by Scarlett Kol
“Your Highness, meet Alizeh.”
The giant bird lowered its head as Veda ran her hand over its glossy bronze feathers, the massive beak sharp and inches from being able to snap at her arm and break it in two.
I stepped back taking in the full wonder of the massive creature. I’d seen these birds before. A means of transportation between the highest mountain ranges and the valleys, but never one this close. Royalty needed to travel using the safest means possible, and an unsaddled, untrained bird did not fit in that category.
The bird nuzzled next to Veda’s face until she tapped it gently between the eyes and it bowed its front legs and lowered its body closer to the ground. I stared at the bird’s talons carving deep trenches through the dirt, each one as tall as my hip.
I shuddered. “Are you sure this is safe?”
Veda grabbed at the creature’s neck and swung her leg over its feathered back, mounting the gigantic bird as if she were a stable horse, straddling between its wings. “Of course. I’ve had her since she was a hatchling and she’s never let me down. Have you girl?” She stroked the feathers on top of the bird’s head. It closed its eyes and leaned into her touch. “Why? Are you scared?”
“Of course not.” I crept slowly along the side of the creature, its burrowing stare following my every step.
Veda held out her hand and I grabbed on, pulling myself up behind her on top of the great bird. Its lungs expanded and contracted beneath my thighs and I leaned closer to Veda. Hibiscus and eucalyptus diffused between us from her hair, and the scents calmed my pounding pulse.
“Alizeh, up,” Veda called and the bird stood, our heads edging near the tops of the trees.
I swallowed hard and gripped handfuls of silky feathers, as the bird spread its gigantic wings.
“Hold on. It takes some getting used to.” Veda emitted a whistle and the bird darted skyward nearly tossing me back down to the cobblestones.
My stomach rose into my throat as we lifted higher and higher, the lines of Mosa townhouses shrinking to doll-sized toys.
“I’ve never done this before,” I admitted as we passed over Takka’s Tavern, the image of Kalmin’s betrayal stabbing me one last time.
“You’ll love it.” Veda rested her hand on my leg. “I just hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
5
24th May
The stars hung big and bright in front of us as we soared past the moon through the mountains. I dared to reach my hand over my head and tried to grab a fistful of starlight as it slipped between my fingers, but I didn’t care if I caught it, just the simple thought that I could try seemed amazing. I’d never been this high before, never flown through the clouds one wrong move away from plummeting to the ground, and as much as my stomach twisted with fear I’d also never felt this joy of weightless freedom.
Alizeh glided east and a small rocky peak came into view. She circled, bringing us closer and slowed until she touched down on the cliff edge with a jolt. I jerked backward and yanked on Alizeh’s feathers to keep upright. She let out a loud caw but leaned down to help me regain balance.
Veda slid off of Alizeh’s back and patted the bird’s side before looking back at me. “Looks like you made it, Your Highness.”
I swung my right leg over and jumped down to the ground.
Whoa. My knees wavered and buckled being back on steady ground and squeezing my thighs so hard to hang on during the ride. I fell forward.
Veda grabbed my arm and slid herself under my shoulder. “Don’t worry, you get used to that after a while.”
“I hope so because I definitely want to do that again.”
She laughed, the notes echoing through the bottomless ravines around us. “Good. Cause I think Alizeh likes you.”
I looked up at the giant bird and she stared back, then blinked.
Veda walked forward, easing me back to holding my own weight until I stood straight again.
“There you go. Now I’ll go make some tea, can you give Ali a snack? I’ll meet you inside.”
“What?” I watched Alizeh’s enormous beak and gulped. “Are you kidding?”
“Of course not. Carrying both of us must have been exhausting for her.” She ran toward the cottage before I could protest any more. When she needed the door, her arm swung out to the left. “There’s some fish in the bin over there.”
Veda disappeared into the cottage and lights illuminated the windows. I stood under the dark, starry sky and watched her move around the kitchen.
“I guess it’s just the two of us now, Alizeh.”
The bird clucked and scratched at the ground.
I walked over to a large wooden bin near the lone umbrella-shaped tree in the small yard. If it could be considered a yard. The cottage sat in the middle surrounded by patches of wild grasses until the ground just fell away on all sides into nothing. In early morning darkness, I couldn’t see far, but once the sun rose the precarious location of this place would probably hit me hard.
Pulling back the lid, I threw my arm over my nose as the briny stench of the pile of dead fish blasted at my face. I lurched forward then thrust my hand in, pulling out the first fish I could find and slamming the lid closed.
Alizeh squawked as I marched back with the fish, her beak snapping in anticipation. She lowered down to the ground and leaned slightly forward. I tossed the fish in the air and she caught it, swallowing it down in one big gulp. I wiped the slimy film from the fish scales across my pant leg, instantly regretting the lingering scent it would leave.
“I guess you were hungry.”
She pressed her beak into my chest and I froze.
“Easy.” I pushed my hand on her beak and she nuzzled into my palm, a contented coo coming from deep in her belly. “Good girl.”
I ruffled the feathers near her face and she closed her eyes, leaning in. “Oh, you like that, huh?” I rubbed a bit lower near her neck.
“I told you she liked you.”
I jumped and turned around.
Veda walked toward us from the cottage. She’d changed out of her shapeless tunic into a casual dress of the deepest green like the forest with tiny white flowers embroidered along the edges that glowed in the fading moonlight. She lacked the obvious beauty girls like Sophia held in spades, as well as the refinement and grace they’d been trained in since they could walk—proper ladies of the court. But at that moment, on the mountain at the top of the world, the way her loose hair fluttered around her shoulders and her deep red lips smiled with a kindness that shone from her core, all my words piled up in my throat rendering me speechless and short of breath.
I shook my head and swallowed. Must just be the thinner mountain air.
“The tea will be ready soon,” she said and nodded her head toward the cottage, now alive with flickering light streaming from the windows.
I gave Alizeh one last pat on her head, then cleared my throat and followed behind.
Inside, Veda glided around the kitchen placing out cups on the counter while a metal teapot sat on the stove. I shoved my hands in my pockets and leaned against the closed door watching her fuss with the details and taking in the rest of the cottage. It didn’t appear to be more than a few small rooms cobbled together with a thick wooden ladder in the far corner leading to what appeared to be a low loft. A bedroom maybe? Everything seemed neat and clean but in a relaxed kind of way that would’ve passed for a mess in the castle. Griswold’s head would explode if he had to manage this place, even if it were only half the size of the royal stables.
"You live up here all by yourself?"
"Generally, yeah. My father comes home now and again, but he’s been studying to be a wise man at the temple further up the mountain range and seems to be spending more and more time at the retreat there.”
I scanned the cottage again, the thought of the quiet overwhelming. The castle always had people, any time of day or night I could always find someone. "That must get lonely?"
She laughed. An airy light chuc
kle that seemed a complete contradiction to her normal serious self. "I do have friends, you know. It's not like I am cursed to hide in my tower forever like they do in the west."
Steam billowed from the teapot and she poured the steaming water into two delicate red cups. "Besides, I kind of like the quiet. It helps me with my writing."
She handed me the tea, the clay cup warm on my fingertips and soothing my cold hands. I hadn't realized the chill that had crawled under my skin from the flight, but suddenly I shivered. “Writing? Wait, you don't work for one of those newspapers camped outside the castle, do you?"
I placed the cup on the counter and slowly began to back towards the door. No wonder she'd taken such an interest in me all of a sudden.
"No." She grabbed her own cup of tea and moved into the sitting room, then flopped down in a grand armchair next to an old dim lamp made of rough pieces of iron. "Maybe one day, but for now I just make up stories. I kind of feel like I have all these things to say, and writing lets me get them out of my head before all the voices drive me insane.”
I relaxed a bit, the threat of being interviewed falling away. “Do you let people read them?”
She laughed but stared into the bottom of her teacup. “No. Or at least not yet. But I’m trying to get there. There’s a competition coming up in Mosa where the winner gets a huge cash prize. I’m hoping it could be my ticket out of here. See the world, you know?”
“It’s not as exciting as you make it sound. The world I mean. Sometimes home is way better than being away.”
“Says the spoiled prince who has seen it all before.”
I cringed. “Maybe. But that would make me an expert on the subject, now wouldn’t it?”
I wandered to the back of the cottage to the wall of books carefully arranged in rows according to height and shade of the cover. I'd have to show her my mother's collection one day. She'd probably love it. I grabbed a familiar purple-covered volume and thumbed through the pages.
“I think we have this one in the castle library too. My mother used to read it to me when I was young. I loved the thought of there maybe being another world out there.”
“I think I’ve read that one a hundred times. It’s one of my favorites.” Veda sat up and perched at the edge of the chair. “And I’d love to see the castle one day. I've always imagined what it might look like in there. I think I even wrote a story about it once."
“How come you’ve never been there? There are always open court days and my parent’s annual Fall Ball. I’m pretty sure everyone in the kingdom has seen the inside at least once.”
She placed her tea on the rickety table beside her and crossed her hands in her lap. “My father never let me go, and I guess as I got older I just assumed I shouldn’t. That I wouldn’t be welcome there.”
I put the book back then wandered around the couch to kneel in front of her, her gaze still cast down to the floor. “That’s nonsense, everyone is welcome at the castle. Once my father is better I will bring you there myself. I’ll let you go anywhere you want.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to cause any problems.” She finally met my eyes, a ghost of something passing through them that I couldn’t identify. I had to be missing something here.
“Of course. Besides, you’ve invited me into your home, I should at least return the favor.”
“Thank you. That’s very kind, but we’ll see.”
A red line painted across the wall behind her. I turned and squinted as the first rays of sunrise burst through the window. I stood and followed the light, as if pulled on an invisible string, the sun tugging me towards it like a smelly fish on a fisherman’s hook.
A strip of red fire smoldered across the skyline, burning away the darkness, a new day rising from its ashes. I took the well-worn path to the edge of the cliff and stared over the mountaintops out to the entire kingdom. My kingdom.
Veda joined me at the edge, her hand held over her eyes shielding some of the glare of the sun. “You should see this view in full daylight. You can almost see all the way to Urbis.”
"Is that how you knew about the darkness? Because you could see it coming?”
Veda crossed her arms and jut her hip to the side, her green dress hugging the curves at her waist. “So, you believe me now?”
The fairy’s words whispered in my head. You might be our last hope.
“I think I might. It seems like you're not the only one who's been noticing what’s been going on around here. I’m starting to pay more attention."
“At least you're trying, that's an improvement."
My spine straightened and my chest puffed out at her words even though they likely weren’t meant as a compliment. "Maybe. But I ran into a gale force of a girl who said I should probably take note of these things. I think that maybe she was right."
A soft pink tinged her cheeks as she cast her eyes to the ground and fiddled with the flowers on her dress.
"There may just be hope for you yet, Your Highness."
"Please, you can stop with the pleasantries. My friends, at least the ones I thought were my friends, just call me Fallon or Falls sometimes."
"Okay…er… Fallon.” The words looked like they hurt as they rolled across her lips, but then she smiled, the melodic inflection of her voice on the double l’s oddly charming.
“Much better.”
Pink light bathed her face and highlighted the strands of red that weaved through her dark locks. I rested my hand on her cheek, my fingertips burying in her hair, and she stiffened under my touch.
“Sorry,” I snapped my hand away. What was happening? I hadn’t planned this, instinct pushing me instead of calculation. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
She turned her head to the horizon, curls falling over her neck. “It’s okay. It’s just…I’ve seen you in the tavern, with all those other fancy girls. That’s not why I brought you up here. I think there’s much more to you than that.”
“Veda…I never thought…” I stepped back giving her space and letting my thoughts clear, her proximity messing with my head. “Why do you have so much faith in me?”
“Because I know how it feels. Having responsibility on your shoulders that you don’t want, that you’re too young to understand.” Her eyes welled up, but she bit her lip and pushed down the tears. “My mother died before I could even remember her, and it’s clear my father never wanted a daughter. I don’t doubt he loves me, but I was a burden that took him away from his other projects. I grew up fast and on my own. Then I saw this prince. One who had the loving family I never did but had so many responsibilities on his head. I knew what that felt like. I knew what it would mean for you one day. That you’d be lost. I wanted to help.”
Her story socked me in the stomach. No one should feel like they weren’t wanted. I wanted to pull her close, but stopped myself, my fingers itching to try and make her feel better. “But you don’t need to. I’m not a puppy that needs to be taken care of.”
“But you will be king one day. My king. And I would do anything to make sure that you lead Aboria with strength and courage.”
I rubbed my hands over my face and paced between Veda and the cliff, the height making me suddenly dizzy. “Please don’t do that. Don’t imagine me as some great leader. I’m not. I want to be, but I will never be the leader that my father is. And what if I end up—”
“Cursed just like him?”
My head snapped toward her. “What did you say?”
“Cursed like your father. You don’t have to worry about that. Even if it is a family curse, you aren’t in the bloodline so it probably wouldn’t affect you.”
“How do you know about my father’s curse? Who told you?”
“I’ve always known.” She laced her fingers together in front of her, concentrating on her hands as a deep ‘v’ dug in between her eyes. “But I didn’t know it would happen again.”
I grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled, hoping this would be a dream and I’d suddenly wake up in m
y own bed with Griswold knocking on the door, but I didn’t. She knew about the curse. She knew it had happened before. Until just a few days ago, I didn’t even know that.
“And what do you mean I’m not in the bloodline. I’m the only child of the king and queen, of course, I’m in the bloodline.”
She shook her head, pink bursting into deep crimson in her cheeks. “You really have no idea, do you?"
She grabbed my hand. The jolt from when her skin connected with mine ripped up my arm and I swore I saw it spark in the last drops of darkness before the sunrise. "Come on. I have something to show you."
She led me back into the house and dropped me by the faded worn couch then walked over to the bookcase. She stood on her tiptoes and reached toward the highest shelf, the hem of her dress inching up the back of her thigh. I forced my eyes to look away and stood to help, but she'd already grabbed a well-worn journal from the shelf and had started unwinding the narrow leather cord wrapped around the pages to keep them closed. She flipped the journal open. "I think you should see this."
"Is it your writing?"
She shook her head her full lips pursed tight. "No, it's my father's."
"I don't see…"
She thrust the open journal in front of me, a detailed hand-drawn image of a feral beast splashed across the page. The beast so terrifying, even the drawing made me shudder, or maybe because I'd seen that beast before. Hiding in the west wing. It was my dad.
My blood bubbled, the room heating up around me. “Where did you get this?"
"I told you, it was my father's. Everyone else may have forgotten about the curse, but my father wrote down everything that happened so he could remember." She jiggled the journal closer to me. "Read it."
I lay the loosely bound pages across my lap and read the impeccably neat scroll beneath the drawing of the beast. Veda crossed her arms, popping her hip to the side as she watched my finger traced over the indentations on the page as I read. Each word collected in my brain as I struggled to make sense of them. Bright and sharp puzzle pieces but with no full picture to follow.