“What is it, mother?”
“Haedria, Queen Haedria Dagan of Sagna…” The queen paused, glancing at the dragon amulet that hung around Loren’s neck. “She didn’t send the assassin after me. I was not the target.”
Loren’s eyes were wide. “What?”
“She wanted you, your amulet, and your dragon.”
“Mother, what do you mean?” Loren’s tone was pleading. “She was supposed to have me killed?”
“I’m afraid so. But I’m sorry, Loren. I will explain it all to you in due time. Just let me rest my head for a while.” Queen Katarina’s smile was faint. Loren took her mother’s hand, gripping it tight.
“Promise me you’ll wake up, okay?” Loren said. She tried to sound sure and nonchalant, but her voice cracked and betrayed her.
The queen chuckled softly. “Do you doubt me? I’m every bit the daughter of dragons that you are, Loren. Lady Ylfair’s descendants are made of stronger stuff. Basilisk venom? Hah!”
Loren laughed with her mother, and helped get the heavy blankets over her. The sea breeze was chilly, and it wouldn’t do for the queen to catch a cold. Loren didn’t share in her mother’s confidence, but what else could she say? The only way to save her mother was to bring Haedria’s basilisk from Sagna.
The princess muttered soft words of love, and promised that she would be around to help nurse her back to health. As soon as the queen’s eyes fluttered closed and her breathing turned slow and deep, Loren stood and wiped her eyes. She turned away from her mother, heart set in a lie.
Evading the guards proved to be even harder the second time. The king had doubled the guard at each shift, so there was always at least one pair of eyes looking down the hallway at any given moment. Soldiers in full regalia strode up and done the stone corridors of the castle, swords and halberds at the ready, even if they were met with the sounds of sleeping servants and the caws of night birds.
Loren never realized how hard it was to move silently till she had to sneak out of her heavily fortified home with a pack full of supplies and wearing riding boots. The princess kept herself to the shadows, pressed against the cold stone of the castle’s walls. She snuck out of her room, creaking the door open just the barest fraction. Two guards were stationed just past the door, standing sentry on either side of the dark wood. Loren closed the doors again, as softly as she could, and slid the latch shut. Leaving from the front door would be impossible to do on her own. Her mind racing a mile a minute, Loren rushed back to her own chambers to think and plan. She looked around her room. Her eyes fell on the moonlight streaming in from her window.
The princess’s room in the castle faced the sea. It was a wonderful sight to see, with the full moon’s light reflecting off the quietly rolling waves. But when Loren opened the window and looked down, all there was beneath the window was a sheer drop and jagged rocks. Her side of the castle had walls that were flush with the cliff. Loren took a step back and thought long and hard about her situation. She was never a very good climber. Rider and swordswoman, perhaps. She thought herself a poet, and fairly decent with a quill. But with a peg and rope?
Perhaps staying in the castle while her father dealt with the issue of Sagna and the antidote was a better idea.
A thick rope made of braided strips of curtain, bed sheet, and whatever other long bits of fabric Loren could get her hands on were thrown out of the window. The princess set to cutting the fabrics in her room as quietly as she could, running a hunting knife down sheets made of Kespian silks, trying to keep the guards posted outside from hearing the ripping noise they made. Once the entire length of the makeshift rope was hanging out of the window, Loren peeked outside again. The end of the rope barely touched a little outcropping in the rocky hill, but it would have to do. She would have to scale the whole hill to get back out past the gates of the castle. The princess took a breath, took hold of the sheets as tightly as she could, and climbed out of the window.
The sea winds buffeted her as she scaled the wall. Every time she looked down to try to find the next foothold in the rock, she would see the silver of waves and jagged rocks slick with sea foam waiting for her far below. Her stomach felt like lead, and bile threatened to scorch her throat. Loren shut her eyes tight and, heart hammering away in her chest, slowly continued down the side of the wall. Her travelling pack was heavy on her back, her boots slipped on the wall, the cold winds whipped her face.
She thought again that maybe waiting for her father to fix everything was the better idea.
Time seemed to blur together and Loren descended slowly. Her thoughts wandered, unable to be kept focused on one task due to the utter panic. Loren thought of her mother and father, what would happen if her mother died and the throne was passed onto her. She thought of Kaiten, lost in the world, and of Kae. Loren’s movements slowed as she thought. What did happen to Kae? And Ma’trii, and Cassendir? A pang of longing shot through her heart as Loren realized that by now, her friends would have
