The Falcon Princess

Chapter 7

Linbethy married a man from an influential family in the pro-noble faction, which was why Zelly stayed as far away from that faction as she could. She didn’t even go anywhere near the Ropeche people. Of course, when talks of her second-eldest sister’s marriage began, she also avoided the pro-queen faction, Rohaneim, like the plague.

Of the three royal consorts’ children, her eldest and second-eldest sisters were actual sisters, while she was only a half sister. They were on one side, and Zelly was not. She had no choice but to prostrate herself and crawl on her belly in order to protect her own life from the next ruler. And yet, neither of her sisters approved of her. There was also no possibility for her older brothers, born of a royal concubine, to be kind to her either. She was a powerless child of a royal consort—that made her the sibling to ostracize, not embrace.

The children of the royal concubine hung all their hopes on the pro-king faction, Roymon. This faction didn’t care whether they were born from royal consorts or concubines—they merely supported royal children, as the king wished. If Linbethy hadn’t made a deal with their father, King Rezpel the First, Roymon would have supported her fourth-eldest brother, their father’s favorite child. But Zelly wasn’t close with her father either, so there was no need for her to also try to curry Roymon’s favor.

Suffice it to say that Zelly’s connections in society were next to nothing. She always stayed as quiet as a mouse, listening to the news and information that flowed down to the deepest recesses of the palace. The bastard children, born from several mistresses, mostly died without much of a ruckus. Most of the time, it was the handiwork of her two eldest sisters. The children of the royal concubine survived thanks to their mother, who was from an influential family. But Zelly, who was motherless, only had herself to thank for being able to stay alive. And because Zelly’s mother didn’t come from a very influential family, Linbethy didn’t see her as a threat, which was incredibly lucky for her.

Slowly, her wings started to ache. In order to forget the growing pain, she tried to remember the family trees of the nobles. That’s right. Sir Luke’s family. Rohaneim’s…

Just then, a menacing current of air brushed past Zelly’s tail feathers, which shot out in response.

Shwip!

At the same time, an arrow brushed through them. She flinched, then quickly rolled and avoided the arrow.

Did the Granor troops spot me?

She had no time to breathe before another arrow came flying. Zelly didn’t have the guts to look down, so all she did was clench her jaw and keep flapping her wings. Her heart, several times smaller than when she was human, pounded in her chest. She had to avoid them.

Did she need to fly higher? No, that wasn’t it. If she paused to increase her altitude, she would get hit by an arrow. Her wings felt heavy because she hadn’t stopped to rest yet, and she was slowing down.

Zelly looked around with her expanded field of vision. There was a cluster of tall, thick trees to the right.

That’s it.

She snapped her wings out wide.

Whoosh!

Another arrow flew past her as she barreled straight for the trees. Whipping through the leaves as fast as she could, she was getting cut all over by the enormous trees. It hurt quite a bit, but Zelly flew through them, changing her course as needed, albeit a little dangerously.

I have to survive. I have to survive and make it back. She chanted that in her head over and over.

Zelly flew like that for a while, and soon the menacing presence grew fainter and fainter. She flapped her wings, just barely moving the lumps of flesh and feathers that felt like they were soaked with water, and landed on a branch. She gasped for air.

I… I lost them.

Her wingtips felt tingly from exhaustion and excitement. It was the first time she’d ever done this—escape the danger that was following her. She’d lived her entire life under surveillance and malice because if her eldest sisters weren’t around, she would have been the one both the pro-noble and pro-queen factions supported. Maybe it was because that had been her life from when she was young, or maybe it was because she was born with it, but she’d always had an incredible eye for detecting danger. That skill showed up in times like this, right before the arrow came flying at her.

Hmm…

It might not make much sense, but when she had been human, her hair would stand on end or her scalp would prickle if she felt something dangerous. Thinking that made it seem like she really was a bird and not a human, but it was true. It really was.

I guess you don’t simply lose a skill you’ve utilized all your life just because you became a bird.

If she were being honest, Zelly thought this innate skill of detecting danger was more befitting of a bird than a human—after all, it was a truly animalistic skill. You detect danger, you run away immediately—that was her motto in life. However, as a contradiction to that, she had never truly attempted to escape something before. All she did was detect danger because she didn’t have the power to escape when she was a human. It was obvious that if she tried to strategize about how to get out from under surveillance, she would be killed. So Zelly always just barely hid herself away or avoided things.

For example, she did her very best not to meet people like Commander Valhyle. If she hid instead of running away, she might not be free but would still be alive. And that was when war broke out. She felt that danger when fleeing the palace and ran away as fast as she could. That was truly her first time running away, but she got caught by the enemy before she could enjoy any of the potential benefits of hiding and avoiding things. There was no way out for her.

But then she became a bird. And as a bird, for the first time… I escaped an attempt on my life! Seriously?!

Zelly was jumping and dancing inside despite how tired she was. Sitting here in one place made her eyelids feel heavy. She dug her talons into the branch, tucked her head into her wing, and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Zelly woke up from her nap and took a drink from a nearby pond she’d found, then started to think back on what had happened. She had flown while deep in thought, but she wasn’t a complete idiot. She hadn’t reached the Granor base yet.

Then why was I attacked?

Zelly regretted not having taken a look at the people shooting at her while she was running away, but considering she was being shot at for no reason, it did seem to be the doing of Granor troops. Granor didn’t use messenger birds, so there was no reason for them to hesitate in their attacks to figure out if she was an ally’s bird or an enemy’s. The problem was that the place where she was attacked wasn’t far from Rohaneim’s base.

It has to be a group of Granorian scouts. Zelly knew Granor didn’t use messenger birds or dispatch riders. Instead, they had quite a large network of scouts.

I should hurry.

Zelly shook out her wings to make sure she had enough energy in them again. Her joints ached a little, but it still felt good. This was it—time for her to go. She flew up into the air again.

It’s not great that Granorian scouts are near Rohaneim. Having scouts watching their movements meant that the other side would attempt something sooner or later. She had to deliver this message before that happened. There had to be a reason why Valhyle was sending off a messenger bird. Zelly decided for now that she would put her trust in the commander-in-chief of the armies.

As she crossed into the central area of Roymund, she could see traces of pillaging here and there. Watching the smoke rise from the villages, Zelly gritted her beak in anger. Granor is moving fast. That was their specialty as a country that valued conquering as their one and only objective—they moved in fast like a tsunami. It was said that after they took over the royal palace in this war, they sent some of their forces to conquer the neighboring country as well. They were crazy about planting their flag in someone else’s land…

Zelly snorted at their single-minded objective but ended up laughing bitterly at herself. Which country was it that was attacked by them, had their eastern territory stolen away in ten days, and had their royal palace taken over in two weeks? Right—that was her great home country, the Roymund Kingdom. Several hundred years of history had crumbled within two weeks, and as the price for that, the people of the central and eastern territories were being pillaged.

This was all because of Granor’s strategy. They brought in the minimum amount of supplies they could and pillaged and looted the country they conquered instead. They didn’t have supply lines, so it was useless to try to cut them off. We have to get them out of this land. We have no other choice.

She could see where Valhyle had indicated that she should turn. Zelly slowed down a little to ready herself for the turn.

Commander Valhyle, just watch and see how well I understood what you said. Got it?

Grinning, she flew off with her eye on the base with green flags, avoiding it completely.

* * *

Zelly returned with Ropeche’s response to Rohaneim’s base in three days.

“You’re back,” Valhyle murmured incredulously.

Zelly was exhausted but stuck out her leg with the message tied to it. Valhyle scanned her up and down matter-of-factly but said nothing. He just stared at her for a while until she grew irritated from his suspicion.

Wasn’t he the one who told her to come back alive? Was he suspecting her of being a spy now that she was back and alive? Well?!

She shook her foot to express her annoyance and mentally forced him to take off the message and read it. She was in a hurry. Valhyle saw Zelly’s impatient eyes and removed the secret message from her leg, placing it on the desk.

Zelly stared pointedly at the message, looking hopeful. Well? Open it already! Tell me what it says.

She wiggled her tail feathers impatiently, and Valhyle noticed. Frowning, he grabbed her with both hands.

Huh? Wait!

This was the moment when Zelly had another realization—he was never going to share his secrets with a mere messenger bird. That meant she had no way of finding out if she was alive or how things were going for her country.

No! She was going to read it too!

“Skree! Skreee! Skreee!!”

She tried resisting by belatedly shrieking as loudly as she could, but Valhyle easily slipped her into the birdcage. She flapped her wings again and again.

“Skree! Skraw!”

Open this door! Open it this instant!

Valhyle was as cool as a cucumber as he watched her throw a tantrum, then turned and sat down in his chair. Zelly watched his eyes move across the piece of paper and felt a deep sense of regret.

Dammit. I should have opened it before I got here.

Zelly thought she might go crazy from the unfairness of it all. She was this country’s princess, yet she wasn’t privy to that important information?

“Sir! Commander Valhyle, sir!”

A knight ran into the barracks.

“Did the crazy bird really come back, sir?”

It was Sir Luke. Zelly stopped her antics for a moment and glared at the man who’d called her crazy.

“We have a response from Ropeche,” Valhyle replied curtly. “We must have a meeting. I need you to summon the colonels—”

“Skree! Skreee!!”

Zelly’s metallic screech ripped through Valhyle’s deep voice. Sir Luke was silent, but…

“In charge of the five regiments,” Valhyle said, finishing his sentence.

“Yes, sir,” Sir Luke replied, glancing at Zelly once before turning to leave the barracks.