Swan Lake

by K. M. Shea

  Nadia moved a few steps, to make sure the moth was following her, then tossed the torch to Misha.

  He scowled. “Throwing fire is incredibly dangerous.” Misha backed away from the campfire, so the moth would not be distracted by it, and moved towards the copse where the barrels and casks of drink for their regular clients rested.

  “We need more help with the shrubs,” Zina said. “The fire is starting to spread.” She threw a bucket of lake water on the burning plants, dousing a small portion of them.

  “Apologies, Odile, but this could get disastrous. We’ll have to take care of your pet,” Pyotr said. He lumbered out of the forest with a hefty axe clenched in one meaty hand.

  Odile sniffed, but she nodded.

  Odette looked from her sad friend to the moth that now chased Misha around the barrels. The bleeding heart—she wants to save it but feels she can’t ask us to do more. She sighed and jumped to her feet. “Stop! Odile—get your flute and play something soothing.”

  “But I’m not powerful enough to—”

  “You want your pet moth to live?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “Then play!” Odette jabbed a finger at Pyotr and Yakov—who was eyeing the moth and twirling his sword. “Don’t do anything.”

  Odile clumsily dug out a small flute from a pocket of her dress and began to play a soft, tranquil tune.

  Instantly, Odette could feel the effects on her body. Her heart stopped pounding, and some of her terror subsided. Will it be enough to calm the moth and make it stationary? “Nadia, give me a small length of the rope. Thanks.” She grabbed the rope as she ran past, nearing Misha and the moth. “Misha, toss me the fire.”

  Misha sprinted to her—though he took the time to hand her the torch—then darted behind a tree. “What are you going to try?”

  “Odile wants a pet, so she’ll get one,” Odette panted. She used the torch to lead the moth back to the fire. As the music grew a little louder and dug deeper into her, making her a little drowsy, she set the torch down on the rocky shore.

  The moth landed on the ground and took a few sleepy steps towards the fire before stopping and swiveling its creepy, furry head to peer at Odile.

  “Keep playing,” Odette said.

  Odile nodded, and the notes of her pipe soared up and down, like a good dream.

  Odette crouched next to the moth, shuddering in revulsion as she looped the rope under and around its head. Then she tied it in a knot, leaving a few lengths of rope to serve as a leash.

  She scrambled back, away from the creature. “There, we’ve got it.”

  Odile lowered the flute and smiled—a gesture that brightened her face and made her eyes sparkle. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You’ll have to play and lead the moth back to the castle. I’ll send Nadia to lure it along with a torch. The rest of you—put out that shrubbery.”

  Odette passed the rope off to Odile, who hugged her and then tugged on the leash. As she walked away, she played a few soothing notes on the flute to keep the moth calm. Nadia walked in front of her, lighting the way with a torch.

  Odette, Misha, and even Prince Alexsei, Lady Benno, and Prince Yakov started dumping buckets and bowls of water on the shrubbery. The fire was put out shortly.

  “That was very brave of you—” Yakov stopped speaking when Odette zipped past him, sprinting for the barrels awaiting shipment.

  She felt up and down them for any cracks that might have appeared in the chaos of the loose moth. When she confirmed they were unharmed, she heaved a sigh of relief. “They’re okay. They’re safe. Good.”

  Alexsei meandered closer to her. “That was kind of you—saving the moth for Odile, I mean.”

  Odette took a breath of air before she put on an expression of disbelief. “Kind? I was worried about our shipments. Clients won’t trust us if we deliver damaged goods. It’s bad for business.”

  She stood up, a little unnerved by the way Alexsei scrutinized her. His brown eyes flickered with more gold than usual, and the downturn of his lips was thoughtful.

  He is uncomfortably observant. “I’m a smuggler, Your Highness. As such, I must insist that you and your friend and brother refrain from visiting us again.”

  Alexsei smiled boyishly. “So that’s what you’re angling for? I don’t think it will happen. You intrigue Yakov too much.” He glanced at his brother and then, out of the corner of his eye, looked at Odette. “What do you think of him?”

  “I think he better have a number of good advisors, or the country will be in peril,” Odette said, embracing her role as a blackguard. “But he won’t shame us in front of other countries. His looks are ornamental enough.”

  “He’s very charming,” Alexsei said.

  “And you are very nice. And I am very selfish. And Nadia is, thankfully, very brave.” Odette eyed her barrels again. We are in great luck. If any of these had been punctured, it would have been a disaster.

  “Why the list of other peoples’ character?”

  “I thought that’s what we were doing—stating the obvious?” Odette said. She glanced up at the prince, alarmed when she saw the fond smile he wore. Is he—horrors, he’s enjoying this! “No, no. See here, Your Highness. You cannot keep coming here. I have no guarantee of your safety, and your presence puts my entire group—and operation—in danger. If my clients realize we’ve got royals prancing around these parts, they’ll stop trusting us.”

  “I like you, Odette,” Alexsei said with his unfortunately sweet smile.

  Odette—level-headed Odette—stared at him, flabbergasted and speechless.

  “I look forward to spending more time with you and your comrades.”

  “No—I said no, Your Highness!” Odette growled as Alexsei left her and joined his brother and friend at the campfire. She sighed and massaged her forehead. “I just lost control of the situation. That never happens.” She scowled. They’ll lose interest. They’re royals—that means they’re flighty by nature. In a few weeks, they’ll forget we exist.

  Odette watched Anna—a young girl approximately thirteen years old and the second youngest member of the Black Swan Smugglers—with narrowed eyes.

  The girl flipped two of Odette’s daggers at a tree so they spun blade over hilt. One dagger hit the tree hilt first and harmlessly bounced off. The other stabbed the tree’s bark. Anna winced and turned to Odette like a puppy awaiting punishment.

  Odette smiled. “You’re improving.”

  Anna squealed and clapped her hands. “Really?”

  “Yes, but if you insist on learning how to flip a dagger at a target, you’ll need a lot more practice. As it stands, if you’re actually in danger, you’ll need to throw a knife at your target, not flip one.” Odette reclaimed her daggers and wiped the sticky sap that flecked their blades off on her shirt. “For now, practice throwing your knives without a spin.”

  “Yes, of course!” Anna bubbled with glee as she reclaimed her set of three throwing knives and resumed the exercise.

  Odette studied her for a few moments—watching her forgo the fancy flipping technique and flick the knives so they traveled in a straight, smooth path. She moved on and observed Nadia school Gala and Zina in archery.

  “Swan Queen.”

  Odette considered flipping a dagger at Misha—like Anna had tried with the tree—or at least rapping him on the head with the hilt. “What.”

  “Our visitors have come again,” he said.

  What? When they hadn’t dropped by the night before, Odette had cautiously allowed herself to hope they wouldn’t return. What could compel them to come back?

  Odette whirled around, scowling at the “noble trio” standing behind Misha and wearing winning smiles. “Why are you here?”

  Yakov ignored her question and craned his neck to watch Pyotr hack at a tree with his axes and make woodchips fly. “I say, you bunch train as hard as soldiers. It’s quite remarkable.”

  Odette pressed her lips together—pleased by the observation
, but displeased by who had said it.

  “Everyone appears to be quite proficient. Did you all have this training before you were cursed?” Alexsei asked.

  I cannot allow him to take charge of our conversation this time! “No.” Odette folded her arms across her chest and turned to face the smugglers who were still practicing in spite of their audience.

  “Then it is a necessary part of your profession?” Benno asked.

  Odette eyed Yakov—who had left his friends to prowl around behind Gala and Zina as they attempted to shoot at targets deeper in the forest. He’s going to get himself shot. She opened her mouth to speak, but Benno beat her to the task.

  “Yakov. Stop being an ass and get back here.”

  Yakov lingered near Nadia—who ignored the Imperial Prince as if he were a bush.

  “Yakov,” Benno warned.

  He sighed and retreated to her side. “You don’t understand my passion for arms and weapons, Benno.”

  “What I understand is that you can be an imperial nuisance. Don’t touch anything—or anyone,” Benno said. She turned her attention back to Odette. “As I was saying, you felt a need to train?”

  Odette was so delighted by Benno bossing Yakov around, she couldn’t help but answer her. “Yes. Almost every Black Swan Smuggler is expected to train and be proficient in at least one weapon—so they can defend themselves if necessary. We practice on a weekly basis.”

  “Impressive,” Benno said.

  “And smart—brings to mind the Farset army. I’d never want to meet anyone from their army in a forest,” Yakov said. He started to wander again but not into the middle of the practice grounds this time.

  “The elves trained their human allies quite well,” Alexsei said.

  “The practices were Odette’s idea,” Misha added. He glowed when Benno smiled at him.

  “Do you encounter much danger while out on your missions?” Alexsei asked.

  Odette shook her head and watched Anna—whom she felt particularly responsible for; the younger girl had chosen daggers as her weapon because it was Odette’s weapon of choice. “We face the most danger when we are swans, as we are great targets for hunters.” She looked pointedly at Yakov.

  Alexsei rocked back on his heels. “Ahh, yes. That would be hazardous. But you also train as swans, don’t you?”

  Odette glanced at him, her eyebrows rising in surprise.

  “You scolded that couple the day I first met you for failing to do a proper fly-over, and you mentioned something about drills,” Alexsei said.

  “Yes,” Odette said. “We train in flight patterns—flying can be easier when you fly in certain arrangements—and practice fly-overs to certify that no intruders are near Swan Lake.” She pressed her lips together. Though Iosif and Gala had apologized, she was still disappointed they had failed to spot Alexsei. More disappointed by the moment, actually.

  “When did you first put this into practice?” Benno asked. She watched as Nadia left Gala and Zina and picked up her spear to cross blades in a practice match with Pyotr.

  “The year I was cursed—though then it was more out of self-defense than discipline.”

  Alexsei shook his head. “Amazing. You were how old—fourteen?—and you were already thinking of defense strategies?”

  “I was fifteen,” she said.

  “Would you like to come work for the Kozlovkan Army?” Yakov asked. “We have wonderful benefits—though we would have to talk Father into accepting you. He’s a bit touchy about following laws and rules.”

  “No, thank you,” Odette said dryly. She could only imagine what Emperor Yevgeniy would do if he met her. “It is not all that impressive. If I did not think and strategize quickly, we would have died. When faced with peril like that, I become enthusiastically creative. Not that it helped much. The only reason we survived that year was because of the vigor spell Rothbart cast on us. When Nadia arrived, she provided the defensive boost we needed.”

  Alexsei drifted closer to her as Benno and Misha started a second conversation about flight patterns. “Vigor spell?”

  “It’s a spell that makes us tougher than most folk. We can take a few cracks to the head and shake it off easier than you could,” Odette explained. “It does nothing for strength and speed; we’re just harder to injure.”

  “That sounds surprisingly useful,” Alexsei said.

  She ran a hand through her messy hair and nodded. “It is. It’s saved a life on more than one occasion.”

  “Why did he cast such a spell on you?”

  “It was a test run. He wanted to use it on himself, but he wasn’t sure what the side effects would be like, so he cast it on Zina and me—and eventually all of us—when he placed the swan spell on us.”

  “Even though he must have known—by the time the last of you were cursed—that the spell worked?”

  Odette shrugged. “I’ve wondered why as well, but Rothbart likens himself—as you saw—to a mad genius. As a result, he’s occasionally done things on accident that have proven beneficial to us. The vigor spell is one of those.”

  “Strange.” Alexsei’s eyes crinkled as he scratched his chin.

  “What is it?”

  “I just can’t seem to get a measure of Sorcerer Rothbart.”

  “He is easier to predict than you would think. However, the threat and danger he poses should be your first concern,” she stressed.

  Alexsei smiled, but he nodded in understanding. “I know—he is dangerous. Even so, could you find it in yourself to introduce me to more of your crew?”

  Odette frowned. “No.”

  “Alexsei, come meet Pyotr,” Benno called as Misha took her around and introduced her to other smugglers.

  Odette zeroed in on her second-in-command and glowered at him. Traitor.

  Misha ignored her and bowed to Alexsei. “If it would please Your Highness,” he added.

  “Of course!” Alexsei smiled at Pyotr, who nodded to the prince in respect.

  Odette rubbed her eyes, flipped a dagger from her belt, and moved to join Anna in her practice.

  “Didn’t you practice earlier?” Anna asked.

  “I did,” she acknowledged. “But this way I won’t be tempted to impale something human.”

  Chapter 4

  Mollifying Moths

  Odette shut her swan eyes and drifted on the lake surface. She was no longer bathed in sunlight, as she had been a few minutes ago, so the sun had to be almost set. Just a few moments of quiet. Usually, Odette couldn’t wait to be human again, but on the days she was tired from staying up all night and only dozing during the day, she enjoyed floating on the lake in her swan body.

  Peace and relaxation flowed through her, almost like one of Odile’s songs. Mother, Father…I miss you.

  “Smugglers and your queen so fair! Yoo-hoo!” Yakov yodeled.

  All peace deserted Odette’s body, and she hissed and flapped her wings as Alexsei, Yakov, and Benno left the woods.

  Alexsei waved at her. “Hello there, Swan Queen.”

  Odette beat her wings in his direction then turned her backside to him and floated angrily—though she doubted he could tell that.

  The noble trio had become unfortunately frequent visitors. Usually they passed through every two to three nights and stayed for a few hours—being bothersome and getting in the way.

  Don’t they realize how dangerous it is for them to do this? Odette slapped her wings on the water.

  She stopped when the water beneath her began to glow. As custom, droplets of water levitated in the air like reverse raindrops. Bells clanged, and water encircled Odette in a cocoon as her wings stretched out. Light glittered everywhere as her body lengthened and settled into her human form. Her feet touched the sandy bottom of the shallow waters, and the light faded.

  Odette sloshed through the waters with a scowl. “What part of ‘we don’t want you around’ are you incapable of understanding?” she demanded.

  “We’re friends now,” Benno said, slightly m
ollifying her. (She did like Benno’s sly wit and her ability to boss Yakov around.) “Friends pay social calls upon one another.”

  “And I grow lonely without you, fair Odette.” Yakov’s charming smile and confession brought all of Odette’s irritation hurtling back.

  She glowered at the prince, but she was interrupted by Nadia. “They do no harm in coming.”

  “Indeed, they always bring valuable news,” Misha added.

  Odette clenched her hands into fists. “Am I the only one who understands that Rothbart would either curse, torture, or kill the three of you if he realized you were here?”

  “You will not have to worry about him much longer.” Yakov gave her a rogue’s smile. “When Father returns, I am certain the Veneno Conclave will send aid.”

  I don’t believe it for a second, but I’m too tired to argue. Rather than respond, Odette turned on her heels and stomped towards the white boat one of the smuggling teams had paddled into the lake via a river inlet just before dawn.

  I’ve got to inspect these barrels. Shura said the last shipment was going to be late—how late is late? Odette hopped into the boat, stumbling a little when it rocked from the sudden motion. In mid-rock, it suddenly stabilized. Odette glanced over her shoulder to see Alexsei holding it in place.

  He smiled at her.

  “What do you want?” Odette asked wearily.

  “Nothing,” Alexsei said. “I thought you might need help.”

  Odette snorted. “Right. Thanks. If you really wanted to help, you would keep your brother from venturing here so often.”

  “I don’t believe there is any way for me to visit you without Yakov wishing to join me,” he said.

  She scooted around one of the barrels and squinted at them in the dim light. I’ll have to get a torch and come back. “I think you’re both crazy. Why would you willingly want to spend quality time with a cantankerous wench—whose foremost thought is on profit—and her gang of smugglers?” Odette wiped her hands off on her trousers.

  Alexsei’s gold-brown eyes glowed for a moment when he tilted his head and the moonlight hit his face. “In spite of your claims, I would say nearly everything you do is for the sake of others.”