A Stolen Crown (32 page)

Cold, heavy with water, her body bruised and bleeding, Ariana had pulled herself from the water and collapsed on the bank of the river. It hurt to cough, and she had breathed in a lot of water, enough that her lungs still struggled for air. She knew she was in trouble; the wound in her side was bleeding badly where the mage had stabbed her, but it was not as bad as it could have been, had she not moved sensed his approach and moved just enough that Dakar's knife had missed her vital organs. Still, the wound was deep and it would not matter much if she continued to bleed for much longer. Ariana reached out for her power and used what little energy she had left to heal the wound. The effort left her dizzy and, not knowing whether she had succeeded in stopping the bleeding, whether she would live or die, she fell unconscious.

Time passed, consciousness came and went, and Ariana felt herself being lifted from the mud, the sound of the river fading away. She felt warmth and she felt a chill, shivering and disoriented, she opened her eyes and tried to see, but all was darkness. Ariana felt herself slipping into a dream, one she had lived many times over, a dream of fire, a night when everything burned. A cool hand touched her face. There was something familiar about it and soothing. The dreams faded, and finally she slept.

It was many days before Ariana awoke to the daylight. She could not remember much else except that time had passed and that she had slipped in and out of consciousness. She found herself laying in a kind of low bed, not much more than a mattress on the floor, and covered in sheets of a plain-looking material that was soft to the touch yet durable and strong. Her clothes were neatly folded and sitting atop a small wooden table. The wound on her side had been bound with bandages, but she could tell that it was mostly healed.

Still disoriented and weak, she pushed herself up to a sitting position then took a moment to catch her breath as she looked around the room. It was a simple structure with wooden walls that seemed to have been carved from a tree and there were few amenities in the one room, save for the table, several cushions that appeared to be for sitting upon. There was another table atop which sat a basin of water and wooden bowl full of green apples. When she saw the food, she realized just how hungry she was.

Ariana pulled the blankets off of herself and rose to her feet. She was wearing some kind of loose-fitting robe of a similar fabric to that from which the bedding was made. It was a kind of earthy beige color and the bottom of it came down to just above her knees, with openings that ran up the sides of her legs and beneath the short sleeves that ended just past her shoulders. Though it was not much more than a shift, she found the garment comfortable and unrestrictive yet warm against the cool morning air. Ariana took one of the apples from the bowl and bit into it. The fruit was both sweet and tart, but given how hungry she was, it tasted delicious and she bit into it again, crunching away at the firm flesh as juice dripped down her chin.

She wiped her face and walked the few steps over to the doorway, which was covered only by a heavy cloth that billowed from a breeze outside. Pushing it aside, Ariana was surprised at what she found outside the door. Beyond the cloth, there were only trees, branches and sky and there was no ground anywhere within view. Her stomach turned for a moment at the dizzying height and she grasped onto the solid wood at the side of the opening, just to make sure she did not fall. She wondered how she had gotten up so high. There were no stairs or ladders leading to or from the room she was in, which looked to have been carved into the trunk of a giant tree that reached high above the forest, much like the others that surrounded it.

In the corner of her eye, Ariana caught sight of something. Higher up than where she was, a figure walked along a nearby tree branch. The person who, by her figure, looked to be a woman, was dressed in green and brown leathers that matched the trees, and underneath the leathers, was also garbed in a similar plain robe to the one she wore. She also wore a mask of some kind, that seemed to be made of some kind of copper interworked with green inlay and horns. Ariana's heart lurched as she watched the person leap from the branch and fall through the air. She was about to cry out when she saw her land on another tree branch just above the hole in the tree where Ariana stood. The woman crouched like a cat, her limbs folding and her body almost flattening to the surface of the thick branch as she absorbed the impact of the drop from such height. When the woman leapt again, Ariana jumped back, moving out of the way, as she saw her flying through the air directly toward her. The woman landed lightly beside her and stepped into the small dwelling inside the tree.

“I see you are awake, child,” the woman said from behind her mask. Now that she was closer, Ariana could see the woman's dark curls tied back behind her head. She at first appeared tall, but was not much taller than Ariana. She was more slender than anything, though Ariana also noticed the tone of muscle beneath her pale skin. The woman's strong physical presence along with the green and copper mask and the tight-fitting leather clothing she wore over her robe, made for a very striking image. Ariana realized she was staring and quickly recovered, replying to the woman.

“Yes,” Ariana said. “Thank you for helping me. I am Ariana of...”

“You are a child.” The woman cut her off.

“What?”

“Whatever name you may have had means nothing in this place. You are a child, and thus you have no name.”

“I don't understand,” Ariana said.

“Children often do not,” the woman replied.

Ariana considered what the woman had said to her. This was clearly elven land and, from what she knew of elven culture, she knew she was lucky to be alive. The elves did not take kindly upon intruders into their domain and she had heard reports that those who did wander into the dark forests of Elvanar never returned. For now, Ariana decided she would express her gratitude to the woman who had rescued her even though it grated on her nerves that she kept calling her a child. Considering the elves were reputed to be much longer-lived than humans, she wondered if she might seem very young to the woman, but at the same time, Ariana was not about to meekly submit to being treated in such a way. She had to get back to Aaron and to find some way to stop her uncle from starting a war against Kandara. Surely, once she explained who she was, the elven woman would understand the importance of her position in the world, that she had responsibilities.

“I am not a child,” Ariana insisted. “I am the... ”

“You are a child,” the woman repeated. “And your name or however important you think you might be is irrelevant in this place. You are in Elvanar and you shall be judged by your actions.”

“Am I a prisoner?”

The woman looked at her from behind he mask and Ariana thought she detected a smile in the eyes that stared at her.

“That is up to you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“How little you understand,” the woman commented. “It is proof that you are but a child.”

“Fine then,” Ariana said. Even though she was frustrated at the elven woman's condescending tone, she decided to play along. “I'm a child, but I have a name. I have told you mine. What is yours?”

“I am called Keira,” the woman told her. “This is yours.”

The elven woman reached into a pocket that was sewn into her leather corset and she produced the jeweled dagger that had belonged to Ariana's mother. Keira walked over to the small table where Ariana's clothes lay folded and she placed the dagger atop them.

“You may not carry such a knife, not yet, nor may you wear the clothes of an outsider, but they are yours and they will be safe in this place.”

“You tell me I am not a prisoner, but you say I cannot wear my own clothes nor can I carry my own knife. What will happen to me if I decide not to follow your rules? I am hardly defenseless.”

Ariana focused some of her power onto her fingertips, calling forth magical flames. Keira moved so quickly Ariana could barely see her. A long dagger was at her throat and she found herself slammed hard up against the hard wooden wall behind her. She felt a power rising from the woman and a strange sensation as the wall behind her began to move and change. The flames she had called forth had been extinguished by the sudden impact, her focus lost and her power along with it. The elven woman stepped back, and put her blade, a curved dagger that was almost a sword, back in a sheath that hung from her waist and was almost unnoticeable against the folds of leather. Ariana found that she could not move. Her hands were covered in some kind of sticky substance and it was as though the tree itself had grown around her, imprisoning her.

“Let me go!” Ariana told the woman.

“Fire is forbidden in this forest, child. When you learn proper care, you will be released.”

“You lied. I am a prisoner!”

“I did not lie. A moment ago, you were a child. Now you are a prisoner, but you are not my prisoner. If you wish to be free, then ask the tree.”

Ariana stared at the woman, confused at her words. She tried to call forth her power, but found that every time she willed fire into her hands, her energy was pulled from her. She pulled again, trying to free herself from the grip of the tree.

“What magic is this?”

“Magic?” the woman asked. “Ah, yes. I have heard it called such in the human languages. It is no magic. It is merely life.”

“You make no sense,” Ariana told her.

“You do not understand, because you are a child,” the woman responded. “I will return later. If you wish to be free, then ask the tree.”

And with that, the woman, Keira took a step toward the doorway, pulled the cloth aside and leapt from the opening, leaving Ariana alone, trapped inside a living tree.

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