Elara Silverwind's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Elara Silverwind had wanted to see the world outside her father's walls. She had not wanted to see it from the back of a stranger's wagon, with her wrists tied and a sack of stolen gold bouncing against her knee. For sixteen years she had begged the elven king to let her travel. Now she was traveling, and all she could think about was the castle she had sworn she would never miss. The wagon hit a root and stopped. Two men argued up front about which road led away from the forest village. Elara worked the rope against the wagon's iron bracket. The gold had come from them. She had grabbed it while they loaded her, slipping their coin purse under her cloak, because a princess with no crown still knew that money bought escape. A knife slid through the rope. She twisted around. A boy crouched behind her, maybe her own age, with dark messy hair and a traveler's cloak. He held the blade flat so it would not catch the light. He was one of them. She had seen him loading the wagon. "Don't scream," he whispered. "I'm Gareth. My father's up front. I told him this was wrong." His jaw tightened. "He didn't listen." Elara did not trust him. But the rope fell away, and that was a fact she could use. "Why help me?" "Because you didn't choose this." He glanced at the front of the wagon. "Neither did I. Run when I say. Keep the gold. You'll need it." The arguing stopped. Boots crunched toward the back. "Now," Gareth said. Elara jumped. Her feet hit mud and slid, and she caught a branch to stay up. Behind her a man shouted her name, her title, the thing she had run from her whole life. She ran anyway. Gareth ran beside her, fast and sure, pushing low branches out of her path. They crashed through ferns until the shouts grew thin. Elara's lungs burned. She pressed the coin purse to her chest and kept moving. The trees here were wrong, too tall, too dark. Nothing looked like home. When they finally stopped, she dropped against a trunk and gasped. Gareth stood guard, watching the way they had come. "They'll track us," he said. "My father doesn't quit." Elara looked at the gold in her hands. She had always dreamed of being lost in the wide world. Now she truly was, and she had no idea which direction held the castle. "I'm going home," she said. The words surprised her. "I need to get back to my father." Gareth nodded. "Then I'll get you there. I swear it." He held out his hand. Elara took it. The free princess, the one who hated her crown, was now running toward it as fast as her legs would carry her. The forest closed dark around them, and somewhere behind, the kidnappers began to hunt.