Flight of the Five Swans
Fear Chapter 4

Thaleia

The forest trail was not thequickest route to take to reach the border between Kyoria and Deturus, but itwas guaranteed to be the most peaceful, as well as the safest. There had been little to no reports of banditryalong this path for the past decade, possibly because of its veritabledisuse. It passed through no major townsor villages, meaning that any travellers taking this route could not count onreplenishing their supplies or replaceing comfortable accommodation along the way.

Nevertheless, this was the pathchosen for the Kyorian party to travel. As theirs was a relatively small company sporting only twelve mountedguards in addition to the five princesses, the captain of the guard had decidedto forego comfort for safety. Thisdecision was unanimously corroborated by the princesses themselves, Thaleiaforemost among them. She and her sistersall rather naively welcomed the idea of sleeping under the sky and eatingaround an open fire, thinking it to be a grand adventure.

“We’re like rangers!” Thaleia had enthused to her sisters on onlythe second day of their voyage. Theprincesses rode together in pairs in the very center of the company, Thaleiaand Raia in front, followed by Callia and Eurielle, with Petra bringing up therear.

“Or Robin Hood.” Petra said withmore eagerness than she was wont to show.

“But without stealing from anyone,”Eurielle added with a laugh. Petradidn’t respond, and Thaleia shot her a suspicious look. She made a mental note to check that all ofher belongings were present and accounted for once they had stopped for thenight.

“It’ll be great research for mynext story!” Callia mused and with that, she was off, talking a mile a minuteand explaining her ideas for plot and characters. The other sisters listened eagerly,occasionally making suggestions. Afterawhile, Callia rifled in her saddlebag for a quill and parchment to write downsome of their new ideas and thus distracted, their discussion petered out.

For the first five days of theirvoyage, the princesses maintained this routine of riding together during theday. Thaleia broke their custom midwaythrough the sixth day. Having seen a setof animal tracks on the side of the path that neither she nor her sistersrecognized, she fell back to ask one of the soldiers if he could identify theanimal. As the guard had not noticed theprints at the time, she used one of Callia’s quills to scratch out a sketch ofthe markings she’d seen onto her hand. He also was ignorant as to the animal that had made them, but he pointedher in the direction of Alexandre, who had been trained as a ranger prior tojoining the ranks of the Kyorian royal guard. The captain of the guard was able to immediately identify the tracks asbelonging to a badger. Afterwards,Thaleia took to riding next to Alexandre in order to pick his brain aboutdifferent tracks they saw throughout the day. She also asked him on several occasions to draw the tracks of animalsthat they might see, so that shewould recognize them should they actually come across them in reality.

Following this breach, the rest ofthe princesses no longer lingered in exclusivity, either. Callia had fished out the book she’d broughtdetailing the edible properties of certain flora, and attempted to spotreal-life samples of the pictures in the surrounding environment. Though this challenge initially began as asolitary activity, it was not long before Raia offered her services as tutor toher elder sister. The resident greenthumb among the princesses, Raia was familiar with the majority of the plantsfor which Callia was searching, and was easily able to point them out when theywere in sight. Two of the guards ridingaround the sisters, Killian and Niall, were pulled into the lessons as well, whichturned the task of replaceing each new plant into a sort of game.

Eurielle and Petra, on the otherhand, both took a leaf out of Thaleia’s book and attached themselves todifferent members of the royal guard for one-on-one instruction. Eurielle’s chosen tutor was a middle-aged mannamed Baelor, who was as well versed in identifying the sounds of animals asAlexandre was in recognizing their markings. As an added bonus, Baelor was no stranger to the endless barrage ofquestions Eurielle asked him, being himself the father to three girls under theage of fifteen. Thaleia and the rest ofthe princesses had already proclaimed themselves to be in veritable awe of theman’s endless patience with their youngest sister.

Petra, however, had taken to ridingin the very back of the party with Osric, an older member of the guard who hadpreviously worked as a trapper in his youth. As cheerful and garrulous as Eurielle, Osric was the last person thatThaleia would have expected to become Petra’s chosen riding companion. He was forever telling stories of his past,and he spent endless hours explaining in vivid detail the different traps thathe had used for each kind of animal, as well as how to go about setting them. Thaleia marveled internally as Petravoluntarily rode beside him day after day, seemingly content just to listen tohis long-winded accounts.

It wasn’t until they had been onthe road for nearly a fortnight that Petra’s true motivation was finallyrevealed. When making camp after theirtwelfth day of travelling, Thaleia stumbled onto Petra kneeling just outside ofthe opening to the tent that she shared with Eurielle. Petra’s hands were busy tying a piece of ropeinto a series of complicated knots, and Thaleia had a jolt of realization. A rustling confirmed that their youngestsister was currently inside the tent, which all but confirmed Thaleia’ssuspicions. Clearly, Petra was settingone of the traps described by Osric as an attempted prank on Eurielle. Thaleia was torn. Should she stop Petra? Warn Eurielle?

Seeming to sense her gaze, Petralooked up and saw her watching. Sheraised one finger to her lips in a ‘shhh’ gesture. Thaleia’s decision was made. Smiling slightly, she hurried to join therest of the party around the campfire, where they sat awaiting that night’sdinner. Petra arrived moments later, andThaleia could only assume that the trap had been set.

Suddenly, a slight shriek soundedfrom the direction of Eurielle’s tent, followed by the muffled thump of aperson falling. Raia, Callia, andseveral of the guards stood and looked curiously in that direction. Petra sat calmly, seemingly unconcerned atthe commotion. Thaleia tried desperatelyto keep a straight face—a task that became even more difficult when Euriellestomped into view. The front of herdress was littered with smudges of dirt and leaves, the two largest stainsindicating the places where her knees had evidently hit the ground. She stopped at the edge of the circle andplaced her hands on her hips, her eyes sparking in anger.

“Petra!” she wailed, and Thaleiacouldn’t hold it in any longer.

She laughed.