The Runaway

“It’ll be easier if we split up. Do not stop until you find her!”

Kana could hear the commands echoing among the trees. She tightened her grip on the reins of her horse, snapping them down and commanding it to travel faster through the woods. The animal obliged, zipping through the forest and cleverly whizzing around trees. If she had any hope of surviving, they would have to get through the forest before sunrise. She wondered if the rebels had dogs that tracked her scent. She would have to find a river to wash it off, just to make sure.

The moon shone bright in the sky, illuminating the snow covering the ground. Kana looked at the dark sky and found the North Star, sparkling brightest amongst the rest. Daybreak would not be for a while; she still had plenty of time. She would follow the North Star until she reached the border of the neighboring country of Sanwell, where she…well, she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

None of her family members ever saw the revolution coming. When they interacted with their kingdom, they cheered and applauded so loud the ground shook beneath their feet. The people gave them flowers and food and paintings, wrote songs in their honor, and proudly saluted when they walked past. There were no indications that any of them were planning to overthrow their rulers.

But then the rebels broke through the main gates unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, and started pillaging the fortress. They tore their paintings down. The banners that hung in the dining hall, the throne room, and the hallways had been ripped apart. Before she left, Kana could smell smoke coming from the hallway, hear the sound of glass and porcelain breaking and people clamoring to destroy. They uttered words like “take back” and “rightful owners.” The knights who guarded her bedchamber had instructed her to barricade the door and windows.

The prince could be heard screaming in the hallway, calling out for his parents. Rumors that Kana’s mother and father were killed spread. Before she escaped, she found out her brother and sister had been captured. She wanted desperately to go and save them, but her guards insisted she run through the tunnels without looking back. There’s no time, they said, save yourself. One of them had even given her a sword before she left. The steel tapped against her leg as Mystery galloped through the woods.

Kana leaned over, keeping her body close to her horse. She hoped Mystery could weave through the forest, get her to the mountains, and bring her to safety. Neither had gone further than the palace walls. She thought of her sister and how she was faring. Were the rebels merciful? Was she being held in the prisons beneath the palace? Were they starving her, beating her, keeping her chained to the iron bars like the rest of the prisoners in the kingdom? Her heart broke at the thought of her tenacious older sister stuck in the cold, dank underground prisons. And what of her brother? Would they make an example out of him?

In the back of her mind, a sliver of hope told her it did not matter; one day, they would be together again. They will find each other and take back their kingdom. But now was not the time for that. Now, she had to focus on her horse, on getting out of the forest and into Sanwell.

As she rode, she imagined what her life would be like in Sanwell. She had never been. Like most places, she had only heard about it through stories of epic battles and ferocious monsters. Her father told her that Sanwell was cold, much colder than home, and winter was much longer, deadlier, and snowier. The land was covered with mountains circling the entire country. Anyone who had interacted with the people of Sanwell knew it made them tough and enduring. There were stories of snow beasts in the woods, hanging in trees, sleeping in caves, or swimming at the bottom of frozen lakes.

Kana shivered at the idea. Maybe she could leave Sanwell and go somewhere south. She did not know where to go, but she knew she could not leave out of her home port. Everyone would be looking for her. In Sanwell, nobody knew who she was. She would blend in and leave without a trace.

“North it is,” she said to herself. Her hot breath formed clouds in front of her. Pulling her cape closer to her chest, she snapped Mystery’s reins, and they sped through the forest.

“Faster, girl,” she exclaimed. “We need to get out of here. This way!” She looked back up at the sky, finding the North Star’s glow and pointing at it. The horse obliged and rode along the cliffs, dodging dangling tree branches and jumping over fallen trunks.

“Didja hear somethin’?” a voice Kana did not recognize shouted.

“That way!” another voice responded. Kana turned to see two men racing towards her and Mystery on foot. They trudged through the snow, trying their hardest to keep up the pace and catch the two of them. Kana could feel her heartbeat in her ears.

“Go, Mystery!” she shouted, snapping the reins once more. Mystery picked up her speed, kicking a pile of snow behind her. She hoped it would be enough to give them cover. They could not stop until the men were out of earshot.

“Keep going!”

“She’s heading that way! Follow that horse!”

“There’s too much snow out here. We’ll never catch up!”

Kana looked behind her. The men were stumbling. The snow was slippery and hard to break through, even as Mystery ran through it. She could see snow sticking to their clothes. They were not wearing boots, just plain shoes hastily sewn together that definitely were not enough to support them. She watched as the men collapsed, tripping over something that was covered in snow. One of them tried to bring himself up to his knees, but the other remained face down, leaving an imprint in the white. His body was still; there was no chance of him getting up again as a pool of red formed around his body. Their chase would be futile, and they would freeze to death. Kana knew they could never catch up. She continued through the forest, eventually reaching the river that split in two directions.

For a moment, she hesitated. If she and Mystery swam through to the other side, they would eventually freeze. If she stayed here, the rebels would find her and kill her. Or worse. She thought back to the map she studied during her lessons. If she followed the right side of the fork, she would end up back home. If she stayed on the left side, she would reach the Northern Mountain range and eventually to Sanwell. Freezing water it was.

“Go, Mystery,” she said, tapping the side of the horse’s head. “Just to that side there.”

The horse obliged, slowly clopping into the freezing river. Kana could feel the icy water touching her leg and seeping into her clothes. She wanted to react, but was afraid to spook Mystery and have her thrown off her saddle. Mystery held it together, pushing through the river and managing to get them on the other side.

Kana looked up again and stared at the North Star. They were going the right way. She nudged Mystery to follow the left side of the fork galloping through the forest and further away from home. She wondered when they would be able to stop and camp for a while; it would take days for them to reach Sanwell together, even without the snow. But where would they take shelter? She looked for caves or abandoned houses but found nothing. It was times like these where she wished she were born a boy, so her father could teach her everything about hunting and survival. Her ettiquete lessons did her no good in the thick of the woods.

Once she could hear the river’s rushing get louder, she slowed down. Mystery trotted a few more steps toward the edge of a cliff, where the rushing river formed a waterfall. She looked down to see the bottom. Hundreds of feet below, the waterfall poured into an enormous lake that stretched for miles.

Behind her was the base of a snow-covered mountain range. The Northern Range. She made it. A weight lifted off her chest, but formed again once she realized the sheer size of the mountains. They went on for what seemed like an eternity. She had no idea how they would cross it, but knew that going through it or staying behind meant life or death.

Kana turned to face the lake once more. Her stomach growled. They could stop here and search for food, gather something before they made their journey into the mountains. How hard could fishing be? Her ancestors were able to do it with no weapons, no knowledge of the land. She would have to do the same.

The sky was starting to brighten, and the stars were diminishing. The sun would rise soon, and she would no longer be able to follow the North Star. She could see rows and rows of dark trees, their branches covered with fresh snow. She saw the spots where the lake froze over, a sheet of ice covering the water and spreading slowly. In the distance, clouds of thick, gray smoke floated into the air. Her home was up in flames, along with the rest of the capital city. The Citadel, the Temple, the marketplace were slowly burning.

A tear rolled down her face as she patted Mystery’s head. She would need to be careful with her; she was the only piece of home she had left.