Chapter Four

“Reckless foolishness,” Hen grumbled under her breath as she helped me dress. “In a tourney maze is no place for a princess.”

“Val and Cara will watch out today,” I told her. “And my father is in the audience.”

“Should not be required,” she cinched my ties tighter than necessary in her irritation. “Princesses should not be put in such danger.”

“It is good training for the real world, Akyran says,” I replied. “And keeps the knight’s keen and sharp.”

Nerith castle cupped the inner courtyards, and during the tourney, Akyran and Ecaeris transformed the neat gardens and lower balconies into a maze of obstacles. The courtyards were large, but in an impressive feat of magic, Akyran and Ecaeris multiplied the dimensions to an impossible scale, creating a true labyrinth for the competition, and once you stepped into it, the maze seemed to spread for miles in every direction.

As I joined the line up of competitors between Rue and Val, I saw a couple of knight errants spot me, and laugh, wondering as we all were why I was there at all.

“Stay close to the wall,” Rue said under his breath having seen the same exchange. “Let everyone pass and follow a safe distance behind. There’s no reason to get caught up in the melee, Daethie. Val, I’m going for the flag, can you keep an eye on Daethie, make sure she doesn’t get crushed to death in the initial rush?”

“I’m not handing you the win, Rue,” Val replied. “Cara?”

Cara grumbled under his breath. “I’ll watch for her,” he agreed unhappily his eyes going to an upper balcony from which our father was easily identified for his height and vividly golden hair. “But only until the initial rush passes, and then I’m competing.”

“Thank you, Cara,” I said. Aien stood just beyond Caraway and turned his head slightly our way, subtly listening to our conversation, and I felt my cheeks heat with shame.

“Hopefully after today our father sees sense, and sends you home,” Caraway replied begrudgingly. “You don’t belong here.”

“I know,” I said softly. Aien met my eyes briefly and then ducked his head, the shadows of his hood swallowing his handsome face from view. I wanted to cry at the unfairness of it all, caught in the twisted strands of a destiny not mine, and forced into situations because of it that no other princess was forced to face, and humiliated before my friend.

“Welcome,” Akyran stepped up to the balcony. The dark elves cheered and stamped, the rhythm of their celebration drowning out all other sounds. I shifted my weight on my feet, ignoring the knight errants watching me, and the knights and my siblings around me, my eyes scanning the maze set out before us for a place in which a small person like me could hide.

“Welcome combatants!” Akyran spoke over the cheers. “To our weekly tourney. The winner must reach the centre of the maze and retrieve the flag. That winner will receive a pouch of gold, a place at the academy, the title of Knight of the Realm with the lands to accompany it, and a magical favor guaranteed to aid you in your heroics. A worthy prize,” he nodded as the cheering rang out. “But not one easily won. You are up against steep competition. The best of the academy. Honorable, tested, and proven knights and mages, the dragon heirs of Uyan Taesil, and our champion, the Princess Tarragon.”

“May fate be on your side,” Akyran smirked. “At the third chime, the competition begins. You have six hours, at the conclusion of which the bell will again chime three times, and the winner will be the person holding the flag. Don’t die,” his smile was savage. “No one wants to bury you. Begin!” He signalled to the servant with the gong and the firm chime rang out, silencing the gathering of competitors and audience, both.

My eyes met my father’s. Dragon’s often appeared disconnected and indifferent to the world around them to humans, however our expressions are more schooled and subtler to the eye, and I could see his tension as he watched us. He might accept the necessity of the training we underwent, and he might commit us to it knowing that it provided whichever child whose destiny it was foretold with the skills required, but it did not mean that he did not appreciate the danger that it placed the rest of us under. Our mother probably did not know precisely how much that weighed upon our father as he tried to shelter her from such things, knowing that the burden of being Queen was heavy enough without the addition of such worries about her children.

I nodded as the second chime rang out, reassuring him that I had the situation under control, although the truth was far from that.

The third chime rang and the knights and heroes around me sprung into action rushing down the stairs at a speed that stole my breath. I ran with them, ducking as an errant swung a fist at Rue, knocking him into Caraway. I felt another grab me around the waist and fought viciously, managing to drive my elbow into his nose so that he dropped me, and rolled to the side within the narrow passage of the maze, covering my head and face with my arms as the earth shook and trembled under the heavy footfalls of armoured knights, kicking up dust, their grunts and cries accompanied by the spray of blood as they battled for position.

Someone grabbed me off the ground, their cloak billowing about us both.

“Run,” Aien exclaimed into my ear, keeping his grip on me as we fled along the narrow passage. He was pushed into me as two knights exchanged blows, cupping me to the wall with his body, his cloak hiding me from sight, and his forehead lowering to mine as he braced against their violence.

At the first opportunity, he caught my arm and dragged me down a dead end. I cried out as I realized that we were trapped, but he reached into his pouches and cast a handful of seeds out. “Crescere!” He cried out, his voice ringing out, and yet swallowed by the clash of swords and cries of pain as the knights warred in the maze around us.

The seeds sprung into life, twisting up, knotting, and tangling into a wall that created a small chamber of space in the dead end in which we were apart and safe from the tourney around us. When he was satisfied that the greenery was thick enough to prevent entry, he joined me against the far wall, sinking down to sit at my side.

He pulled out a pouch and held it open towards me. “Sunflower seeds?”

“Thank you,” I was breathless, my heart racing in my chest. I could taste blood and wasn’t entirely sure if I had bitten my tongue in the panicked chaos, or if during the violence, someone had hit me in the face and split my lip.

I took some of the seeds from his pouch and put them into my mouth although I wasn’t sure I could successfully chew and swallow them.

“Well,” he blew out a breath whilst I struggled not to choke, his eyes on the wall of vines which was blooming with the bright bells of hibiscus flowers. “That was intense. They do this every week?”

I nodded and swallowed with success. “Yes, every week.”

“We’re going to have to get more creative,” he predicted grimly. “This worked this time, because they didn’t expect it, but it won’t work every week.”

“No,” I agreed.

“What do you normally do?” He turned and looked down at me, his golden-brown eyes puzzled.

“Sometimes beneath the wooden stairs there are gaps,” I said. “If I can find one, and crawl between without anyone seeing, I can usually hide below successfully.”

“And if anyone sees?”

“My brothers sometimes help,” I peeled my trousers up my shin, inspecting the bruises below. Someone had kicked me before Aien had seized hold of me, and there was a feeling of wetness. I was not surprised to see that the skin had split and I was oozing blood.

“You’re bleeding!” He exclaimed.

“It’s nothing, really,” I was embarrassed and began to roll the trousers down to cover my bare leg. “Just a bump.”

“That’s more than a bump,” he stalled my hands with his own, and met my eyes. “Let me help you,” he said softly preventing me from protesting with his earnestness. I dropped my hands away. “Thank you,” he smiled slightly and began to search his pockets, retrieving a handkerchief and a handful of seeds that sprouted into fresh herbs upon the palm of his hand. He tucked one into the other, and bruised them within the fold of the cloth, before applying it over my wound, trying it firmly and murmuring: “Sana!”

“Thank you.”

His hands were gentle, and his hair fell over his forehead in a way that tempted the fingers to stroke it back. I could smell the combination of herbal spell components that he wore around his belt, woodsmoke and lavender clinging to his clothing and found myself leaning in, filling my lungs with the fragrances before I caught myself and flicked a look up. We were far enough into the maze, away from the balconies of the castle, that low in the shelter of the walls and his tangle of vines, no one could see us, but I felt my cheeks heat anyway.

Being alone with Aien in such a way wasn’t really the done thing for a princess, but then there was very little about the academy that fell within the realm of what was acceptable for princesses.

“You hate it here,” Aien said as he leaned back. “As much as I do.”

“I guess,” I hesitated and then sighed. “Only every moment of every day,” I confessed heavily, and he flicked me a grin. “I hate this castle,” I told him, warming to the subject. “The rooms are draughty, and the dark elves,” I whispered the words. “Are so grim. It’s like no one is ever happy here. Not truly. You never see anyone smile.”

“And I hate the food,” I crossed my legs in a very un-princess-y way. “It’s always so heavy on the meat. I hate the gauntlet and arms training. I hate the knights and the way they look at me as if…” I broke off, embarrassed. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What would you do if you weren’t here?” He asked stretching out one long leg and resting his elbow on the knee of the other. We both tensed as the greenery wall shook under the impact of something on the other side.

“This wasn’t here before,” Liam said from the other side.

“Try a spell on it,” said another voice that I did not recognize.

Aien met my eyes and smiled slightly before making a gesture with one hand. The vines suddenly grew thorns, and there was a cry of pain from the other side. “Move on,” he called out. “If you know what’s wise.”

“It’s that mage,” Liam said. “Should be in the dungeons, not running around free, in my opinion!” He spoke deliberately loud wanting Aien to hear him. “Move on. She’s not here.”

We waited until we were sure they were gone. “I like books,” I told him quietly.

“Books?” Aien raised an eyebrow. “That’s a rather wide subject.”

“I like stories,” I blushed. “I like learning about the past, reading the stories of other people’s lives and adventures. In Uyan Taesil, there is a library so very full of books that I feel I could read every day for the remainder of my life and never reach the end of them. That seems like a great shame, don’t you think? That there are stories right there on the shelves, on that parchment, that I will never know, and that, perhaps, no one else will either, for I’m quite certain that, other than my father, no one ever goes into that chamber. What about you?”

“I wouldn’t go home,” he replied. “That’s for certain. I don’t know,” he frowned thoughtfully. “I really just don’t know. They were looking for you,” he added. “Those men.”

“Yes.”

“Because of what you said in the class,” he nodded thoughtfully and slid me a look out of the corner of his eye. “Why did you say something?”

I could feel the heat singing my cheeks and tried to shrug nonchalantly. “Liam is a bully. I don’t like bullies.”

“Mhm,” he rose to his feet and moved to stand near the wall of greenery. “You are a hero.”

“Me?” I was astonished. “Oh, no. That’s Tarragon. She’s the hero. I’m just… me.”

“No,” he turned back and offered me his hand. His palm was warm and calloused against mine and his arm strong as he lifted me to my feet. He smiled down at me and reached out to stroke a lock of my hair that had fallen free of its braid back behind my ear. “You are a hero. Every villain needs a hero, and you’re mine, Daethie. I think it’s safe for us to get out of here. What do you think?”