Chapter 143 - Who Are You? (1/2)

After two days of sleeping in shifts to keep watch Abby could barely keep herself awake while on the horse. At one point she dozed off and slipped sideways off the saddle, forcing Blaise to catch her.

His violet eyes were full of concern and she felt her heart skip a beat. It might have been because she was dangling off the side of the horse with only his arm and chest supporting her.

”Sorry. I'm so sleepy I can't stop dozing off,” she said sheepishly once she was back upright.

”No need to worry. We should reach the border of their territory soon. We'll be able to ask for better directions from there,” Blaise assured her.

And they did, about two hours of fighting yawns and heavy eyelids later. Black haired people were coming and going from the entrance of a cave within their line of sight. Abby was so excited that she hopped off of the horse to approach them herself.

A boy who couldn't have been older than fifteen approached her a bit warily. ”Who are you and what brings you here? I've never seen someone from Shibatsu that isn't married to a clansman in the mountains before.”

”This is Blaise; he's my personal guard since I've been traveling here from Shibatsu. I'm Abby Pullman. I'm here looking for a relative of mine. She was a citizen of Annalaias but married a Kanta clansman,” she said in as unthreatening a way as she could muster.

The boy put his hands on his h.i.p.s, not quite believing her yet. ”Your relative? What is her name?”

This is where things might get tricky. She wasn't sure how much the people here knew about Katie's dual identity as Catherine du Pont. It was a good thing she said 'relative' instead of 'sister.' She highly doubted they would know all of the du Pont cousins by name.

”Katie de Kanta. She's married to your clan leader,” Abby said with a wince.

Now the boy eyed her with interest. ”A relative of Katie's? Really?” His guard was suddenly up again. ”Tell me something only a relative of Katie's would know.”

Abby knew a whole bunch of things only a relative of Katie's would know! But what could she use that this kid would believe?

”Um…she calls her husband Al? She has a son named Adam and hates big dresses but likes doughnuts and books. I really don't know what else to tell you.”

The boy's face broke into a satisfied smile. ”That's Katie alright. I believe you. Let me go find my father. We'll be heading back to the village soon anyway.”