The Firebird and the Gray Wolf (On Hold)

The One Where She Rescues Herself

(Please feel free to comment, I always enjoy reading critiques, suggestions, and/or such)

Chapter Seven

"Princess," Willem said while we both lay on the ground that night.

I stared up at the leaves above, just barely able to see the stars through them. The night was cooler and I wrapped my arms around myself to stay warm and snuggling into my bedding, which had become damp over the day due to my clothes in the bag as well.

Princess...I did not want to hear that title again. It only served to remind me of the trap my life had become. Of the expectations put upon me. Of my horrible duty to Prince Jakys.

"Please, call me Ilona," I said.

"Princess, I do not thin - " Willem began, but I cut him off quickly.

"No, it is what I want. I am tired of that word. Princess," I said as if it were a disgusting animal, slithering and destroying all in its path. "It is nothing more than a synonym for a captured being. Nothing more than a word turned into a cage. You will call me Ilona wheter you wish to or not." I sat up and looked to him, wanting to make my point clear.

Willem remained still on the ground, laying on his back with his gaze turned upward and hands folded over his chest. He did not move to look at me as I stared him down. And then he nodded his head. "As you wish, Prin - I mean, Ilona," he  said, the name sounding awkward on his tongue. But, it was better than Princess.

Feeling satisfied I rested back on the ground. Despite all the restrictions that came with being princess, at that moment I did miss my comfortable life, especially my bed and the food. Soon we would need to find more food. My stomach growled in agreement and I wrapped my arms around my middle, willing the hunger to dissipate.

"Ilona," Willem said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes?" I asked still gazing up at the leaves. The wind was cool on my face and I watched mesmorized as it pushed the leaves around, their dark colors barely a visible contrast to the black sky behind them.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

A few more minutes of silence stretched out between us and out of the corner of my eye I saw him sit up. I turned my head just a little. He rubbed his hand, messing his hair up further and looked around him.

"The Firebird," I said turning to up above again. "I want to find the Firebird."

"Your brothers, I mean the princes, they tried to find it but..." Willem did not need to finish his statement.

"They did not find it because they had nothing to lose," I murmured.

"Did you say something Prin - Ilona?"

I shook my head, feeling the hard earth beneath my neck and head. "No," I lied. "My brothers, they told me of what happened and I think that I can make the right choice. There is a path where either I will die, or my horse will, or I will know hunger and cold. And..." Did I tell him that I had almost caught the bird when my brothers had failed to?

"Yes?" Willem prompted.

"I...I was the one who caught the feather of the Firebird," I said in a rush. What would he think of me now? A disobedient daughter not content with her place in life? That I was unladylike?

"And no one knows that you did so?" he asked sounding curious, not judgemental.

"No one but my family and Maud. My father, he was...disappointed in my actions," I confessed.

"Why do you continue to look for the bird then?"

"Because I cannot let a stranger take over our kingdom," I said, not betraying my true intentions. I do not know if Willem believed me, but he did not continued to interrogate me.