(Not) a clichéd fairy tale

Chapter 2

Liarya

The icy night air surrounded me and I still had my eyes tightly closed.

Slowly, I was overcome with fear that perhaps I hadn't jumped far or high enough, because there was nothing but a yawning void beneath my feet.

Then suddenly a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto the castle wall. It was my brother.

Anakin walked ahead along the castle wall to an unguarded spot and made sure that we could sneak out of the castle unnoticed.

No one was there, where we finally stopped and decided that I would escape from here, because there was a huge, dangerous forest on the other side of the wall.

So no one was standing guard here voluntarily and that wasn't normally necessary because no one would try to escape here apart from me.

I knew from some maps that beyond the forest was a small village surrounded by the dark and dangerous woods, as all sorts of trolls, gnomes and even man-eating wolves called it home.

"Listen to me carefully. We'll climb down the wall now, then I'll take you to the edge of the forest. Run into the village and see if you can find someone to take you in. Don't reveal your identity under any circumstances and don't get caught. As soon as Father realises you're gone, he'll send all the knights and guards he can spare to get you back," he said and I nodded. 

Anakin jumped off the wall and then spread his wings.

Like all nobles, my family belonged to the fairy race.

That's why we had wings. My father's and my brother's were a beautiful shade of light blue, while I didn't even know the colour of mine.

Fairies are born without the wings on their and you have to teach them how to make them appear.

No one had told me that, so unlike my brother, I had never learnt to fly.

I gave Anakin a helpless look, who looked at me expectantly. "You know I never learnt to fly! You can't expect me to jump down there!" I shouted and my brother only now seemed to realise that I was right.

"Okay... Then jump down and I'll use my magic so you don't hurt yourself?" Anakin offered.

I was still hesitant. But when I remembered today's events, I jumped off the wall with my eyes squeezed tight and hoped fervently that magic lessons were the only lessons my brother hadn't skipped as a child.

I felt a cold draught and after a while I had solid ground under my feet again.

"Come on, we should hurry. It's already the middle of the night and soon Elora will no longer be able to cover up your disappearance," my brother urged and we entered the forest.

We were now halfway through, and it turned out that my brother was very wise to accompany me, because without him I would have died twice already.

At that moment, Anakin killed a pack of wolves, and while I watched him, I decided to find someone who could teach me magic and swordsmanship.

We left the forest behind us and walked towards the village, and when we were almost there, I had to say goodbye to my brother as well.

"Make sure you don't tell anyone about your true identity and keep in contact with Elora and me regularly," he instructed me, handing me a piece of paper and a beautifully forged bird whistle.