The Royal Runaway

by Rory Mackay

half of one to Tanos, who eagerly accepted it. Her rations wouldn’t last long however. She’d have to find a means of acquiring food at some point.

  The girl avoided making eye contact with anyone as she carried on down the street, her hood up and her eyes fixed ahead. Above the houses, shops, taverns and halls, which were uniformly three or four stories tall, loomed the city’s monumental landmarks: a mixture of towers, pyramids and domes of varying size and structure. Intercity air transports streaked across the skyline like mechanical birds, while beyond the biodome, in the blackness of the star-filled heavens, the blazing sun shone cast its light upon the surface of the moon and its inhabitants.

  While the west quadrant of the city was home to the royals, nobles, civil servants and government officials, the east side housed a more general section of the population. It was originally conceived as a social experiment: a melting pot of Tahnadra’s peoples, intended to create common ground between different races and cultures. In reality however, rather than integrating, most of them had splintered, resulting in a ramshackle assortment of communities, each intent on preserving its own cultural traditions. Though there was generally peace and tolerance between the communities, the east quadrant had a rougher element than the west, making Eladria nervous and on edge. While it would have been easier going to the transport station in the west quadrant, security was tighter there and she’d probably have been recognized. Her hope was to get to the east quadrant transport station and slip through the barriers. But she would have to find it first.

  Deciding to cross the street, she waited as one of the rail shuttles passed by after stopping to deposit passengers. She walked across the road and over the metal tracks, a wave of pedestrians coming at her from either direction. As she reached the other side of the street and scanned her surroundings, her eyes were drawn to a bakery stall packed with an assortment of freshly baked goods. The aroma of seeded bread was almost more than she could bear. To her great delight she saw that the baker, an older olive-skinned man with a rounded face and cloudlike tufts of white hair, was giving away some free bread roll samples. Eladria’s eyes met his and he nodded as she reached out to the metal tray. She lifted three of the still-warm bread rolls and his face tightened. “Only one per customer,” he grunted.

  Eladria looked at him pleadingly. “I’m sorry, I’d buy some, but I don’t have currency. I’m hungry...”

  The man’s eyes softened and after a deliberating pause, he nodded reluctantly.

  “Thank you.” Eladria smiled in gratitude as she placed them in her pocket. He looked like he was about to say something—perhaps to enquire as to the whereabouts of her parents—so she quickly shot off, putting her head down and plunging into the crowd.

  Fortunately it wasn’t long before came to a street sign with directions, including the transport station. According to the sign, it was 10 metrins down the street to the left. With a sense of renewed hope she marched onward, satisfied that her plan was finally starting to come together.

  As she turned the corner, something caught her attention in the sky—something moving. It wasn’t one of the air transports; it was smaller and closer.

  It was a bird!

  Almost the instant she caught sight of it, it vanished behind one of the rooftops. She was perplexed: there were no birds on the moon, so where had it come from? Was it possible it had inadvertently come on one of the transports?

  She'd completely dismissed it by the time she arrived at the central station. Although smaller than the one in the west quadrant, it was much busier. Atop a flight of stone steps, the grand entrance, held aloft by stone pillars, was packed with people coming and going, the noise of the crowd merging into the hum of passing rail shuttles and overhead transports. She was about to climb the steps and make for the entrance when she caught sight of two military officers standing either side of the revolving glass door. They stood like two sentinels in matching grey and black uniforms, with electro-pulse pistols in holsters around their waists. The two men were scanning the oncoming crowd, evidently in search of something—or someone. The princess stopped in her tracks as she hesitantly looked up at them. One of the men caught sight of her and called over to his comrade.

  It was her, she realized. It was her they were after!

  She stood motionless for a moment as the men bounded forward, pushing through the crowd and starting down the steps. Instinct kicked in and the girl began running the way she’d come. She didn’t want them to catch her. She had to find her mother and she wasn't about to let anyone stand in her way.

  She raced down the street, weaving through the sea of pedestrians. “Come on, Tanos,” she called, as the grudik lagged behind her. Realizing that because of his size he was unable to match her pace, she stopped, reached down and scooped him up in her arms before continuing to run.

  Her mind was racing even faster than her legs. Where could she go? Back the way she’d come? No, for even with the crowds to conceal her, the boulevard was still in the open. She had to find somewhere away from the main thoroughfare; somewhere she could hide until she was sure they were gone. Only now that they’d seen her at the station, they’d probably keep officers posted there on the assumption she’d be back. But she’d worry about that later. For now, she simply had to get out of sight.

  As she made her way past a wizened old man with a walking cane, she spotted a narrow lane branching off to the right. She took a right turn and ran down the lane, almost tripping as she came to a pile of bricks obstructing her path. A number of the buildings in this district were derelict and falling apart. With a furtive glance behind her, she clambered over the bricks and came to a small outhouse jutting out the side of the building to the right, which was evidently a disused hall or meeting place. Deciding that this would be as good as a place as any to hide, she climbed around the side of the outhouse until she was out of sight from the main street. Depositing Tanos on the ground, she came to a stop against the crumbling wall, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath.

  Something again drew her attention to the sky. It was that bird again, circling overhead then disappearing from sight.

  Exhausted, desperate and aching all over, the girl slumped to the ground and stared ahead, her eyes settling on the brick wall in front of her, evidently the side of a multi-leveled tenement. She felt herself on the verge of tears, which despite her attempts to hold back, caused her vision to blur as she took a deep breath to steady herself. Sensing that something was wrong, Tanos drew close, nudging her leg with his nose, his tail lowered and his large brown eyes displaying uncertainty and concern.

  The girl reached down and stroked his head in an absent-minded manner. She felt a teardrop rolling down her cheek and dripping down her chin as she continued staring ahead vacantly. Her determination had deserted her, replaced by an overwhelming sense of despair. It all seemed so hopeless now. The military were here, they’d seen her, and they would stop at nothing until they'd apprehended her and taken her back to the palace.

  What would she say to her father? And what would he have to say to her? He wouldn’t understand. He’d be furious with her for causing such uproar. The tears continued streaming down her face and she found her body lurching as she tried to stifle her sobs. Her mother was out there somewhere and she had to find her. She still couldn’t believe that her father was on the verge of giving up. Eladria couldn't give up on her, and she wouldn’t. “I wish you were here, momma,” she whispered softly.

  It was probably complacent of the princess to assume that no one would find her here. She was nevertheless horrified when someone appeared around the side of the outhouse. The girl leapt to her feet, her entire body tensing as she looked up in alarm.

  To her relief it wasn’t one of the military officers. It was a woman, perhaps in her late twenties, with long, dark hair, sleek and wavy as it cascaded over her shoulders. She wore a plain but pretty green dress with black shoes and a silver necklace, her face warm and gentle. If the woman was surprised at s
eeing a young girl and a pet grudik hiding behind the outbuilding, she didn’t show it. “Hello,” she said with a smile as she came to a stop, her translucent blue eyes sparkling as she looked down at the girl.

  Eladria looked up suspiciously and nodded.

  “What are you doing here?” the stranger asked.

  “Nothing,” Eladria responded, a little more defensively than she’d intended.

  “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

  “No, I have the day off,” the princess lied, eager to terminate the conversation as quickly as she could.

  “Why’s that? I didn’t know today was a holiday.”

  Eladria decided it was time to leave. “It’s not. I just have the day off, that’s all,” she responded, pulling the leash and preparing to step past the woman and return to the street. She’d risk running into the military officers of course, but she’d find somewhere else to hide, somewhere she wouldn’t be disturbed.

  “You know, I ran away quite a few times when I was your age,” the woman remarked.

  Eladria stopped and looked up at her, unsure how to respond. She saw no trace of hostility or threat in the woman’s face. She didn’t seem angry or annoyed, and she didn’t appear to be the type of person who’d