Flight of the Five Swans
Flight Chapter 15

Callia

It took thebetter part of three days before the princesses had gathered the supplies theyneeded to start the process. Havingsuccessfully completed her previous task of replaceing a counter curse, Callia’snew responsibility was to gather the nettles needed for their knitting. Raia had fashioned a pouch out of one of thewhite pillowcases from their bedroom, so that Callia had something in which toput the plants she gathered. Cliodne wasgiven a similar bag as well, so that she could pack away any nettles she cameacross while exploring her escape routes out of Deturus. The bags tied easily around their avianbodies and blended perfectly with their white plumage. As such, the princesses were able to slip thempast the guards with minimal trouble.

LikeCallia, Petra had also been given an entirely new task, leaving Eurielle toexplore the castle’s exit strategies on her own. Just as Callia and Cliodne were gatheringnettles, Petra had been put in charge of laying her hands—or wings, as the case may be—on everythingelse the princesses needed. Thisincluded knitting needles, as Raia’s own needles had been removed from hertrunk. Callia was at a loss to understandwhy this could be, though she suspected that they had been confiscated aspossible weapons.

The piece de resistance, however, was Petra’s appropriation of aspinning wheel.

Callia stared at the wheel where itstood in the corner of their bedchamber. She was in absolute awe of this tangible proof of her sister’sskill. She glanced behind her at thelocked bedchamber door, then at the barred window.

“How on earth did you sneak that in here?” Eurielle asked in a hushed voice, voicing the question on all of theprincesses’ minds. Petra smirked slightly.

“You don’t want to know.”

Callia was reasonably sure thattruer words had never before been spoken—though this realization neverthelessdid not abate her curiosity.

“But the point is,” Cliodne said,“That’s the last thing we needed in order to start making the yarn.” She deposited her pillow-pouch on the floor,and Callia saw that it was filled about two-thirds of the way with stingingnettle. She herself had managed to fill herbag completely so that it had bulged against her stomach while she flew. As a result, she’d had a harder time thanusual hiding the bag from sight.

Raia’s face was slightly white, buther voice was decisive. “Then we canbegin tonight.” She reached under themiddle bed and yanked on the corner of one of her dresses that they had hiddenthere. Piled in the shirt of the dresswere all of the nettles that had been gathered over the previous two days. They had managed to replace a respectable numberof the plant in the palace grounds and surrounding areas, and had laid them outon the skirt to dry the plants in preparation for their process. Seeing that there was no longer any room onthe fabric to spread out their new load of nettles, Raia fished out another ofher dresses. Callia and Cliodne emptiedtheir sacks, and their collection swelled even more.

The princesses sat down on thefloor around the dress and got to work preparing the dried nettles to be spuninto yarn, wincing in pain as their hands touched the unfriendly leaves andbark. They split the fronds, rollingthem together between their fingers to extract the fibers of the plant. Then they pulled and stretched and pulledsome more to lengthen the plant material. In the center of their circle lay a shallow washbasin filled with soapand water. Every so often, one of theprincesses would stop to soothe her sore hands in the liquid before continuingwith her work. Raia was not allowed toparticipate in this first step of their task, as Callia argued that she’d beable to knit much faster if her hands were not already sore and swollen.

“AndI think Soran will notice if you showed up at dinner tomorrowevening with hands the same size as the dinner plates.” Petra added drily, her own hands busy.

To make up for her inability tohelp, Raia kept up a steady stream of cheerful chatter as her sistersworked. While this was not customarybehavior for Raia, Callia felt that she understood her sister’s need forspeaking, given that she would soon be forced to remain utterly silence once shehad begun her part of the task.

“Oh,” Raia said, pacing up and downthe room to give herself something to do. “Soran also told me today to‘politely request’ that you guys stop relieving yourselves on his chair. And his throne. And his bed.”

Callia smirked—and she was not theonly one to do so. None of her sistersbothered to hide their smiles from each other. Though childish, Callia was nevertheless unsurprised that the others hadalso been taking their revenge on Soran—or leavingit, as the case may be—in that particular way.

“So hide it better, got it.” Petra deadpanned, and Thaleia snorted alaugh.

Raia fought to hide her own smile,though a hint of worry also clouded her brow.

“I don’t think that was quite what he meant, Pet.”

Thaleia dunked her hands in thebasin, releasing a sigh at the soothing sensation. She grinned at her twin, and Cliodne noticeda mischievous glint in her eyes. “It’s a tactical decision, Ray.” Thaleia said. “To keep Soran from suspecting what we’re really up to when we enter the castle while we’re still swans.”

Eurielle tore savagely at a nettleleaf. “Plus it makes me feel loadsbetter—not to mention lighter.”

Callia gasped, but could notrestrain a laugh at her sister’s audacious joke.

Several minutes later, Calliasurveyed their work with critical eyes. Small bunches of fibrous plant material now littered areas of thefabric. She caught Cliodne’s eye, andher elder sister nodded.

“Okay,” Callia said, grabbing onebunch of nettle fibers and rising to her feet. “I’m going to try spinning it now.”

The rest of her sisters stoppedtheir work, following Callia with their eyes as she sat down before thespinning wheel. She tied a piece ofscrap yarn to the spindle as the leader thread, giving Raia time to take holdof the end, as she was the only one allowed to touch the finished yarn. Callia pumped her foot to send the wheeltwirling before slowly feeding the nettle fibers in. The fibers wove themselves around the leaderthread. Callia kept pumping for severalseconds more before she stopped. Holdingher breath, she looked at Raia with a questioning gaze.

“Well?” she asked.

Raia closely studied the nettleyard, tugging lightly on it to test its durability. Then she nodded.

“I can work with this.” She said,and the princesses all broke into relieved smiles. Cliodne passed along several more bunches ofnettle fiber, and Callia began pumping her foot once more.

The sisters took turns spinning atthe wheel, and before long had accumulated a sizable skein of nettle yarn,heavy enough that Raia was no longer needed to keep hold of the thread. As Raia dropped her grip on the fiber, allsix princesses held their breath, recognizing the impact of the moment.

The time had come for her to knit.

Quieter than she’d been for thelast several hours, Raia retrieved the knitting needles that Petra had stolenfor her from their hiding place. Thaleiadrew an armchair close to the spinning wheel, and Raia sat down.

“Remember.” Callia couldn’t helpsaying from her spot on the floor, where she’d once again been splittingnettles. “Remember, Raia. Not a word. Not until we’re finished.”

Raia nodded silently, thenswallowed and looked around at all of them. “I love you all, you know.”

Thaleia leaned over and wrapped herarms around her twin’s neck. “We know,stupid.”

Picking up the very end of thenettle yarn, Raia began to knit.