Katherine Abroad
The djellaba was unfamiliar but comfortable, much better to wear than the swaths of formal dress that was her usual outfit. She smiled. Josephine would have approved, but that was not her main concern. Her thick mane of fiery hair was tightly braided to keep it from flying free, a veil hid her emerald eyes. Those eyes narrowed as she scanned the horizon and nodding to herself, she squeezed the sides of her mount as the men ahead of her began to gallop down the road. Her companion laughed, his teeth white in his dark face as his mare settled in stride with hers.
"They won't leave you behind, lady."
"Not if I ride with them."
"No, they will not leave you behind. They respect your father and his connections. They only go ahead to scout."
"Respect him enough to tell him where I am?" came her quick question.
"Eventually. He has been a good friend to them. They cannot reward his loyalty and kindnesses by lying to him. But you will be well gone."
Katherine slowed her horse to pull down her veil to look at him. "Zitane, I have to stay ahead of his men. He will try to stop me."
The Moroccan's smile was quick. "No doubt. I would if you were my daughter."
"But you're helping me."
"I can't let you go alone. Better that I help you than stand in your way." His mount, irritated at being left behind by the other horses, tossed her head, and he quieted her masterfully. "You, like this horse, are spirited. And like her, you can easily slip away from me. I ask her to settle. I ask you to let me go with you."
"What if I say no?"
"Then I follow. I owe your father. I will not let anything happen to his only child."
Katherine readjusted the veil so that only her catlike eyes were visible. "I can take care of myself." She nudged her horse into a canter.
Zitane followed. "I saw," he shouted over the roll of hooves. "But you did not kill them. And if there were more, you would have been in trouble, Lady. You don't know the danger you will find. What your father's men found. . .was not good."
She blinked back tears. "It doesn't matter. I will find him. No matter what." Leaning forward, she yipped at her horse and gathered her reins as the black stud stretched out underneath her. Zitane sighed and spurred his mare. To Abyssinia he would go.
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