Flight of the Five Swans
Flight Chapter 13

Eurielle

The firstnight that Eurielle was able to transform without dry heaving was a momentousoccasion for her, though none of her sisters seemed to notice heraccomplishment. While she was a bitdisappointed, she couldn’t really blame them for their preoccupation. After all, planning their escape—or asEurielle liked to call it, Operation Fly the Coop—did tend to take a lot of their time, not to mention theirconcentration. Their days were spentfulfilling the tasks that each had been allotted individually, while theirnights were given to revising and updating their strategy together in theirchamber.

For themoment, preparations for their escape were largely dealing with gatheringinformation. In this respect, the princessesfound their daily transformations into swans to be a blessing in disguise. Soran saw the princesses in their avian formsto present little to no threat to his plans, as they could neither communicatetheir need for help, nor could they escape from the castle for longer than aday—at least, not unless they wished to remain swans forever. Keeping Raia locked in her room in human formprovided him with extra insurance. Soranwas confident that he had the sisters well and truly trapped.

And theyused this arrogance—and their freedom to roam—to their advantage.

Thaleia wasallotted the responsibility of observing the guards. She noted their exact positions around thecastle, as well as made mental notes of shift changes. She had also taken to perching above standingguards on multiple occasions, so as to eavesdrop on their conversations. In this way, she was slowly coming torecognize the men, as well as ascertain any possible weaknesses they displayedboth as individuals and as a unit. Atone point, Eurielle had witnessed her elder sister taking advance of her loftyperch above one of the many guards, and had had to admire her sister’s aim—notto mention her daring.

Cliodne hadbeen given the task of familiarizing herself with the surrounding environment. As she had been staying in Deturus for monthsprior to her sisters’ arrival, she already had an extensive head start inmemorizing the different possible routes out of the kingdom. Furthermore, having been led by Soran himselfon many of her outings meant that she was already aware which trails were morecommonly used by the man whom the princesses most wanted to avoid. Cliodne spent hours during the day flyingover the lesser-used forest paths, sometimes landing on the ground toinvestigate a cave or hunting trail that she suspected might prove useful. She disappeared most days as soon as she grewwings, and Eurielle often did not see her again until they were all debarkingin the pond together for their transformation.

A similarmission had been given to both Eurielle and Petra. Instead of investigating escape routesthrough the forest, however, they were instructed to concentrate on replaceingways to escape the castle itself. Theyinvestigated every nook and cranny from the outside, and even ducked through anopen window in the lower hallway on several occasions to observe the interioras well. At one point, Eurielle had onlyjust avoided being scalded by a hot bowl of soup after flying too quickly arounda corner and startling a stray kitchen maid.

Callia’sresponsibility was perhaps the most time-consuming task of them all, thoughEurielle suspected that her sister didn’t much mind. She spent nearly all of her time in thelibrary, trying to replace a way to break Soran’s curse over them. Eurielle sometimes wondered how Calliamanaged to turn the pages with wings instead of hands and feathers in lieu offingers, but she did not doubt her sister’s ingenuity when it came toreading. All of the princesses knew thatthey needed the right spell or counter curse to ensure that they would nolonger have to worry about being human only at night following their escapefrom the castle. Indeed, their entireescape plan hinged on Callia’s success, for without such a spell, they wereeffectively tied to Soran’s enchanted lake if they wanted to become human atall.

As Raia hadnot been included in the daily swan transformations, she was not given the samefreedom as her swan sisters. Eurielleknew that she chafed at the restriction. Raia was locked in their bedchamber around the clock, and was onlyallowed out at mealtimes. Soranpermitted Raia to eat breakfast and lunch in the small dining room located inthe south tower. This room had only oneentrance, and was sparsely furnished but for a table, one chair, and theever-present Deturian stained glass window on the far end. She was kept under heavy guard throughouteach meal, and was never allowed anything sharper than a butter knife.

Dinner, however, Raia was forced totake every night with Soran in the royal dining room, where he peppered herwith questions about her experiences in Faerie.

“I just don’t respond,” Raia toldher sisters one night. “I haven’t evenspoken to him for the last three days, at least. But it doesn’t seem to bother him much.”

Eurielle stared at her. “But he’s not suspicious at all, right?” she asked anxiously. Raia shook her head, her mouth twisted indisgust. Due to the close watch Sorankept on her, her role in Operation Fly the Coop was essentially to keep thesorcerer from replaceing out about their plans. Eurielle had already heard her complain to Thaleia several times offeeling useless in regards to helping them all escape.

“Well, I have good news,” Calliasuddenly announced. She hesitated, then added. “Well, kinda.”

Eurielle squealed. “Did you replace a way to break the curse? Is it a spell? Can I be the one who casts it? Or maybe a potion, that would be so cool!”

“Hush, Eurielle!” Cliodnesaid. Eurielle clamped her mouth shut,not bothered in the slightest at her elder sister’s admonition. She gazed eagerly at Callia.

Callia nodded and withdrew a pieceof paper from her pocket. One edge ofthe paper was ragged, and Eurielle realized with a small gasp that it was apage ripped from a book. This went farbeyond using one of the volumes as a weapon. Callia had defaced one of heroh-so-precious books—permanently. As faras Eurielle was concerned, that action more than anything else testified to theseriousness of their situation.

“I was sure it was going to get drenchedwhen I landed, but I couldn’t think of any other way.” Callia said. “It’s notlike I could write it down.”

She lay the page down on the bed,pressing it with her hand to try to smooth out some of the wrinkles. Eurielle leaned in and followed along asCallia read the words aloud.

Knit of nettles and speak no word

to change a form from man to bird

A lonely task, for only one

may touch the thread after it’s spun

And once complete, the spell be broke

when feathers all, the garment cloak

Yet changing those who are enthralled:

it’s all at once, or none at all.