Awethology Light
* * *
THE KINGDOM TRANSFORMED, starting with the palace’s inner heart.
Swig flew from sconce to sconce with sprays of wildflowers while Maya lit the candles. With renewed strength from his daughter’s return, the king bounced from room to room, brushing away cobwebs, unrolling carpets, and hanging tapestries.
“Ouch!” Maya’s hand dashed to her forehead. It was the second time she’d knocked it on a low lamp. Being able to reach things others took for granted required adjustment. But she never expected to be so tall she’d need to stoop from harm’s way.
Swig flew to her and tucked a sprig of pink heather behind her ear.
The smile that stretched across Maya’s face was dazzling. The parrot shrank under the gaze of her iris-colored eyes.
“What’s wrong, Swig?”
“Nothing, my dear. I just—I always knew you were lovely. Now it’s magnified.”
Maya pinked, rubbing the tender spot where she’d bumped her head.
A third voice sounded through the hall. “May? Swig?”
Heads turned to the doorway where a young man stood, his eyes wild as they darted between the parrot and the princess. “I reckoned I heard yer voices.” He stepped carefully as he scanned the ground below him. “Where’s May?”
“Daniel.”
He looked up and froze, realizing he’d been addressed by the princess. That voice. It was like May’s, only a touch deeper and more amplified.
His breath quickened. He knew that pout, that curve of cheek. He swallowed. He recognized her eyes, and the daggers inside meant for him. “I’ve found ye to take ye back to th’ crew.” Lowering his head he added, “And to say I’m sorry.”
Maya continued to glare at him from across the hall.
“Haven’t ye missed us?”
“My name’s Maya. I am no longer a pirate.”
Daniel looked her up and down, his eyes grazing her figure. “Ye’ve always been a lady, ye know. It’s just easier to see that now.” He grinned. “Now that we’re of a similar size—”
Maya walked toward him. She stopped, looking him in the eyes for the first time, as a person of regular size. “Now, what? You mean, we’d be able to have relations between a man and woman—of the physical kind?”
The muscles of Daniel’s jaw twitched ever so slightly. “How else would it have worked? Small as a pup, ye were.”
She crossed her arms. Having been a pirate herself, she knew what fueled their motivations. “No doubt you’ve heard I’m a princess. With treasures. My father has more gold than can be used to button all the coats of your crew.”
“Aye, so I’ve heard.” Daniel, too, had stumbled upon the crone on his way to the palace. The legend was true, the magic of Sprite Island, the reason the captain had wanted to keep May hidden for himself. And why he’d trusted Daniel with her charge. “What of it?”
“Don’t ye be playin’ with me—” Maya’s hands flew to her lips. Her cheeks burned at how pirate-like her outburst had been. She didn’t know which was worse—having been small or having been a pirate.
After a slow breath, she began again. “I’m finally where I belong—where I came from. Did the captain put you up to this?”
Daniel’s face fell. All but the scar to the left of his lip sagged. The Water Lily would sail at sundown. There wasn’t much time left.
“D’ye think yer better than me now? Just say so, and I’ll never bother ye again.”
He’d barely finished speaking when he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt. His front collar dug into his throat.
“Is this pirate upsetting you, daughter?”
Daniel reached around to release himself from King Ezrek’s grasp. His hand looped through a tasseled drapery cord. Before he could remove it, Swig pounced, landing on Daniel’s head.
Feathers, fabric, and bits of hair fell to the floor as the parrot shredded the headscarf with his beak.
King Ezrek twisted the cord and looped it around Daniel’s other hand, securing it with a handcuff knot that tightened the more the pirate tried to resist.
Maya’s heart hammered. Instead of standing by while her father and best friend protected her, she jumped into the brawl. Dodging Daniel’s kicks, she pinned down his legs while Swig distracted him with more jabbing.
King Ezrek looped a second drapery cord around Daniel’s boot, twisting and tying until both ankles were cuffed.
Groaning, Daniel lay still.
Swig stopped pecking and wiped his beak with a wing.
Maya’s chest heaved, her lungs gulping for air. She watched as the king dragged Daniel away, seeing herself with her mind’s eye. What had she become? She’d left pirate life behind. She’d reunited with her father. She’d changed her clothes, her speech, her destiny.
Had she failed to abandon her pirate heart? Was she unable to forgive?
“Whatever ye were meant to be,” Daniel said, battered and bound. “The pirates were a part of that.”
Maya said nothing in reply. She was a princess, the heir to the Kingdom of Sprite Island, who would someday be queen.
Surely, she’d forgive Daniel. But not before he missed his ride home.
Chess Desalls’s Bio & Links
Chess Desalls recently authored the first two installments of the YA time travel series, The Call to Search Everywhen. She’s a longtime reader of fantasy and sci-fi novels, particularly classics and young adult fiction. When she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys traveling and trying to stay in tune on her flute.
Connect with Chess at
www.chessdesalls.com
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A Strong Tower
Tom Fallwell
Copyright 2015 Tom Fallwell
All Rights Reserved