Chapter 1

"Pardon, pardon, miliana. You asked to be awakened when the shoreline came into sight."

Jaide Lei nodded to the handsome attendant who had just roused her from a most pleasant dream. Though his age could not have been more than fourteen, he was well built, and she allowed herself an appraising glance at his backside as he turned back to the small airship's cabin. She realized that this was the first time she had been addressed by her royal title since she left for Lorakis University at the beginning of the last term. After almost a full year studying at the academy as a commoner, with peers instead of subjects, the adjustment back to her old life would take several weeks.

With the cool breeze sweeping through her silver-blond hair, Jaide rose from the seat in which she had been curled peacefully for the last three hours and stepped over to the bamboo handrail. Looking over the side of the small airship, squinting a little in the late afternoon sun, she could see the northern edge of the Menadin Sea behind and the treetops of the dark Khokuri Forrest slipping by below. The wooden deck creaked a little as it rocked gently to and fro, and the motion of the flapping wings sent little wisps of wind tugging at Jaide's clothing and playing through her silky hair. Jaide reflected that she would not have been able to sleep as well if the ship had been of the two-winged variety, which were faster than those with four wings, but not nearly as smooth. Aside from the wind and creaking wood, the ship's small engine chugging beneath the floorboards was the only other sound to be heard. The warm breeze was clear and sweet, and the small plume of sulfurous smoke billowing behind the ship gave a barely discernable odor.

Jaide had, that very morning, packed up her small dormitory room and carted everything she had owned while on the Southern continent through a maze of walkways to the large airship landing platform. Exhausted, she had fallen asleep immediately after boarding her flight home, and had been sleeping intermittently the rest of the day. And thus, she found herself standing in the rapidly warming breeze still dressed in the style of clothing typical of the Southern continent: a style to which she had never quite grown accustomed. She considered the silky material strange to the touch when compared with the leathers and grass fibers popularly worn in the North; the billowing, robe-like construction of the garments simply covered far too much of her skin to be pleasing.

With a final glance down at herself, she decided not to wait until she arrived back at the palace to change into her old clothing. She let go of the handrail and turned towards the opening which led below deck.

Dropping lightly through onto the curved surface of the ship's cargo area, Jaide quickly located her bags - not a difficult task, she decided, since she was the only passenger aboard - and pulled out several articles of clothing much more to her liking. With a quick glance around, she stripped off the silky robes and cotton undergarments, leaving herself nude and feeling already much more at ease than she ever had during the past term. For a moment, she allowed her small fingers to caress her bare skin. She touched her breasts, gently squeezing each nipple, and felt her body tremble slightly. One moment turned into two, and she lightly ran the palms of her hands along her flat stomach down to the curve of her hips. Two moments became three, and her fingers found their way between her legs, feeling the soft, freshly shaved skin.

Then three became ten as she put her fingers inside herself and began to massage away all her cares and troubles from the past year. Soon, she would be home; she would be herself again. Her orgasm came and went with gritted teeth and a stifled scream, and when her vision cleared she found herself on her hands and knees on the floor, panting slightly.

Before she had a chance to get carried away again, Jaide stood and pulled on the grass-fiber skirt she had retrieved from her bag, snugly covering her hips and leaving her thighs nicely bare. The top, made of the same material and equally brief in its design, gave her a little trouble since she had not worn such a garment in almost a year. Yet after a few failed attempts, she had fastened the straps, and then rummaged in the bag again until she found her leather sandals. Feeling more like herself every minute, she pulled out several small pieces of jewelry; a silver bracelet and necklace, another silver piece which she used to fasten back her hair, and her ring which bore the crest of the Hai Lei, her father's house.

"Hey..."

"What the..."

"What in God's name is that?!?!"

"... holy shit!"

The frightened shouts came from the deck above, piercing the calm air and causing Jaide to jump violently. She had finished with her clothing and had just put the bag back in its place, and barely had to time react to the first shout when she was tossed against the far wall of the cargo hold. The ship's timbers twisted and complained noisily as the ship banked very suddenly and sharply to port. Jaide found most of the cargo had been tossed against the wall with her. The chorus of frightened shouts continued from above, but whether they were arguing or agreeing Jaide could not tell. Dazed, she knew only that something must be very wrong, and her pulse began to race. She was pinned against the curved wall of the ship by what seemed to be a mountain of bags - "are these all my bags?" she muttered - that had come pouring on top of her as the ship tilted further and further to the side.

It occurred to Jaide that the ship must be almost sideways in the air, as she lay on her back against one wall, looking up at the opposite wall. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead and her fingers clenched into fists. She could feel the adrenaline course through her veins, and knew more and more each second that something terrible must be happening. But what terrible thing that was, she had no idea. She was completely helpless, and no one was coming to rescue her. From above, or rather from the side by that point, the incoherent shouts became screams, the sounds blending with the rending of wood. Some part of Jaide's mind wondered whether the ship would first fall and crash into the forest below, or if the stresses would tear the small vessel to pieces in midair. As she considered this, she also realized that the screams had faded away. The crew on the deck above must have fallen, probably to their deaths.

It was then that Jaide became aware of a new sound, a kind of rushing, wailing roar that drowned out every other sound. The roar became louder and louder, and the temperature seemed to rise with it. The beads of sweat on her forehead became a torrent and her heart pounded harder and faster against her ribs every second. Jaide then began to wonder if she might be burned to death before the ship even had a chance to crash and be torn to bits. It seemed equally likely that her heart might leap straight out of her chest if given the chance. The ship had tilted so far to the side by this point that it was almost upside- down in the air, still falling rapidly.

Then, it happened. Jaide could never recall later exactly what had happened, only that there was an enormous, explosive crashing sound, a searing blast of heat and air had washed over her as she lay helpless in the belly of the ship, which suddenly and violently twisted and tumbled in the air, timbers groaning and snapping all around her.

And then nothing. The world went black, and Jaide's dreams was filled with terrible visions of wind and fire and darkness.

Jaide woke with the sun in her eyes. How long she had been unconscious she had no way of knowing, but she guessed it had not been more than a day. She squinted against the glare and winced at the pain in her neck. After several cautious movements, she decided nothing was broken, though she could not begin to imagine how that was possible. As she rose from the ground and tried to shake the thickness out of her head, vivid images of the crash came flooding back. Still, she had no clear memory of how she ended up lying on the ground outside...

And then she realized it. She was outside the ship. The pain in her neck began to move up to the base of her skull, and already her temples were starting to throb. She was dazed, tired and hungry. Feeling totally defeated and completely helpless, she sank to her knees and slipped back into unconsciousness.

... she was standing in a crowd... faces she didn't recognize, except... there was her brother, Iordan... they were talking, to her or at her in muddled voices... the world started to twist, she couldn't understand what they were saying... everything was turning gray... getting loud, louder, louder... things got further away and everything was turning misty... noises and a drum... then came the wind again, and the giant fire, flames sweeping across... taking the crowd away... what... what...

"... what?" Jaide woke with a start and shook her head to banish the last remnants of her dream.

Still tired and hungry, she at least felt more in control than she had before. Judging by the angle of the sun streaking down through the upper limbs of the forest overhead, it was sometime late in the afternoon, and turning toward evening. Massive trees pushed their roots up all around her feet and thrust their mighty trunks up to the sky, their great canopy hiding all but a hint of deep blue above and casting the floor beneath in shadow. Twisted tangles of smaller green plants and vines hugged the open places on the ground in a kind of leafy carpet, sprinkled liberally with thorns and bright flowers.

Carried on the warm breeze came the chirps of insects, the songs of birds, and the rustlings of various unseen furry things in the underbrush.

It crossed her mind that this section of the forest, though techincally part of her father's land, was rarely visited by his loyal subjects. Several bands of savage wild men were know to inhabit the forest, but they were nomadic, and Jaide hoped she would not have the ill fortune to come across any while she was there alone and helpless. The chances of that happening were favorably very slim, as the forest itself was extensive, spanning the entire gap between the Northern shore of the Menadin, the Western edges of the Wastes of Ninev, and the Southern foothills of the Mahlners; all told about twenty thousand hecters. The sheer size of the forest made it unlikely that she would come across any wild men, but it also made for a very long and tiring journey to reach her father's civilized lands. Another thought crept into the back of her mind: that it was very likely she would be discovered by a pack of wild hunting dogs, or worse. But she pushed that thought away for the moment.

Jaide finally rose to her feet, stretching her limbs and testing her joints to make sure everything still worked. Suitably amazed that she seemed to have survived what felt like Hell with little more than a scratch, she began to look about for some sign of the ship and its crew. She found several charred splinters tangled in the brush at her feet almost immediately, several more a few paces away to her left. After several long minutes of searching, stepping carefully through the twisted mass of thorns and briars, she began to find larger pieces of the ship's timbers and lashings. Several more minutes later, she realized that the ship had not come down in once piece, but in many small pieces, which were scattered all around her. When she had finally located the bulk of the wreckage, she also came across other articles from the ship, including one of its wings and part of the engine, which smelled rather strongly of sulfur.

Twilight moved in, almost as another shadow among the trees, and the sun began to hide itself below the horizon.

Yet a ray of sunshine flashed across Jaide's weary face when she made her most promising discovery thus far.

Hanging from a low limb by one of its straps was one of her bags, still intact.

"Well, good there you are," she said to the bag bemusedly, with a half-cocked grin. "Get down here at once and give me some food." She waited a beat, as if the bag might actually obey her and leap from the tree branch of its own accord, and then went about the task of climbing up to get it. Though all of the trees in that part of the forest were enormous, both in girth and height, Jaide was a natural climber. Like all those who inhabit the wooded areas, she had always lived in and among the trees, and climbing was learned sometimes before walking. Her small fingers expertly gripped the rough bark and the toned muscles in her arms flexed as she pulled herself lightly up the trunk to the lowest branch. Perched atop the limb, she jumped effortlessly to the next limb and then swung over to the one which held her bag. She easily snagged the strap with the outstretched fingers of her free hand and pulled the object free from its hold. Then she dropped to the ground.

"Oh, shit!" she cried out, "damned thorn!" Dropping from the tree had been easy and her landing would have been beautifully light had not a small array of ugly thorns pierced her feet. Jaide winced as the pain shot up her legs and she fell onto her side, only to feel the flesh of her shoulder torn by yet another set of bristles.

Tears formed on her cheeks as she pulled herself upright. Wincing again and biting her lip, she plucked the thorns from her body, ignoring the blood while she tore strips off the plant growing beside her and tied them around her arm and feet. She always considered it strange that the same plant provided both the thorns to tear flesh and the soothing aeleos leaves to mend it.

Without getting up or moving, Jaide opened her bag and pulled out a small loaf of bread wrapped in soy-cloth and tore herself a small hunk to stave off the pangs in her stomach.

"Well, girl," she spoke to herself as she would never speak to anyone else: chewing greedily on a mouthful of bread, "you've really got yourself into something, haven't you? You're supposed to be back at the palace by now, soaking in the bath, being pampered by your servant girls, drinking wine, and then dancing later..."

She chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke again to her bag, "I suppose I could dance with you." When she received no reply, she tore off another hunk from the loaf and set in on it. With her mouth full again, Jaide looked about in the deepening twilight and, by the slimmest of chances, happened to catch a gleam off in the distance through the trees.

It was not the light of any fire; it was closer to a reflection of the sky, but it did not look like water.

Jaide knew there was a large river coursing through the forest, and many smaller streams feeding into it from many different directions. There may indeed have been a stream over in the direction of the gleaming light, but it did not sparkle or shimmer. It was a brighter reflection than water would be expected to give anyway; but what it could be Jaide had no idea.

She swallowed the bread she had in her mouth and put the remainder back in the bag, which she threw over her shoulder, and rose to her feet. Limping rather than walking, she gradually made her way through the brambles towards the rapidly disappearing gleam. The hush of evening began to set in as insects stopped their chirping and birds ended their songs, and the only sounds which came to Jaide's ears were those of her feet in the underbrush and of her own breathing and heartbeat. Wincing with each step, she tried to ignore the pain, and edged closer and closer to the object of her curiosity. What she found was something of which she had never even dreamed.