After a deep breath, she took a step forward. As soon as she did, the crowd that had gathered in the courtyard to watch the proceedings began to murmur. She thought at first that they were looking at her, commenting on her dress or her hair or her flowers, but then she saw that they weren’t looking at her but past her. One man finally stood and pointed, gaping open-mouthed at something.
Jae turned, unable to help herself.
What she saw bearing down on her was a sight she would never forget—a flying pirate ship was cresting over the spires of the palace towers, its sails billowing in the wind. People around her screamed and ran, but she felt frozen in place as the ship drew nearer. She had the strangest feeling that she had seen that ship before.
A form leapt up onto the railing, a rope in one hand, the other hand holding onto its tri-corner hat. At the same time, a small, glowing ball of light flittered down, coming straight for her. What madness was this? An attack of some kind? She dropped the bouquet, the beautiful arrangement falling to pieces at her feet, and swatted at the light. It evaded her though, and soon the entire top half of her dress was coated in a fine, golden dust.
The light stopped moving and hovered in front of her, and she saw it was a small girl with translucent wings and a strangely stern face. She moved her lips as if speaking, but all Jae heard was a jingling noise, like the ringing of small bells.
“Are you a . . . fairy?”
The small creature jingled some more and then darted away, back to the ship.
Jae followed it with her eyes. The ship was coming closer, still moving fast and far too low. People knocked into her in their haste to get out of the way. The figure on the railing appeared to be a woman, Jae thought with surprise, just as she spoke.
“Come on, sister. The sky is calling and we must answer!”
Sister?
It couldn’t be.
But it was. The woman, the pirate, the captain—it was Wren.
Jae’s heart leapt into her throat, and she had only a split-second to decide, because Wren wrapped the rope around one hand and swung down from the railing, her feet braced on the ship’s hull. Her free hand reached out toward Jae.
She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. All these people. Her parents, her country.
But in spite of all that, she reached her arm up and grasped her sister’s wrist. Wren jerked her off her feet and then they were flying, dangling from the ship that was now rising once more. Jae looked down in time to see the prince remove his crown and tilt his head back to watch them fly over. To watch his second bride escape him in the arms of his first.
Someone hauled the girls on board. Gathering her feet beneath her, Jae turned to take in the sight of her sister. She looked wild, her hair long and unkempt, her cheeks ruddy from sun and cold. She wore pants and a sword at her hip, of all things. And on her head she wore a crown of golden leaves.
“Where have you been?” Jae asked breathlessly.
Something flashed over Wren’s face—pain, regret, sadness? But it was gone quickly as she answered, “On my way here.”
“I feel like there’s more to it than that.”
Wren turned, walking toward the back of the ship. What was it called? The stern? She would have to learn that terminology, she supposed.
“Wait,” Jae said, chasing after her sister. “Aren’t you going to tell me about it?”
Wren turned, walking backward. “It’s a long story.”
“What does that mean? And was that a fairy?”
“I told you it was a long story. There’s so much to tell you.” Wren opened the door to a room at the back of the ship and motioned Jae inside.
“Do we have time?” Jae asked, sitting on the edge of a blue couch.
“Time?” Wren grinned at her. “We have all the time in the world.”
They lost themselves in the story as they flew away, over the mountains, through the clouds, across the world, receding into the sky until they were as small as a star to anyone watching from below.
<<<<>>>>
Dreams In Bloom by M.T Finnberg
Chapter 1
I spooled the scratchy rope over my left arm, bundled it up, and tossed it over to Rupert. He grinned like a gargoyle demon, as he tried to catch the looping coil, grabbed it clearly by luck, and swept away his curly mop of rusty brown hair.
Rupert dropped the rope at his feet, as Kate came to show us the knives we’d snuck out from the kitchen.
The night was warm, but the wind sharp, as it whistled in the roof structures and rushed up from the moat thirty yards below. It seemed to bring with it all the dust from the plains, as it brushed against the castle walls. I steadied myself, as I tilted my head to look up at our target towers.
Perfect.
We had tied one of our ropes between the sturdy watchtower and one of the corner towers and tightened it like a trapeze across the air. It would be the undoing of that sneaky gargoyle demon I’d seen scurrying around. Three times in five days…and always, it had gotten away.
But if the night fell dark enough, and if no-one stopped us, in a moment we would have demon catch.
Then I’d ask what on earth this creature thought it was doing in our castle’s high tower, messing up the pigeons’ nests and leaving trails of dark magic.
It wasn’t welcome in the High Castle of Tairaland. We’d show it! And then bring it to the castle guards. I knew some of the guards enough to say hello, and they were mostly great guys, but they did sleep on duty quite a bit…
We could laugh over this. How the Princess was out on a walk and, while tending to her fashionable hat in the breeze, accidentally caught one of the demons running about — you know, like they do around here. Just a little friendly teasing…Oh, this should be fun.
Shuffling my knees, I tried to find a better position to kneel in the cramped corner. The narrow space between the roof railing and some stone statues was not the most comfortable place, but at least that demon wouldn’t spot us from a place like this.
Above our heads, the rope quivered in the night air, and gusts of wind kept striking it as if it were a violin string. Its hum added the oddest tone to my mood. We had the rope, we had the nets, and we had the kitchen knives. No demon.
Any minute now.
From the corner of my eye, I noted Rupert and Kate were holding hands, and I smiled to myself. They were the cutest. They probably thought I had no clue, as they tried to be so discreet, but they’d only exchanged glances all of last week, and I’d wondered if one of them would find the nerve and do something about it.
They were my best friends, I knew them through and through, so I’d totally seen this coming. It made me happy to see they’d finally managed to find the courage to say something.
I wondered if I’d ever find someone to call my own sweetheart. Likely not! As if father would even let me see anyone? He was impossible in the worst way.
Not like Father was even around, as he was always away on his war endeavours. But it seemed he could command me from afar. I was not to associate with anyone but courtiers worthy of attention—whatever that even meant—and I was simply not to even talk to boys, apart from formal get-togethers.
And here I was, spending all my time with Rupert and Kate and the rest of the stable hands. The stables were where I mostly hung around, nowadays. I did have a few dear friends in the court, too, and knew a couple of really great guys, but was I allowed to see court people in any normal way? Of course not! The only boys I would have been allowed to see, if Father had his say, were the sons of Father’s friends…and they were a hopelessly arrogant, stuck-up bunch of blue-blood goofs.
Apparently, among them, it was not customary to respect house staff or talk nicely to strangers and acquaintances. And one of them, I’d seen throw pebbles at the cats! What kind of a person does that? Also, they spent hours selecting their perfect coats and ruffles. Oh, I’d have to die an old maid…
The thought made me note my heavy frown, and my mood turned completely around. So
much so, that I let out a laugh. Would that be so bad, then? If I never married, I could live as I pleased and would have the kingdom to rule as I saw fit.
No husband would ever tell me to wear a saddle when I rode my horses.
No husband would command me down from the castle walls on the north side, where I loved to climb.
I wouldn’t have to wear complicated gowns to feasts, even, if, as queen, I told everyone to come as they pleased! This notion was starting to sound rather enticing. Perhaps I shouldn’t have grieved for half a blink…
“What are you grinning about, Aurora? You’re looking kind of crazy happy, there…Are you all right?” Rupert teased and beamed at me from the corner. Kate had stood up and was unspooling one more rope. We already had one trap set up; maybe we didn’t need more.
Looking absent-minded, Kate turned to give a brief look to Rupert. These two lovebirds — my heart! — but oh, they cracked me up. Everyone else could have seen this coming from miles away.
Then something dashed under the light of one of the wall torches. Fast. Frighteningly fast. A dark form.
“Was that the demon?” Rupert said, his voice tense.
“I think so. See? I told you I’d seen one…We’re in luck,” I said, trying to sound like I knew what I was doing.
I was glad we’d set up all these torches, otherwise, the moonlight might have made the landscape seem intimidating, while now…Oh, who was I kidding! My heart was caught in my throat.
This was scarier than watching the knights battling on Tournament Day, when I always worried they’d hurt each other for real. After all, I trained with some of them in my spare time, so I knew many of them, and was well aware those weapons were no toys. Of course, Mother knew nothing of my little battle training hobby.
I stepped to stand on a loosened stone to see better.
The dark form moved slightly in the light. It could have been anything. But there was a strange, eerie aura lingering in the air.
“At least I think that was the demon. I’ve seen him scurrying all over around here on the rooftop. I’ve seen him here at least three times by now, over the past few weeks, and you can’t be mistaken about these creatures. They even smell foul. I mean, can you smell that? Like rotten compost? Kind of a sulphur-like reek?”
“Oh, I can definitely smell the stench. Euch…You know, shouldn’t we think this over, Aurora? What if he attacks us like some deranged animal? He’s not coming here, is he? If we don’t disturb him, maybe he’ll leave us alone?”
“They’re not…feral!” I said through my teeth, frustrated, leaning towards Rupert trying to get his understanding in the twilight where I could hardly see his face. “If we catch him and he’s angry, what he’s probably going to do is throw his magic at us, that’s what they do.”
Rupert gave me an underlined look. “Right. And how much magic would that be, exactly?”
“Oh, it wouldn’t be a harmless pinch, with these creatures, it would be tons and tons—you do know demons are worse than witches! But they don’t normally throw their magic at you for no reason. And someone’s got to teach him a lesson, otherwise he’s going to go keep prowling around here spreading bad luck. Once we catch him, I want to know what he’s been doing on our roof, scheming, not to mention, vexing the pigeons…That’s not okay. You can’t run on the rooftops of the royal castle of Tairaland like it’s some sort of play park, can you?” Wow, I sounded like Mother.
I hopped off the loosened stone and bowed down behind the statue again.
“Well, we’ve got armed guards for this sort of thing,” Rupert said. “I didn’t realize we’d actually try to catch this demon, I thought we’d only come and take a look. Besides, there’s your birthday party tomorrow,” Rupert added, voice rising like a question. “If you stay up, you’ll sleep in and be late. How could you be late from your own party?”
As if I needed to be reminded. This year, I had managed to convince Mother to let me have a friends-only party and no formal court courtesies. After all, I was going to be eighteen, so she had no say over what I chose or chose not to do. This year, I didn’t want a teenager party or anything with formalities. We’d have the big blue salon all to ourselves — simply tons of great food and nobody but us friends — and it was going to be fabulous. I had been anxiously counting the days.
“Oh, but still,” I said, in any case. “This should only take a minute, and we’d be fools to give in just when things are about to happen. And I want to know what’s up. He’s got some explaining to do!”
We’d already spent hours and hours at this — not to mention, prepared for this for the past two days— and if we left now, all that would have been for nothing. If that lurker there really was the demon, and we managed to catch it, we could have a little chat with it. The whole thing would be over quick. I wanted to have a story to tell the Guard Captain, Jackson…
So where was that sneaky demon hiding, now? Why wasn’t it coming out? Rupert was worried over nothing! This creature wasn’t even bothering to show its face.
“But won’t you have to get your hair all fancied up and everything? And choose which dress you want and all that? You’ll have maids swarming your room at the first shriek of the roosters. You won’t get any sleep.”
“So? Maybe. Let me worry for myself, Rupert. Are you my mother? This sneaky scoundrel is almost ours…Live a little! You need a bit of adventure in your life!”
“Well, you know, we won’t get any sleep, either,” Rupert said in a small voice, with a vague gesture, “and I do love my sleep.”
“Oh. Oh! I see…You can go, if you want, of course. Sorry. Why didn’t you just tell me you wanted to go already? I’ve got this. Just go.” I didn’t realise they’d stay if they didn’t want to. I fully expected Rupert to just tell it to my face if he’d had enough and wanted to leave this be already. We’d known each other forever.
His mother had taught me how to ride horses. She had even given me her favorite horse to take care of, after she’d been in an accident — which was of course too much to accept as a gift, but I did, because really, the stallion was better off at the castle stables than at any of the other options, and that way, Rupert’s mom still got to see it. Besides, it was just the sweetest horse, and we got along really well. Now the old stallion was one of my best horse buddies. In practice, it was mostly Rupert’s horse.
It kind of made sense that Rupert and Kate would be my actual best friends, as well, as in practice, I saw them much more than any of my supposedly ‘approved’ friends. Not that my actual friends from the court—some of which Father miraculously approved of—weren’t super wonderful, too, because some of them were, but then, I did always hang around with my two besties, these lovebirds here.
“Well, we’re not leaving you here by yourself,” Rupert said, but his words were cut short.
I followed his gaze. The creature was coming out of the play of shadows and light, slowly, one bent knee first, its hunched torso following soon after. And then it dashed out.
It ran in an odd posture, hunched down, almost curled up into a ball, with its four long limbs bent in the oddest angles. It headed to the next torch, where it halted again and only stood still, right underneath, so the flame’s flickering glare drew out the fur on its pointy ears. As its tail whipped from side to side, the light danced with it.
“See, I told you,” I whispered. “It’s a gargoyle. A gargoyle demon. The worst kind.”
“Well. I’ll be…” Rupert scratched his head, staring in the direction where the demon waited like some wild animal in the bushes. I turned to look at Kate, to see if she was all right. She gave me a scared glance, as she hurried to grab Rupert’s arm.
A shriek made me lift my head.
The demon had run into our trap. I had just enough time to see how the snare pulled him up in the air, and next thing, he was hanging upside down above us like a caught rabbit, waving his arms. And growling. Like a monster. Pretty horribly, really…
Then he began
spewing dark fireworks. Or rather, those shot out of his paws, as he waved his scrawny arms. You could see how viciously angry he was from the flurry his arms made in the air, if nothing else. Maybe this wasn’t the smartest idea…
Kate ran from our hiding place to another statue, a small distance away — for better cover, I imagined — and Rupert dashed to follow, but when he turned to look over his shoulder, he gave an alarmed yell, pointing up. When I swirled around to look, Rupert had already begun running back toward me.
“Look out! Aurora! Move!”
A loose stone was hurling in the air. The wooden roof structures of the tower closest to us had begun shaking, as if torn by storm winds, and as I watched, stones came loose and flung up in the air. I finally came to my senses and moved out of the way. The roof planks and tiles crashed to the roof floor behind me, shooting shrapnel everywhere. Then I ran, bowing down to cover my head.
“Run!” I yelled to Rupert and Kate, too, and ran towards the closest door, swirling around and turning my head like an owl to check if they followed. But they did. Rupert pulled Kate by the hand, and we all got to the door at the same time, scrambled inside in a bumping mess, and slammed the door shut.
Then Rupert jammed the door with the latch and a chair from the corridor.
“What do we do now?” Kate sighed, sounding exasperated. “Do we call the guards now? The guards have bayonets…”
“No, we can’t tell them we tried to lure a demon in,” Rupert snapped, frowning.
“We didn’t!” I reminded him. “He’s been lurking here for days already! We only set out some traps for him.”
“How are we ever going to get him down without going too close? We need to let him loose and run, then this will be over with, and nobody will ever have to know we were this dumb,” Rupert grumbled, thinking aloud, and I wondered why in all this he was most worried if someone found out. After all, Mother could be a little mad, but that was all. We were doing a good thing, here, weren’t we? Who wanted demons running around?
Kingdom of Crowns and Glory Page 44