Compass of the Nymphs

by Sam Bennett

  The citizens of Solames that had been assembled in front of the platform had a different look on their faces. Each one was anxiously looking around, dreading what they knew would soon happen. It had been made quite clear that this was not going to be a pleasant afternoon for anyone in the audience.

  Taisiya guided her horse a little deeper into the forest so as not to be seen by those that were watching for the chariot’s arrival. By the time she had circled around and had the view of the town center right in front of her, a commotion was stirring in the field and on the platform. The citizens were getting as restless as their queen.

  Hopping off the horse, Taisiya patted it in appreciation and then began to climb the nearest tree. Undetectable and safely seated on the highest branch, she looked out at what was happening in the town center.

  Queen Adrasteia must have expected the arrival of the chariot to be imminent; she had stood up and begun to speak to the crowd. Zara was at her side.

  Taisiya strained to hear the speech that was being made. Queen Adrasteia had her usual fake charm on as she gestured to the crowd. “My humble citizens,” she said, “it is a pleasure to see you today.”

  Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces in the crowd, they weren’t as pleased to see her. Nonetheless, she continued, “It pains me to say this, but there comes a time when punishment is necessary to those that are guilty of treason. The gods themselves have trusted me in ruling over the land, and it is a momentous task that I have harrowingly, but humbly, accepted.

  “However, there have recently been a select few that believe they themselves hold more knowledge than the gods! Pah! I know that I speak to a very intelligent crowd today—one that knows better than to doubt the mighty gods. Still, it must be known that any one who dares to interfere with the way our kingdom is ruled will be punished consequently. I think we all can agree there is no better punishment fit for treason than death.”

  The crowd half applauded and half groaned. They knew what would be coming next, or so they thought. Taisiya watched from high above, waiting for the right moment to release an arrow through the queen’s heart.

  Adrasteia now turned to Zara and grabbed his hand, holding it up high above their heads. “This, my people, is Zara.” She let his hand fall as she turned her attention back on the fear-filled eyes in the audience. “Zara is not of royal blood, but I am kind enough to let him accompany me in the castle in exchange for his services.

  “As you know, Solames is a beautiful land and all of you do wonderful jobs working for the castle and your country. To ensure the safety of your posterity, I’ve been generous enough to take in the town’s, and other towns across the country, youth. Doing so keeps them safe from the dangers that are posed by living in Solames and safeguards that there will be generations to come!”

  Taisiya rolled her eyes. Why was the queen wasting her breath? Everyone in town knew that she was lying through her teeth. Taisiya grabbed an arrow and was ready to fire until the queen turned to Zara once more.

  “It always puzzled me,” she said, “that there was one child in all of Solames that somehow managed to…elude…finding her way inside my castle. I trusted my men, though I shouldn’t have. The one girl, who you all know lives in Solames with her parents, grew into an immoral rebel. Recently, she has, I believe, seen the error in her ways. The girl has tried to gain entry in to my castle herself!

  “I know, however, that she is not seeking to find her rightful place with the other children as she should have many years ago. No, there is evil in her heart. Last night I awoke in my bedchamber and saw her staring at me with a knife, ready to kill me!”

  A small round of applause burst out in the rear of the audience. Queen Adrasteia glared hatefully at them, and they quickly hushed.

  She sighed, “A chariot that was carrying both the rebel Taisiya and her godforsaken parents was on its way to town, but it does not surprise me that it has not arrived.” Part of the crowd started cheering in delight, but quieted once the queen held her fist up at them. “I can sense your sadness…” she said through gritted teeth, “but do not worry. Justice will be served today.”

  Taisiya thought to herself that justice indeed would be served and was about to let go of the arrow when Adrasteia walked out of the target and on to the other side of Zara, circling him. He looked rightly uncomfortable.

  “Spies are always a good thing for a queen to have,” Adrasteia rambled. “But sometimes there can be a bad seed even among the elite.” Zara and Taisiya both gulped at the same time. This wasn’t sounding good for him.

  The queen now ignored the crowd and seemed to be speaking solely to Zara. “Did you really think I didn’t know?” She chuckled. “I know it can be hard to do what your brain says is right when your heart says the opposite, but still, Zara…”

  Adrasteia’s eyes shone brightly at him as if she were a bird that had spotted its prey. “Ah, unrequited love,” she said before turning back to her now captive audience. One of the guards rose from his seat behind them and stood wielding a battle-axe.

  Taisiya could feel her hand shaking with worry. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get a clean shot. If she aimed for the queen, she would more than likely hit Zara instead. Taisiya’s deep breaths drowned the sound of the queen’s speech as she tried to remain calm and get her shot.

  Queen Adrasteia had returned to talking animatedly to the crowd. The guard inched closer and closer to Zara, ready to slice him open at a moment’s notice. Taisiya was beginning to cry, wondering how in the world Zara was remaining so stoic.

  Everyone was taken aback by what happened next. Zara collapsed on the floor with his head in his hands, sobbing. Taisiya momentarily choked up, sorrow running through her veins. The guard stopped in his tracks, and even Adrasteia looked down at Zara, bewildered.

  It took a while for Taisiya to realize what he had done – given her a clear shot for the queen. Taisiya let an arrow rip and then began to climb down the tree as quickly as she could while it sailed through the air towards its target. She knew as soon as it came in to view, all eyes would be on her, and the guards would waste no time in apprehending her.

  Taisiya hadn’t waited around to realize that the arrow did not reach its target. It did, however, fly right past the queen’s arm, giving everyone in Solames a fright. Adrasteia began shrieking and crying out to her sentinels. They turned their heads in the direction of the arrow and saw Taisiya as she jetted deeper and deeper into the forest.

  Zara was one step ahead of all the others on the platform. When the queen began shouting, he jumped off and darted through the crowd. There was no better protection than a mob of people that he knew would be on his side. He looked back over his shoulder as he ran and saw the queen was now infuriated. All of her attention was on capturing Taisiya; he was grateful.

  Taisiya wasn’t so appreciative of the queen’s fury. The guards were gaining on her and fast. She fired an arrow backwards at them, and although it didn’t strike, it scared them momentarily and slowed their pace.

  She knew the forest by heart. Every rock, every branch—it was all like a second home to her. Finding the glen would be no problem for her, but she feared that she would be leading the guards right to her parents if she got there too quickly.

  Taisiya had no clue on how to shake the guards off her scent. She was starting to lose her breath and even considered ditching the bow and arrows. She knew that if she did, the guards would pick them up and use them against her.

  She glanced over her shoulder once more and realized they were gaining on her too fast. It wouldn’t be long now until they captured her. She did the only thing she could think of and ran in the opposite direction of the glen. The more distance between her parents and the queen’s militia the better.

  Taisiya could feel her body starting to shut down after being exerted for so long. Using her knowledge of the forest to her advantage, she turned around and started running backwards through the woods with her eyes on her would-be captors
. She drew another arrow and released it; it hit one of the guards square in the chest. His comrades didn’t even stop to check on him as he fell over dead.

  She gulped, knowing there would be a significant clearing coming up. There would be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. She pulled out another arrow and loaded it, waiting for the right moment to release it.

  The shot had almost fired when Taisiya collapsed into a heap on the forest floor. Running backwards had caused her to run right into none other than Zara. They both yelled and hurried to disentangle themselves from one another while the guards came charging at them.

  Taisiya had hit her head hard and was a little dazed and confused as she tried to get up. The guards had gotten close enough to draw their weapons. Without even thinking, Zara picked Taisiya up and carried her over his shoulders and darted back in the opposite direction.

  Neither Zara nor Taisiya had enough time to pick up the bow and arrow that had fumbled out of her grip in their scuffle. The queen’s sentinels had now grabbed it—something Zara didn’t realize until an arrow went whizzing past his head. Running in a straight line was no longer an option.

  His situation was made worse by the fact that his quick pace had made Taisiya even dizzier, which caused her to become completely incapacitated. It was no struggle for Zara to carry her, but with the queen’s men in hot pursuit, he wondered how long it would be before he needed to take a break.

  They were all now getting further and further out of the forest, backtracking into town. It’d be hard to tell how many traps the queen had waiting for them in the village. They were slowly, but surely, getting boxed in.

  Zara was trying to come up with an excuse for the queen to not kill both of them once captured, but was coming up empty. The arrows the guards were shooting were getting closer and closer to hitting them; some were so close that Zara could hear the sound as they sliced the air.

  He took a deep breath and then sat Taisiya down, concealing her behind a tree. She was weighing him down, but he wasn’t about to go on without her. Instead, with her safely hidden from view, he turned around and went to give the guards the fight they were so eager to get.

  They soon spotted him, with his dagger drawn. It was a pitiful sight. “Zara! Just give it up already.” The guard closest to him called. “We don’t like this any more than you do.”

  Zara snickered, knowing they were lying. Queen Adrasteia had her men trained from birth to be ruthless killers that thrived on murder. Every single one of the men closing in on him would love nothing more than to kill him. He held out his tiny dagger to keep them at bay, but it wasn’t working.

  “Where is the girl?” one asked. “She wasn’t as strong as you thought? Ran off to save herself, did she?”

  It took all of Zara’s strength not to tell them the truth, but he knew if he lied that Taisiya would have a better chance of survival. “We split up,” he said simply. “It was my idea. She wanted to stay and fight you.”

  The guard that had asked gave a slow clap of derision. “How brave!” he said scornfully. The man beside him had an arrow drawn, waiting for the signal to release it right through Zara.

  The leader was just about to give the motion for all of them to kill Zara when one of his men in the back let out a pained scream. Everyone turned to see the horse Taisiya had ridden into town galloping its way through the queen’s men. They dashed to get out of its path, but it still managed to topple most of them to their knees. It came to a stop in front of Zara and bowed its head.

  Zara’s jaw dropped in amazement. “Dee!” he called out to the horse. Dee was the horse Zara rode when he would do the queen’s bidding. He’d named her himself, and the two had become quite attached to each other over the years.

  He jumped on her back, and they were off. Zara navigated Dee through the woods and to Taisiya. Thankfully, she had started to come to and was excited to see Zara coming to her rescue. He held out his hand to her and pulled her up on the back of the horse behind him. Holding on tight, the two of them glided off and away from the guards.

  Once they had gotten far away, Zara petted Dee’s mane and said, “You really saved the day, Dee.”

  Taisiya looked at him. “Dee?”

  She couldn’t see it, but he was beaming with pride. “Dee is my horse! The queen’s men would have killed me if she hadn’t come running through the woods to the sound of my voice. It’s good to see you again, too.”

  “Thanks!” Taisiya called. “Thank you for saving me back there. I wasn’t too sure I could trust you before, but now I know.”

  Zara gave a small chuckle. “I’ve always been on your side, trust me.”

  Taisiya glanced behind them to see if anyone was still following them. The only thing behind them was the forest. She sighed in relief. “I think we’re going to make it.”

  “Me too.” Zara said, “Where are your parents?”

  “I told them to go to the glen that’s deep in the forest and to wait for me there. Hopefully, they made it.” Taisiya said. “Let’s turn around.”

  They had just come to the outskirts of the forest. Zara nudged Dee to turn around and go back in, but she whinnied and would not enter. “That’s odd,” Zara said, nudging her again. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get Dee to go back into the forest. “What’s the matter girl?!”

  Dee raised herself off the ground in fright, nearly bucking Zara and Taisiya off her. Taisiya had to scramble and grab Zara’s sides to stop from falling. Zara then guided her further away from the forest; Dee trotted on happily. Whenever he would motion for her to turn around, she would get spooked.

  “This is strange,” Zara said. “let’s get off her.”

  The two hopped off Dee’s back, and Zara began looking over her coat to see if she had any injuries. He scratched his chin. “I don’t see anything that would make her act so upset whenever I push on her side to turn around.”

  While Zara was examining Dee, Taisiya looked up at the trees and the sky over the forest. Something unusual was going on. She sniffed the air, taking in a strange smell. Looking back up at the sky, she saw it. “Zara,” she said, hoping her eyes were playing tricks on her.

  Zara looked up at her, but she didn’t need to say a word to get the message across. Taisiya was pointing up at the sky. When Zara looked, they both instantly saw it. Billowing up and out from the trees deep within the forest was smoke. Taisiya knew in her heart that it was coming from around the glen.

  Zara’s eyes widened, “Where there’s smoke...there’s…”

  “Fire.” Taisiya finished for him. They looked at each other apprehensively.

  “Maybe,” Zara said, trying to rationalize the situation, “your parents have found some food and are cooking it?”

  The sky was getting more and more black with smoke every second. Before Taisiya could even respond, Dee bolted in fright and took off running. Zara turned and looked at the horse as it galloped away, but Taisiya turned the other way to see what Dee had been looking at before she was spooked. A burning red fire was dancing its way through the forest, devouring everything in its path. Trees were burning; brush was igniting everywhere.

  Taisiya panicked and grabbed Zara’s hand. They ran to follow Dee to safety. “It’s the queen!” Zara shouted. “They’ve probably found your parents and are now setting the whole forest on fire to bait us. What are we going to do?!”

  Taisiya let out a frustrated scream. “We’re going to hide!” she said, and the two then ran further into Solames.

  As they came closer to the houses, Taisiya and Zara slowed down to be on the lookout for any patrolmen the queen may have set up after the fight in the town center earlier. Sure enough, guards were patrolling every major street in town. “Where are we going?” Zara whispered as he watched them.

  “To the only place that I know for certain is safe,” Taisiya whispered back. “Follow me.”

  Taisiya hadn’t known until just seconds before Zara asked where they were going. They had been coming to the to
wn center once more, and the houses that dotted the landscape among the official buildings were unfamiliar and unlikely to harbor two fugitives. Right after he asked, she laid eyes on a little shack that blended in with the other buildings and realized exactly who they needed to pay a visit to: Ammon.

  The only problem with this plan was the fact that Ammon’s home was in the thick of the town center, and guards were swarming all around it. Taisiya led Zara behind someone’s house and then pondered what to do next.

  “You blend in pretty well with the queen’s henchmen, but I stick out like a sore thumb,” she said as she looked him up and down.

  He shook his head, “No, they could spot me a mile away. You may think we’re all the same, but I’m nothing like them. Besides,” he stuck his head around the corner, and she followed suit, “they’re dressed in all black, and I’m in white.”

  Taisiya groaned. “There’s a little shack along the way there, and if we can get to it, I know we’ll be safe. By the looks of it, we won’t be able to get there, though.”

  Zara cocked his head in thought. “What if…” his voice trailed off. “What if…we fight fire with fire?”

  “Hmm?” Taisiya replied.

  “Stay here,” Zara said. “I’m going to go create a distraction. When the time is right, get to that shack. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Taisiya nodded and then Zara jogged down the road, disappearing behind one of the many houses. Taisiya sat and waited for his distraction and began to wonder if it would ever come – or how she would know when the time was right.

  A few minutes later, Zara’s distraction made itself apparent. All the guards went running from their posts in the same direction. Taisiya looked back but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, once the coast was clear she made her way to Ammon’s door and quickly let herself in without knocking.