Flight of the Five Swans
Feathered Chapter 23

Raia

Raia heardThaleia’s warning honk alerting them to the presence of danger only a splitsecond before the sound of cantering hooves echoed on the path behindthem. Though the cadence told her thatit was but a single horseman approaching, Raia’s heart clenched with fear atthe thought that one of Soran’s men had at last caught up to them. It was the moment that Raia had beendreading. As she had feared, her sistershad taken up defensive positions at the sound of Thaleia’s signal, circlingtogether and hissing as they had been doing for the last week or so. Raia would have no time to herd her sistersinto the underbrush before the cantering horseman was upon them.

She wasducking into the shadows herself when she realized an even greater danger: hersisters were standing in the very center of the path. ‘They’ll be trampled!’ she realized inhorror.

Raia hadbut a moment to act. She leaped out ofthe shadows and back onto the forest path, placing herself in front of her swansisters just as a huge gray horse cantered around the curve with hisrider. Raia threw her arms open wide toblock as much of the path—and her sisters—as she could. She heard the startled shout of the rider andthe frightened whinny of his horse, and she scrunched her eyes shut tightly,bracing herself for what seemed to her an inevitable impact.

The impactnever came.

Raia openedone eye slightly, peeking out from under her eyelashes at the horseman. She let out a silent sigh of relief. The rider had managed to stop his horse mereinches from where Raia stood, and he was now trying to calm his mount. As the stallion reared in protest, Raia felta small, unwilling pang of guilt for startling the animal so thoroughly.

“Easy,boy!” The rider soothed, his deep voice far gentler than Raia had expected tohear. “Easy!”

Raia’simmediate instinct was to take advantage of the horseman’s distraction and makeher escape unnoticed. She lowered herarms and glanced around for somewhere to run. Then she hesitated, looking over her shoulder at where her swan sisterswere still bunched together in their defensive circle. Her heart sank. Though she might make it alone, she wouldnever be able to outrun the horseman with her sisters in toe. And she couldn’t—wouldn’t—leave without her sisters.

Raia turnedto look once more at the horse and his rider, her eyes as cold as blocks ofice. She vowed silently not to make iteasy for the man to return her to Soran. She flexed her fingers, preparing to scratch them deeply into the man’sface as soon as he tried to grab her. She glanced quickly again at the group of swans, mentally willing themto help her attack as soon as the time was right.

‘Bite him!’she thought fiercely, desperately hoping beyond hope that somehow, someway, one of her sisters at least would beable to read her thoughts and come to her aid should she require help.

The riderhad regained control of his mount and had turned his attention to Raia.

“Well now!”he said, his voice soft and even, as though Raia had not just appeared fromnowhere and startled his horse half to death. “You’re not what I expected tosee, I can tell you that much.”

Raiastraightened her shoulders and lifted her chin proudly. She flexed her fingers once more, hiding theaction behind the cover of her skirts.

‘Aim forthe eyes,’ she thought to herself, and felt a slight twinge of guilt at hersudden bloodthirstiness. Thaleia wouldbe proud, she knew.

The manmade no move to dismount, or even to approach closer to Raia and her swansisters. He patted his horse on the neckaffectionately. “Here I thought Undertowand I were the only ones to ever use this path. But it seems I was wrong. Itwouldn’t be the first time, I suppose—or the last.”

Raia’s browfurrowed in confusion. Hadn’t he beenfollowing them? Wasn’t he trying to capture them? Wasn’t he one of Soran’s men?

The riderdismounted. Raia tensed at the action,then noticed the man’s clothes for the first time. A mere glance was enough to convince Raia ofone thing: the rider was clearly notDeturian. His clothes were made from amaterial that Raia had never seen before, a loose blowy fabric that looked softto the touch. Rather than the standardshirt and breeches that she had become accustomed to seeing on the Kyorian andDeturian guardsmen, the man wore a rather long tunic over a baggy pair ofpants. He had no metal breastplate orchain mail, but rather wore leather armor over his tunic to protect his chest. Again, Raia had yet to see the like of suchequipment.

Her shoulders relaxed somewhat,though she still remained on high alert. While the man may not be Deturian, he was still a stranger, and after events of recent past, Raia wasdisinclined to trust individuals with whom she was not already acquainted.

Not moving from her protectivestance in front of her sisters, she studied the man standing before her on thepath. Apart from his clothes, the manwas of a darker complexion than the fairer-skinned Deturians. His shoulder-length hair was a deep brown,almost black in color, and was pulled back in a low ponytail. He had a handsome face, with a strong jaw andan aquiline nose that was just a tad too long. The strong features would have given his face a very seriousappearance—possibly stern—had his expression not been so very amiable. His dark eyes crinkled at the corners withlaugh lines as though he were well used to smiling. Even now, his lips twitched slightly, andRaia got the distinct impression that he was a bit amused by the near miss thatthey’d had.

‘Soran smiled often as well.’ Raia thought,tensing once more.

The man seemed to notice herunease. He stood with one hand resting on his horse’s neck, his eyes flickeringbetween Raia and her sisters with a curious expression.

“Well,” hesaid slowly, “I suppose that I should apologize for coming so close totrampling you. I assure you—it was notintentional.”

Raia—ofcourse—made no response. Had she evenbeen allowed to speak, she had no clue what she would have said. Was he expecting her to apologize for jumpingout and startling his horse? Truth betold, she couldn’t—and didn’t—regret her actions. She had no idea whether or not the man wouldhave kept riding had she not stepped in his way, even to the point of tramplingfive swans under his horse’s feet.

The rider seemed slightly takenaback not to have been acknowledged at all in his apology. “Then again,” he said, his voice slightlydry. “It’s not every day that a woman nearly throws herself under my horse. And certainly not in order to save…” hepaused slightly, his eyes falling once more on the bunch of swans hiding behindRaia’s skirts. “Are they…swans?”

He paused long enough that Raiaknew he was waiting for her to answer his question. Raia said nothing.

The man seemed to be even moreperplexed by her continued silence, but kept on speaking as though she hadresponded all the same. “You see, I’mnot the best hand at identifying species of birds. It’s not really my forte.” He confessed in a conversational tone, thenpatted his horse’s neck again. “I’m morea horse-person myself. But excuse me,where are my manners? I’m Ayden.”

Ayden stepped forward slightly andmade as if to bow once more, but at his forward movement towards Raia, the fivefeathered princesses burst into action. The swans emerged from behind Raia’s skirts and stood side-by-side toblock the path, seeming to take offense at Ayden so much as approaching evenone step closer to their sister. Theirwings were spread wide and their beaks were open as they hissed in unison. The sight—and sound—of five full-grown swanscoming at him threateningly seemed to give Ayden pause in his approach. He stopped immediately and bowed where hewas, a deeper bow than the one he’d given previously.

Raia rested one of her hands onThaleia’s head in a calming gesture of thanks. She, too, would rather the stranger keep his distance.

Ayden rose from his bow. “I’mAyden.” He repeated, and then paused, clearly expecting once more for Raia torespond. When she didn’t, he pressed,“And you are?”

Raia could not stop the exasperatedlook from crossing her face. The man wasevidently not going to accept hersilence unless he believed it to be involuntary. She raised her hand and patted her throatgently. It took a few seconds, but atlast she saw comprehension dawn on Ayden’s face, followed by a look ofembarrassment. He inclined his head oncemore. “My apologies, my lady. I did not know that you were…that you…thatyou couldn’t speak.”

Raia shrugged—a gesture that was completelylost on Ayden, as his head was still lowered in his bow. Ayden straightened, his eyes appraising herappearance. “I take it from yourclothing that you are not from this area.”

He gestured towards her dress, andRaia blushed slightly. Her gown wasripped and stained almost beyond recognition from weeks spent traipsing throughthe Deturian forest.

“And,” Ayden mused slowly. “Fromthe direction you’re heading—and theone you’re coming from—I assume that you have just crossed the border from Deturus,and now you’re on your way to present yourself to the royal palace as iscustom. Am I correct?”

Raia did not respond. Her mind was too busy processing the words‘crossed the border’. Had she and hersisters made it out of Deturus and into Hiall without even realizing it? It certainly wasn’t impossible. After all, the boundary between Kyoria andDeturus had been very subtly marked. Itseemed entirely likely that the Hiall-Deturus border could be marked just assubtly, and that Raia and her sisters had simply missed seeing the markerentirely.

Raia’s heart lightened at thethought. After weeks and weeks, they hadfinally escaped Deturus; they’d escaped from Soran’s grasp.

They had reached Hiall. Now all that was left was to reach the palaceand present herself and her situation—theirsituation—to Queen Therese.

Her sisters shuffled their feet andhonked softly among themselves, as though chattering to each other. They seemed to realize the significance ofwhat Ayden was saying, and Raia was heartened by the idea that they couldcomprehend at least that much in their current avian state.

Raia patted Thaleia’s head againfor lack of anything else to do, then turned to follow the path once more. After all, there was nothing to keep herstanding there apart from the stranger, and it didn’t seem to her as though hereally intended her any harm, or was even remotely aware of her originalsituation. That being the case, Raiadoubted that this Ayden would attempt to stop her should she simply walk on withher sisters towards the Hiallan palace. More likely, she expected that he would continue on his way as well.

She and her sisters made to beginwalking once more, and Raia’s hands instinctively took up their normal knittingpositions. She was nearly finished withthe third shawl, though it had taken her much longer to knit than the firsttwo. She was confident that she’d haveit done before reaching Queen Therese.

“Wait!”

Raia paused a moment, her handsstopping their task as well. Theswans—even Eurielle—were clearly not eager to stop again, especially not forthe stranger. Thaleia hissed, herhackles already raised against the man. He took no notice as he approached a couple steps, leading his horse.

“At the rate you’re going,” hebegan conversationally. “It will takeyou at least a week to reach the castle on this path.”

Raia’s heart sank a little at thethought of another week of walking. Thenshe chided herself. Surely she and hersisters could handle another seven days. They had already been traveling for at least three times that lengthjust to escape Deturus.

“But,” Ayden continued, patting hishorse’s neck. “It is but a day and ahalf’s ride on horseback. Undertow wouldnot mind carrying two for such a short trip.”

Raia looked at the horse. It was certainly a tempting offer, cuttingtheir travel time by over half. Not tomention the miles of walking it would save her feet. And surely her sisters would be safe to flyagain, now that they had left Deterus behind them…

Raia shook her head. Truth be told, she was not overly eager togain a traveling companion—aside from her sisters, of course. Particularly not a male one. Raia could not help but feel suspicious ofAyden’s generous offer—a distrust that she attributed to her recent experienceswith Soran. She didn’t know this man from Adam. Hiallan he might be, but how could she besure that Ayden wasn’t Soran’s man after all? Or that he didn’t have some nefarious scheme in mind for her and hersisters? How did she know that he didn’t intend to lock her away asSoran had?

Ayden seemed slightly surprised atRaia’s refusal of his suggestion, but he recovered quickly.

“Well then,” he said, recoveringquickly. “As we’re going in the same direction, perhaps I might walk with you aways.” He took hold of his horse’s reinsand made to lead his mount forward. BothThaleia and Petra rose up high on their feet, spreading their wings wide andhissing at Ayden furiously. He pauseduncertainly as if reconsidering his request.

Raia hid a smirk.

But Ayden simply shrugged. “Or walk nearyou a ways.” He amended with a look ather feathered guards—a look that was half-wary, half-amused. “This really is not the best area of theforest to be walking alone, even when you have such…fierce bodyguards.”

Raia could have sworn she saw allfive of her sisters puff out their chests in pride at Ayden’s description ofthem as her bodyguards. She hid herdismay at his words. She couldn’t verywell argue with the man, seeing as how she couldn’t speak to him at all. Neither could she really prevent him fromwalking on the same path that she and her sisters were following.

Raia was not entirely certain atfirst what response she should give him, but then she settled for giving him noresponse whatsoever. She simply turnedher back on him once more and continued walking. The combined sound behind her of footsteps aswell as hoofbeats told her that Ayden was following on foot, and was likelyleading his horse behind him. Like it ornot, she had a—what did one call a stowaway when on foot? Raia’s shoulders were tense, and she hatedkeeping her back to him. All the same,she was convinced that she would be in no real danger of attack frombehind. Her conviction was due less tofeeling an implacable trust in Ayden’s honesty—as trust him, she did not—thanto the certainty that her swan sisters remained just as alert to his presenceas she was. Raia had no doubt that ifthe man tried anything funny, or approached even a step too close to the groupof princesses, her sisters—Thaleia especially—would make sure that he regrettedhis decision most heartedly.

A moment later, Thaleia herselfconfirmed Raia’s prediction, after Ayden strayed a little too near theprincesses for the swan’s comfort. Raia’s twin responded to his trespass with a mighty lunge, and a violentbite to his right leg.

“Ow!” he cried in pain andsurprise. “Can’t you call off the attackbirds?”

Raia’s only response was ashrug. She couldn’t—and shewouldn’t. The stranger would just haveto learn the hard way to keep his distance.

Another “ow!” sounded from behindand Raia smirked, her eyes still fixed on her knitting. Yes, he would learn the hard way,indeed. Her sisters would see to that.