“This is unacceptable! We are currently out of Dongeng’s jurisdiction. Mother has no power here.” Lucil’s face had gone white, filled with anger and frustration.

  “Your mother said you’d say that.” The leader responded in a dry voice. “She said that we are to bring him in by any means necessary. Force has been authorized… even against you.”

  As he said this, some of the men behind them adjusted their weapons. Lucil’s face turned from white to red and she shook slightly. For a moment, I truly thought that she was going to attack them, but after a few moments of a tense faceoff, her shoulders finally slouched.

  “If… that is her will.”

  The lead man nodded as if this was expected. He made a gesture with his hands, and his men moved toward our previous escort. Lucil waved her hand, and the men reluctantly gave up their weapons. There appeared to be multiple factions within Dongeng. At the very least, those that followed Lucil were loyal to her, and not the queen. I had presumed that their loyalty would be fairly universal, much like everyone in the Peri following the king. I supposed many factions existed amongst humans, so it wasn’t much different than that.

  In the end, I had a brief hope that our situation was going to get easier. Unfortunately, it looked like we weren’t being spared at all. Instead, one captor repced another. These captors had even more men, and if I had to guess by the insignia on their arms, the queen’s men were higher ranking as well. After brief few moments of reorganizing the formation, we began walking again.

  Amusingly, rather than blend in with the outer group, Lucil’s group remained in their original positions. Thus, we were not just surrounded by her soldiers, but by the queen’s soldiers as well. This told me something about their nature. They weren’t trusted, or perhaps they had been acting outside of the orders of Dongeng.

  We only traveled a moment when I started to realize something was off. We were veering off, no longer heading in the same direction we had been moving while Lucil was leading the way. I didn’t need to ask though, as Lucil wore just as confused of an expression. She immediately spoke up.

  “Where are we going? We’re not heading back to the outpost?” Lucil demanded. “They’re tired and beaten. We cannot forge the desert without giving them a chance to recover first.”

  The faery at the lead turned back. “We’re not going across the desert, we’re going through Hedgeman’s Pass.”

  Lucil stopped for a second, and then an expression of horror crossed her face. I didn’t know what Hedgeman’s Pass was. This was the first time I had heard of such a route. As far as I had known, there were only two ways into Dongeng. The first was to take the route leading from Peri. Since we were currently being chased by the elf nation, I naturally chose to avoid this method. That only left the desert, which covered most of the Pria and Dongeng border.

  The rest of Dongeng bordered with the nds of the celestials in the north, which could only be reached by going all the way through Dongeng. It should go without saying why they were so isoted and protected from the rest of the countries.

  Even Dongeng was considered mystical and distant. When it came to Dewa, there wasn’t even a question. Almost nothing was known about the celestials other than that their edicts were revered by the other nations. The human realm, which bordered just about every nation in its center position, had always been at the greatest disadvantage. Although I was often bmed for why the country lost all of the princesses and was in such dire straits right now, I had to wonder if such a thing was always an inevitability of peacetime. I had begun to think that the only way to save the human realm from destruction was to initiate another devil war. Only then would the races join together and make treaties.

  I had let my mind wander. Thankfully, I hadn’t missed anything in the conversation. Lucil was still lost in her shock. After a few moments, she finally shook her head and gred at the man riding next to her.

  “Hedgeman’s pass is far too dangerous. How is this acceptable?”

  “The queen ordered for him to be brought as quickly as possible. Hedgeman’s pass is only a two-day journey.”

  Too dangerous? What could be more dangerous than a scolding desert? The journey we were about to undertake had already been filled with danger. I couldn’t imagine a situation that was more dangerous than that.

  “What is mother thinking?” Lucil snapped. “She’ll kill him, and me.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe that is her hope.”

  The queen of the faery folk was the same queen as the queen of Pria. Her marriage to my father was supposed to bind the kingdoms together, but my inevitable birth had only torn them irrecovablically apart. The capital of the human realm, my father’s castle, wasn’t too far from where we were now. Thus, the queen ruling Dongeng from her husband’s castle had never been an issue. With their magical ability, communication between the two countries meant that orders could be followed in real-time.

  The queen ultimately left the castle over her disgust of me, not because the country of Dongeng had needed her. She had been unwilling to kill me as a child, but just because she wouldn’t kill me directly didn’t mean she might not set up a condition where I died by accident. Sending me through some suicidal path would be a good way to eliminate me while making it seem like she wasn’t at fault in the slightest.

  “You’ll die too, you know.” Lucil

  “I follow my queen’s orders. My troop has managed to breach the pass twice now. I believe, at the very least, I can complete my duty for my queen.” He decred.

  “And what about Lucil?” My voice broke in, causing Lucil to shoot me a gre and the faery leader to stiffen. “Is the queen looking to drag her to her death as well?”

  “The princess… is free to leave. However, her soldiers will stay with me. They are under my command now.” The man decred.

  I nodded and gnced at Lucil. “You can return to the outpost and be safe.”

  “And be left on this side of the desert?” Lucil gred. “I refuse!”

  “You could probably hire the next caravan and travel safely,” I responded. “Since your mission failed, you should do what is safest.”

  “What do you care?” Her expression darkened.

  “You are my sister.” I shrugged. “I do not want to see you harmed on my account.”

  “You should have thought of that before you were born!”

  I gave a small sigh, feeling like Lucil was growing angry the longer she was with me. I had originally thought she was rather cool and collected, but it seemed like the longer we were together, the harder it was for her to control her feelings of hatred. Of all of my sisters, she had the least reason to personally hate me, so I was trying to understand where she was coming from.

  “In all honesty, I desired to avoid the queen on this journey. However, I had wanted to move as quickly as possible. If I had known of this Hedgeman’s pass, I would have taken it.”

  “Fool.” She sniffed. “That’s why the Hedgeman’s Pass isn’t on any map.”

  I frowned, and then raised my voice for the leader. “You said you passed through it twice. What was the survival rate of your unit.”

  “50% of my unit made it through.” The man replied in a dry voice. “Those were good numbers.”

  My expression stiffened slightly. I turned to seek the guidance of Baba… only to see that Captain Moar was reluctantly carrying her on his back while she slept. I rolled my eyes irritably. She always picked the most inopportune times to bugger off. I could have just continued to grill Lucil and the leader, but I had a feeling the more I asked, the more closed off they’d become. I’d prefer to hear the information from someone less biased anyway.

  Just before I turned to see if Ba or Saria knew something about it, I felt two soft things press against my arm as someone hugged me from the side.

  “My sweet baby, we need to find a way to escape,” Mom whispered under the pretense of looking affectionate.

  “Mother?” I could see Lucil eyeing us uncomfortably.

  My mother wore a robe and hid her face for the most part. The faery soldiers knew that she resembled the queen strongly, and this had caused her to get more than a couple of hard looks. So, I had asked her to cover up to keep them from being tempted. As to what temptation, I didn’t know. I imagined a scene where they cut her down for bsphemy or something like that. In all honestly, I was worried about my mother the most recently. She wasn’t just the means of tracking us, but she was also the most vulnerable person in my party at the moment.

  “The Hedgeman’s Pass is a death trap.”

  “You heard?”

  She blushed cutely. “I hear everything when it has to do with my son’s safety.”

  “Do you know about the pass?”

  She nodded hesitantly. “Although I don’t know everything that my… that she knows, I was left with a lot of information, and that included information about Hedgeman’s pass.”

  “What’s so dangerous about it?”

  “It’s a narrow canyon passage.” She expined. “The reason it is dangerous is pretty simple. It’s home to Naga.”

  “Naga?”

  “Drakes, Wyvern… it’s the st domain of dragons. Their numbers have dwindled for years, and this is the st nd. They are very territorial, and will attack anyone who crosses their nd.”

  “Wouldn’t the canyon provide protection?”

  “It does. Why do you think there is a 50% survival rate? The Naga nd is a pteau. The area above the canyon is a deadman’s nd. The canyon is the only way to pass this area at all.”

  “Dragons… remarkable.”

  “Well, it’s mostly wyvern and drakes. Most believe that the st dragon died out. Every generation rumors spread about one being seen, but they aren’t believed.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because no one who has seen a dragon lives to tell the tale.” She shuttered.

  “Okay…” I nodded. “What can you tell me about them?”

  Since Mother seemed knowledgeable about the subject, I didn’t hesitate to pump her for information. Well, as her about it. I’m sure she would be happy if I pumped her as well, but it was too hot to start considering such ideas.

  “Wyverns are dumb, like dogs, but much more aggressive, and also the size of a rge wagon, with razor-sharp teeth and massive sharp talons.”

  “So, not like dogs at all.”

  Mother blushed slightly, pinching my arm. “Meanie, I’m trying to help.”

  “Sorry, please continue, Mother.”

  “The drakes are smarter. They’d be about the intelligence of demons. They can speak, and they’re much rger, maybe three times the size of a wyvern. Drakes are territorial, and will usually control a flock of wyvern which they force to hunt for them. If we’re lucky, we won’t run into a Drake.”

  “Why is that? If they are that rge, it seems like they might not be a threat, depending on the canyon’s width.”

  “The canyon’s width changes. Some sections would allow a drake in. However, even if it didn’t, the drakes are the most dangerous. Drakes are very greedy creatures… and they enjoy… pretty things. They’ve been known to take people, and py with them like a cat may py with a mouse. They also tend to breed with anything… in-including women.”

  “What? Didn’t you say they are three times the size of a wagon?”

  “I did.”

  I shook my head, realizing what she was implying. It seemed like a pretty woman had the greatest risk, and we were traveling with several of them! I had to pray that we didn’t encounter any Drakes. At the very least, I’d encourage all of the girls to cover up their faces. That should alleviate some of the danger.

  “So, wyvern can be scared away or forced to scatter, but if a drake gets involved, they may y out traps or even hunt us down deliberately. Is that it?”

  Mom nodded. “The biggest threat from drakes is their breath. Every drake can release a cone of magic. It differs between drakes. Some are ice, some are fire, some are darkness… it used to be the case that every drake had their unique territories, but years of being hunted had forced them all onto this pteau, where they each fight for their small piece of nd.”

  “And dare I ask about a dragon?”

  “Their size would be hard to miss. They’d be the size of a small castle. That’s why most people assume they are all dead.” Mom shrugged. “They have the intelligence of any of the other sentient races, but their low birth rate and their tendency to be hunted has all but annihited them. We don’t need to worry about what would happen if a dragon showed up since we would already be dead.”

  “I understand.”

  “Th-that’s why… we shouldn’t even take the risk. We need to escape before Hedgeman’s Pass. That’s why you have to leave me behind.”

  “What?” I jerked, surprised by her sudden statement.

  She gave a sad smile. “I know I’m the reason that we were found out. I only said, when it comes to my son’s safety, I hear everything.”

  I had thought Mother was distracted and out of earshot when I had that exchange. She possibly was, but she wasn’t a foolish woman either. She could have come to the same conclusion I did. If anything, my surprise had only confirmed her suspicions. I should have denied it immediately. I let out a sigh.

  “Mother…”

  “As long as I’m with you, they will know exactly where you are. That’s why we must escape, and I will head away from you.” Mother decred, turning her head away from me.

  I stopped, grabbing her shoulders and turning her back to me. I could see that her eyes had grown red and wet with unshed tears she was trying to hold back. Once again, she showed me just how much she loved me. Even though she wanted nothing more than to stay by my side, she was willing to leave it when it would protect me the most.

  “Mother, that won’t be necessary.” I lifted my finger and wiped the corner of her eyes. “Even if I had the chance, I wouldn’t have made a different decision. I would bring you along anyway.”

  “Sweetie…” She looked up at me with wide, defenseless eyes that look so pure and innocent that I knew I had to protect her at any cost.

  Perhaps the queen had created her to protect me, but in the end, it was me who felt the intense need to protect her. Maybe that had been the queen’s intention all along. Mother would drag me to hell, and the queen would finally fulfill her dark desires. If that was the case, there was nothing I could do about it. I would walk through hell for this woman, and that was all there was to it. I didn’t quite word things in such a scary way to her though.

  “You’re my mother. I will never leave you behind. You don’t need to worry. I’ll figure it out.”

  “Yes, baby… I understand.” She sniffled.

  “Get moving!”

  We had remained standing for too long and the guards following up had caught up to us. We had no choice but to part and start moving forward again. Mother was looking a bit flushed, so I encouraged her to go get something to drink.

  “Ah! You must be hungry as well. I will prepare something!”

  She left to the packhorse before I could say anything else, and then started trying to prepare a meal for me all while we continued to walk forward at a brisk pace. I was a bit hungry, so I decided not to say anything. I had mainly wanted to be left to my thoughts. Naga, huh?

  I didn’t get to dwell on dragons for very long before another person came to my side. I was shocked to see it was my sister. She had dismounted and given her horse to one of her men, and then fell back to walk beside me. Given her earlier temperament, I had assumed the st person she’d want to talk to was me. I didn’t say anything though, instead of waiting for her to talk to me.

  “She’s not your mother.” She spoke shortly.

  I blinked. That was not what I had been expecting her to say. Her eyes turned to mom, who was arguing with a guard about somehow cooking the food on the go. We had abandoned most of our supplies, so it was technically Lucil’s supplies she was taking. However, when it came to me, mom could be especially shameless. She had survived in the castle surrounded by enemies for countless years living mostly off of her ability to convince others to give her stuff, so such a conversation was exactly in her element.

  “What about Mother?”

  “Why do you call her mother?” Lucil’s bit off each word. “I noticed you call her mother, and you call your true mother the queen.”

  I followed where she was seemingly gring at mother and then shrugged. “She is the only mother I have ever known. I did not know the queen.”

  “The queen is the one who gave birth to you. She is your mother!”

  “The queen abandoned me. The queen is said to hate me. Mother is the one who has given me her entire life. She loved me, raised me, and protected me. That is why Mother is my mother, and the queen is the queen.”

  Lucil didn’t seem satisfied with this answer. She walked stiffly, remaining silent for some time. Finally, she leaned over.

  “You have no clue what the queen has sacrificed for you. What I have…” She stopped, closing her eyes. “No clue!”

  Without another word, she increased her pace until she could mount back onto her horse. She didn’t look back at me, but I watched her for some time. There was some part of the story I was missing. I had a feeling the only way I’d fill it was by meeting the queen myself.

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