Flight of the Five Swans
Flight Chapter 12

Petra

The sun wasjust beginning to set when Petra felt it: a strange force pulled at herinsides, steering her back towards the Deturian palace. For an instant, she was tempted to try tofight the feeling. She hated being controlled. But then her swan sisters all turned to facein the direction of the pull, and she rushed to keep up with them. The feeling got stronger the closer Petra andher sisters flew to the castle, leading her directly towards the lake on the palacegrounds. From her lofty position soaringabove them, she saw a number of guards surrounding the glassy water, clearingwaiting for the swans to debark. Again,Petra hesitated. She was less than eagerto fall into Soran’s hands again. But atthis close distance, the invisible force telling her to land became too strongto resist. She banked around anddescended, her four swan sisters keeping pace with her on either side.

The splashas the swans hit the water was immense, drenching several of the guardsstanding nearest the pond. Petra felt asmall surge of satisfaction at the sight of their now-dripping figures. The idiots deserved it.

Then the pain hit, driving allother thoughts from her head. A burningsensation surrounded her, as though her very feathers had caught fire. Her bones cracked and stretched, and Petrawanted to scream at the agony. She hadbroken her arm once as a child in an attempt to scale the castle wall backhome; the pain she’d felt then was absolutely nothing compared to this.

And all of a sudden, it wasover. Petra found herself on her handsand knees in the middle of the pond. Shethanked fate that the water was shallower than she’d expected. While her entire body was now soaked up toher shoulders, at least her face was not underwater. She struggled to her feet, weighted down bythe damp fabric of her borrowed dress.

Of her sisters, only Cliodne hadbeen able to remain standing following the transformation from swan to human,and Petra resolved to discover her secret at the earliest convenience. Cliodne was helping Thaleia, pulling on herelbow to help her regain her feet. Callia was not yet trying to stand, but merely crawled through the murkywater to reach the edge of the pond. Eurielle was on her hands and knees like Petra had been, and likeCallia, she was not making an attempt to stand. The transformation seemed to have hit her the hardest of the sisters,and she was dry retching into the water.

“Out of the water!” one of theguards yelled. Petra looked up at him,and saw that the man who had spoken was one of those who had been caught in theimpromptu shower. She also recognizedhim as having been among their escort early that morning. Sure enough, a black-and-blue bruise on theback of his hand marked him as a victim of their vicious beaks.

‘I hope it was me who’d bit him.’Petra thought sourly.

Cliodne, ever the diplomat, calledout to the guards in a reasonable voice. “We need help. She needs help.” She pointed to whereEurielle still knelt. “They’ve nevertransformed before.”

The guards looked at the youngestprincess. Eurielle’s face was stillgreen, but she had stopped retching into the water. The same guard spoke again, and not a hint ofpity could be heard in his voice.

“Then you help her out.”

Growling internally, Petra sloshedin the water to reach her younger sister. She grabbed one of Eurielle’s arms and Cliodne grabbed the other. Together, they lifted Eurielle to herfeet. Petra put her sister’s arm aroundher own neck to support her as they climbed out of the water. The other princesses were all able to standwithout assistance, though Thaleia still seemed a little unsteady to bestanding on human legs once more.

The guards fell in around the fivesisters as they walked, shivering, across the palace yard. None of the princesses spoke until they hadcrossed the threshold of the castle doors.

“Where are you taking us?” Calliaasked, her voice sounding utterly exhausted.

Thankfully, it was a differentguard who answered than before.

“To your chamber.”

In her mind’s eye, Petra picturedthe small room from the previous night. Her limbs, already sore from the transformation, not to mention fromflying all day, complained at the thought of another night spent sleeping in anarmchair.

“Where’s Raia?”

Though the question came fromThaleia, there was very little anger to be heard in her voice. Rather, Thaleia sounded fearful, nothingremotely like the brave elder sister that Petra looked up to—though she seldomadmitted it.

None of the guards responded. They simply led the sisters up the marblestairs and down a long, twisted corridor, different from the one they hadwalked before. The group stopped beforea heavy black door. One of the Deturianstook out a key and fitted it into the lock. Stepping aside, he allowed the princesses to enter the room.

Petra did not notice the sound ofthe door closing them. Her attention—andthat of all of her sisters—were caught by the figure already waiting for theminside the room.

Raia.

Thaleia threw her arms around hertwin with a glad cry of relief. Petratried to help Eurielle to the bed before greeting Raia herself, but her youngersister was having none of it. Eurielleslipped her arm from around Petra’s neck and stumbled to join the group ofsisters hugging in the middle of the room. Clamoring to be heard over each other, they bombarded Raia withquestions about her day, leaving little opportunity for their sister toanswer. Finally though, the sisters hadsettled enough to allow Raia to speak. Sittingon the beds around her, they listened intently as she recounted the requestSoran had made of her.

“I didn’t know what else to do!”she wailed, and the others were quick to reassure her.

“I think I would have done the samething.” Eurielle said, reaching around Thaleia to pat Raia’s hand.

Cliodne nodded, thoughtful. “Idon’t think you did wrong. And I don’tthink that letter will work, anyway.”

Petra agreed. “Eralie won’t come just because you ask herto.” She said slowly. “She was very decisive about her refusal to come with usin the first place. She was certain shewas needed in Kyoria.”

“And remember,” Thaleia told Raia.“We all tried for days to talk her into coming. If convincing her in person didn’t work, I don’t see how sending her anew invitation by letter really gives us anything to worry about.”

The relief on Raia’s face mirroredthe sentiments felt by all of them. Theidea that Eralie was safe from Soran’s net—even momentarily—was certainly awelcome one.

Then Petra frowned slightly. “What Idon’t understand,” she mused. “Is why Soran isn’t trying to use us as hostages,and get Eralie here as some sort of…ransom demand.”

Eurielle and Thaleia echoed herconfusion, but Cliodne was already shaking her head. “Admitting he has us imprisoned would betantamount to declaring war on Kyoria. It might even be seen as an act of war against the entire Council ofKings. And if I’m not very muchmistaken, Soran isn’t ready for that yet. But after he has all of us here and he’s…drained us…” her voice trailed off, and Callia finished herthought.

“Then he wouldn’t see war withKyoria or the Council as a problem anymore.”

Cliodne sighed deeply. “And if that’s the case, he might not stop atKyoria. We don’t know exactly much powerhe’ll be able to get.”

Petra shook her head. The thought was a troubling one, to besure. Soran had already managed tochange five people into animals just by using small samples of their remnantFaerie magic. What might he not be ableto accomplish with all of it?

Suddenly,Eurielle bolted upright, her voice excited. “If he’s so eager not to let Fatherand Eralie know that he’s got us locked up, then wouldn’t it be a good thing ifwe…I don’t know…told themsomehow? They might even replace a way tofree us without having to go to war!” Her eyes were full of optimism and a certainty that their father wouldbe able to do just that.

“How?”Petra asked her dryly. “Something tellsme we can’t just drop a note in the post.”

Eurielledeflated.

“Andbesides,” Petra continued. “Soran with one hostage is bad enough.” She nodded towards Cliodne. “But six hostages? Getting all of us out would be difficult, ifnot impossible, to manage from afar.”

Cliodnenodded at her thoughtfully. “Sobasically,” she said slowly, and Petra could practically see the wheels turningin her head. “having the six of us asprisoners has given Soran far too much leverage over Father. Even if Father were to replace out, there’s notmuch he can do about it, short of declaring war. So what we need to do…” With a sudden grin ofcomprehension, Petra finished her sister’s sentence for her.

“We takeaway the hostages.”