Flight of the Five Swans
Fear Chapter 6

Petra

On thefinal morning of their six-week voyage, Petra was woken quite suddenly from adeep sleep by the sound of a cacophonous commotion just outside of thecamp. What seemed like all of the horsesin their party were whinnying frantically, as though they were being ledstraight into the jaws of wolves.

“It’ssettled. Someone’s dead meat.” Petragrumbled angrily under her breath, grabbing her dressing gown from beside herbedroll and donning it. A low groan camefrom the other side of the tent. Rubbingher eyes, Eurielle sat up, her blonde hair tangled around her head like abird’s nest.

“Whassamatta?” She yawned, blearily looking around.

Petra’s only response was to throwEurielle’s own dressing gown towards her, a silent command for her sister torise and check out the commotion for herself. Not bothering to linger and see whether Eurielle had taken the hint,Petra opened the tent flap and stepped outside.

She and Eurielle had not been theonly ones disturbed by the horses. Callia, Raia and Thaleia emerged from their tents as well, all shiveringslightly from the early morning chill. Several guards rushed to check on the horses. Most of them still wore their nightshirtswith trousers hastily pulled on over them. From the position of the sun, Petraguessed the time to be not long after dawn. Had it not been for the interruption, she could have slept for at leastanother hour before they resumed their journey.

‘Yeah, I’m definitely killingsomeone.’ She thought fiercely.

Behind her, Petra heard the tentflap open as Eurielle exited. The fiveprincesses stood together in sleepy silence, watching the activity aroundthem. After minutes that felt likehours, Alexandre finally approached. Unlike some of the other guards, the captain was already fully dressedand seemingly ready for their final day of travel. He gestured apologetically to where thehorses had been tethered for the night.

“I’m sorry, Your Highnesses. It seems something bothered the horses,though I don’t know yet what that could have been. MacLeary was on guard duty, but one of themounts pulled loose from its tether, and he had to go after it. We’ll get his full report when he returns.”

Petra yawned, then stuffed herhands into the pockets of her dressing gown, irritated. ”So, you have no thoughts at all on who’s to blame forspooking the horses?” Hearing the hintof accusation in her voice, Raia shot her an exasperated look.

The captain shook his head. “AsI’ve said, I hope MacLeary’s report will shed some light on what actuallyhappened. For now, you can all return toyour tents if you like and get some more sleep. We won’t be packing up to leave for another couple of hours.”

Petra thought longingly of herbedroll, but then banished the thought. She was up now, for better or worse. Callia shook her head and shrugged.

“Thank you, Captain, but I believewe’re all thoroughly awake now. And whoknows? Now we’re up, we might be able toget an early start on the day once we’re all ready, and arrive that muchsooner.”

Alexandre nodded in approval. “I’ll tell the cook to start breakfast.”

Despite the intention to gain anearly start, their scout did not return with the missing horse until well afterthey were meant to have been on the road. Shortly after MacLeary’s arrival back at the camp, the captain of theguard once again sought out the princesses.

“Nothing to worry about, YourHighnesses.” He reassured them. “According to MacLeary, there wasn’t much ofanything to report. Just some swan thatgot under the horses’ feet. “

Thaleia glanced at Eurielle, theslightest hint of a grin on her face. Seeing the movement, Petra recalled the story her sister had told them aweek prior. Two crazy swans in thecourse of two weeks? It was really quitea coincidence.

Alexandre glanced up at the sky,his brow furrowed. “We’ll be mounting upnow. We’ll arrive a bit later thananticipated, but we can still get there before dark.”

Petra was not in the best mood asshe mounted her horse and joined the other travellers trotting out ofcamp. She had wanted someone to blame—anactual person—for her untimelyawakening that morning. Blaming ananimal wasn’t nearly as satisfying. Youcouldn’t play a prank on them, or permanently confiscate their favoritehairbrush. In fact, as far as Petra could see, there was no viable way to getback at them at all. And that, she felt,was a definite problem.

Her mood improved as theyrode. She couldn’t help it—theanticipation of their arrival could not help but raise her spirits. Just before midday, the Deturian palace cameinto view. Her sisters cheered at thesight and while Petra did not join in with their celebrations, she was thrilledall the same. After six long weeks onthe road, the end of their journey was finally in sight.

The last few hours of travel werespent weaving in and out of small towns that got progressively larger thecloser they came to the castle. Many ofthe townspeople gawked as they passed, and the youngest Deturians wavedgleefully at the procession. Theprincesses waved back, though some more exuberantly than others. At one point, Eurielle nearly fell off herhorse in her enthusiasm, and had to be pushed aright by Petra, who was ridingbeside her at the time.

As Alexandre had predicted, thecompany entered the gates of the Deturian palace just as the sun was setting onthe horizon. Petra looked around withinterest as they rode into the palace yard. The yard was expansive, with hedges running to either side of the paththey followed. To the left of the pathwas a dense grove of trees, as though a mini forest had been planted solely atthe whim of the Deturian royal family. On the right side, Petra saw a large pond, its surface dark and glassy. She was surprised to see guards stationed allaround the edge of the body of water. She snickered a bit. What couldthey possibly be guarding? The fish?

The castle itself was slightlybigger than their palace in Kyoria, and it was imposing to the extreme. The gray stone was weathered and had clearlysurvived many a thunderstorm, and possibly a siege or two. Out of habit more than anything else, Petraimmediately started looking for weak points that one might exploit should theywant to enter secretly—purely hypothetically, of course. Though there was little to be seen at firstglance, she was certain of her abilities to uncover some—if not all—of the castle’s secrets before long.

Adding to the imposing impressionof the Deturian palace was the welcoming committee waiting to greet them. As far as Petra could see, all but one wereroyal guards, facing each other in two straight lines all the way up thesteps. At the very top was a young manwith a wide smile gracing his boyish face. He was tall and blond, and Petra knew immediately that this must be theLord Soran that Cliodne had mentioned in her letters. She frowned. Now she thought of it, where was Cliodne? Petra had fully expected her elder sister tobe among those present to welcome their arrival.

Lord Soran held his arms open infront of him as though to embrace them all from afar.

“Welcome, princesses ofKyoria!” He said, slowly descending thestairs towards them.

Alexandre held up one hand, and theentire Kyorian company came to a stop directly in front of the steps. The princesses were the first to dismount,and they waited for their escort to do the same before advancing.

Lord Soran didn’t stop until he wasstanding right in front of them at the bottom of the stairs. He bowed. “Your Highnesses, it is my honor to welcome you to Deturus. I’m Lord Soran.”

As one, the princessescurtseyed. The eldest of those present,Callia stepped forward in front of the rest to present herself asspokes-princess. She presented her hand,and Lord Soran kissed it.

“We are gratified to be here, LordSoran,” she said after introducing each of them in turn. Petra hid a smile. She was sure that Callia’s choice of wordshad been lifted straight from one of her many stories. “But I must admit, I had expected Cliodne tobe here to see us as well.”

Lord Soran’s smile grew wider, andPetra felt a stab of apprehension that she couldn’t explain.

“Your sister insisted on being theone to oversee the preparation of the bed chambers for your arrival.” He said.

“Can we see her now?” Euriellepiped up, and Thaleia nudged her with her elbow.

Lord Soran glanced almost nervouslyat the sun, which was now completely hidden by the horizon but for a smallsliver of gold. “If you like, I can take you straight to her.”

Petra was the first to notice theanimal flying towards them, a speeding patch of white out of the corner of hereye. With an exclamation of surprise sheducked, pulling Raia and Eurielle down with her. A large swan swooped down directly abovetheir heads, banking around before landing in the pond with a loud splash. Mouths agape, the princesses stared at thebird, the largest of its kind that they had ever seen.

And then, before their very eyes,the swan changed. The head tripled insize, corkscrew curls growing out of it like ivy. Wings stretched, becoming long and thin,while the swan’s legs thickened and grew. The white feathers ruffled, then melded together into what looked verymuch like fabric.

In less than a minute, the swan haddisappeared entirely. In the middle ofthe pond was a young woman as familiar to the princesses as their ownnames. She lurched out of the water andattempted to reach them.

“It’s a trap!” Cliodne shouted.