya, please."
She understood and gave my legs a sort of healing massage. I was asleep in seconds.
Freya tickled my ear to wake me up. "Dinner is ready!" I was still laying on my back, paws in the air. Embarrassed I rolled around.
The dinner was vegetable pies. No complaints though, I could eat these vegetable pies for weeks. But there was only a single pie for each of us and that was it. The count had made a soup with beef jerky because a single pie was not even enough for the riders. I refused and wolfed down two whole cabbages, leaving the pie for dessert. And we all enjoyed herbal tea made from some local plants that Rap had collected before nightfall.