by Katy Haye
The drowsy scent of the rohannans filled my nostrils. The dragonette under my arm crooned softly, butting my arm through the fabric of my cloak. “Nearly out,” I promised her. I pushed through the branches. If you didn’t know the way through, it was almost impossible to stumble upon, but servants spoke in front of silent me as though I wasn’t there, and I heard things I wasn’t supposed to hear, and learned things even my father was ignorant of.
There.
At the other side of the bushes was the wall that surrounded the palace. Except that here, some damage had befallen it. The roots of the bushes had intertwined with the stones, perhaps, causing them to tumble down. The fallen stones formed a ramp that led nearly to the top of a wall that was six feet tall, rather than the ten feet that surrounded most of the palace. The damage had never been reported, so the wall remained unfixed. It was mostly used by servants who didn’t want the guards at the gates to know their business, and it was perfect for my purpose tonight.
I scrambled up the wall and sat on the top, surveying my surroundings. The gap gave onto an alleyway. On the opposite side was another wall that marked off Lord Navre’s property, hemming in the huge gardens attached to the city home he used when at court. The alleyway was little used, which was why the damaged wall hadn’t been officially noticed yet. I looked carefully around. The alley was usually deserted, but I was taking no chances. Stealing the dragonette was dangerous. What I was about to do would get me sent to my grave.
I checked again. No one was in sight. No suspicious shadows, no sounds other than the soft breeze, no windows overlooking the spot where I was. I pulled up my hood anyway and touched my free hand against my face, feeling my features as I marshalled the magic inside me and pushed my features to change, nose widening and flattening, my cheeks becoming more rounded, eyes lightening to blue from their usual brown, my skin growing paler, until I could be from Nordin.
I had no mirror, but I’d done this plenty of times before the glass in my room, testing my abilities. I could feel the difference, as well as the tingle of residual magic on my skin. Women were forbidden to use magic; that was the law in Muirland. Magic was rare and dangerous, and for our own sakes only mages could cast spells, and they needed dragons to provide the raw power. A lucky few young men were apprenticed to the mages, but never women. Only boys were selected for the prestigious training. Any woman found attempting to use magic was put to death.
It was just a shame magic didn’t know the rules.
I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t had access to abilities no one else seemed to possess, although I did remember the day my mother had witnessed what I was capable of. I’d been proud of my remarkable talents: “Mother, look. See what I can do.” She’d beaten me soundly, and threatened my weeping six-year-old self that she’d cut off my nose if I ever let anyone see my talent. I’d known her to be in earnest, and all my efforts from that moment had gone into hiding my abilities.
My understanding had grown when I was twelve and had been taken by Jaran to watch the execution of a witch. The poor woman was screaming with fear even before she’d been thrown off the top of the cliffs to shatter on the river’s rocks far below. Jaran had supposed me traumatised by the sight, not knowing that my shaking hadn’t been only for the victim, but also for myself. I saw with cold clarity that if I let anyone know what I could do, that same fate awaited me. I understood then why my mother had been so ferocious in her lesson.
As I’d grown older, my resentment had increased. The mages were clearly wrong, arrogant and blind to reality. But no one was strong enough to challenge them, not even my mother the queen. And so, my rebellion had found its form. I would let loose the magic inside me, but only when I was confident I wouldn’t be discovered.
Now, it dovetailed perfectly with my desire to punish my father by stealing something he cared about. The princess couldn’t leave the palace and walk about the city, but an anonymous, cloaked girl drew no attention.
Provided no one saw what I was carrying.
I needed to offload my stolen bounty as quickly as I could. I bundled the dragonette in my cloak and dropped awkwardly to the ground outside the palace. The dragonette gave a mournful snap. “I’m sorry; done now,” I whispered to her, resettling my cloak so my burden wasn’t obvious. With a final glance up and down the alleyway to ensure I’d attracted no attention, I hurried out into the city proper.
My breath caught. A sense of freedom hit me as I stepped into the city. Muirland City was strikingly unlike the stifling palace, closed in by nothing but the endless night sky. And yet, that freedom was terrifying, too. I had to fight my desire to run back to the palace, like a dog trained to trust only in the safety of its kennel.
Determined not to give in to that fear, my feet settled into a rapid, steady rhythm as I headed into the cobbled main square, passing the massive fountain and on to a street lined with taverns that would lead me to the Three Tuns.
My shoulders relaxed for the first time in weeks. I was engaged in criminal activity, wearing a magical face that would see me killed, and yet as my fears ebbed, I felt more alive than I had for months. I could vanish. I could keep this strange new face and become someone else. The princess could simply disappear.
My footsteps faltered. I was a coward. I was too afraid to step off the precipice of what I knew into the dangers that faced me if I tried to leave that life. What talents did I have, after all? A thief with magic, both gifts that would get me executed in everyday life.
No, this could only ever be a break from my usual life. But I’d enjoy it for as long as it lasted.
4 – The Princess couldn’t just Vanish
I sauntered through the city as though I didn’t have a care in the world. A palace maid with the night off, heading into the city to catch a show. I sank into my disguise with relief. Yes, I had a task to fulfil, but I nearly managed to forget my self-appointed duty and slip into my plain persona to enjoy myself.
I’d been walking for five minutes when I realised someone was following me. A deliberate trail, not just someone walking in the same direction through the capital’s night-quiet streets. I resisted the urge to spin around and scan the street to find them. If I turned, they’d be sure to hide, and I would alert them to the fact that I knew they were there. Unease unfurled inside me. Were they following me, or a lone servant girl? I hoped they hadn’t been in pursuit since I’d left the palace. If this was a guard who’d seen me leave and knew who I was, then I was in fathoms-deep trouble.
The idea that my servant-girl self had caught the attention of a predatory male wasn’t much better.
Keeping my pace even, I pulled my hood further forward to hide my face and slipped through the shadows, ducking through alleyways when I could do so without getting lost. The sense of pursuit didn’t fade. Clearly, whoever was following me knew the city well. If it was a guard, they should have confronted me by now, eager for the reward sure to be provided for bringing the straying princess home. If it wasn’t a guard, who was it – and what did they want?
I reminded myself that I was in the middle of the largest city in the kingdom. It was night-time and the streets were quiet – especially empty of women – but the city was never properly silent. Night-workers were going about their business, while others were seeking evening entertainment. My heart beat harder as fearful thoughts crept into my mind and unsettled me, stories the maids whispered when they didn’t realise I was listening. No one would attack me where there were witnesses. Perhaps I should stick to the bigger streets.
I turned at the next junction, returning to the busier thoroughfares. Scents of cooking as well as beer reached me through the doorways of inns, and bursts of conversation spilled from the open windows of family homes. I was in the social centre of the city.
A group of men burst out of a doorway in front of me. Startled, I shrank into the shelter of the wall. The men passed by without even glancing at me and my heart began to return to its usual beat. Since I’d stopped any
way, I paused to look behind me. No one was paying me any attention. Or it appeared that way. I hurried on. Two more streets until I reached the Three Tuns. I would be there in a matter of minutes.
A beggar at the corner called for alms.
“I’m sorry, I have nothing,” I muttered. I hadn’t thought to bring money with me. The beggar had the dark skin of the Surranese – a refugee whose escape from his home country hadn’t been the success he must have hoped for. “The Daughters of Compassion will help you,” I told him. “They can give you a meal, and somewhere to sleep. The House of Compassion is at the eastern edge of the city.” I pointed in the right direction.
“They’d help a Surrana?”
“They help anyone who needs it,” I promised. It was their mantra, one that I knew as well as any of the official daughters.
He began to gather up the blanket he’d been sitting on.
“The House of Compassion is white-washed, and the door always stands open,” I told him. “You can’t miss it.”
He set off in the right direction. I watched him go and thought about following him. If I kept my disguise, I could join the Daughters and spend the rest of my life the way I’d intended.
But the princess couldn’t just vanish. I’d be hunted, just as much as the dragonette. No, my fate was set. It was the dragonette’s future I intended to change. Time to find the Black Diamond Troupe.
I’d picked them deliberately, trusting that my information was correct. If they were heading to Nordin after their performance tonight, their route would take them along the edge of the Firethorn Mountains, where dragons and the fae could be found. The troupe could look after the dragonette until they reached the mountains, where she could be safely set free. Provided they didn’t turn around and hand me over to the first guard they saw.
I picked up my pace. And that was when someone stepped out of a doorway and rammed straight into me.
My breath whooshed out of me as I was slammed back against the opposite wall, my shoulders gripped in painfully hard fingers. I kept hold of the dragonette with difficulty.
Hot breath met my skin. “What do we have here?”
I blinked, focusing on my attacker. He was so close I couldn’t see him properly, just a scruffy beard and cold, blue eyes.
“A little girl who should have been told by her momma to stay at home.” His fingers tightened, shifting so they pressed against the sides of my neck. “It’s dangerous in the dark city. Didn’t your momma ever tell you that? There are bad men out here.” An unpleasant grin revealed discoloured teeth. “And I’m the baddest of them all.”
I don’t know what he expected. Pleas, perhaps. Maybe weeping. Instead, he got my knee, driven as hard as I could up between his legs. He stumbled back, releasing me, and I stepped forward, reaching for his face with the hand that wasn’t supporting the dragonette.
He was still mumbling in agony, hands clutched over his privates when my thumb pressed against his closed eye, forcing him further back and to his knees. Footsteps echoed to my left and a sudden clatter sounded. I felt the vibration as something smacked against my attacker’s head. He collapsed, abruptly boneless as he slid to the ground, insensible.
My gaze snapped to the side, but there was nothing to see. The owner of the feet had run away. When I glanced down, the cobbled ground was littered with stones. There was no way to identify the one that had been used to knock out my attacker. Someone had chosen to help me, but they didn’t want to be identified. Well, that suited me. I turned back the way I’d been going before I was accosted. I started to run, and didn’t stop until I reached the Three Tuns.
Lyo – A Palace Servant with a Secret
The night was shaping up to be as dull as they had all been since he’d arrived in the city. He knew the routines of the guards well enough to predict every shift change and pretty much every yawn by now. What went on inside the palace was harder for him to divine, and that was what he needed to know.
It was time to move his research on a step. And for that, he needed an ‘in’. Pell had taken on that role – drinking in the taverns where the guards went to relax when they were off-duty. He’d heard plenty of complaints about poor pay and over-harsh punishments, but nothing useful. And the Muirland guards were slow to trust a Surrana interloper.
Lyo craned his head back to watch the stars and sent a prayer to the gods. They needed something new, something that would help them fulfil their vow to serve the exiled prince and return peace to the Surran nation. Once the words were spoken, he returned his gaze to the palace gates.
He’d only been watching for a minute when his prayer was answered. On the far side of the central city square, where an alleyway led between the palace and the fine house of one of the Muirland nobles, a shadow came into sight. As she stepped farther into city square, the shadow became a young woman. She was dressed well, if plainly, and had come from the direction of the palace. Also, she was very clearly hiding something in the folds of her cloak. A palace servant with a secret. Just what he needed.
He paused long enough to face the sky and send his thanks to the gods, and then he began to trail the girl into the city.
She was sharper than many Muirlanders, looking around when she sensed someone following. She didn’t find any trace, Lyo was careful to ensure that. He would discover her secret and use that against her.
The perfect opportunity to gain her confidence arrived in the shape of a lout reeking of ale who stepped out of a tavern and grabbed hold of her, intending to steal money or worse.
Lyo watched, poised to intervene, thinking he’d save the girl, and then allow her to weep on his shoulder and spill all her secrets. As he stepped forward, a stone ready in his hand, the girl calmly kneed the lout in the balls so hard his grandchildren would probably be born with bruises. After that, she proceeded to attempt to gouge his eyes. When he’d thrown the stone, it had been more to end the man’s suffering than because the girl needed help.
He slipped back into the shadows before she could see him, reassessing the prize the gods were dangling before him. This would need a subtler approach.
5 – Loiter with a Stolen Dragonette
Noise spilled out of the inn, echoing against the walls of the street. I slowed my hectic rush to a walk. I hadn’t expected such a crowd. More people than just me wanted to see the Black Diamond Troupe before they left the city.
The upstairs windows of the inn had been thrown open and I glanced up to see people inside, crammed in by the look of them. I’d been delayed by that unpleasant episode. It looked as though the troupe were about to begin. I’d hoped I’d have time to speak to them first.
The only way inside was a door, thrown wide but guarded by a burly man, the inn’s owner or muscle hired for the busy evening. He was accepting tickets and payments from a constant flow of people clamouring to get inside. I joined them and waited, my foot tapping agitatedly as I worked my way slowly to the front.
“I need to speak to the Black Diamond Troupe,” I told the man.
“Performance is about to start, penny for a seat.” He barely glanced at me, tone bored, reaching to take tickets from a pair behind me and wave them inside.
“Oh, I don’t want to watch, I just need to speak to the troupe.”
“The performance is about to start. They’ll have time to chat once they’ve finished. With patrons who’ve supported them.” The hint was clear. I wasn’t getting access to the troupe without parting with a coin or two.
I hadn’t brought any money with me. I was so unused to life in the city that it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d need any. I only ever came into the city – officially – to be admired and feted by the people. I cursed myself for not being prepared for this eventuality. The dragonette was warm against my side. I’d come this far, with the Black Diamond Troupe as my target. I couldn’t give up now. I’d have to loiter, with a stolen dragonette, in the dark, alone.
“I’ll pay for the lady.” A voice spoke behind me before my though
ts could spiral fully into chaos. The offer came from a Surranese youth, a young man close to my own age. He was tall and slim, like most Surranese, his skin a flawless, glowing brown with just a hint of beard shadow. I wanted him to look at me so I could see the shade of his eyes, but his attention was on the bouncer as he sought in a pocket for the money.
“Thank you.” I found my voice after too long a delay. “But that’s really not necessary.” I didn’t want to be beholden to him – although he was offering the perfect solution to my problem. I could see the troupe without having to hang about the public street.
He still didn’t face me, lifting a shoulder. “You seemed to be having trouble deciding whether to watch the performance or not. They’re worth it, I promise. And a queue’s forming.”
I glanced back. Half a dozen people were crowded in the doorway behind me, eager to get inside.
A couple of coins were passed from the youth to the bouncer and he scooped my elbow to lead me onwards into the hot air and the smell of sweat and ale. I stumbled, surprised at his touch, and forced myself to find my feet and act normally. The only men with the authority to touch me were my brother and my father, but I’d give myself away if I let him know that. Ordinary people touched each other all the time, and this young man’s treatment was far more respectful than the lout in the street’s had been.
Even through the cloak, his fingers were warm. The whole of him was warm, standing closer than people ever did to a princess. This was stupid. It wasn’t as though I’d never seen a man before. I couldn’t afford to signal to him that there was anything out of the ordinary about me.
“Top of the stairs,” he directed.
I started up the wooden staircase, towards the source of the raucous noise. He let go of my elbow since the steps were too narrow for us to walk abreast. I felt a sudden urge to flee. I was trapped between the crowd ahead and the Surranese youth behind me. Why had he helped me? People didn’t behave like that, not in my father’s city. Kindness and generosity were rarities, traits of the Daughters of Compassion, not of ordinary people. But it would be harder to leave than to continue. And the dragonette was warm against my side. I still needed to get her to safety.