Coalesce: The Escape
Chapter 22

“Majesty, we are leaving now.” Kylon’s voice rouses me from my sleep and I sit up. I must have dozed off again after I finished packing.

“Alright,” I yawn, grabbing my bag and following him out the door. We descend down several more hallways, through a few doors, and to the outside world. The other two are waiting by a group of pale trees.

“Good morning, Majesty.”

“Don’t. You can call me Morgan or Morganeth. Just not Majesty, okay? For all I care you could call me Anyndel.”

“You really must not like being called majesty, Majesty. To be using your birth name.” Kylon smirks and I smack his arm.

“Yes, it annoys me that much, peasant.” I was born by the name of Anyndel Morganeth Zehntner. When my mother married Phillip I went by Morganeth Shadow-born. That was my mother’s maiden name, Shadow. She also said Anyndel was a traditional elvish name, and that the people would see it as treasonous. So, I just changed my name. For my safety, mostly.

“She called you peasant,” Eraleth laughs.

“You are no better than this peasant, commoner.”

“She called you commoner!” Kylon laughs and I smack him again, because he’s closest to me.

“Both of you stop it. Let’s go.” I start to walk and they follow. Our destination lies about a three-day journey from here, according to Eraleth. I’m not sure if I trust him with navigating, though. I still don’t trust him much in general, I suppose.

“If we head away from the sunrise, we go straight to the mountains,” He says as he surveys the map and marks our path.

“Are you sure?” My skepticism breaks through far too easily.

“Pretty sure, unless I’ve done something wrong.”

“Very reassuring,” I sigh and we continue on. There’s less snow on the ground here than there was in Galeiseth at least. It will be nice once Plentiful Sun comes along.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see Edward or my mother again. I may never see Edward again, he could be dead now, for all I know. Maybe I won’t ever know. I’ll be long gone by the time word gets around if he does die. The castle is probably in ruins from the Scholar’s Keep troops and most of the people are dead or starving. Held prisoners in their own homes... I can’t do anything about it. Though I wish I could. The Empire may never be the same again, or may not even be an Empire by the time the war is ended. All the history I learned will never stick with me as much as what I’m living through now.

How can one province bring such a treacherous thing? So much bloodshed and innocent lives lost already. I’ll be surprised if there’s any people left to even fight the war by the new year. We should all hope for a peaceful end to the war, and soon.

The loud caw of a bird pulls me from my thoughts and I look up. A red bird with long tail feathers and what looked like flames coming off its body flies overhead. That or it was just the way the sun was hitting its silky wings?

It starts to lose its place in the sky. Wings folding in and plummeting to the ground. I break into a run, I won’t let it die if I can help it. I hear three other pairs of footsteps running behind me. The creature falls so fast I don’t know where it landed, or if it even landed. I keep running, looking frantically from side to side.

Another caw tells me it landed, most likely injured itself as well. I slow down once I see red among the greenery. Poor thing, I think as I kneel down next to it. It’s about the size of my forearm in length and as wide as my torso. Quite big, for a bird. I’ve never seen this sort of bird before, either.

“It’s hurt,” I say over my shoulder and gently put my hand to the creature’s feathers. Some look like they’re bent or broken, but not burnt. It must have been the sunlight.

“What is it?”

“I think it’s a phoenix,” Sabille kneels beside me and examines it carefully.

“A phoenix... I thought they were extinct.” Eraleth looks in awe at the bird.

“Is that why it looked like it was on fire? I’ve heard about them before, this is the first I’ve ever seen though.”

“Yes, they have become quite rare. Most are kept with the mage’s in the White City.”

“Oh.” The rest of us say.

“Her wing is broken. Something is tied to her leg as well,” She gently lifts the bird’s leg and unties a piece of rolled up parchment and hands it to me. She continues to look at the injuries and I unroll the parchment.

“It says: “The storm continues on, our brothers are dead. Silver-shade has disappeared and the Phoenix will be no help any longer. Keep her with you, take care of the poor beast. There are things we have yet to control. Here there are beasts and magics unknown to us, we will continue to harvest the energy of the core.

The danger grows higher, please send help. We cannot stay much longer if we have no one to aid us and protect us. Please hurry. I am one of the last survivors from the most recent attack.

Brother Jacobi.” What do you think it means? Or who is it for?” I look up.

“I have no idea, but it must be important. Or the person is a fool, sending such a rare creature to deliver a message for help,” Sabille picks the bird up like a child in her arms. “We need to continue on, night will come soon, as will the dangers.”

We don’t argue with her, we continue walking.