A Princess Who Defied Kings

by J. Kirsch

  The knight kept calling out to a woman we couldn't see.

  "Belaney! Belaney! You're alive!" Judging by the devotion on the knight's face, this Belaney must have been his wife. But all we could see, as far as the eye could see, were giant weed stalks and trees covered in leafy vines. The Dreamgiver had snagged its first victim, and it was haunting to see the yearning on the knight's face. Had his wife died in an accident? In childbirth? Had some illness taken her?

  Whatever it was, this creature had him believing that she'd been brought miraculously back from the dead. A cold, hard knot formed in my stomach and my hand went to the sword at my belt. The worst of it wasn't just seeing the man's delusional yearning. It was to know that I couldn't do a thing about it.

  "It's okay. We're okay," Bronwyn said. She reached out to squeeze my hand, the hand that I didn't have on my sword hilt itching to rip my weapon free and hack at something—anything—just to feel useful.

  But it wasn't okay. I looked out, my mind going blank except for one all-consuming focus. By the roadside stood a man with a boyish face. A man who was a man, but just barely, grinned at me.

  "Is that my little sister all grown up? Nice sword! I never imagined you with anything bigger than a letter opener, but it's nice to know you can surprise me once in a while." The young man's smile lit up his entire face, and his smiling eyes reached out to me.

  "Gav?" I stared at my brother, dumbstruck. My brother was dead, wasn't he? Had been for what, just over two years? I had a fleeting memory of Gavriel, my older brother, lying underneath plush blankets. His skin had looked as brittle as yellowed parchment paper, his eyes sunken and unhealthy. The plague had swept through the White Kingdom like a wildfire. It had touched almost every family, and it didn't care whether your blood was royal or not.

  Brother. I'd loved my brother so much. He'd been the best older sibling you could ever hope for. He'd always watched out for me, but at the same time he'd been willing to get into mischief with me too. A good older sibling had the best qualities of a parent with none of the tiresome drawbacks, and the willingness of a friend to get into trouble when fun made it worth the gamble.

  Gavriel had been this anchor in my life, and before meeting Drake my last truly happy moments had been while he was alive. Suddenly my mind fogged over, and I couldn't remember…had he really died? Maybe not. Maybe Gav had somehow made it. Somehow come back to me.

  I tugged gently on the rope binding my waist. I desperately wanted to get a little closer to him. Move toward the roadside. All I needed was a glimpse. Just a glimpse to see if it was really him.

  "Naji? Are you okay?" Bronwyn's voice was like a distant echo. It didn't concern me. It didn't matter.

  I cared so much about Gavriel that it seemed terribly selfish not to at least make sure he hadn’t come back somehow. My mind traveled down strands of thought as if tugged by a shadowy finger. Suddenly what had made sense no longer made sense. What seemed mysterious, the impossible, abruptly held promise.

  Who were these other people, anyway? I glanced at Bronwyn, at the knights around me. They didn't know Gavriel. They had no idea what I had lost.

  "You don't remember, do you silly girl?" The young man who was Gavriel called to me.

  "Remember what?" I mumbled.

  "Father. You don't remember his artifacts of power? Tell me you at least remember the White Staff of Wholeness."

  I did. Growing up as a princess of the White Kingdom, my tutors had taught me about all the artifacts of power which my Father had inherited. The Staff of Wholeness was one of those artifacts, and it had the ability to resurrect anyone. To bring someone back to life. To bring an entire army back to life. But it could only be used once. Some artifacts of power were like that, and the Knights who had them guarded them jealously, never using them except if the entire Kingdom was in jeopardy.

  "You can't quite remember! I see it on your face, Naji. You'll always be the sweet and clueless little sister, won't you? You asked Father to use the White Staff to bring me back to life after I died of the plague. Remember?"

  I did remember. I also remembered the solemn look in Father's eyes. The pain, etched in newly created wrinkles on a haggard face set in stone. No, Naji. I cannot. This is only for the good of the Kingdom, and the good of the Kingdom is worth more than any one person. Even my dear son. Even your dear brother.

  I gasped as the memory washed out. Then I saw Gavriel again. He was standing much closer now, his feet nearly touching the dirt path.

  "You did it, sis. Your plea stuck with him. He relented finally. He used the Staff and brought me back. So naturally the first thing I wanted to do was come find my little sister. The one I felt awful for abandoning."

  "You didn't abandon me," I whispered.

  "Well that's not how I felt about it. You remember my last words to you?

  "I'm not leaving you, Naji. Who else is going to keep you out of trouble? More importantly, who better to get you into it?"

  No…it couldn't be like this. I had to be dreaming. And yet, my mind didn't process the concept of 'dream' anymore. Gavriel was standing right before me and he seemed so real. The glistening armor he wore and the tabard with the crest of the White Kingdom across his chest blazed proudly. It was unlikely, but it was possible. Father could have changed his mind. Maybe it didn't matter how long Gavriel had been dead. Father could have used the Staff of Wholeness to resurrect Gav. I wanted to believe it more desperately than ever.

  Yes, my brother was alive.

  I looked down at the restrictive rope looped around my waist, the knots holding me in place. The rope seemed like a cruel chain meant to control me, and I hated it. Despised it with a passion. Before I knew it I was drawing out my knife. I cut through the rope and ran. I ran towards my brother, who beckoned and turned away.

  "Come, Naji. I know a shortcut through the woods. Father is camped nearby. He wanted to come and apologize to you for what he did. For what he failed to do." Those words spurred me on even more. Tears filmed my eyes.

  I was distantly aware of odd voices in the background. People yelling. Were some directed at me? It wasn't important, though. I'd found my brother. Gav could escort me to the ogres easily enough. There was nothing to fear, and for the first time I felt like I could lay all my burdens aside.

  I followed Gavriel as he waded through the foliage. "The path is a little ways through here. I'll show you. Here, take my hand." He turned back, his smiling face making my heart ache.

  "I missed you so much. I think a hug is in order, don't you?" I said crossly. He replied with an apologetic shrug and another one of those perfect smiles. I reached my arms around to hug him close. I felt something firm enclose me. It felt good to feel his warmth. To know that I wasn’t just dreaming all of this. His breath was warm on my cheek. His mouth whispered in my ear.

  "I'm sorry, Najika. Forgive me."

  "Forgive wh—?" I started to ask, but even as I did I realized that something was horribly wrong.

  Arms shouldn't feel like deadened weights. Legs shouldn't feel like they're being squeezed in a torture device. I blinked as Gavriel melted away before my eyes, and instead of his face I saw a cluster of leafy vines writhing and swaying back and forth like a giant head. I looked down, saw networks of vines holding my arms and legs fast, wrapping me tightly like a present. I screamed as the swaying vine-thing rushed to meet me, enclosing my face and shoulders.

  Chapter 16

  The Dreamgiver had me in its embrace, and it was a green nightmare enfolding my entire body. My lips felt the awful, scratchy texture of the vines pulsating around my face. I could sense its liquid secretions around my head, and then as they coated my nose and cheeks. A tingling began wherever it touched skin. I wanted to scream, but screaming wasn't going to do much besides get gooey nastiness in my mouth.

  "DIE! Die, monster, DIE!" I couldn't give the war cry points for originality, but for sheer enthusiasm it won my heart. Then I realized whose voice I was hearing. Bronwyn's.

  I l
istened at the sound of hacking and my nostrils twitched at the smell of smoke. The vines around me shuddered as if they'd absorbed an impact.

  Of all the prey which the Dreamgiver had sucked in and eaten over the course of its long life, I doubted that it had ever faced anything quite as tenacious or formidable as Bronwyn Raeythwick. The girl who seemed to have 'saver of Najika's butt' stamped invisibly on her forehead was hacking, slashing, and dealing damage with the zeal of a badger after a beehive's honey.

  I only knew this because as the vines around my face slipped loose, I spotted her between two leaves. She was hacking away with a flaming sword in her hand. I needed her to teach me that trick if we got out of this alive.

  "Let her go!" Bronwyn roared like a lioness and the fiery sword bit through another chunk of vines. Each time tendrils of greenery tried to grab her, the heat from the fiery sword forced the creature to shy away instinctually. Bronwyn had become an oasis in a treacherous land of green death, and the gap between us was shrinking.

  I managed to free one hand as the vines continued to loosen. Bronwyn's courageous stand was distracting the Dreamgiver, and I needed to take advantage. I managed to get hold of my sword, drawing it out from its sheath with a satisfying hiss.

  Since the Dreamgiver felt the need to entangle me in a nightmare, it felt only appropriate that I wanted to become its worst nightmare. I inserted the sword behind the green vines still holding my other arm in its grip and began to saw back and forth, feeling a huge rush of relief as the sword gnashed through the tender green roots. My other arm shot free and I began sawing frantically at the vines around my legs. It took effort enough that my muscles protested, but first one and then the other leg shook free. I glanced over to get my bearings, and my heart sank when I realized how far from the road I had strayed.

  I thought I was no more than a stone's throw away from the path. I was wrong.

  "Najika! Come to me!" Bronwyn's voice filled me with hope as she slashed her way closer to me. The flaming sword whirled and flashed. The trees towering around us pulsated with vines, though, and some of those veins now ripped free of the tree trunks to lash out at us like the lolling tongues of a hideous beast.

  It was too much, even for Bronwyn. I saw her slice a wriggling vine clean through, but in the next instant vines from the trees around her bore down on my friend from all sides. They scooped her up by her feet, avoiding the heat of the sword, and then the sword slipped through her fingers. Dozens of vines moved to smother the blade's fire, snuffing it out in heartbeats. Bronwyn's scream as the vines enfolded her carried through the woods.

  "Run, Naji! Run!"

  My feet wanted to run, but the broken part of my brain that apparently had forgotten the concept of fear wouldn't allow it. I ran towards the upside down figure of the girl who was like a sister to me. I'm not leaving you, Bronwyn. Save your noble sacrifice for someone who doesn't give a damn. Because I do, and I won't sacrifice you. Your life is every bit as important as mine.

  I roared a battle cry of my own as my sword cut a satisfying gap through several layers of swaying vine that stood between us. I swung again, seeing red as clear juices splattered me. If this was the Dreamgiver's version of blood, I wanted more of it. I kept swinging, only dimly aware of the swirling vines detaching from the treetops beside me, rolling downward like a wave crashing against the beach.

  I had just succeeded by some miracle to slash my way to Bronwyn's side when the rolling carpet of green death swallowed us both up, encircling and squeezing us like a jealous lover. I didn't scream at first as the vines covered my face. I knew when lost was lost. I tried to blot out all the tingling sensations and focused instead on the one good thing I knew. At least we'd taken a stand together. I wouldn't have to worry about survivor's guilt, wondering if I could have saved Bronwyn.

  Be thankful for small blessings, Father had once told me. I tried to take comfort in that now as I closed my eyes and wished for sleep. How did this work exactly? Would I have to be conscious the whole time the Dreamgiver slowly digested me? The thought sent a tremor through my body, and the strong Naji melted, replaced by real panic. And then I screamed. The digestive juices pouring into my mouth didn’t matter. I just screamed.

  I could accept death. That happened to everyone. But to die like this? To have my best friend die in this same way, in gradually progressing agony? It was terrifying, and I couldn't handle it. Suddenly every second as the tingling on my skin progressed towards a burning sensation made my heart pound harder and harder, a stampede that made me feel like all my ribs were about to shatter.

  I'm sorry, Drake. I failed you. I failed our Kingdom. I almost laughed, that's how far gone I was. I'll probably go down as the Queen with the shortest reign in human history. It had been a few days since we were married, since I had become Queen of the Black Kingdom. Not that it meant anything now.

  A fierce gale whipped through the trees. I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anything. But I felt it. Like a brewing storm, the very pressure in the air seemed to change. Then there was a vast buffet of wind, and I felt the vines enfolding me shake with the blast of force. That's when I heard…something. A bloodcurdling scream that wasn't human, wasn't anything, not anything familiar. It was like the roar of a thousand different beasts mixed into one earthquake-epic rumble, and it came down on the forest like a hammer.

  I felt a surprising heat warm the front of me. My eyes popped open and I gasped with shock as the vines drew back from my face. The scene in front of me looked like I'd been tossed abruptly into a different world. Entire trees had been uprooted and discarded like toys during a child's tantrum. A solid sheet of fire coated the trees deeper in the forest. Vines crackled and burned, turning to ash as the flames raced along the roots, eagerly consuming everything.

  The rest of the vines unfolded from me, shivering with what I imagined was fear, maybe despair, maybe both. I found Bronwyn barely conscious. She'd been enfolded in more vines than I had, and the pallor of her skin glistened with the Dreamgiver's disgusting secretions. I threw her arm around me and struggled to get us both upright. It was all I could do just to turn us in the right direction and propel us forward without tripping over a random root and sprawling headfirst.

  "Stay with me, girl. You're not allowed to die on me." Why I said those words, I don't know. Similar words hadn't helped my brother. I guess they were more for me to say them than for her to hear.

  We stumbled through the undergrowth. To keep her moving took every ounce of energy I had left. We moved like a man with a few too many goblets of ale in him, but at least we moved. The fires behind us raced and blossomed throughout the forest like a deadly flower. I had to admit, I kind of liked it.

  What had created it, though? As I heard that bloodcurdling roar again, my eyes swept upward. I almost froze at what I saw.

  Since I was old enough to hear stories, I'd always been fascinated by one legendary animal more than any other. Dragons. They weren't supposed to exist, but some of the old stories insisted they did.

  Whoever had written those old stories deserved to tell everyone off with a really big 'I told you so!' because up in the sky, its black scales glittering in the sunlight, a black dragon swept in a graceful dive. I held tight to Bronwyn as the massive beast skimmed the air just above us, his screeching roar joined by gouts of flame that set the trees on either side alight like enormous torches. The big guy was literally our savior, but after leaving his mouth those flames didn't answer to him. Or to anyone for that matter. Getting burned to death also wasn't on my wish list of ways to die, so I lurched forward again, grimly willing Bronwyn to hang on.

  The rest of the trek back to the road was just a blur. I remembered a knight's supportive arms helping us over that last threshold. Then I blacked out.

  Chapter 17

  Hands gently smacked my cheeks. Cold water rushed from a cloth being wrung over my face. My eyes fluttered open, and I coughed.

  "Lady Najika. Lady Najika. Can you hear me?" I recognized the s
ergeant's voice. The chaotic blur in front of me coalesced into something solid. Okay, I could see and I didn't hurt all over. That was a definite improvement.

  "Bronwyn," I croaked. Looking over, I saw Lady Vaela tending to a girl lying on the ground. At least Lady Vaela was a healer, and she could get Bronwyn on the mend. I tried not to think of the alternative. I sat up on my elbows. From the distance I could still hear the dragon's roars. Every now and then a new gout of flame erupted in the forest, spreading and licking at the treetops. I looked around and estimated that there were twenty, maybe more of these spreading infernos. It was like a web of fire had been thrown over the forest. What wasn’t in flames soon would be.

  "She looks okay to me. I don't think the secretions had enough time to do any lasting damage." That was the sergeant's assessment as he talked to my mother-in-law. Once she had Bronwyn resting comfortably she came over to me. For some reason she had a distant way about her.

  I gestured at the roaring, fire breathing thing of majesty in the distance. "That was good timing. I'm assuming he's on our side?"

  Lady Vaela gave me a cold stare. Something was definitely wrong. Why was she looking at me like that?

  "What?"

  "You don't know what you've done, do you?"

  I put a hand to my forehead, willing the pounding there to give it a rest. A surge of anger replaced my relief.

  "You want to tell me what you mean, Lady Vaela? Last time I checked I nearly got digested by a creature out of anyone's worst nightmare, and for all I know Bronwyn might not fully recover. If you want to lash out at me, do it with a little more class. Now what are you talking about?"

  I'd never spoken to my mother-in-law like that. I couldn't believe those words had even come out of my mouth.