The Falcon Princess

Chapter 2

Zelly zipped past that worn flag and perched on an adjacent tree branch.

Eek! I nearly hit it. She’d nearly slammed into the tree but backed at the last second and avoided it. Where she’d ended up was also a ways off from where she’d planned to land. It had to be because she wasn’t used to flying just yet.

Zelly quickly looked around the flag. As she’d expected, there was someone near it. She watched them, but they didn’t seem to be moving. She cocked her head. The person was sitting, leaning against the tree and holding on to the flagpole with one hand. It was driven into the ground as if they were trying to lean on it, but they definitely weren’t moving. Zelly became very worried that the soldier carrying her country’s flag was dead.

She knew Roymund had been completely defeated in the Tchuluzi War. The capital and the royal palace had been seized. She didn’t want to admit it, but her home, the once-mighty Roymund Kingdom, had collapsed. It was the price for the greed of her father, Rezpel the First. Zelly thought back to how she and her siblings ran away, concealing their identities and scattering. That was why she’d been separated from them.

There were eleven royal children in total, including Zelly. As many royals as possible had to stay alive to ensure the future of their lineage. Even if more than half were captured and killed by enemy forces, at least one had to keep the Roymund Kingdom alive. They’d never gotten along, but this was the one thing they agreed on: They had to survive and maintain their kingdom.

Zelly had suspected several of her siblings of betrayal, but when she felt that tight bond of siblinghood for the first time, she let it go. However, in order to ensure the survival of the older siblings, who had been well-educated in how to succeed to the throne, the younger ones had to sacrifice themselves. Basically, they were used as bait to help the older siblings escape—and among those younger siblings was Zelly.

Zelly was the fourth daughter but the eighth child overall. She and her three younger brothers each took a horse and rode away from the castle first. Of course, the enemy was waiting for this to happen and immediately followed them. Zelly was half-forced to sacrifice herself, but she truly wanted to survive. She knew if she was captured, she would die. All she did was keep her eyes forward and ride for her life.

The soldiers who were protecting her fell one by one. Arrows flew through the air from behind, piercing the cloak that covered her entire body. Zelly was scared. She wanted to shut her eyes tight but kept them wide open instead. All she could think about was one thing: I have to live.

However, they kept chasing her relentlessly. Zelly had her arms around the horse she was riding, and she could feel its heart racing just as fast as hers. She knew her escape wouldn’t last for long. Then, an arrow struck her horse. As it whinnied in pain, she went flying, falling to the ground with a thud. With no time to determine how hurt she was, she scrambled to her feet. She was about to try to escape on foot when she was grabbed. It was the enemy.

As soon as she recognized who it was, she was shoved into a sack. She knew she would soon be placed on an executioner’s block. The public execution of royals was the most humiliating thing that a conquering nation could do. It stole away any scrap of hope left in the hearts of the conquered, bringing them irrevocably to their knees.

Inside the sack, Zelly fell into despair. She wanted to live. She’d survived for twenty-two years, living like a church mouse among her half-siblings. She couldn’t breathe. She was infuriated that she would be dying such a futile death.

But Zelly wasn’t immediately brought to the executioner. She couldn’t tell exactly where she was because of the sack, but smelling the dampness permeating through the burlap, she assumed she was someplace underground. She was left there, tossed aside like some kind of object.

At some point, she passed out. As her consciousness faded, she realized there were no other sacks beside her and allowed herself a small smile. It was clear her three brothers hadn’t been captured yet. She didn’t have much love for her half-brothers, but there was a sense of camaraderie between them because they all had to tread carefully among their older half-siblings, who were practically old enough to be their aunts and uncles. And if they were also captured, the situation would have been worse.

At least their mothers were alive. Who knew what they would do to save them? But Zelly’s mother was dead, so there was no one who would sell precious goods or information to save her.

Zelly let out a tiny breath of relief before she fainted. And when she woke up, she was in the body of a bird. She had no idea how she became like this, but here she was.

She surreptitiously flew over to inspect the immobile soldier. She lightly touched down on his shoulder, yet he still didn’t move. It was clear that he was dead. Zelly was both sad and relieved at the same time. But if this soldier was carrying a flag, that meant he was a dispatch rider. And the place he was heading was…

Our camp. Zelly’s head whipped up. Does that mean one of our camps isn’t far from here?

She had to know what had happened to her home, and she also wanted to know what had happened to her body. She had to search this soldier’s body.

Zelly pushed her beak into the soldier’s chest. There was nothing there. She pushed a little deeper, shoving her whole head into his coat. Then she felt the thump of a heart.

Huh? She hooked her beak onto a rolled-up piece of paper and yanked it out. His heart… It just beat. The soldier was alive. She’d thought he was dead, but he was alive—though it did seem like he was out cold.

Zelly felt a sense of urgency creeping up on her. The soldier looked like he was severely injured. He would either die naturally or be found by the enemy and killed. She set aside figuring out how to open up the roll of paper for a moment. She had to find their camp first—if it hadn’t already been destroyed.

The seal on the paper clearly indicated confidentiality. If she left any trace of her opening the seal, the soldiers would assume it was compromised and destroy it. If that happened, the kingdom might suffer losses. But even the castle was no longer theirs. Would the Roymundian army still be standing?

Zelly quickly flew up to get a better view. There was no way she wouldn’t be able to recognize the yellow flag she’d seen for the past twenty-plus years of her life. After all, she was a princess of the Roymund Kingdom.

* * *

Zelly flew here and there, looking around until she spotted the camp. It turned out it was very close by. There were hundreds of yellow flags. As soon as Zelly saw the flags, her eyes widened so much they almost hurt. Oh, they’re still… She thought she might cry. The Roymund army was still standing. There were still people of Roymund who were alive.

Zelly snapped out her wings and dove. She had to somehow get that secret document to them and tell them about the location of the dispatch rider. She had to.

Zelly dove straight toward the first man she saw. Wait… But… I don’t know how to get out of a dive and stop. The wind whooshed past her, whipping ferociously. The man got closer and closer in her line of sight. She wriggled her talons, having no idea how to brake in her whirlwind of a dive. If she continued on this path, she would crash into him.

Too late. She felt a little sorry for the man about to be attacked by a bird of prey and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of the impact.

But the next thing she knew, she was being choked. A hand had wrapped around her throat. She couldn’t breathe. She thought her neck was broken. It might have been because of the speed at which she was diving, but the pain when she slammed into him was horrific.

Zelly wriggled and tried to breathe, but she still couldn’t. Instead, the hand around her neck tightened. She stared at it, then at the person it belonged to. It looked like he was the man she’d been diving toward, and his eyes were full of fury. She could tell something was wrong.

The man squeezed her neck as he muttered, “Do the Granor troops… use animals as assassins?”

Zelly thrashed in his hand. Let me go! Her vision grew hazy the longer she remained unable to breathe. She could hear death knocking louder than it ever had in her life. It was a total joke that she was going to die because she’d appeared at her own country’s military camp looking like a bird rather than a princess. It was as ridiculous as it was sad.

However, Zelly didn’t give up. She thrashed in the man’s grip. He didn’t look like he had even the slightest intention of being merciful.

“Commander! Commander Valhyle! One moment! Please, wait just one moment!”

His hand loosened just a bit, and she could finally breathe. Zelly gasped desperately for air.

“What is it?”

The man spoke in a monotone voice, low and deep. The vibrations ran down his arm and buzzed against her throat.

The knight who had run over said, panting, “That Merlin falcon belongs to our troops, Commander Valhyle.”

“This bird tried to attack me.”

“I’m sorry?”

The knight’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at Zelly. It seemed he was more shocked at the fact that she had attacked this man in particular than he was that she had attacked one of their own.

However, Zelly had realized something very important. Of the birds of prey… I’m a Merlin.

Merlin falcons were small birds about twenty to twenty-eight centimeters long. They had a brown mark on the end of their tails. It was a common bird found all over the Roymund Kingdom, which had quite a cold climate. It was also a bird that nobles often used for hunting.

I’m a Merlin falcon? Of course, it seemed she would soon be a dead Merlin.

“Um… I’m not sure why it did that. But there was a report a few hours ago that one of the messenger birds escaped, and it looks like it’s back now.”

Suddenly, Zelly found herself upside down. The man yanked her wings and held it tight as he lifted her body with his other hand. Holding on to her leg, he let her dangle.

“So it is one of our birds. But it absolutely dove toward me. If I hadn’t caught it, it would have pierced my neck with that beak,” he said.

“Sir Valhyle, could that be…”

The knight pointed at the secret document Zelly was holding with her free talon. The man’s eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly. He forced her talon open and pulled out the document. She was still coughing from being choked.

“It’s a confidential document. Colonel, go and see if Buzzing Beehive has arrived. And send the one in charge of the messenger birds to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the knight left, it was just Zelly and the man. He was still gripping her neck like he was going to kill her, and she was still hanging upside down.

Strictly speaking, she was just a bird.