The Wild Swans (8 page)

Someone shouted, and a whirling black-blue shape topped with white gold flew past like a comet, plunging at the fog.

The fog fled the comet
, escaping faster than it had pursued Elise. The comet caught up with the fog though, and the black cloud huddled to a frightening tar-like core before the comet hit it, shattering it entirely.

There
was a deafening peal of thunder, but no lightning.

Falk’s horse reared again
, swinging wildly around and crashing into a bush as the swans beat their wings.

By the time Elise
was able to hold her borrowed horse steady, the “comet” stood in the middle of the trail, in line with Elise and her flock.

The comet
was actual a breathtakingly beautiful lady mounted on a black horse. Elise hesitated to call it a horse, for while the animal had the structure and face of a horse, its fur wasn’t quite fur. Instead the horse appeared to be wrapped by the night sky. Its body was mostly blue black with the faint twinkling of stars, and its mane and tail were black as well, although they didn’t fall and sit straight the way normal hair would. Instead they floated, looking more like tongues of black and blue fire than strands of hair.

“You certain
ly aren’t Gabi, so Princess Elise I may presume?” the rider asked.

Elise swallowed as she stared at the great beauty. As she watched the rider’s dress
, an iridescent shade of gold, turned a faint shade of iridescent green. “W-who are you?”

“I am Angelique.”

“You’re an enchantress.”

“
Correct. Your brother, Prince Erick, invited me to Arcainia. He asked me to observe your step-mother. It seems that I am too late,” Angelique said, looking past Elise to the white swans huddled behind her. “It is alright, princes. Please, come out of hiding,” Angelique said, her voice soothing and tranquil.

Elise’s seven swan brothers glided out of the forest
, joining Angelique on the road as the enchantress dismounted.

Angelique
slid her hands under the head of one of the swans, making it look up at her. She studied its face as she gently stroked it, murmuring to it under her breath.

Elise waded out of the trees
, dragging Falk’s horse with, and watched. Falk’s horse snorted at the enchantress’s odd mount, but he did nothing more besides watch it with bugged eyes.

Angelique slow
ly turned the head of the swan that attended to her, studying the sides of its face. “This is a serious curse,” Angelique said. Even the frown that twitched across her lips could not mar her beauty. “I assume Gabi escaped it because of Puss?”

“Puss?”

“Her cat.”

“
I don’t know. She wasn’t cursed, I don’t know why though,” Elise said scrubbing her face with a dirty hand.

“And how did you remain unhindered?” Angelique asked.

“I’m not sure. Clotilde tried to curse me, but it bounced off me and went back to her.”

“How very odd.”

Elise hesitated. “Maybe it’s because I’m not a real member of the royal family. I am a foster child.”

“Unlike
ly. This curse was not crafted specifically for the royal family, and it was made with black magic. Anyone who took the time to create such a vile curse would not make a beginner’s mistake,” Angelique said, releasing the swan.

Elise crouched on the ground
, covering her head with an arm as she thought. “Can it be broken?”

“Pardon?”

“Is there any way to end this curse? Could we make Clotilde take it off them? Or… if she dies?”

Angelique stared at the swans for several long moments
before she replied. “The safest place for you and your brothers is to be far away from Clotilde. As for breaking the curse…I will see what can be done.”

“How?”

“I will approach Clotilde.”

“What if she attacks you?”

Angelique was silent for several moments. “There will be no if, for I plan to attack her first.”

Elise looked up at the breathtak
ing woman. “Will you be punished for it?”

“P
erhaps.”

“I’m sorry
. I would pardon you, the royal family would pardon you if we could,” Elise said as one of the swans waddled up to her and started tugging on her hair with its orange beak.

“I thank you.
But it is not the Arcainian government that outlawed magic in Arcainia, but the Veneno Conclave itself. There is a good chance I will not be punished as the attacks originate from a twister of magic. However, no matter who made the law, I would not stand for this. My master taught me that as a magic user it is my responsibility to right whatever wrongs might have been made with magic. What Clotilde has done is not only wrong, but evil,” Angelique said.

“Thank you
,” Elise said, her words barely louder than a whisper. The swan pecking at her hair whistled at her, drawing a weak smile from Elise.

“
Of course,” Angelique said before she turned back to her horse. It bowed in an odd, boneless movement, letting Angelique climb up its leg and onto its back. “You must leave the country. Keep going west to Loire, and from there go north to Verglas. Your stepmother could never touch you there, for the magic of the Snow Queen still runs strong in Verglas in spite of the centuries that have passed. I mean to find Gabi and Puss to form a plan for attacking the queen. It may be some days before I find you.”

“Lady Enchantress
, please…can my brothers understand me at all?” Elise asked, standing.

“They understand more than you would think
, but not much of their humanity remains. I would guess that they recognize you as someone important to them, although they certainly do not understand the conversation we just had,” Angelique said.

“I see. Thank you
,” Elise said, pushing her shoulders back.

“They will stay close to you. Do not worry
that they will fly off. It will be easy for you to reach Verglas if you lead them rather than attempt to drive them, I think,” Angelique said, smoothing her iridescent skirts into place.

“Thank you
,” Elise repeated, biting the inside of her lip to keep her face stoic.

“I will find you after my encounter with your step
-mother. Until then, stay safe,” Angelique said. When her horse snorted, his nostrils flared red, like coals.

“Thank you
, Lady Enchantress. My family owes you a great debt,” Elise said.

“Hard
ly. It is the fault of magic users for allowing this to happen in the first place, but I thank you all the same. Until Verglas, Princess Elise,” Angelique said before clicking to her horse.

It started off at a swift
, ground-covering trot, but its footfalls sounded odd on the dirt road.

Falk’s horse snorted at the unusual animal
, and Elise patted its neck. “I know how you feel. Come, we must keep moving.”

Chapter 4

All day Elise walked
, leading one horse and seven swans on foot. The second day she mostly walked, but occasionally rode when she was able to coax her brothers into flying. It was the same on the third day.

Elise lost track of the days after
that. She was tired and uncomfortable. She slept on the ground and ate the few edible plants she recognized. She knew she didn’t eat enough, but her appetite was gone.

The more time she spent with her swan brothers
, the heavier her heart grew. She tried to look for any quirks or hints of their personalities that would set them apart. If she could just figure out which brother was which bird! But no; they operated like a flock of silent, dumb birds.

Elise’s on
ly comfort was at night, when she tried to sleep on the hard ground and was surrounded by the soft, pillowy bodies of seven swans.

When Elise reached the Loire/Verglas border
—and she knew it was the border, because Verglas had a distinctly cooler climate and an abundance of pine trees that Loire did not possess— her work uniform was torn, dirty, and a general disgrace to look at.

An hour more of traveling
, and Elise found a large pond that seemed a suitable enough place at which to wait for Angelique.

It was
scummy with lily pads and algae floating on the still surface, but Elise’s foster brothers happily plunged into the pond and started dunking their heads in the water, dining on some sort of pond weed.

Elise unbuckled the bit and reins from the bridle of her mount and removed its saddle and blanket. She let it loose in a small meadow where it attacked the grass with scarce
ly less zeal than the swans sifting in the pond.

Elise spread the saddle blanket on the ground
before she sat down, inspecting the frayed hem of her skirt. The gold key still hung from the red sash tied around her waist, but the white sleeves were smeared green, and the black of the skirts had become a dark shade of mud gray.

One of the swans left the pond and chased an insect around the shore. The insect buzzed close to Elise
, drawing the swan to her.

The swan flapped its wings
, launching itself at Elise. It caught the bug, but it smacked Elise in the face with its powerful wings that had the force of a swinging sack of potatoes.

“Ouch
, go away,” Elise said, her eyes watering with pain as she tried to push the swan off.

The swan chortled and smacked her again with its wings as it left
, retreating to the pond.

“Please
, please let the Lady Enchantress Angelique succeed in overthrowing Clotilde,” Elise said, holding her throbbing nose.

Surrounded on
ly by animals, nothing answered her.

Elise rubbed down Falk’s horse with bit of cloth she ripped off her black skirt and dipped in the pond.

Her swan brothers floated on the water or puttered around on the shore, looking for bugs and grass to eat.

One swan sat near Elise and the horse
, watching them with a tilted head.

Elise offered the swan a smile. “Rune?” she tried.

The swan didn’t move.

Elise glanced at the horse and then back to the swan. “Falk? Do you recognize your horse?”

The swan lunged to its black feet, snapping a bug midair. It chortled to itself before it went back to the pond, drawing a sigh from Elise.

It
had been a week, and her brothers still acted like swans. Sometimes she thought one of them might be responding, but it always was because there was a bug buzzing through the air, or they were watching because they were looking at a nearby animal.

Elise wanted to believe
that as she was a part of their family—foster child or not—she might be able to stir their memories.

She
was having no such luck. She hadn’t even identified Rune, and he was the Royal Prince she was closest to.

Another swan approached Elise.

Elise smiled and extended a hand.

The swan peck
ed her, pinching and twisting the soft skin on her wrist.

Elise yelped. The swan flapped its wings and moved on
, which was a good thing as Elise burned with the desire to kick the white bird. Instead, she clamped a hand over her smarting skin and stared up at the sky.

A raindrop fell on her face. Seconds later
, another fat droplet plopped on her nose.

When it started to downpour
, Elise breathed in through her nose, carefully gathering up her craving to bawl and strangling it.

A princess didn’t cry. At least
, Queen Ingrid wouldn’t have. The Queen would expect Elise to be better than hysterics, as well.

Elise headed for the tre
es, dragging Falk’s horse by its bridle-turned-halter. A few of the swans joined her long enough to ram into her and hit her with their wings before they returned to the pond, unbothered by the water that slid off their slick feathers.

“If Angelique doesn’t succeed
, I will have to do something,” Elise said. “Clotilde might get her wish after all; I might have to marry a foreign prince in order to mobilize his troops to rescue my country.”

The prospect of marry
ing a foreign dignitary did not delight Elise. She always knew that her Father wouldn’t thoughtlessly auction her off to allies. He would keep her in the country, hopefully letting her wed her choice of men. Preferably she would marry Mertein—who was a good choice as the first son of a prominent noble family. It was the greatest happily ever after Elise could have dared to dream for, and she did.

But
now, watching her brothers—watching the swans really—Elise knew if anyone was going to save Arcainia and get rid of Clotilde, it would have to be her.

“Lucien is a toad
,” Elise said, thinking of the crown prince of Loire. “But if he is still open to a marriage contract, he may be my best bet.”

Rain continued to fall
, filling the air with a steady pitter patting as it fell against tree leaves and the ground.

A swan hissed when another swan pecked it
, and Elise closed her eyes.

“I will marry for the sake of Arcainia
, for Father, and for my foster brothers if I must,” she said. “I just wish…,” Elise trailed off, unable to finish the thought. She watched the rain fall and thought longingly of the sweet moments she shared with Mertein.

It
was dusk. Several more days had passed, and as each day turned into the next, Elise steeled her resolve. It didn’t seem like Angelique, the Lady Enchantress, would be returning.

Elise watched the swans float on the pond
, bobbing up and down in the ripples colored by the last rays of the sun. They looked beautiful, the rising moon made their stark white feathers glow as they arched their necks and paddled in the water.

“Another week
, maybe two. If I don’t hear from Angelique before then, I will know something must have gone terribly wrong,” Elise said, resting her head on her knees as she sat on the sandy bank that bordered the pond.

One of the swans made a strange
, questioning noise.

Elise looked up
to see the swan peck at the churning water surface. There was no wind, but waves crested in the pond as if it were part of the ocean.

Two swans clicked in protest when the water tossed them around
, and all of the swans hissed when light that was golden and strong—more like the rising sun than the silver moon that hung in the dark sky—surrounded them. It pulled the swans into the air, making them hang with their wings stretched.

Elise stared wide eyed
, scrambling to her feet when a pillar of white feathers exploded around each swan.

There
was a trumpeting noise that resounded off nearby trees, and the light disappeared. The feathers seemed to solidify, encasing the seven humans that stood in the pond where seven swans previously paddled.

“Gross
, I think I have a bug in my teeth!” Gerhart said.

“This is certain
ly what I aspired to do with my life, float in on a pond before getting dosed all the way through my breeches,” Steffen grumbled as he trudged out of the pond, shaking water off as he went.

Elise stared as each of her brothers emerged from the pond
, wearing white clothes that seemed to have the same slick properties as swan feathers.

“Elise
, you’re safe,” Rune said, the first of his brothers to approach her. He bent over her, picking her off the ground and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

The gesture convinced Elise she
was not delusional. He was real. Her face was pressed against his soft shirt, and his hands were warm on her back.

Her brothers
were human again.

“Rune
,” Elise said, grasping at his shirt as if he were her anchor. It was all she could say, her throat burned with unsaid words, but her mouth wouldn’t move.

“I’m here
, Elise. Everything is going to be fine,” Rune said.

“And
that’s enough,” Nick said, wrenching the two apart after several prolonged moments.

Elise clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chatter
ing as she drank in the sight of her foster brothers.

“I am sorry
, Elise, that it was my horse you had to ride here,” Falk said, placing a cool hand on the crown of Elise’s head. “I hope he was not too much trouble?”

“I asked a lot of him
, but he was a good mount,” Elise said.

“Good. I am glad you are
well,” Falk said, awkwardly placing his hands on Elise’s shoulders for a moment.

“
Why we are in the middle of the forest?” Mikk stiffly asked.

“You don’t remember gett
ing cursed and turning into a bird? That’s a real shame, Mikk. If we came across some swan ladies, I bet you would be real popular with them,” Nick said, elbowing his twin.

“Clotilde cursed us. I could see her ready
ing it, but I didn’t have the chance to warn anyone,” Erick said, reaching to adjust glasses that weren’t there.

“I’m sore
ly vexed by this. I was supposed to have tea with Lady Katchen,” Gerhart said.

Erick
blinked. “We have been turned into swans, and you are upset because you missed a tea.”

“You don’t understand
,” Gerhart grouched, folding his arms across his chest.

Elise tilted her head
, intrigued. “Lady Katchen? Her family does a great deal of exporting. If they would agree to use the Carabas harbor to ship exports, it would be a great financial opportunity.”

Gerhart looked marginal
ly pleased for a moment. “Of course; why do you think I arranged to meet with her?” he said before shoving his nose in the air.

Nick smacked Gerhart upside the head. “Our little Gerhie is grow
ing up.”

“Stop
that,” Gerhart complained.