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THE GIRL STOOD AT THE window, staring bleakly into the world beyond. There was nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see. A land blanketed in shadow, a night without stars.
Only a single light penetrated the endless gloom. A flaming beacon shining on a distant hill.
Even from miles away, she could see its brightness. The wild flames stretched up into the heavens, lighting the countryside around them and flickering in her eyes. Even so far away it was impossible to miss, and even without anyone saying a word the girl knew exactly what it meant.
My father’s dead. The king is dead.
The flames whipped even higher in the midnight breeze, and she took a sudden step away from the window. Her crimson hair spilled in rivulets down her chest, and despite the shadows all around her eyes shone bright in the darkness. Shimmering with the weight of a thousand tears. Gazing out the frosty pane of glass with a sadness that knew no words.
He was a hard man, her father. But he was her father nonetheless. And over the years, time had softened him. His children had softened him. He wasn’t as hard as he once was. There was a lightness beneath the weight of the crown. At times, he seemed almost ready to smile.
“We’ve got to go, milady!” A sharp whisper cut through the silence, breaking the girl out of her spell. “We can’t stay here anymore!”
The girl blinked several times, forcing herself back to the present, then turned to look at the cluster of frightened women standing at the foot of her bed. Despite the late hour, they were all fully dressed. It was an ingrained instinct, one that had travelled to even the highest levels of the land. If you wake up to a scream in the night, the first thing you do is put on your shoes.
“You’re right...” She swept through the center of them, moving strangely, as if she was in some sort of dream. “I need to pay my respects to my father...”
The women exchanged a frantic, helpless look as she groped around in the darkness, reaching for her coat. Less than a second later an ominous rumbling shook the very ground they were standing on, followed by a series of distant screams.
“Milady, you don’t understand.” The bravest of the women stepped forward, reaching tentatively to catch her hand. “There isn’t time—”
At that moment the door burst open, and the women fell back with a shriek. The girl looked up in a daze as a tall man strode into her bedchamber. A man who had weathered a hundred battles and had lived to see nights like this before. A man she had known all her life.
“The king is dead,” he announced with no preamble.
Although the beacon had told them as much, the women gasped and clustered together. The girl merely glanced at the beacon outside. Her thoughts were jumbled and made no sense. A chaotic parade of random memories, nonsensical and ill-timed. Each one hurrying to replace the last.
This is the man who taught my brother and me to ride when we were just children. My father is dead. I wonder what kind of magic sets the beacon on fire. My father’s dead. I must remember to tell the groom to have my horse saddled in the morning. My father is dead.
When he received no response, the man glanced nervously at the women gathered behind her. They shook their heads, at a similar loss, and he tried again.
“Your Highness...your father is dead.”
Her eyes flickered up to his rain-soaked hair, wondering vaguely at the smear of blood on his face, before she nodded robotically, pointing back to the window. “Yes, I saw the beacon. I was just gathering my things to go pay my respects—”
“You don’t understand!” A wave of panic tightened his voice, as if they were running out of time. “He didn’t just die, milady, he was killed. Killed by a dagger to the heart. This dagger.”
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a shining blade, pressing it firmly into her hands. A tiny jewel was missing from the left hilt, and a steady stream of crimson was dripping onto the floor.
For a moment, she simply stared. Then a jolt of delayed shock rocketed through her body.
...Kailas?
“No.” She held the blade away from her body, as if proximity alone could fight back the dark truth that was settling upon her. “No, this isn’t... it isn’t true. I know what you all must be thinking, but it isn’t true. It can’t be.”
The man bowed his head, staring down at her with unspeakable sympathy.
“It’s the prince’s blade, milady. And he used it himself. I was there.”
She shook her head back and forth, letting the knife fall from her hands as she backed all the way to the window. “There has to be some kind of mistake. Kailas...Kailas wouldn’t do this. He would never hurt our father—”
“He killed your father,” the man interrupted urgently. “And he’s coming for you next.”
The room seemed to get smaller and smaller as her eyes zeroed in on the blade. She was there the day their father gave it to him for Christmas. He’d broken it the very same night. Smacked it so hard against a suit of armor that one of the jewels had fallen out of the hilt.
“You need to leave the castle, milady. You need to—”
“I’m not going to run!”
The words echoed in the room, strong and fierce, freezing everyone inside to sudden stone. They came from a place deep inside her. A place she was only just beginning to understand herself. But as the beacon flickered in the glass behind her, it was as if the flames had jumped inside her body as well. Shock and fear gave way to anger. Anger and a fiery resolve. A demand for justice.
“I will not run,” she repeated, her eyes locking on her brother’s bloodied blade. “The castle is my home. The throne is mine by right. I will fight for what is mine.”
It was a rousing speech. But one that was ended by just a few simple words.
“Then you will surely die.”
All the women in the room turned to look at the man for the first time. He was tall and strong—even for a knight. But tired. Tired in a way the girl had never seen before.
“Everything that’s happened tonight, your brother has been planning for months.” His eyes flickered to the door as the chaos and clamor engulfing the castle began to get closer. “The guards are dead. The nobles loyal to you and your father are away from court. You have no allies.”
The girl shook her head, her crimson curls ablaze in the fiery torchlight. “But the answer can’t be to steal away in the middle of the night! There has to be a way—”
“Katerina.”
The name stunned her senseless, stealing the words right off her tongue.
Growing up as a member of the royal family, the rules of the court were clear: First names were reserved for family. Only. If anyone else dared to speak them, they would be put to death.
But death was exactly the game they were playing here. That’s what he was trying to say.
“You need to run.”
Their eyes met for a second more. Just a second, but it was enough to change everything. A wave of sudden resolve rushed over her as she dropped the fancy coat she was carrying and reached for a travelling cloak instead. The man nodded and rushed back down the hall—assumedly to buy her as much time as he could—while she turned to her ladies.
“You will not be coming with me.”
A small outcry followed the words. As frightened as the women were, they were fiercely loyal at the same time. Proud to stand next to their mistress to the bitter end.
“What are you talking about?” The woman who’d grabbed her before made to do so again, unwilling to let her go. “Of course we’re coming—”
“You all have husbands here at court. You have family in the village.” Katerina shook her head, wrenching her arm away. “They’ll use those people against you, and I won’t have the blood of your families on my hands. You’ll stay here and accept my brother’s rule. I command it.”
“But milady—”
“I command it.”
The two women locked eyes for the briefest of moments. A silent, heartbroken exchange passed between them as they reached out and squeezed each other’s hands. Then another explosion shook the foundations of the castle, and everyone sprinted out of the room.
The women ran one way. Katerina ran another.
Now that she was out in the open, away from the sanctuary of her private chambers, it was easy to see that things were not as they should be. The halls were lit with torches, not tapers, and hardly three seconds could pass before the stones would echo with a chilling scream.
Katerina raced along in the shadows, moving as quickly as she could. Since she couldn’t be certain of who her brother had rallied to his side, she would be forced to trust no one. Forced to steal away from the castle and out into the darkened world beyond all by herself.
Just a few months after the most recent rebellion. When the people living in the countryside and villages would just as soon kill me as call me their queen. Perfect timing.
The sudden sound of footsteps made her freeze in her tracks, and her eyes widened with terror when she saw the tall shadows of armored men stretching up the wall. A silent gasp tore from her lips as she whirled around in a circle, searching desperately for a place to hide. All the doors were locked, and the hallway she’d been fleeing down stretched back for at least fifty feet.
I’ll never make it! I’ll never get back the way I came before they round the corner—
A sudden hand clamped over her mouth, and she choked back a scream. The torches blurred in front of her eyes, and the next thing she knew she was being yanked backwards into a hole in the wall. A hole that hadn’t been there just a second before.
“Alwyn?”
She hardly dared to whisper the name, and sure enough, the hand tightened upon her mouth in fierce reproach. Another hand came up in front of them, waving quickly over the gap in the wall, and no sooner had the stones stitched themselves together than a contingent of guards rushed past.
They’re going to my room. They’re going to kill me.
Strangely enough, the sight didn’t solicit any emotional response. Perhaps she was in a place beyond emotions now. Perhaps her body had gone into some kind of shock.
“She’s not here!” a male voice shouted to the rest. “You, head to the tower. You, go and check the stables. Kailas says we’re to bring her back alive.”
There it was. Straight from the guard’s own lips. Her brother was behind this. Her beloved twin had given in to darkness once and for all.
The hand restraining her disappeared and a flood of feeling rushed back to her face. She reached out a hand to steady herself, but just as she did the stones in the wall disappeared once again and she found herself stumbling out into the hall.
This time, she wasn’t alone. A small white-haired man tumbled out beside her.
“Alwyn.” She lifted her arms for an automatic embrace, like a child reaching for a security blanket. “I knew it was you—”
“There isn’t time.” The wizard’s brow was knit with fear as he looked up and down the endless hall. “We must go back the way you came. There’s a tunnel hidden behind one of the portraits near your room that leads out of the castle. It’s your only chance at escape.”
Escape. So even the castle sorcerer sees no alternative. I’m to live in exile.
She might as well have been speaking out loud. Ever since she was a young girl, the wizard had always been able to read her thoughts. It’s what would make her such a good queen, he always said. The fact that she had nothing to hide. That she wore her emotions on her sleeve.
“Yes, dear one, I’m afraid escape is your only option at this time.”
He was about to say more, when the sound of footsteps echoed suddenly from up the stairs, freezing them both in their tracks. They stood there a moment, hardly daring to breathe, before he gestured urgently up the hall.
“Come on, quickly now.”
With the greatest of haste, they raced back down the stone corridor towards Katerina’s bedroom, the hems of their cloaks swishing frantically over the floor. As the guards had already checked her chambers, they didn’t run into any trouble. But just as they were racing past her door Katerina skidded to a sudden stop, compelled with an instinct she couldn’t control.
“My mother’s necklace,” she panted, her eyes wide with terror. “I can’t leave it!”
Anyone else might have just thrown her over their shoulder but, as usual, Alwyn seemed to understand. His magical eyes flickered towards her room before he nodded sharply.
“Be quick.”
Like the floor itself was on fire, Katerina raced into her room. Only to come to another sudden stop. It had been empty when she left it, but it certainly wasn’t empty now. All those women she’d told to flee and submit to her brother’s rule, all those women who had grown up with her and Kailas since they were all just children... those women were lying dead on the floor.
It was as if her brother had thrust the blade right into her belly.
She doubled over at the waist, breathing hard through her nose, hands on her knees. They were stacked in a pile on the rug. Her mother’s old rug was stained through and through with blood. Little trickles of it were stretching towards her across the floor, and she took a sudden step back. Convinced that if it touched her, she’d give up and join them all willingly.
“Milady!”
Alwyn’s voice hissed from the corridor. Reminding her of her purpose. Reminding her of the need for haste. A hundred tears streamed down her cheeks but she forced herself to turn away, leaving the mangled bodies behind as she raced towards her bureau. She would grieve for them all in time. But to stop now would be tantamount to death.
Her mother’s pendant was hanging where it always was. Shimmering innocently in the moonlight. Oblivious to the fact that the world was crumbling around it.
Katerina froze a moment, her eyes dazzled by the otherworldly glow. Then she snatched it off its hook and looped it over her head, stuffing it deep down under her nightdress.
The familiar weight of it was an odd comfort as she left the chamber of corpses behind and sprinted out into the hall to meet Alwyn. As was the heat. For no explicable reason, the necklace had always seemed to create its own heat. It burned comfortingly against her chest as she and the wizard took back off down the hall, coming to a sudden stop in front of a portrait hanging at the end.
“This?” Katerina asked incredulously, staring up in disbelief. “This is my escape?”
It was an old painting, one that had been commissioned when she was just three or four years old and had hung in the hallway ever since. A painting of the prince and princess posing together in front of the royal throne. Each child was holding onto a different armrest.
Alwyn gazed up at the painting for a moment, then shook his head with a sigh. “My dear, the universe is nothing if not ironic.”
Another explosion shook the very foundations of the castle as he grabbed one side of the frame and pulled it with all his might. There was a quiet groan then the painting creaked open like a door, revealing the dark passageway just beyond. Both he and Katerina stared into the shadows with wide eyes before she took a step forward, and he took a step back.
“You’re not coming with me?!” she asked in alarm, clutching the necklace.
He tried to take a step forward, then suddenly stopped—like a dog that had reached the end of its leash. “This is as far as I go, Katy. I am bound to the castle by the same magic that runs in my veins. I can take you no further.”
...then I am going to die. Katerina shrank back in terror, but he grabbed her by the hand. A rush of heat sprang up between them before the princess jerked away, rubbing her palm as though she’d been burned.
“A simple spell,” Alwyn panted, “and my parting gift. As long as the magic holds, no one will be able to track you. Head east. Put some distance between yourself and the castle. With any luck, the incantation will last until then.”
Katerina paled, glancing over her shoulder at the shadows beyond. “And if it doesn’t?”
He didn’t answer, he simply took her hand. “Keep to yourself, and don’t stop moving. You’ll be a thousand times easier to find if you try to settle down. And whatever you do, never trust a shifter. They are loyal to the crown.”
But I am the crown. At least... I’m supposed to be.
His arms opened wide, ready for the final embrace, but just as the two were leaning towards each other a sudden chorus of shouts exploded at the far end of the hall. Instead of embracing her Alwyn pulled away instead, shoving her roughly into the tunnel.
“Run, Katerina! Run until you can’t run any more... then keep running!”
Just like that, the painting swung shut. Leaving her alone in the dark.
* * *
WHEN YOU LIVE IN A place all your life, there ceases to be any mystery to it. Over time you come to know every crack, every shadow. With a bit more artistic talent, Katerina was sure she could draw the castle by hand.
But she would never have known to draw the massive series of tunnels beneath it.
How can this all be here? And why did no one ever tell me? Do they all just not know?
She couldn’t believe that Alwyn would send her down into the earth if there was a chance her brother could follow. And she couldn’t believe that her father had known anything about the subterranean labyrinth either. Their castle had come under siege many times before. Never once did he send people down to guard the entrances to the tunnels. The entire castle must not have known.
Ignorance is bliss. This place feels like death.
After stumbling a while over the jagged ground Katerina slowed her pace down to a walk, wrapping her arms tightly across her chest. How it could possibly be summertime in the world above, she would never know. The tunnel was absolutely freezing, but not in a way that she recognized. Not in a way one could simply shrug off and soldier on. The cold seemed to have a life of its own. Creeping down off the walls and reaching through her skin. Entering her body with every shivering breath as it burrowed its way down into her very bones.
She wished she was wearing more than just her nightgown under her thick cloak. She wished that she had enough courage to light a torch, to fight the cold and guide the way. But the image of her murdered ladies flashed before her eyes, and all those thoughts were put to rest. Instead, she simply gritted her teeth and continued walking. She would come back out into the real world soon enough. And when she did, chances were she’d be longing for the tunnel.
Time ceased to matter. The outside world couldn’t manage to touch her so far beneath the ground. Each breath was memorialized with a frosty cloud, and each step pounded to the rhythm of the silent mantra, looping over and over in her head.
My father is dead. My father is dead. My father is dead.
The only comfort she had was her mother’s pendant, but even that seemed to diminish so far beneath the castle walls. What had once been a strong, pulsing light had faded to the burn of an ember, and the heat that had once kept her so warm had turned to bitter ice.
She shivered again and pulled the hood of her cloak up over her crimson hair. Any moment now, she would be coming up on the moon-drenched lawns that surrounded the castle. The cloak was a good start, but her bright hair would be a dead giveaway. No one else in the kingdom had hair of such an unusual hue. She was known for it far and wide. Like her mother before her.
Sure enough, no sooner had she thought the words than the ground suddenly rose in a sharp incline. She crept up the rough stone, careful not to make a sound, and came to a stop in front of a thick wall of holly.
Holly? There is no holly on the castle grounds.
Her outstretched hand froze just inches away from the pointed leaves.
No...but there is holly in the forest.
For the first time since awakening to the beacon, her face lit with the hint of a smile.
Alwyn, you’re a genius.
Like a person emerging from a grave Katerina clawed her way through the thick underbrush, fighting back tears as the serrated leaves tore at her skin and tangled themselves in her hair. Her fingernails ripped to shreds as she battled for every inch of ground, staining the path behind her with smears of royal blood. It was exhausting work—and still, she was in darkness.
But then, just as she was on the verge of giving up, a sudden ray of light pierced through the branches, into the tunnel. Her eyes locked onto it hungrily, starved of its comfort for too long, and she redoubled her efforts. Just a few minutes later, she was standing on dry ground.
Shaken. Exposed. But free, nonetheless.
And that’s when she heard them. Her brother’s hell hounds. Racing through the woods.
“No!” Her hands clapped over the mouth, but the damage was done. Her gasp was barely louder than a whisper, but the dogs were meant to hunt and kill. They would surely have heard it.
Without a second thought, she took off at a dead sprint. Flying over the forest floor as fast as her feet would carry her. Running in a straight line, away from the sounds of the massive beasts.
She ran past the brook where Alwyn had taught her to fish as a child. She ran past the giant maple tree that she and Kailas had played under as children. One by one, her childhood haunts flew past in a moonlit blur. Each more fleeting than the last. Each one staying in her mind for just a fleeting moment before getting lost in the darkness beyond.
Would she ever see them again? Was this goodbye?
A bloodcurdling howl echoed through the trees and she picked up the pace. Leaping over a shallow ravine. Tearing her way through the blackberry brambles beyond. Her feet hardly made a noise as they skimmed over the mossy forest floor; fast as she was, she knew it was no use.
There was no escaping a hell hound once it was on your trail. The only solution was to hide.
Hide, and pray that it would never find you.
There was another howl as she scrambled up the side of a hill, and then promptly tumbled down the slope just beyond. She cracked her head against a giant hollowed-out log on the canyon floor then promptly crawled inside, staring through a crack in the wood with wide, terrified eyes.
Not two seconds later, a hound emerged. Bigger than a wolf. And far deadlier. It sniffed the wind, then let out a fearsome cry. A moment later, it was joined by its brother.
Romulus and Remus. Mythological siblings who turned on each other. How appropriate.
Together, the giant beasts searched the little canyon. The thick fur on their shoulders standing up. Their savage yellow eyes piercing the starless night.
A dark abomination of the animal world, hell hounds were bred in the shadows beneath the mountains on the outer rim of the kingdom. Nothing but bloodlust and destruction in their veins.
Her father had banned them outright. Anything that was born so far within the badlands wasn’t allowed entry into the kingdom. But he could never manage to say that to Kailas, especially near the end. When the puppies had first come to the castle, their tiny fangs dripping with the blood of a freshly killed rabbit, her brother had been delighted. Since then, the trio had been inseparable. The beasts followed the prince wherever he went, dogging his every step.
The wind picked up through the trees and the dogs sat back on their haunches, noses pointed towards the moon. A feral snarl rumbled out of Remus’ chest, curling his lips back from his teeth as he rotated slowly around and zeroed in on the fallen tree.
Katerina cringed away from the light, clutching her mother’s necklace as she leaned as far away as she could into the log. One wrong move and the dogs would tear apart the tree like it was an unfortunate plaything. Her body would not be far behind.
As Romulus picked up another trail leading out of the canyon, Remus made his way over to the tree. Katerina covered her mouth with her hands, freezing in breathless terror as he lowered his nose to the peep-hole, his foul breath blasting into the hollow log. Another growl rumbled through him, making her heart stutter and skip, and as he opened his mouth—his monstrous fangs gleaming in the light—she found herself offering up a silent prayer.
If anyone out there is listening...please protect me.
He lowered his eye to the peep-hole and stared straight at her. Then he walked away.
Katerina’s arms dropped to her sides in shock as both hounds took up the fresh scent and disappeared over the ridge of the mountain, vanishing with a final howl at the moon. She was shaking so hard she had to hold onto the tree for balance. And when she finally dared to emerge, the beasts were long gone and she found herself quite alone.
What? What the... What just happened? I could’ve sworn that...
The pendant glowed warm against her skin as she turned her eyes back to the castle.
“Alwyn.”
It seemed his tracking spell had worked after all. Still, she wasn’t taking any chances.
The second she was sure the dogs could no longer hear her, she took off running again in the opposite direction. The wizard had told her to head east, but at this point any direction would do. As long as it was away from the castle, it was fine by her.
So for the rest of the night, Katerina did exactly what Alwyn had told her to do. She ran until she couldn’t run any more... and then she kept running.
It came in bursts—tapering off with exhaustion—then exploding out of her once more. Up one mountain, and down another. Winding through an endless series of trees. Wading her way across river after freezing river, dragging her body back up onto dry land.
By the time the sun peeked out over the tops of the trees, she was lost and disoriented. More tired than she could ever imagine. More shaken than she could possibly withstand. Cold and hungry, stumbling one foot after the other in a sort of bloodshot daze.
It wasn’t long after that she came to the top of a grassy hill. Since she’d been trekking through mostly forested mountains thus far, she could only imagine that she had left the boundaries of the kingdom behind and was in one of the rural provinces that bordered their lands. She had never been so far from home before, and even in the state that she was in she couldn’t help but stare at the picturesque beauty of it all.
Then she twisted her ankle on a loose stone, and went tumbling down the hill.
A thousand cracks and bruises later, she finally hit the bottom. But this time, when she rolled to a stop she didn’t try to get up. The world around flickered and dimmed before she finally gave up the ghost and closed her eyes. Slumping lifelessly into the tall grass. Waiting for death.
* * *
“I REALLY DON’T THINK you should be poking her like that, Nixie. It looks like the poor thing’s been through enough.”
“Oh, what do you care? It’s not like I’m hurting anything.”
“Would the two of you just give it a rest? Now give her some space. Wait, she’s waking up!”
Katerina’s eyes fluttered open and shut as she slowly awakened to the world around her. A world that was drenched in sunlight and sprinkled with morning dew. Three bright lights were twinkling in the air above her, and she raised her head weakly, trying to focus.
“I’m just saying she doesn’t look much like a princess.”
One of the lights dive-bombed the other with a little smack. “Quiet, Beck! She can hear you!”
“Hello?” Katerina’s voice trembled as she pushed onto her elbows, squinting painfully into the sun. “Are you...are you talking to me?”
A tiny voice squeaked a startled reply.
“Heavens, she can’t even see us! I forgot, we’re still small!”
There was a sudden burst of warmth as the three lights hovering in the air grew bigger and bigger, eventually lowering to the ground. It got to the point where they were so bright that Katerina had to look away. By the time she turned back, three little women stood in their place.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.” The woman in the middle bowed, and the other two quickly followed suit. “My name is Marigold. This is Nixie and Beck.”
Katerina scrambled back to her feet, staring with open-mouthed shock. “You’re...you’re fairies!” She had heard of them, of course, but such creatures weren’t allowed anywhere near the castle walls. Truth be told, there were rumors that they had died out decades before.
“See?” Nixie’s mouth curved up with a little smirk. “I told you we’re famous.”
Beck reached around and smacked her again. “Shut up!”
“Yes,” Marigold replied, stepping forward, ignoring the childish scuffle, “we’re fairies. And I’m very glad that it’s we who found you this fine morning.”
“Oh, yes?” Katerina took a step back, nervously pulling her cloak tighter. “And why is that?”
The fairy’s eyes warmed to such a degree that her tiny feet seemed to leave the ground. “Because, dear princess...we’re going to help you live.”
