The Flight of Swans

by Sarah McGuire

  “Gather ’round,” said Aiden. “We only have hours. I was telling Ryn we’re taking her to Roden—”

  “And I was telling him that I wouldn’t put Tanwen in danger,” I interrupted.

  “You won’t stay there,” said Aiden. “We can’t risk that. You’ll stay only a few hours until Tanwen can provision one of our men to take you someplace safe.”

  “We’ve provisioned you already,” said Cadan, tucking a bag into my satchel. “There’s food—and a flint and tinder so you’re never lost in the dark.”

  “We should hurry,” said Mael. “If the Queen discovers that we’re missing, she’ll try to turn Father against us. She’ll tell him Aiden’s trying to take the throne.”

  Owain tried to act brave. “If anyone questions us when we return, Declan will spin a tale that takes them to the Otherworld and back before they can think.”

  “There’s no story that would explain us going out for a midnight ride,” said Aiden. “We tell them we discovered Ryn was missing and went searching—and we buy Tanwen time to hide Ryn away.”

  “They’ll search Roden,” I cautioned.

  “And you won’t be there by the time they reach it,” Aiden replied. “Tanwen will have sent you on your way before search parties leave the castle.”

  He looked off to the west, where Roden stood a few leagues away. “I just wish we’d been able to plan so that we don’t look as if we’re defying Father. This is risky.”

  “Let me escort her to Roden,” said Cadan. “I’ll get her safely to Tanwen while the rest of you go back to the castle. The crown prince should be at the castle when Ryn’s discovered missing. Let the mean triple be blamed for this, if there’s blame to be given.”

  “If any part of this plan fails, it will settle on Aiden’s shoulders—no matter who takes her there,” said Mael.

  Aiden bent down a little so I could see him clearly. “I’ll see you safe to Roden tonight, Ryn, and safe every day after that. I vow it. We all do.”

  “I vow it,” echoed my brothers—all but Cadan.

  “I’m so determined to keep you safe that I don’t need to waste breath vowing it,” he announced. But he smiled at me to show the edge in his words wasn’t for me.

  In that moment, with my brothers around me, I felt safe again. They were my own fortress, my castle, my home—all six of them. For the first time since Father had returned from the forest, we were united. Perhaps the worst hadn’t happened, after all.

  Cadan helped me up to sit in front of him, and we started for Roden in silence.

  As we traveled on, the night pressed so close that I could imagine the Queen watching me. I should have felt safe with my brothers near, but I didn’t.

  Declan brought his horse beside us. “Aiden mentioned a dream, Ryn. Tell me about it.”

  It was always easy to confide in Declan. So I told him about the feather and the words that stopped the Queen and the fire.

  “Mother had dreams,” said Declan.

  “It was just a dream,” argued Cadan. “Ryn’s didn’t stop the Queen—though I almost thought she would, standing there, with the Kingstone in the fire. What a sight that was! But she didn’t—so I won’t worry about feathers or fires anytime soon.”

  Declan shook his head and grabbed a hank of his curly hair, tugging absently as he thought.

  “What burned, Ryn? What part of the castle?”

  “Stone doesn’t burn,” argued Cadan.

  I ignored him. “The ramparts—the roof along the ramparts, near the turret.”

  “Could you tell which side of the castle?”

  I closed my eyes. It had hardly been a dream at all, more like images as the strange music tried to pull me into its current.

  I looked up, feeling a failure. “I don’t know. It wasn’t what you see from the courtyard. Do you think that’s good?”

  “I’ll think it over. It might mean something later,” said Declan. He rode ahead, still tugging on his hair as he thought.

  Cadan shook his head. “Or it might mean nothing at all! Sometimes dreams are just dreams.”

  He looked over his shoulder at me, serious. “Far more important that Aiden return to the castle as soon as we reach Roden. It’s not wise for him to linger. We shouldn’t have all come, but we worried for you. The forest isn’t safe anymore.”

  Fortress Roden lay ahead, its towers black against the starry sky. My heart began to pound so I could feel my pulse in my fingertips.

  “Ryn?” asked Cadan.

  I’d seen those ramparts in my dream. It had been Roden burning, not the castle.

  “Cadan, those walls—”

  “What, Ryn?” Cadan stood up in his stirrups to better see the gate.

  “We’re here!” announced Aiden. He turned to call back to me. “Perhaps Tanwen sensed you’d be coming. The courtyard is lit.”

  We passed through the gate, clattering toward Tanwen, who stood stiffly by Roden’s great oak doors—Tanwen, who always ran to greet Aiden.

  A shiver of fear ran up my spine.

  “Aiden!” Tanwen called. “Run!”

  Aiden didn’t move, but Cadan pulled our horse up and wheeled it around. The gate was only feet away, but the ambassador’s soldiers in Danavirian uniform had already filled the courtyard, circling behind us to cut off escape.

  “She’s here,” I whispered.

  The Queen stepped out from behind Tanwen, twisting her arm back till she cried out.

  “Welcome, children of the King,” the Queen called. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  Chapter 8

  The soldiers surrounded us entirely.

  I’d feared so many horrible possibilities that evening, but even I hadn’t imagined that the Queen would meet us at Roden. She must have known the entire time.

  My brothers and I sat like statues on our horses, and the soldiers, nearly thirty of them, stood as still as stone.

  What were so many Danavirian soldiers doing here in Fortress Roden, with the Queen?

  The Queen released Tanwen’s arm, and Tanwen stepped away. Her red hair hung in long strands around her face, but she didn’t look as if she’d been harmed. She looked furious. But she didn’t move as the Queen walked slowly toward us, lifting up her golden skirt with a white hand.

  Cadan backed our horse away, while the rest urged their horses between the Queen and me. Even Owain moved to guard me. He almost looked like a man then, and I was sorry for ever being angry at him.

  Aiden turned his attention to the soldiers. “Danavir and Lacharra have enjoyed peace for over a century. I have no wish to jeopardize that.” He pointed at the Queen, while his horse danced beneath him. “She does not speak for our country.”

  The Danavirian soldiers didn’t twitch. Aiden glanced at Mael. What was this?

  The Queen drew closer. “They are not yours to command or to bargain with, young prince. They are mine.”

  Now that we were closer, I saw that the soldiers were not the ones who had visited the castle with the ambassador. These men made me think of winter nights and howling winds.

  They were the Queen’s own guard, dressed in Danavirian livery.

  “Then why do your soldiers threaten us?” Aiden demanded.

  The Queen laughed, a bright splashing sound, as she approached Aiden. His stallion shied away as if it couldn’t bear to be so near the Queen.

  “When will you learn?” She reached out a hand to Aiden’s stallion. It grew still beneath her touch.

  Then she looked over at me. “Step down, Andaryn.”

  Cadan’s hand clamped around my arm. “Don’t.”

  “Come to me, sweet Andaryn,” called the Queen. It was closer to singing. “Come! Or my men will bring you.”

  Mael, always more reckless than the rest, drew his sword, and the ring of it seemed the beginning of a ghastly symphony. The soldiers in the courtyard drew their obsidian weapons in response.

  Cadan cursed.

  “See to the young prince’s wife!” called the Q
ueen, and one of her soldiers drew a sword and moved toward Tanwen.

  “Aiden.” Tanwen’s voice was low but strong. “See to Ryn.”

  Aiden’s hand tightened around his sheathed sword’s hilt, but he didn’t answer. Just looked at his wife, his face pale.

  “Your brothers are fine fellows, Andaryn,” called the Queen. “If I have to fetch you, it will not go well with them.”

  Aiden looked back at me, resignation in his eyes. He knew the cost of defying her. Yet he’d vowed to keep me safe! They all had, even Cadan in his own way. Aiden turned back to the Queen and drew his sword.

  Cadan cursed again and drew his own sword.

  I wished Father had never found the Queen in the forest’s dark corners. I wished I’d never challenged her. I wished I’d never run.

  I wished so many things.

  But I dismounted from my horse, hands shaking so violently that I gripped my cloak to hide it.

  Cadan leaped down after me, and my other brothers followed. “No, Ryn!”

  The Queen laughed. “Step aside, princes, or your sister will see you cut down.”

  Less than an hour ago, I’d thought of my brothers like a wall around me. They seemed so human now, just flesh and blood.

  Owain moved in front of me and I put a hand on his back. It seemed important to touch him, to let him know I wasn’t mad anymore.

  “Let me pass,” I said.

  “Yes, young Owain! Let your sister pass, and you may live to grow as tall as your brothers.”

  “Ryn!” hissed Mael, trying to look back at me but keep his eyes on the Queen.

  I shook my head. “Not like this.”

  And I meant it. They needed to be free. I couldn’t bear it if they were hurt.

  I slipped from behind Owain and stood alone before the Queen. I only glanced back at Aiden long enough to see him lower his sword. The soldier guarding Tanwen lowered his sword in response.

  The Queen slipped an arm around me, and I saw that she’d taken the shard of the Kingstone and fashioned a web of gold wire around it and joined it to a necklace. She’d caged the Kingstone and was wearing it around her neck.

  It was like wearing Father’s crown.

  I winced as her hand tightened on my shoulder. “You, of all the king’s children, have vexed me the most. His heart is most tender toward you. And you have been most vocal against me.”

  “Is that what you want? His heart?” I asked, trying to pull away. “Enchanting him into a stupor and threatening his children are funny ways of winning it.”

  “Do I want his heart?” She smiled. “I want it all, child. Every last morsel. And I want you to be quiet.”

  I opened my mouth to answer, to give her anything but the silence she craved. But the clatter of an approaching horse stopped me.

  “Father!” I shouted.

  Chapter 9

  Father ignored me as he rode to the center of the courtyard and dismounted. He just stared at my brothers—and the soldiers surrounding us.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  I wouldn’t be silent, not when the Queen hated my voice so much. “Father—”

  He turned to Aiden. “Tell her not to speak to me!”

  I stopped.

  Father stepped toward Aiden. “I ask you again: What is this?”

  Aiden glanced at Tanwen, as if he could gather strength just from seeing her. Then he bowed to Father.

  “Ryn—” Father flinched at the sound of my name, but Aiden continued on, “Ryn ran away after she was sent to her chambers. When we discovered she was missing, we rode out after her. As you know, the forest is a dangerous place.”

  An awful stillness covered the courtyard.

  “You defied me,” Father said finally.

  There should have been a bolt of lightning the moment we realized Father was truly lost to us.

  “No,” said Aiden. “No! We sought only to fetch Ryn from the forest.”

  “All six of you?” asked the Queen, her voice as soft as harpsong. “Why did you bring her to Fortress Roden? Devoted sons would have taken her back to the castle.”

  Father began to tremble. “You betrayed me. All of you.”

  Mael stepped forward. “We have not betrayed you! Look around you, Father! Why does your wife dress her guard in Danavirian livery?”

  Father stopped, and the iron hardness behind his eyes faltered.

  He turned to his wife. “What is this?”

  “My dear one,” crooned the Queen, “what do you want? Tell me and it shall be done.”

  “Father!” called Mael. “Don’t let this happen. Look! Look around you. Look at us.”

  Father looked across the courtyard, his eyes traveling over his six sons surrounded by soldiers in ill-fitting Danavirian uniforms. I saw each of my brothers try to hold Father’s gaze, willing him to see what was before him. Yet Father acted as if he was looking out over a beautiful landscape with no danger or darkness before him.

  He couldn’t see what was happening. His gaze returned to the Queen, and she was all he saw.

  His body stiffened. “Imprison the princes for their treason. I never want to see them again.”

  “No! You can’t do that!” I scrabbled against the hands that held me.

  Father swung to face me. “I can’t restore my kingdom to order? You dare to speak to me after all you have done? You attacked my wife! You defied me before my noble guests!”

  He looked at me one last time. “You disgust me.”

  I couldn’t breathe. That’s what he thought of me?

  “My dear one,” said the Queen, “return to the castle. I will see that your wishes are carried out.” She waved a hand at her soldiers. “Take the princes to the dungeon, then take up position around the fortress. Attack just before dawn.”

  Attack? The Danavirian livery made sense now. Her guards would level Fortress Roden, killing the princes inside. And Danavir would be blamed.

  I want it all. Every last morsel. Including neighboring kingdoms as well.

  Lacharra’s nobility had just seen Father give her a portion of the Kingstone. This attack would give her justification to begin an unopposed war against Danavir. And Lacharra would win.

  Father adjusted his hold on the reins as if he hadn’t heard.

  “No!” shrieked Tanwen.

  Her voice broke Aiden’s control. He swung his sword at the soldiers near him.

  “You will watch each other’s blood soak this courtyard if you do not do as I command,” said the Queen softly.

  One soldier raised a sword above Tanwen. Another raised his over Aiden. The Queen meant it—she’d strike them both down and sing while they died.

  Aiden dropped his sword, the clatter echoing off the walls. My brothers, one by one, did the same.

  Aiden didn’t look away from Tanwen, though she stood across the courtyard. “I love you. Don’t forget that.”

  And then the soldiers swarmed my brothers.

  Cadan spit on the ground near one of the guards. The black blade flashed, cutting a slash in Cadan’s cheek.

  “No!” I tried to dart toward him, but the Queen flicked a hand and one of her soldiers held me back.

  A moment later, the soldiers led my brothers from the courtyard.

  I swung to face Father, to see what he thought of the Queen’s guard cutting his son.

  Father mounted his horse as if nothing had happened.

  The Queen called to him. “I think Tanwen should ride with you. She will stay with us at the castle. I fear she is ill and confused, but our physicians can heal her.”

  Tanwen struggled against the soldiers who bore her toward us and the horses, until the Queen said something in her ear.

  Tanwen stilled.

  I thought the Queen had enchanted her too. But as she walked by, she caught me in a desperate embrace and whispered, “Don’t come back, Ryn, do you hear me? If you get the chance, run!”

  Then the wild soldiers bore her to a horse.

  “Don’t let
her speak again,” the Queen commanded.

  Tanwen rode silently as some of the Queen’s guard escorted her and Father out the gate. Father never looked back at me.

  When the hoofbeats died away, the Queen folded her hands and smiled. “Now we visit the princes. Don’t let Andaryn lag behind.”

  * * *

  Two guards dragged me behind the Queen as we walked to the dungeon.

  Part of me wanted to collapse and cry like a child, but I wouldn’t let myself. My brothers would already be planning something. I needed to be ready for whatever opportunity presented itself.

  Pay attention!

  I found that the dungeon was strangely comforting. I’d played there as a child, for Roden hadn’t been used as a true fortress for years. It was just as I remembered it: still cluttered with old pieces of furniture, even fragments of wagons—a century’s worth of refuse.

  Then I saw my brothers. They were in a single cell at the hollow center of one of the fortress’s crumbling turrets. I could see the night sky with its fading stars at the very top, but it was too tall to climb to freedom—even if there was time before the staged attack began.

  I ran to them and rattled the bars of the door as if I could yank it open.

  My brothers crowded near. Aiden’s expression was drawn and desperate after seeing Tanwen dragged away. Mael looked murderous and Declan calm. Cadan, his cheek bloody from the wild man’s cut, gripped the bars as if he wanted to tear them away. Owain tried to hide his fear. And did, mostly.

  “What do I do?” I whispered.

  “Leave,” said Aiden. “Save yourself, Ryn.”

  Then I understood: There was no plan. There would be no saving. They didn’t want me to see them die.

  I gripped the bars tighter. There had to be something left to do or say.

  “You will face me, Andaryn.” The Queen’s voice echoed off the stone walls.

  Owain reached for my hand, but I had already turned to face her.

  She gestured at the dim cell. “Look at what you and your words have wrought, Princess: you, rejected and banished by your father; your brothers, imprisoned moments before my guards lay waste to Fortress Roden. All because you wanted to take back the love your father had given me.”