A gravelly path wound its way through the lush green land, finding itself in the best places to be traveled. Three journeyers trekked through the overgrown forest, trying to get to the same place the path was going to. Treeg wasn’t bothered by cutting through the dense trees, but he was sure the “Great Lady Sailia” wasn’t enjoying herself at all. She was doing pretty good about not complaining though, he gave her that. Ronna was hacking through bushes beside him, making it that much faster. They had only been working together for about 2 months, but it felt like they had known each other longer. They were getting along pretty well.

An ache from his stomach brought Treeg’s attention to his body again. He had forgotten about it for a while, but now all he could feel was hunger. They hadn’t stopped somewhere to eat in a while.

“You know, we’ve been trudging though the wilderness for days and we haven’t had a proper cooked meal ever since we stopped at the inn 2 weeks ago; maybe we should stop in the nearest town to stock up. I’m sure Sailia would agree.” He glanced at her, stumbling along with an empty gaze. “I think she’s tired of our dry bread.”

Ronna stopped hacking at the branches and sat down on the ground, wiping the sweat off her face. She looked exhausted. Sailia kept standing, though she looked a bit wobbly.

“I guess you’re right,” Ronna closed her eyes, looking relieved to sit down for a minute. “but we’ll have to be swift and stealthy. There’s a reason we haven’t stopped; that inn was a bad idea. Who knows how many people are looking for us by now.”

“Alright, we’ll be extra careful. You okay with that, Sailia?” Treeg noticed she’d been very quiet the past few hours.

“Fine.” She said.

Now paying more attention, she looked far from fine. Her light clothes were completely dirtied and ripped in places, and her skin was covered in small scratches and bruises. Her once long, beautiful golden hair now looked brown and tangled. Her face was dirty, but beneath the dirt it was pale.

“We should also find a safe place to rest and spend the rest of the day taking a break, I think.” Treeg thought Sailia might appreciate a break.

Her reply surprised him: “No. After we get food, we keep going.” Sailia’s words were so blunt, commanding; completely different from when she hired Treeg and Ronna five weeks ago. He’d though they’d become almost friends, but apparently she didn’t think so.

“Well, I just think if we keep going like this, we won’t make it very far—“

“Am I paying you or not?” Sailia cut him off so harshly, Treeg was stunned.

“Sailia, are you ok?” Ronna looked concerned.

“I’m not Sailia to you— I’m the Great Lady Sailia. And you do as I say, or else I’m not paying you, or worse.”

Ronna’s expression matched Treeg’s own astonishment. _What had happened? Why was she acting like royalty only now? _Sure, she was technically their boss for the time being, but this was not how she had treated them up until now — something for which Treeg was grateful.

“Okay… the town’s that way.” Ronna pointed the the left.

Without another word, they all resumed their routine of Treeg and Ronna pushing through branches in front while the “Great Lady Sailia” followed them behind. Treeg cought himself waiting for Sailia to laugh and tell them she was joking around— that’s how strange her behavior was. But instead of that, she suddenly cried out in pain and fell onto the ground.

Treeg and Ronna ran over to her.

She had fainted.

“She’s burning up!” Ronna cried. “We have to get her to a doctor!”

“But we’ll get caught!”

“Well, we have to do something!”

Suddenly, Sailia jolted up, and floated up into the air. She was twitching and her eyes were wide open, glowing brightly in a soft blue. The sight was so unsettling and unreal, Treeg didn’t even have time to register it all. She just hung there for a second, there was a breathy, whooshing sound, and then she fell. Treeg, by reflex, managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He quickly set her down.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT???”

Ronna just stood there with her face pale as a sheet and her mouth hung open.

Panic finally rose up in Treeg, but he pushed it down. He couldn’t lose control over emotions in moments like these. He had to be strong, or a mess would be made. He took a deep breath.

“Okay, okay! What do we do? Have you seen this happen to someone before??”

Ronna shook her head. “I’m sending up a flair.” She started digging in her pack.

“But—“ Treeg swallowed his protest, his worries about being discovered overshadowed by the risk of letting Sailia die. He had known from the start that this whole job was a bad idea. But he couldn’t dwell on that now. If Sailia died, the royalty would find out immediately because of her power, and then both Ronna and Treeg would be executed or worse for escorting royalty illegally. So this was really there only option. It was very likey someone would report them this way too, but it at least they had a narrow chance of success.

The flair exploded high in the twilight sky, making it rain blue powder. This color meant urgent help was needed, and it was usually only used by high nobility. Treeg and Ronna only had it because they had been lucky enough to buy a few from the black market.

“Hold on, Sailia,” Ronna held up Sailia’s hand, “help is on the way.”

Treeg couldn’t help but feel that this was going to turn into a huge mess.

~~~~~~~~

Only about half a day’s walk away, was the sky fortress. It gleamed in the sun, unimaginably gigantic. It took up almost the whole valley, and it was magnificent. From the very top point was the Queen’s room and balcony, and from it you could see the whole kingdom, in all its vastness. The Queen stood on the balcony now, looking out over the land, hoping she could somehow catch a glimpse of her daughter somewhere. She had been missing for months, and no one knew why or how she had gone. Most believed she was dead, that she had been kidnapped and killed. But the Queen didn’t believe it. She _could _not believe it. She knew her daughter was out there somewhere, in her own kingdom. Trying to get home.

Desperation filled her eyes with tears. They rolled down the Queen’s face, and she looked up the the heavens and prayed that her daughter would be found. She pleaded, her heart yearning.

And then, as if in response to her prayers, she saw a blue flair explode in the trees not to far off. Her heart skipped a beat. _Could this be her daughter? Almost home?_

The Queen was about to summon a guard, her heart dancing in her chest.

And then a beam of light erupted from the trees. It was soft blue.

For a moment, the Queen was frozen. She saw it, and she knew it was her daughter. She knew what it meant. But her heart didn’t believe it.

Alarm horns blared throughout the fortress, signaling that everyone now knew what had happened. The scouts had probably seen it, too.

The Queen now snapped out of her shocked trance, and grief exploded in her chest.

Her daughter was _dead. _

GONE.

And she wasn’t even that far off. She had almost made it _home._

And the Queen soon felt anger, seething loathing. Whoever had killed princess Sailia was going to pay for what they had done.

Flying scouts were deployed from the fortress, heading to where her daughter’s mark of death was now fading slowly.

And the Queen screamed, in anguish and anger. Her scream pierced even the ears of Treeg and Ronna, who desperately were telling Sailia to “please calm down!”

Sailia’s eyes were glowing a soft blue, and she looked like a freaking demon.