Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 15 of 55

The stream widened below them. Then the trees ended, and the water spilled over rocks into open blue. Elodi gripped Damon's shoulder. The sea stretched to the edge of the world. She had read about it in castle books. She had never seen it move. "Down there," Damon called back. He guided the griffin toward the shore. The animal beat its tan wings and dropped, then landed on wet sand. Elodi slid from the saddle and her boots sank a little. She stared at the waves. They rolled in, broke white, and pulled back. "It's so big," she said. It was all she could think to say. Damon unbuckled the blue harness and let the griffin shake out its feathers. "We make camp for the night. She has flown for hours. She needs rest." He set the pack on dry sand above the tide line. The griffin folded its wings and lay down, its beak tucked under one wing. Elodi lifted her otter from the saddlebag. The small animal wriggled free and darted toward the water. Its jeweled collar caught the last light. It dug at a shell, then raced back when a wave chased it. Elodi laughed and knelt to watch it play. She had spent her whole life behind walls. Now she stood at the edge of everything. They built a fire as the sky turned red. Damon showed her how to bank the driftwood so the wind would not kill the flame. She struck the match herself. The wood caught. She fed it slowly, the way he had taught her by the stream. Night came. They sat close to the fire. The otter curled against her leg. Damon pointed across the dark water. "My castle lies beyond this sea," he said. "A couple days flight, no more. There are walls, but the gates stay open. No one is kept there against their will." He looked at her. "You could come. It is safe. You would not have to keep running." Elodi watched the flames. She thought of her mother, who had locked the world away out of fear. She thought of the riders still searching the forest behind her. She could keep moving from clearing to clearing, always looking back. Or she could go somewhere that would let her leave whenever she chose. "Why offer this?" she asked. "Because you should get to choose where you sleep," Damon said. "That's all freedom ever was." Elodi picked up a smooth stone and turned it in her hand. The waves kept rolling in. For the first time, no one told her what she must do. The choice was hers alone. "I'll come," she said. "I want to see it." Damon nodded and fed another branch to the fire. Elodi lay back on the blanket and watched the stars over the water. Tomorrow they would cross the sea. She fell asleep to the sound of waves, not walls.