by Sam Ledel
“You were in the Wood again, weren’t you?” Alanna asked under her breath, ignoring Jastyn’s question. Her dark, nearly coal black eyes were alight with intrigue, and she practically bounced on her toes while her pale hands rubbed together.
Jastyn put her hands on her hips. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
Alanna, who was almost as tall as Jastyn despite having just turned thirteen, squirmed with knowing anticipation. She crossed her arms the way Jastyn had seen their mother do countless times. “You have mulberry leaves stuck to your boots, and you smell of tree bark.”
Jastyn grinned and poked her sister’s ribs. “Is there anything you don’t notice?”
Alanna giggled, making Jastyn smile even wider. But almost as quickly as her laughter began, Alanna’s smile faded, and the joyful noise turned into a fit of coughs. She covered her mouth as the cough wracked her whole body, quickly making her double over. There was a rasping in Alanna’s chest which Jastyn hadn’t heard before.
“I thought you were going to stay in the house, sweetheart.” Elisedd strode to their side, reaching to hold Alanna’s arm as her coughs continued. She took a couple of haggard breaths. Jastyn couldn’t help but notice the cracks in her dry lips as she gave them a smile.
“Father, I am hardly out of the house. It’s a stone’s throw away.”
Her cough subsided into occasional sputters, and she promised them she could walk back inside on her own. As she started for the house, Jastyn bent down to grab the sack of goods she had dropped when Alanna greeted her.
“Are those the week’s rations?”
Jastyn turned to face Elisedd. She scanned his dark eyes and the blond hair that ran into sideburns down his face and collected into an angular beard. It still surprised Jastyn how quickly he could change from doting father to unwilling guardian in a moment’s time.
“Yes,” she replied, hiking the bag over her shoulder.
“You had better get inside and help your mother with dinner.”
Jastyn nodded, not breaking eye contact until she stepped past him.
“And, Jastyn,” he called, making her turn. “If you encourage Alanna to leave the house again, there will be no more trips to the Wood. Understood?”
With her chin raised, Jastyn clenched her jaw. The hand resting at her side balled into a fist. But she forced herself to take a deep breath. Then she nodded before turning to go inside.
Chapter Three
Aurelia crept along a corridor in the left wing of the castle. After scurrying past the servants sweeping up the remnants of dinner in the main hall, scampering behind her mother’s ladies of the court drinking wine in the common room, and climbing more stairs than she cared to, Aurelia finally reached the level of the castle where her family currently met. She paused against the stone wall at the top of the landing to gather herself and slow her breathing. Then she looked around the corner. At the end of the long, torch-lit hallway, she located the floor-to-ceiling pine wood doors, their dark iron rivets protruding like watchful eyes. Framing the doorway were two guards, each in the traditional deep blue and gold kilts held at the waist by a pleated belt. Their navy tunics lay under leather breastplates that matched their ankle-high boots. The men had shoulder-length blond hair that wrapped behind their ears in braids. Their stern faces looked straight ahead. Aurelia watched their grips loosen and re-tighten on the spears in their right hands.
This seemed like an awful lot of security for a standard meeting of her father’s. Leaning her head back against the wall, Aurelia’s mind raced with the things her parents and brother might be discussing behind such tightly guarded doors. But she quickly grew impatient—a trait her mother always claimed came from her father—and tried to keep her feet from tapping in anticipation. She needed a plan to lose the guards if she was going to hear anything inside that room.
Biting her bottom lip, she mulled over the spells she knew, most of which were medicinal and hardly useful in terms of creating a distraction. While she thought, her fingers played against her side, and her saol emerged between them. She loved the familiar warmth, though she knew her mother discouraged “idle magic,” as she often called it. But Aurelia never saw the harm in a little mindless conjuring.
Right as she was considering a spell that compelled drowsiness, a low voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Princess?”
Aurelia jumped and threw her saol in the direction of the voice. It flew down a couple of steps until it was blocked and consumed by a larger yellow flame protecting the hand of her brother’s best friend.
“Drest!” she cried, trying to keep her voice quiet. She glanced around the corner again. The guards were peering down the hall in her direction but had yet to move. She whipped back around, tugging Drest up the final step and next to her behind the wall. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Princess,” he replied, matching her hurried whisper. He straightened his green tunic where she had grabbed it before running a hand through his thick blond hair that always fell over his hazel eyes. “Don’t you and Brennus usually have studies at this hour?”
Aurelia gestured toward the other end of the hallway. “Typically, you would be correct. But Brennus has been summoned for a meeting with my father.”
Drest raised an eyebrow. “He’s been called to attend another meeting?”
“I know!” Aurelia cried. She cleared her throat before continuing. “Well, I feel it is right for me to be informed. As the princess, of course.”
Drest eyed her for a moment, then grinned widely, causing his eyes to twinkle. “Well, we had better get closer, wouldn’t you agree?”
Aurelia smiled. Drest had been her brother’s best friend—and recently served as his consult—since they were all children running around the castle together. Drest’s mother, Baroness Enya, was a second cousin of King Grannus. She had lived her early childhood in the neighboring Kingdom of Gultero: home to the beautiful, wind-swept beaches that sat on the island across from Venostes’s southern shores. The two kingdoms were allies as far back as history was written. However, since young Enya was the fourth child of the then-King Bradan and Queen Iona, and she had no foreseeable way to the crown, she was sent across the rocky and wind-filled bay to Venostes where she settled into the castle as a young lady of the court for the newly crowned Queen Dechtire. Drest’s father Louarn had been a soldier in the young King Grannus’s army. When the two men became fast friends after a successful war claiming territory along the southeastern shores from the fae, Louarn was awarded Baron, and he and Enya were soon after married. Furthermore, with their parents being such close friends, it was only natural for Drest—Louarn and Enya’s only child—to bond quickly with Brennus and Aurelia.
“We do need to move closer.” Aurelia licked her lips, eyeing the guards then her good friend. “I was considering a number of spells…” she told him, hoping she sounded confident.
“Going to mend their paper cuts, were you?” Drest smiled at his comment, making Aurelia bite her lip uncertainly.
She held her chin up. “Well, what do you have in mind, if you’re so clever?”
Drest crossed his arms. “I was imagining I’d go talk to them.”
“Talk to them? And what, bore them to sleep?”
“Very funny, Princess.” Drest rolled his eyes. “I will go and start a conversation, something plain that they wouldn’t consider a distraction. From there…I’ll think of something.”
“You’ll think of something?” Aurelia said, her voice rushed and low as she peered around the corner again. She wasn’t sure how much longer the meeting would go and was afraid of missing her opportunity.
“Do you want my help or not?”
Aurelia turned back to Drest, who was eyeing his fingernails with boredom.
“Fine, yes.”
“What’s in it for me?”
Aurelia sighed. “Does there always have to be something in it for you, Drest?”
He shrugged. “
Only seems fair.”
“All right!” Aurelia said, worry rising in her. She racked her mind for a moment, then said, “At the stables tomorrow I’ll give you a go with Keller.”
Drest narrowed his eyes. “I want Tully.”
Aurelia faltered. “But Tully is my best mare!”
“Exactly. Keller is great but only half as fast as Tully. I do this for you now, and you give me half a day with Tully. I’m tired of only being allotted the third rung of the stable’s horses.”
Aurelia was about to insist his pick of horses had less to do with his station and more to do with his lack of riding skill, then decided she couldn’t waste any more time.
“Fine!” she said, waving a frantic hand. “You can have Tully tomorrow. But for half a day, that’s it!”
Drest smiled, cleared his throat, and strode past Aurelia into the hallway. Aurelia watched long enough to see Drest wave at the guards, who stood straighter as he approached. She sighed. Aurelia made a mental note to let the stable boy know about the riding changes first thing in the morning. She shook her head and couldn’t help but laugh at Drest. He always found a way to get at least part of what he wanted when it came to her and her brother. The three of them together always signaled trouble when they were younger. One time they—and several other children of the castle—had decided to plan an outing to the shore. Aurelia, her brother, and Drest came up with a plan to make it happen, as such a trip was an uncommon luxury with their protective parents. Brennus wrote a flourishing letter of appeal to their mother and father, explaining the benefit of a day outdoors. Aurelia presented it to their parents in a sweet and persuasive speech, and Drest ended the whole ordeal with a showy bit of wind magic he promised to teach to the siblings with the items collected from the beach line. The king and queen had smiled at the eager trio before shaking their heads and sending them on their way. The three spent the day kicking about in the water and gathering shells, rocks, and plants from the beach, something that would not have been possible if not for the magic of the three of them together.
With her mind still wandering along the shores of her memory, Aurelia barely heard her name being called from down the hallway. She frowned and tried to discern where the voice was coming from.
When she turned the corner, Drest stood inches away, and she nearly collided with him.
“Oh! Drest.” She lowered her voice, taking a step back. “Were you calling me?”
Drest shook his head, his face set in amused disbelief. “With all respect, Aurelia, I think Brennus inherited all of the common sense between the two of you.”
Aurelia frowned and crossed her arms. “I will let that comment go.” She peered over his shoulder. “Where are the guards?”
“I told you I would take care of them,” Drest replied, puffing his chest, his hazel eyes sparkling.
“I said distract them, not vanish them into the wind!” Aurelia hurried past Drest and down the hallway, her dress kicking up on either side of her against the dark stone floor. When she reached the tall wooden doors, she looked around but saw no sign of the men who were standing there moments before. “Drest,” she whispered hotly, “where did you—”
“Relax, Princess.” He sighed, strolling across the hall to meet her. “I’ve nearly mastered wind spells, which means I do know when to use them. Besides, it’s against the elements to ‘vanish somebody to the wind,’ as you say.” He raised an eyebrow as Aurelia’s face flushed.
“Of course. I’m sorry. It’s just…well, where are they?”
“I told them my mother requested their presence in the main court.”
Aurelia crossed her arms. “Oh, well, that was simple enough.”
“Sometimes, it’s best not to overthink things, Princess.” Drest nudged her arm and adjusted the sword in his pleated belt. “Anyway, this has been fun.”
Aurelia’s eyes grew wide. “But wait, I thought—”
“My job is done.” Drest raised his hands with a grin, then disappeared around the corner of another hallway.
With a huff, Aurelia brushed back her hair. She could handle this. After all, this was what she wanted, why she sneaked all the way across the castle: to be standing here. After taking a deep breath, she pressed her ear against the thick wooden door. One hand lay against an iron rivet, the metal cool against her hand. She pressed closer to the door and strained to listen. Muffled voices came from the other side, but it was hard to distinguish one from the other.
Cursing the thickness of the door, she fought to clear her mind and find another way to listen in. There were no windows into the room, only ones that faced the outside of the tower. Aurelia began to pace in front of the door, worried at each small scratch from a castle mouse or flicker from the wall torch that the guards were on their way back. Her gaze fell on the orange flames flickering against the wall.
“Of course!” Aurelia beamed and pressed her ear once again to the door. She could just make out the distant trail of voices. She forced her mind to move past the noise and focus on the room itself. She heard papers shuffling, the dull scraping of chairs, and even the soft clink of her brother’s sword. Finally, the faint crackle from the fireplace drifted over her ear, and she smiled.
With one ear still pressed to the door, she conjured her saol. The glow bounced gently before her, familiar as her own family. Aurelia cupped it in her palm.
The red light glowed brightly for a moment, and she heard the fire from the other side of the door crackle loudly. At the sound, she backed away from the door and crouched in a corner of the tower’s hallway. She held the saol to her cheek and listened as the muffled sounds of her family grew more distinct. Her father’s voice spoke loudest.
“My dear, it is only more gossip that has everyone so worried. The village border remains secure. I see no reason to send more guards to the north.”
“I know, Grannus, but this is the fourth report of unrest from the outlands. I think it would be unwise to ignore such news.”
“Father, I still do not understand what all of this means. There has been nothing but peace for the last thirteen years. Why would people want to harm the kingdom…harm us?”
Aurelia’s brow furrowed. She cupped the saol closer to her ear.
“My dear son.” Her mother sighed. “Unfortunately, no matter when or where you are, people are never satisfied with what they have. Still, it remains our duty as the royal family to ensure our kingdom and its people’s happiness.”
“But not everyone has the same idea of what that happiness includes,” finished their father gruffly.
Aurelia sat quietly, waiting as the conversation seemed to halt. Eventually, her father spoke again.
“In another week’s time, I will consider sending a guard party through the Wood to the north. A scouting group should scare off any unruly factions between here and the elves’ land. We will move forward from there.”
“I will lead them,” Brennus said. Aurelia covered her mouth as her mother spoke.
“You will do no such thing!”
“Dechtire,” the king said softly.
“Mother, I am of age. I have led guard parties before. Besides, is this not what you were just saying you wanted, to ensure we did not ‘ignore such news’?”
“Yes, but, Brennus, this is not the time for heroics.”
“I am fully capable,” her brother replied, his voice stoic.
“And we do not doubt your capabilities, my son,” their mother responded. “You are a great hunter, and an even better rider, but—”
“But when the kingdom is threatened, I am not allowed out of the castle walls? This is exactly like when we were young. Aurelia and I could never set foot anywhere without the watchful eyes of the two of you. Do you realize we are not children anymore?”
“He has a point, darling.” Aurelia could practically feel the tension growing between their parents. The fire popped again, signaling her spell coming to an end.
The queen sighed. “This is not up for discussion
right now.” A chair scraped, and Brennus must have moved to speak when their mother cut him off. “Not tonight. We will reconsider things tomorrow’s eve.”
Another crack from the flame, and Aurelia knew her time was nearly done. With a grimace, she blew out the flame in her palm, disconnecting from the happenings within the state room. As soon as she did, her head felt heavy. She stood and walked slowly toward the end of the hallway. She had not anticipated this. Daydreaming by the fire earlier, Aurelia had expected exciting news of a visiting royal family or perhaps a new trade treaty. But unrest in the kingdom? Protesting groups seeking to harm her parents? Her mind swam with terrifying thoughts and visions.
Suddenly, Aurelia regretted having ever snuck across the castle at all.
Chapter Four
Bleak skies and whipping winds strangled Jastyn as she sprinted through the dark Wood. The eerie, echoing laugh of the strange fae surrounded her. Roots lifted, gripping each trembling step. The words he uttered twisted their fingers tight around her mind: “You are an Odium Child.” She shook her head, shielding her face from the branches reaching out to scratch her cheek. While the cackling wind grew louder, Jastyn’s breath choked within her throat. She tried to scream, but her voice was smothered in the darkness.
With a gasp, Jastyn jolted upright. Her forehead was hot with sweat, and she looked around. The breeze blew through the old wooden window, making the shutter clang against the wall. Moonlight cast shadows across the bedroom. As her breathing slowed, she turned in the small, creaking bed. She watched Alanna sleeping next to her. Her sister had stolen the patched blankets and gripped them tightly despite the warm night.
Careful not to wake her sister, Jastyn got up and walked to the clay basin sitting atop a wooden table next to the doorway. The water felt cool on her face, and she splashed it generously on her neck. Taking a step back, Jastyn stood in the center of the room. Her loose tunic waved as the wind swept once more through the window. With her eyes closed, she imagined herself once again in the Wood. Though dreams of that mysterious fae haunted her mind since their meeting many years ago, Jastyn refused to let them consume her with fear. As the water dried cool on her forehead, she exhaled. The Wood filled her mind, but the rider and his horse vanished. In their place was light and open paths welcoming her.
