Danica Hicks's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Danica Hicks had crossed three forests to take a throne that already had someone sitting on it. She crouched behind a hedge at the edge of Fern Gully and stared at the castle. Its stone walls rose high and pale. Rainbow spires twisted above them like painted horns. Somewhere inside sat a queen Danica had never met, and that queen wore the throne Danica meant to own alone. She knew nothing about her rival. Not her strength. Not her weakness. A plan needs a crack to push through, and Danica had found none. Her raven landed on the hedge beside her. Its feathers shimmered red, then green, then violet in the sun. Danica had raised the bird from a chick, and it was the only thing she trusted now. "Go look," she whispered. "Find out what holds her up." The raven lifted off and flew toward the castle. Danica watched it slip through an open high window. She waited while the sun moved. She chewed the inside of her cheek. A rainbow lily grew near her boot, and she tore its petals one by one to keep her hands still. The raven came back near dusk. It dropped something into her palm. A pendant, heavy and warm, carved from dark obsidian. When she turned it, bands of color woke inside the black stone. Gold filigree framed it like a tiny crown. Danica knew what she held. Every ruler of Fern Gully carried this pendant. It was the only proof of the right to the throne. No pendant, no queen. Her rival had been careless. She had hung her claim near a window and let a bird take it. Then the castle bells began to ring. Not slow, like for a feast. Fast and hard, like alarm. Lanterns flared along the walls. Guards poured out the front gate and spread into the trees. A butterfly with rainbow wings drifted past Danica's face, calm in all the noise, and she almost laughed. She had what she came for. She also had every soldier in Fern Gully hunting the thief who took it. Danica closed her fist around the pendant and pressed it to her chest. The stone was cold now. She looked at the castle one last time. The woman inside still sat on the throne, but she no longer held her claim to it. Danica held it instead. "We found the crack," she told the raven. "It's this." She turned and ran into the dark trees, the proof of a queen clutched tight, and the whole gully waking up behind her.