Rosalea smiled at the baby that was just starting to learn to be more interesting than sleeping and demanding things. The little thing gurgled at her and clutched her finger. She had a small amount of fluffy golden hair, and the largest blue eyes that Rosalea could not get enough of.

It was nearly dark. Rosalea was hungry. She waited for someone to bring supper almost impatiently. There was a knock at the door, “Come in,” Rosalea said without waiting for permission to be asked.

The door opened, and to Rosalea’s surprise shut. She turned to see who it was. “Princess,” Genya said urgently. She had a tray of dinner but she held out a note, putting a finger to her lips.

Rosalea frowned and accepted the note. As the woman stared at her, she slowly opened it. They are going to kill you tomorrow morning. We must escape tonight.

Rosalea’s eyes grew huge with alarm that came with anxiety that swept almost dizzyingly over her. “Is this some kind of joke?” she whispered back urgently.

Genya shook her head and wrote on the back with a charcoal pencil. I know you do not remember me, but I know you. I raised you. Please, you must believe me.

Rosalea swallowed and looked at the woman’s face. She seemed so urgent. So desperate. Rosalea did not think she was lying, but why… why would they try to kill her? Genya, watching her face, began to write again, pencil rapidly scratching at the paper. You ran away. All this about the Uryans was a lie. They are afraid of you. Now that your baby is healthy and fine, they want to get you out of the way. They do not want you to truly fall into the hands of Uryans. Your father was one; they are afraid you will go over to them. You have a mark on you tracking you.

Rosalea covered her mouth. She felt like she wanted to cry. She did not know why, but she believed Genya. Genya had always been so kind to her, she always had this sense of urgency toward her. Every encounter with the woman told Rosalea they had known each other before, but Rosalea could not remember it. If she is telling the truth, they will kill me and take Lio.

She slowly nodded. “What should I do?” she whispered, her heart pounding.

She came close, the strands of her dark curly hair tickled against Rosalea’s ear as she whispered. “I will bring your wolf and supplies tonight. You will have to use your magic, and we will flee,” Then in a tone loud enough, at least after the hushed exchange, that it startled Rosalea, “I am glad I could help you with your blankets. Please eat your dinner and enjoy it.”

Rosalea bowed back impulsively and Genya opened the door and left. Rosalea pulled the cover from dinner. There was a utility knife laid alongside the spoon for her stew. Rosalea’s heart pounded as she picked it up and slowly took the bit of string attached to it and tied it under her dress, about her waist.

They want to kill me? she asked herself, standing up and going to the window. All the hunger had left her. Lio looked up at her and started crying; Rosalea picked her up and held her, trying to comfort her. I ran away. I guess that makes sense. How could Uryans hope to get through all of that? she wondered, looking over the grounds outside the window. There were armed guards everywhere.

Magic… a new thought sliced into her head as she rocked the fussy baby. I do not know how to use my magic. But I must have known before. It must have been how I escaped before. There is no way I walked out of something like this without finding a way to cheat it. But I do not know how I would have, or if I can do it again. She looked down at Lio. But I know I have it. I used it before. When… she remembered the pools, taking her magic out of herself and placing it inside her child. That was magic. I know it is there, but I do not know what it does or how to use it.

Eventually, Lio calmed and fell asleep. Rosalea set her down in her crib and tried to eat her cold stew. Her heart pounded, and she tried to calm herself. Kill me? Why would they kill me? She looked at the note again, reviewing and remembering what Genya had said, I have a wolf? My father was Uryan? She thought hard about the idea of the wolf, and she could almost see one, pacing back and forth, angrily in a cage. This wolf was almost golden colored, and her eyes were bright amber. A wolf? Maybe that’s why this image keeps coming to me?

After she finished the stew, she laid down. It began to get dark, and a maid came in with a candle, asking if she could do or get anything for Rosalea. The maid was not Genya. Rosalea shook her head. “I have a headache, but thank you.” It was only a little pretend. “Please leave the candle.” The maid took the dirty dishes and left. Rosalea hid the note next to her body.

Time dragged on. It was truly dark now. Rosalea got up and moved her candle to the corner of the room, furthest from the window. She didn’t know why, she just thought it might be a good thing if the people outside didn’t think that she was awake. After a moment, she gave up and blew it out. She laid on the bed, trying to think. It is getting late. Is Genya even coming? Did she get delayed? Or is this all some kind of test? Why would she tell me they are trying to kill me? She fingered the knife still tied about her body. Would she have given me this, if she really thought I was not in danger? This seems to mean that she really believes that someone might come after me, and I might need to defend myself.

My father was Uryan? And that’s why they are afraid of me? Or are they afraid of me because I ran away? Why did I run away? Did I really run away? She thought again of all the guards everywhere and thought maybe they could be as much to keep her in as they were to keep things out. She curled her fingers on her right hand, rubbing the tips against her palm where she knew the bright blue mark was. They had told her it was an Uryan brand, like the slave brands she saw on some servants. Was it that which could track her location? Rosalea shook her head. I know nothing. I have tried over and over to remember things, but I cannot.

She had dozed off despite herself when she heard the door creak open. She sat up in her bed and peered into the darkness. Her eyes could just make out a tall, bulky looking silhouette and a shorter, blockier one next to it. The blockier one rushed through the open door, directly at Rosalea. She gasped and scooted back as it leaped onto the bed and at her. She let out a squeaky, muffled scream as it pinned her to the bed. She closed her eyes and held her breath.

A moment later, nothing had happened.

She opened her eyes, feeling the pressure on her shoulders telling that the thing was still there. She could vaguely make out a few shapes, and she could feel the fuzziness of fur and a wet nose touching her forehead in an almost soothing fashion. Rosalea’s heart pounded as she slowly reached up and touched the creature standing over her, feeling the thick coat. She wished she could see, because she was almost sure this animal was a tawny colored wolf. She felt so familiar with it, she could almost remember a few moments of joy…

Slowly, the wolf crouched down, pressing her belly and chest to Rosalea’s. She was big; Rosalea could feel her weight as she settled carefully against her. Rosalea reached up and wrapped her arms around the wolf’s neck, pressing her face to the chest fluff and feeling a sense of relief flow through her. The wolf nuzzled her, and for just a few heartbeats, they clung to each other.

“Is your name Fen?” Rosalea thought at her. She did not remember learning the wolf’s name, but she was certain that she knew it as she squeezed herself a tiny bit closer. The proximity of the big animal made her feel calmer than she had in a long time.

“Good. I am glad you are speaking to me. You have Ieshan abilities, you can make a loose communication bond between us until we get away from this place and out of the Ieshan aura of interference.” Rosalea felt a happy feeling, and she wasn’t sure why. The wolf, which Rosalea was sure was called Fen, jumped off the bed with her tail wagging, and Rosalea sat up. She could just make out the other form in the room. “Genya?” she whispered.

The form bowed to her. “I have brought us food, a bow and arrows, and some clothes. It isn’t much, but it was all I could get tagether.”

“All right, now what?” Rosalea asked, thinking that was much better than nothing.

“Well, ya are every kind o’ mage. Ya can levitate us over the wall and outta here, Princess. I da not know any other way; there are guards everywhere, guarding every entrance.”

Rosalea felt cold; she didn’t know how to use her magic. She didn’t know how to tell Genya this. The wolf nudged her leg, so Rosalea looked down at her, “What should I do?”

“You were trained before, and the training still exists, even if you cannot consciously remember. You have to have faith. Tonight is a good night to escape; it is totally dark because it is the new moon. The magic is there; you just have to tap into it. I will be here; I will help you. But you have to have faith in me, can you do that?”

Rosalea was stroking the wolf’s head, more to reassure herself than for the wolf’s benefit, though Fen did seem to like it. Listening to Fen brought the sensation of panic back. She did not know what she was doing; she barely knew anything. “I will do my best.” After all, there was not really a choice. If Genya was right, they would take Lio in the morning and all opportunities for escape would cease.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She stood up and walked over to Lio. Genya moved toward her, and tugged her arm. Rosalea paused. “We have ta keep the baby quiet,” she said urgently, “So I got some a this,” she pressed something into Rosalea’s hand. “It won’t harm her, I promise, but it’ll make her sleep ‘til morning.”

A drug, Rosalea realized, her heart pounding. She suddenly felt sharply suspicious. What if this was a way to kill Lio? “Fen?”

The wolf leaned gently against her leg, “It is a good precaution. I feel this woman can be trusted. She seems to know you and care about you deeply. I do not think she is setting us up. Even if she does, we have nothing to lose. I have heard the men talk about killing you.”

Rosalea’s heart skipped a beat. If Fen and Genya had been hearing it, then they had been talking about it for a little while. Even though she knew neither of them, she felt she could trust both of them. Fen, in some ways, felt like a part of her in a way she could not describe, so she trusted Fen completely the more she thought about it. So, after her moment of hesitation, she nodded.“How much do I give her?”

“Just a little, put some powder on your finger and let her suck on it. I mixed some sugar inta it so it wouldn’t taste so bad.”

Rosalea licked her finger, and felt the edges of the packet until she could open the folded part up and press her finger into the powder. She rolled it about and got a good coating of the powder-sugar concoction. She handed the packet back to Genya and moved to Lio. She gently woke the baby.

Lio rarely cried, even when something startled her awake, and she did not cry now. She simply began gurgling at Rosalea affectionately. Rosalea slipped her finger into the child’s mouth, and Lio compulsively sucked on it. She started making some grumpy noises and her tongue tried to push Rosalea’s finger out of her mouth. After a moment, the child’s mouth relaxed. Panic surged through Rosalea as she picked up the baby, but she soon felt Lio breathe deeply. The panic subsided, and she realized the baby was just sleeping really heavily.

“Did it work all right?” Genya asked urgently.

“I think so, she’s really limp,” Rosalea said worriedly.

“It’s all right. She’ll be fine. It’s only just this once. Ya’ll need your hands for your magic, so let me carry her for a little bit.”

Rosalea’s heart pounded. She reached out to Fen, helplessly, not wanting to give the baby over. “She is right. You cannot carry the baby and use magic. But if it makes you feel better, I will watch her, as I can see much better in the dark. I will attack her if she does anything threatening to Lio.”

Rosalea clenched her fists and shakily nodded. She handed the baby over. Genya had a blanket ready, which she bundled the child in carefully. “Get the other blankets outta her crib. It’s a little cold outside, and I don’t want her ta get cold.”

Rosalea pulled them all up and handed them to Genya, who wrapped them about the baby, and then tied the largest one over her neck, so it hung down over her arms and Lio, and she tucked this under the baby and held her close. “All right, I am ready. Are ya ready, Princess?”

Rosalea walked over to the window and looked down to the well lit courtyard where tired guards patrolled lazily about. Habitually, she scanned for Nerric and didn’t see him. Of course she didn’t. I had sent him away weeks ago. Somehow, she wished he was here so she could at least see him. She didn’t know why she felt bad about leaving him, but somehow she did. She shook her head. What did it matter anyway? He was just some man, and the only reason he mattered was that he was Lio’s father. Right?

Fen nudged her leg. Rosalea took a deep breath. The window was barred and had never opened. Genya encouraged her to use her “earth” magic to make a space in the wall anyway. Fen leaned against her, and Rosalea told herself to have faith in herself. She put her hands on the wall and willed the stones around the window to let it go.

A moment later, she was suppressing squeaky noises as the stones grated softly against themselves and the heavy glass was falling outward. Panic vibrated through every part of her as she threw herself forward with a frantic grabbing motion. The heavy frame stopped its descent downward and came back toward her, turning and hovering in the air.

She felt like she wanted to throw up as she used her hands and magic to guide the window back through the hole for it and set it down almost silently. I obviously know how to do this, even if I cannot remember knowing it. She climbed up onto the ledge. She swung her legs out. It was three stories down to the ground. If she fell, she could die. It would certainly hurt her.

Rosalea put her hands out, willing the air to be hard. Willing it to be something she could walk on. She felt a sluggish tingle in her hands. That had to mean something right? She focused on it. I have to be able to walk us all out of here. If I cannot, they will take Lio from me. I will die. Genya might die for helping me. I cannot remember knowing it, but I can feel that I know it. She poured all that resolve and desperation into her movements. Her hands felt as if they were getting warm, and her head buzzed a little. She scooted off the edge of the windowsill. For a heart-jolting second, she felt like she was falling, but her feet pressed against the solidified air.

She could see it glowing, and she grew more confident. Fen evidently had so much faith in her that she did not so much as hesitate to jump out of the window and to the air next to Rosalea.

Genya did not wait either. She just climbed awkwardly with her bundle of Lio in her arms right out of the window. Rosalea caught her, expanding the hard space to the wall. She pulled the window back up in place and put her hands on the wall to get it to grab onto the window again. It complied.

Rosalea’s hands hurt more, her head was now not just buzzing a little, she felt dizzy. “Fen, it definitely hurts. Something is wrong.”

“For now, just move us away, Nadia!” Fen’s voice seemed strained, fuzzy. Maybe it was her head that was strained and fuzzy.

She moved her hands, and the platform lurched into motion. She almost lost her grip on the magic from her surprise, and Genya squeaked as they fell a few inches before Rosalea re-solidified it. Her head was reeling, she was so dizzy, and her hands went from burning pain to intense pain. I will just have to hurry, she thought. “Kneel down,” she grunted at Genya.

The woman hurried to obey. Fen lay down in front of Genya and behind Rosalea. Rosalea put her hands in front of her, as far as they could reach, and then moved them behind her quickly. The invisible platform they were on moved away from the wall. Rosalea began making pushing down motions with her hands, pushing them “up” from the ground. They rose higher, still moving away from the castle. Her magic shifted; she was relying on focus on the air, but as it got to be too hard, she found she was focusing on just her magic ‌to keep a solid barrier beneath them she could move. She felt like she wanted to throw up, but she ignored the feeling. Soon, they were above the castle, and the guards looked tiny. Rosalea felt a burning feeling just behind her nose. She ignored this also as she began moving them rapidly away from the castle, toward a deep, dark portion of forest ahead.

The further they got from the castle, the better she felt. Suddenly, her hands, though they were still hot, didn’t burn so badly. She realized that Fen was pressed up against her back, helping her to handle her magic, clearing away that mental block that made it seem like it was wrong.

“We have to keep going. We have to get further away. This is futile if they only catch us again, Nadia. We have to move as fast as we can. It will be hard on us both, but we can do it.”

She could feel the wolf now, like a second consciousness in her brain. At the same time, she noticed their shared weakness. Fen was not in good health; she was skinny and worn down. That weakness became Rosalea’s weakness as well.

Steadily, it was getting harder to focus. She felt tired, burned up. They came to a mountain, and Rosalea went toward it. The castle was somewhat out of sight behind them, but Fen kept willing them onwards, so Rosalea followed. Once they reached some trees, Fen bid Rosalea to land them. Rosalea nodded tiredly. There was sparkling around the edges of her vision, she didn’t know why. She felt giddy and yet overwhelmed. “It is just a little further. You can do it!”

Rosalea jerkily obeyed. Her arms felt heavy, leaden, like they didn’t want to move. The same motions that she had made to make them move all this time was burning her muscles. She had no idea how long they had been going, but it felt like eternity.

She set them down almost gently. Genya stood up with a groan; she had been silent all this time. Rosalea had almost forgotten that the woman was there. “We have to walk now,” Fen said. “There’s a safe spot further ahead. We have to get to it.”

Rosalea nodded and made a step… and collapsed. Darkness swamped her vision, and she felt like she was losing her grip on something.

“Get up! Nadia! Get up!” There was a sharp pain in her leg, and she was conscious of Genya yelling about something. She shook her head and shakily stood up. Fen was there, pushing her forward. Rosalea felt another overwhelming dizzy spell coming on; she couldn’t stand up. She staggered, and a moment later, Genya was on the other side of her, gripping her arm. Rosalea leaned on her heavily and nearly fell.

“Wolf! Stop! She cannot go further!”

Fen growled at Genya, and gripped Rosalea’s dress in her teeth and tugged. Rosalea staggered forward, Genya awkwardly followed, trying to hold a baby and hold Rosalea up. “Wolf!”

Fen growled, and pulled again. Rosalea staggered forward. Genya moved. Genya sighed, and took Rosalea’s arm and put it over her shoulders, hugging Rosalea’s body to her own, and they began walking.

Rosalea kept losing track of things. She wasn’t sure where she was. She wasn’t sure where they were going. She kept getting surprised that she was walking. Was it getting lighter? Or maybe it was getting darker? She kept having this falling sensation…

Pacing in a cage. This wasn’t right. The Gods were angry. How long would this go on? It would seem all their grand plans would be thwarted. What a way to throw away life… this was pointless.

Then there was the woman, she was different. She acted different. She would come late in the night, when a guard she was friends with stood sentry at the door to this horrible room with the cage. She would bring scraps. She was so hungry, she was so grateful for those bits of meat and bread. They didn’t feed her enough. They were trying to weaken her so she would hold her liana down…

Months went by. The woman couldn’t come every night. She seemed sad. She seemed worried. Sometimes she would whisper things about a pregnancy. She would whisper about the fears of runaways.

Then one day, after more months and moons drifted past the room’s window than should be counted, the woman came, looking worried. She was not surprised, she had heard it too. The orders of death.

Growl at her. Attack the bars. Don’t come unless you can do something about it. Stop giving me pity. It’s over now, before it began.

Rosalea collapsed again. She felt herself hit something hard. She pushed herself up, but her arms wouldn’t move any more. Her legs were stiff and frozen feeling. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t go on. This was it.

There was pain on her arm. She felt it. It was real. It was sharp. She whimpered. “Get up! Nadia!”

There was a sensation of a powerful presence. Rosalea opened her eyes; someone with purple eyes was crouched down. “I got you. It’s all right,” she said. She reached out and gave a whining Fen scratches that seemed to soothe the wolf. Rosalea closed her eyes…