Elurra slumped back against the rough forest floor. The sky was dark, and stars glimmered through the thick canopy of leaves above her. After Nitiri vanished, she had considered dragging the corpse away and hiding it to avoid its being discovered, but she realized sticking around would likely get her blamed and executed for the prince’s death. She heard shouts of discovery shortly after she fled the scene. She’d been trying all afternoon to follow Terrin and Nitiri to Lur Alava, but finally decided she needed rest and found a safe place to hide. She sat in the hollowed space between tree roots and tried to come up with a plan. In frustration, she even considered riding the donkey to Lur Alava, even though she wouldn’t reach Tor’ac Roh until weeks after Terrin was gone. She had only a few hours before her first and only friend was gone forever.

“Ťo nobi maş!” she tried again.

Nothing. She took in a deep breath and watched the stars shimmer in the sky.

Take a step back and think. Nitiri didn't make any gestures, so what could you be missing?

She had already tried everything she could think of resembling “Ťo nobi maş,” but nothing had worked so far.

Ťo. Nobi. Maş, she thought slowly, making sure she had the correct pronunciation for each. Suddenly, she sat up and shouted “Maş! Whenever you see a spell in an incantation book, there are multiple spells for different amounts of people!”

“Maş” was the word to transport the speaker and another person, but “miş” referred to the speaker alone. Elurra jumped up and pulled on all the heavy clothing in her pack, which happened to be just a shawl.

I cannot worry about that now, she decided regretfully, knowing even she would be cold with so little protection.

She repacked her bag with a change of clothing, the little dried food they had left, and all the money in their possession. She removed the rest of the supplies and the harness from the little donkey, who was happily grazing.

“Thank you for all your help, little friend. You should head into town tomorrow. Someone will see you and take you in.” She left all the remaining carrots out for it to eat. She didn’t want to dwell on the fact that it would probably be eaten by a predator before someone found it.

“Ťo nobi miş!”[i] she exclaimed confidently as she shouldered her pack and thought of home.

The forest around her vanished, and the temperature dropped by twenty or thirty degrees. She breathed in the crisp, frosty air for a few seconds before opening her eyes and seeing her bedroom. She felt dizzy; she stood still to keep her balance. The jump had taken a lot out of her, and she wasn’t used to using so much energy. Her legs felt like jelly, and before she could stop herself, she collapsed to the floor. Her vision was blurry, and she felt weak. She tried to blink away the fog clouding her mind as she gazed up at the Four Winds. Their faces grew dimmer, and she realized she was fighting a battle she could not win.

°◌°○●○°♣°○●○°◌°

Elurra gasped and sat up. She shook her head to clear the grogginess and feebly stood up to look around her room. It looked exactly how she had left it. The Winds watched her from the ceiling, and her wardrobe stood open. Her bed was rumpled, and the books on her table were haphazardly sprawled across the surface. Elurra looked out the window and spotted a hint of light tinting the sky before sunrise. Her eyes then fell on the crack between the bed and the floor, and she couldn’t resist.

I was asleep for a few hours. Time is running short. I must find Terrin, but I’m sure I have a few minutes to spare.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Elurra knelt and reached for the box hidden there. It was farther back than she remembered. Her petite fingers slid the wooden container from its hiding place and delicately pulled off the lid.

She gazed at her treasures. A piece of parchment was on top, written in her mother’s scrawl. It was her mother’s song; the one she sang to Elurra the night she left and never came back. She gently pulled out the paper and set it aside. Normally, she would open it to admire her mother’s handwriting and read over the familiar words, but she didn’t have time for tears. The next item was a rabbit’s foot from a snow hare her cousin on her mother’s side gave her from one of his catches.

Her mother had only one brother, who in turn had a wife and son. When the queen and king died, the royal guard had searched for him, but no one could find him anywhere. He had vanished like the rest of Elurra's family. Except, of course, Nitiri. Elurra clutched the rabbit’s foot in her hands as she realized Nitiri probably killed her cousin, uncle, and aunt to make sure she was the only one left to be regent. Her lip quivered, but she pushed the thought and the rabbit’s foot aside. She didn’t want to consider what befell her extended family.

There was also a purple shell from a rare sea snail. The thing she treasured most, however, was the one thing missing. Panic rose inside of her as she frantically looked around for it. She scanned her room, looked under and over the nearby furniture, and checked inside drawers, but it was gone. The silver stone was an emblem of the Isálte family. It was a symbol of her heritage. Losing the stone felt like a tear in her being. The box and stone were presents from her parents. They instructed her to keep it under her bed, and they told her never to tell anyone about the objects because they were very important. But her parents were gone, and she had no way to prove any connection to them. She was no better than a commoner pretending to be a princess. Even Terrin had a—

“Terrin!” she squeaked, shutting the box and shoving it back under the bed.

She felt silly for getting so upset over a rock when her friend’s life was on the line.

She bolted down the stairs, her mind fixated on the dungeon. She almost fell in her haste. The twisted steps were the perfect size for her as a child, but now they felt cramped and dingy. She finally reached the bottom and listened carefully for any sounds in the hallway beyond before she cracked the door open. The corridor was completely empty. She took a moment to ponder the best course of action.

I must get downstairs without being seen.

She reviewed the schematics of the castle in her mind and groaned when she remembered the only way to get straight from upstairs to the dungeon.

“I hate going that way,” she moaned to herself.

She checked both ways before cautiously walking into the hallway.

“It was the fourth door on the right coming from my parents’ room, which means it would be on the left…” she mumbled softly.

She finally came to the correct door and slipped inside. The first thing she noticed was the room was well dusted, which amazed her. The maids were normally too busy keeping up the rest of the castle to dust unused guest rooms.

“Nitiri must have hired help.”

She scanned the room and spotted the dumbwaiter in the corner. She hurried over to it. Elurra forced open the cover and peered down into the inky darkness. The only light was from the rising sun outside the room’s single window. The draft coming up the shaft made Elurra shiver.

The dungeon was the most inhospitable place in the entire castle. A labyrinth of caverns and walls of metal bars polluted the depths and housed a plethora of unlucky prisoners. Anyone sentenced to spend time in the castle jail was rarely heard from again.

No one knew the way through the twisting tunnels and dead ends except the old jailer. Elurra hadn’t been aware of his existence until she decided to explore the guest rooms during a long winter. Most of her discoveries weren’t exciting. A shoe here, a stocking there, or maybe even a coin if she was lucky. Then she reached this room. At first, it seemed as empty as the others, but something had compelled her to look down the dumbwaiter shaft. Dumbwaiters weren’t uncommon. In fact, the first few rooms on the left side of the hall had them, but the car was usually waiting behind the small door or blocking the passage below.

This room’s dumbwaiter was broken. All that was left was the string, which dangled down into the darkness. Being the impulsive child she was, she’d immediately climbed into the shaft with a flint, stone, and a few candlesticks. As soon as she climbed a few feet down, her arms started to hurt, and she wanted to turn back, but she didn’t have the strength to climb up. She kept going down until she became convinced the dumbwaiter had no end, but eventually, she had reached the flat bottom of the dark pit. One side of the shaft opened into gaping darkness. She carefully climbed out and found her way to the floor. She lit a candle with her trembling tiny hands and revealed the twisting maze.

The events that followed still haunted Elurra in nightmares.