Amidere’s Escape
I read my father’s letter over and over again. And every time I did, my blond curls fell over my eyes, as if trying to cover them so that I wouldn’t have to see those nasty words. I crumpled the letter in rage, but it brought me no relief. Suddenly I decided to tear it to pieces.
“What a coward! He doesn’t even dare say it to my face. He wants to marry me off! Did you know that, Nanny?”
I felt my palms begin to tingle. Nanny slowly backed away, trying to make sure I wouldn’t notice.
“Amidere, sweetheart, please, calm down. There’s no need to get so worked up.”
I looked at her with disappointment. I knew she was afraid of me. She couldn’t even bring herself to stand next to me.
“Oh, beloved Father, I hope the sands of Islemore will swallow you whole! This wedding is all your idea! I have no hand in it!” I shouted as if he were standing right in front of me this moment and could hear everything.
One more outburst of rage, and the parchment in my hands ignited with blue flame. This had often happened when I was feeling nervous or angry. No one had taught me how to use my magic. As a child, I’d completely blown apart a wing of the castle. I hadn’t been punished, simply removed from the city without a word. Where I came from, the princedom of Potawa, no one liked magicians. It was the only princedom in all Humania that did not favor any magical gifts or their possessors. Magicians, shamans, and sorcerers were not welcome. I was very unlucky to be born there. My mother had died when I was a girl, and my father, the prince of Potawa, had married another woman. They’d had a son, a true heir after an unwanted daughter. After that, I’d been sent to some backwater place far away from my home.
All my life I’d been hidden away. My father had found the best healers, spent a lot of money to hide my powers. Sometimes they had even managed to keep the magic sealed away, but as I grew older, that became less and less possible.
I hated those rituals with all my heart. The magic would struggle to tear out of my body but was held back by the shackles of the spells. It had made me suffer, made me angry for no reason, made me irritated over nothing; I couldn’t even sit still. All my teachers and governesses would eventually quit and then tell everyone that I had a terrible temper, maybe even a mental illness. They hadn’t known what they were really seeing. They hadn’t known about my secret.
Then I had learned how to break those containment spells on my own. From that moment on, everything had changed. My power had been increasing day by day, but then my father had found out. He couldn’t accept it and had decided to get rid of me, his wayward daughter, who couldn’t accept her “cursed” fate either. He had offered me a choice: I could serve in the Tower of Sorrow or I could marry Ogolor, one of Monakhana’s ruling councilmen. Either option meant imprisonment, the latter with a husband I’d never even met. So I’d decided to run away from here. That was my only way out. And I’d been wise enough not to tell Nanny my plan.
“Ami, marrying a decent man is a blessing.”
That was Nanny’s idea of comforting me, and I knew she was trying to find the right words.
I only snorted. “Nanny, please, I am very tired. Just leave me alone.”
There was no point in arguing with her. The Monakhanians were notorious for their tyranny, so the thought of spending my whole life with one didn’t seem like a blessing to me at all, yet neither did being locked up in a tower.
Nanny stood in the doorway for a moment, shifting from foot to foot. “The prince has ordered the rooms to be prepared when the healer arrives.”
“When does he arrive?”
“He should be here by dinner.”
I nodded to Nanny, and she walked out, shutting the door behind her. I sighed now that I was alone, waiting for another healer. I suspected my father was afraid that I’d destroy something with my magic during my wedding, like I had done when I was a kid. And honestly, I would have liked nothing more. It would also be a lesson for my groom. Maybe then he’d realize that he shouldn’t have married a magician against her will, even an unskilled one like me.
My hands were still tingling a little with my power, but I kept pacing back and forth in the bedroom, trying to ignore the sparks.
All I could think was Run. I have to run before the healer gets here!
I quickly slipped into my flight pantsuit, because dashing around in a dress was not that comfortable; I packed the essentials and put them in a soft travel bag. I didn’t want to take too many things: just a flask of water, a map of Humania, some spare clothes, and a warm cloak, a gift my father had brought me from the high prince of Humania himself. That was, however, the only reason why I had this cloak. If it had been a gift from anyone else, my father would have simply thrown it away. It was quite difficult to find items made by magicians in Potawa. The cryomancer who’d made it could control ice and cold, so this cloak would protect whoever wore it from any inclement weather. This garment was special to me, and not just because it was a gift from High Prince Eruan Minola. The cloak acted as a reminder to me that there were places where magicians were welcome, where they were treated as normal people, not freaks.
I suddenly thought of my small savings. I hardly ever dealt with money directly. My finances had been fully controlled by my father. But when I did get my hands on some money, I always squirreled it away. For as long as I could remember, I had dreamed of attending one of the magical schools, so I had been secretly saving in case I ever got the chance. And now I was glad I’d had the foresight. I picked up a small bag of coins and peered into it. That should be enough for now.
I ran through the familiar hallways, trying to avoid the servants. There were guards at the entrance, but I informed them that I was going into the paddock. One of them started to protest that it was too late for a walk, but then hesitated—he knew who I was. No one wanted to fly straight into the wall after getting into an argument with a mad princess. Moreover, everyone knew that those who talked too much could lose their tongue. So the guards clearly decided it would be better to just let me out and not ask too many questions.
“Brr-brr-brr,” I purred softly to Hillo, my griffin, as I saddled him.
He poked his beak into my palm and stomped his forelegs, leaving scratches on the wooden floor. It seemed as if he was dancing. Griffins have huge, slightly curled claws on their front paws, and nothing but soft pads on their hind paws, just like cats. I stroked Hillo on his chest, covered with golden feathers. It calmed him down. He had always been impatient, and craved stretching his wings and flying away every now and then.
I had loved flying since I was a little girl. It was the only thing I had liked and been allowed to do in between learning dancing, needlework, housekeeping, and other useless things.
“Your Highness! Your father told you not to fly at night.”
I gasped. I was about to expose my plan. There was an old custodian in the doorway. I thought at once of him running to tell my father, of me being forcibly seized and handed over to the healer, and then to that Monakhanian man.
I had assumed that the paddock would be empty this late and hadn’t even come up with a good excuse to explain my presence here. The custodian saw that I wasn’t answering, and he started to back away slowly.
My palms tingled again, but this time it was fear. I felt a slight warmth run down my shoulders. I knew this feeling. Instinctively, I pointed my hands the other way, making sure I didn’t hurt Hillo. The power began to flow out of my palms, right into the poor custodian, who was about to flee. He froze there, slightly staggering, as if he was drunk, and then fell to the floor. I remained still, not daring to move out of terror. But then I noticed that the custodian’s chest was moving up and down. Oh, thank the First Mother! He was breathing. Now it was time to get out of here. I saddled the griffin in a hurry and steered him toward the exit, not wanting to run into anyone else. Now painfully aware of the fact that I no longer had a head start, I thought about what my father’s reaction would be when he found out what I’d just done. He’d never been cruel to me, but his cold indifference, and the way he sometimes looked down on me in disdain, was somehow even more terrifying than any physical punishment.
I breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped myself more tightly in my cloak as I watched my father’s land disappear over the horizon. It was late spring, but the nights were still quite cold. That was probably why I’d steered Hillo to fly south, along the Potawian border. I had to decide where to go. Monakhana was the closest, but it was the last place I wanted to be. Even though magicians were welcome there, magic had its price. If you didn’t want to serve the ruling councilmen and their twisted worldview, you had no place there. No magician would willingly surrender to the Monakhanians, so most of them were women, forced to marry local men. There was also Minola, but I wouldn’t want to go there either. If my father decided to search for me, his minions would find me there for sure. Minola was the high prince’s land. That meant there were a lot of guards and other rabble who would leave no stone unturned for a gold coin. By process of elimination, there were only Samogetha and Crowgy left for me. Magicians and other races that were rarely found in Potawa lived there. But the most important thing to me was that both princedoms had magic training. It was even free in Crowgy.
I smiled to myself slyly. It was decided—to Crowgy. My father didn’t like that princedom very much. He thought the prince there was too much of a freethinker and allowed himself too much latitude. For instance, he was known to criticize the policy of people living without magicians and their powers, like they did in Potawa.
Now I had a plan. I was going to fly to Crowgy and get a job as a local seamstress. I knew how to sew, and I loved it, too. It was probably the only one of those dull, monotonous duties that somehow had helped quiet my magic and ease my suffering from all those restraining ceremonies. It was also the only useful skill I’d learned during my time in my father’s house.
I pointed Hillo toward Crowgy. All magicians were respected there. It was no secret that many Potawians moved there once a child with a gift had been born into their family. And they were always welcomed there. Some people even said that half of the residents of Crowgy had powers.
A strong wind was coming toward me, and even with my magic cloak on, I was freezing. I felt my fingers begin to numb. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see where we were. Maybe we’d flown out of the country a long time ago. I decided to steer Hillo down to get some rest, and the next day we’d continue on foot, like most travelers. As I patted the griffin on his withers, I thought, with regret, that I might have to send him back home. Otherwise, everyone would think I was rich. Who else owned a royal griffin on a leash?
We stopped in a small clearing. I struggled with the fire, trying to get a few sparks out of my hands. Magic didn’t seem to obey me when it was needed. It usually only came out when I was feeling scared or anxious. After I was finally able to set up the little fire, I snuggled into the warm griffin’s side, wrapped myself tightly in the cloak, and fell asleep.
I was in for a rude awakening. Hillo became agitated when he sensed a stranger. Though I got to my feet almost immediately, it was already too late. I was quickly hit with a spell and fell into unconsciousness, my last thought a sorrowful one that I hadn’t gotten far away enough from Potawa.
I came to in a small room with a tiny window. The place was nothing like I’d ever seen before; it was like a cell. There was light outside the window. So I hadn’t been unconscious for long. Fear hit me then. I had been caught. It could have been my father, or worse. I tried to pull myself together, got up, and began exploring the room. I touched the walls with my hands, as if I were checking to see if they were real. Sadly, they were. I was trapped. There was only one window in the room, but it looked more like a porthole, and it was too high; there was no way I could look out of it. Most likely I wasn’t in my father’s prison, and that was what frightened me the most.
I struggled to focus, my ears zeroing in on the usual village noise outside: people’s voices, carts creaking, dogs barking somewhere far away. It calmed me down a little.
Then the room’s door opened with a bang. I jumped aside. It was Prince Crowgy himself standing on the doorstep. Of course, I had never seen him in person before, but it was impossible not to recognize him. The people of Crowgy loved their prince, and he was one of the most powerful magicians of Humania, so pictures of him were popular throughout the princedom and beyond.
We stared at each other for a minute. I looked at him with fear, but there was no emotion on his face. Though he didn’t show any aggression, his very presence told me that I was in trouble. He was a tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered young man dressed in a shirt of thick material, with a long, obviously very expensive cloak on top and shining armor plates on his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen such an unusual style. This must be how the higher magicians dressed. Prince Crowgy’s face looked a little wild, with its sharp cheekbones, straight nose, and narrow dark eyes. Before I knew it, I’d sunk against the wall.
“And what on earth would such a young lady be doing in our land?” the magician asked in his deep voice.
“Do you kidnap all young ladies, or is it just me? I want you to let me go, now.”
My words were bold, but my tone lacked force. I didn’t dare raise my voice to the prince. My survival instinct wouldn’t let me. Could I have made a huge mistake in stopping over outside Potawa, right on the border, on Crowgy’s land?
“I don’t want to ask you twice. Please answer my question.”
“What if I’m just visiting a friend’s house? As far as I know, it’s not forbidden by law.”
That was not much of an excuse, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Honestly, I was willing to say anything to make him stop staring at me with those intense brown eyes.
“No, it’s not forbidden. If you tell me who it was you were going to visit, I’ll have someone escort you there.”
Perhaps I should have chosen a name, any name, blindly. It was impossible that the prince knew everyone who lived in his land. But I could see that it didn’t matter. He knew I was lying.
“I don’t think you’re here to stay at someone’s house. Otherwise, why would you camp the night by our border?”
I didn’t answer. So they had taken me on Potawian land. If I hadn’t been a runaway princess, I could have used that to my advantage. But I certainly didn’t want to reveal my true identity. If the prince found out who I was, he would surely bring me back to my father.
“Such a young lady with fine, expensive clothes, a royal griffin, and a rather heavy pouch of gold in her bag chose to spend the night all alone in the woods near the border. That doesn’t sound very plausible, does it?”
The prince looked me over from head to toe slowly. It was as if he suspected me of being a spy. That was probably even worse than being a runaway princess.
There was a loud knock. I saw a redheaded young man in the doorway. The prince nodded at him, and before he walked out, he told me threateningly, “I’ll leave you for a while. You’d better think over your position.”
He left just in time—I could no longer hold back my power; my hands were burning with the magic that was rushing outward.
As soon as the door slammed shut, I took a deep breath, trying to steady my pulse. Sometimes it helped me calm those raging currents of power. Once the magic stopped churning inside me, I was able to think clearly again. So what did I know about this prince?
His name was Ragong Crowgy. The first name had been given to him by his parents; the second one was given to any prince who took the throne. It matched the name of the princedom. My father, for example, was the prince of Potawa, and his name was Wilman Potawa. But this piece of information gave me nothing. It was already known to everyone in Humania. What else did I know about Ragong Crowgy? From what I’d heard, he was rumored to be next in line to become high prince if the current one did not leave an heir, and he was also called a just and wise ruler. People adored him, and they would support him if the opportunity arose for him to take Eruan Minola’s place. Through Ragong’s efforts, Crowgy had become a true stronghold of magicians. They flocked here from all the princedoms. There was tension between him and Eruan over this, but so far the elder prince had chosen to avoid any outright conflict. Some people said that Eruan was afraid that the princedom of Crowgy had become too powerful lately. That was all I knew, and it was not enough.
I couldn’t just sit idly by, so I moved the bunk under the window. There were bars across it, but if I could remove those, it would be possible, though uncomfortable, to squeeze through. Of course, there was no way a normal girl could escape from here. Luckily, my captors hadn’t recognized me as a magician. There was not a single magical pattern or rune on my body, and I wore not a single magical amulet. There was nothing on me that would make them think I had powers, which was to my advantage.
After I pulled myself up to the window, I knocked the grating down surprisingly easily with the help of my power. I struck it harder than I expected: not only the grating, but the window frame, too, went down and crashed to the ground. It was very loud, which meant the guards were coming here now. And I doubted that Prince Crowgy would be pleased with what I’d just done. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for what would happen next. My father’s image came to my mind at once: there he was, sneering, telling me that I was a wretched magician who couldn’t even protect myself. Still, no one had come into my cell. I thanked all the Gods I knew and clung to what was left of the window frame. The splinters cut my hands, but somehow, I was able to get out. At last, I could breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing that my room wasn’t too high, I jumped down and fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I quickly got to my feet and looked around without wasting any time. It was probably the backyard of some manor house. There was a building in the distance that looked like a stable, where Hillo was likely being kept. I had to go there now.
Before I could run a couple of cubits, I was surrounded. I didn’t quite understand that those emerging and sprawling dots in the air were portals. When the shimmering blue gateways were as large as a human being, magicians with weapons emerged. Prince Crowgy walked out of the portal that was right in front of me. He looked remarkably calm. There was a slight sneer on his mouth, and then I froze. I didn’t even know how I had done it, but I had done it. The magic came out of my hands, so unrestrained and lightning-fast it hit everyone around me. Even those who happened to be passing by.
I came to my senses as soon as I saw Prince Crowgy huddled on the ground at my feet.
“It was all because of fear…” I tried to find an excuse for such a hard blow, and I literally squeaked my apologies and ran again, hoping to escape before the guards woke up. I needed to get to the stable. I needed Hillo or any other creature with wings. Anything that could get me away from here.
“Don’t touch her. I’ll do it myself!” There was a growl from behind me. “Stop right there!”
It was a command meant for me.
Ragong’s menacing voice made me stop. I turned slowly, my fingers tingling with magic again.
The prince had already risen from the ground and was staring intently at my flaming hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the flashes of strange magic all around me.
“Everyone, stand back,” the prince ordered.
Suddenly, the magic surrounding me winked out and was gone. He threw me a warning glance.
“You are not going any farther. I won’t let you leave.”
I knew that, but I had nothing to lose.
“I’ll try.”
I could not strike a second blow. Ragong’s reaction was instant. An unfamiliar sign flashed in the air in front of me. I felt a slight burning all over my body, and then everything went black.
