Chapter 8 - Pursuit

Let us shift our attention now to Cable, who was taking his time in the kitchen. At first, he tried to track down the mouse that had distracted him in his duel with Andres. But the mouse proved to be rather elusive. And besides, there were so many mice in Skittlechip’s kitchen that there was no guarantee that the mouse he found would be the guilty mouse. And Cable, who really had a soft heart for animals, didn’t want to squash an innocent mouse.

At that point, Cable’s attention was diverted to the brownie that he found still lying on the counter. Andres had won it, but he’d left it sitting there, and Cable couldn’t help but wonder what it tasted like. All else being equal, Cable would have preferred a slab of venison. But there was no venison lying around, and--after hours of fencing--he really was rather hungry. So, after looking around and seeing no one, he decided to sneak a bite of Andres’ brownie.

As expected, it was delicious.

You see, for Cable, time had a tendency to stand still. Most of the time, Cable just wasn’t in a rush. After all, he was not particularly excited about getting dressed up and going to the banquet for Julianna’s second birthday. And when Cable wasn’t excited about something, he found it very easy to find other things to distract his attention. In fact, after Andres had sprinted out of the kitchen, Cable hadn’t even once thought about the fact that he really needed to be getting ready himself. Time became irrelevant.

That is, it became irrelevant until the trumpet sounded, echoing through the castle, announcing to all that the banquet was about to begin. That’s when Cable realized that he’d better get moving.

He began to run back to his room. His run wasn’t as desperate as Andres’ run had been, for Andres was very concerned about timeliness and the like. But still, he was moving at a relatively rapid clip when he heard a sound down the hallway. He stopped and saw Mitch stepping out of his room. Mitch was the last person Cable wanted to see at this instant, so he hugged the wall in an attempt to hide himself. Fortunately, Mitch quietly shut the door and headed down the hall in the opposite direction. When he disappeared around the corner, Cable resumed his trot.

As Cable approached his room, his analytical mind went to work. Why had Mitch been in their room? Was he just checking on them, to make sure they wouldn’t be late? That could be the case, but that would make Mitch late himself. And it wasn’t like Mitch to risk being tardy himself by checking on others.

Cable reached the door and gently nudged it open. After slipping inside and shutting the door, he quietly called out, “Andres, are you in here?” His call, of course, was met with silence. Walking around, he called out for Remma as well. Still, there was no reply.

By this time, Cable’s mind began racing. Why would Andres just leave and go to the banquet without him? That was odd. Andres didn’t like to go to social events by himself--especially if he was late. He just hated to stand out in a crowd. No, if Andres was going to be late, he would have made sure that Cable was late with him.

Then Cable looked around the room. He saw Remma’s clothes lying neatly folded on the boys’ bed. That was no surprise; she was always leaving her clothes in the boys room. “She just doesn’t want to clutter her own room,” Cable muttered to himself. But more surprising was the fact that Andres’ dress clothes were still hanging up next to Cable’s. Granted, Andres didn’t particularly like dressing up. But there was no way that he would have left for the banquet dressed in the sweaty clothes that he’d been fencing in.

Cable wandered to the back side of the room and gazed out the window. The southern woods lay off in the distance. Suddenly, something that looked like a distance cloud of dust caught his attention. As he focused his eyes, he saw what appeared to be two horses and riders at full gallop. He continued to stare, and two things struck him. First, the figures were not getting any larger. That meant that they must be galloping away. That was odd in itself, since pretty much the entire kingdom was coming toward the castle to celebrate Julianna’s birthday. The second thing that struck Cable were the objects that seemed to be lying crosswise on one of the horse’s backs. It wasn’t unusual to see horses carrying packs, but one of these packs was unusual in that it was moving. In fact, it was moving violently.

That was when Cable put the pieces together in his head. The moving “pack” was really Andres. He’d been kidnapped!

Now, it might seem strange to you that Cable would conclude so quickly that his brother had been captured. But Andres and Cable, for all their scuffling, were very close brothers. They just had a sense when one or the other was in trouble. And, in a way that only an older brother could understand, Cable knew that Andres was in danger and needed his help.

Cable was faced with a dilemma. If he waited much longer, he knew people would be searching for him. He also knew that his father the king wouldn’t approve of his striking off alone. If Cable was to move, he had to move immediately and avoid being seen by anyone. This was somewhat challenging for Cable, since most of the time he avoided moving rapidly. But concern for his brother lent wings to his feet, and he swiftly went into action.

First, he grabbed his bow and a quiver full of arrows. Then he slung his sword on. After that, he pulled a rope from out of a corner of his closet. Cable smiled to himself--the rope was one thing that the snoopy Mitch had thankfully never found. Mitch often prowled around the hallways at night, making sure the boys weren’t out and about. The rope had been a frequently-used means of escape for the boys, as they used it to lower themselves out of their room and escape Mitch’s watchful and prying eyes.

Cable carefully tied one end of the rope to the bedpost and threw the other end out the window. Then, securing his weapons, he gently slipped out the window and lowered himself to the ground, which lay about 20 feet below. Once he’d regained his footing, he dashed to the stables to get his great white horse, Ranger. His horse, who knew Cable very well, could almost sense the urgency in Cable’s eyes. In an instant, horse and rider were off, heading to the south.

Cable’s sense of urgency was commendable. However, as we will see, his sense of planning was quite feeble. He’d failed to think of packing any rations for himself, nor did he bring any water. Perhaps he thought that he’d be able to quickly apprehend the kidnappers and that the whole ordeal would be over within an hour or two. But if he’d stopped and thought for a moment, he’d have realized that such an undertaking--with one teenager going up against two grown (and likely armed) men--would be neither easy nor swift. However, such thoughts do not often go through the minds of impassioned teens. Cable was worried for his brother, and he reacted instinctively.

Cable urged his horse onward. He could see that his adversaries were approaching the edge of the woods. He knew that, once they entered the densely forested southern woods, they would not be easily found again. Ranger instinctively knew that Cable needed speed and he practically flew over the level terrain in pursuit. His feet seemed to nary touch the turf as he raced onward, gaining ground by the second. The pursuit for Andres was on.