Switched ~ a Fractured Fairytale

Chapter Three ~ Decisions and Stars

The palace continued to be full of people over the next few days. The constant stream of visitors meant that I hardly saw Father or Bash, they were constantly busy, talking to ministers, writing letters

From the snippets we overheard, Cassy, Theo and I were able to piece together what was happening. It seemed that the Grand Duke of Zlarov had been secretly sending envoys to the desert tribes for months, trying to gain their support to invade the rest of Breirun. The desert tribes occupied the vast Kioterl Desert at the heart of Breirun, and gaining their support would more than double the size of Zlarov's army, but there were over a dozen tribes and they did not get on with each other.

Father had yet to revisit the topic of my potential marriage to a foreign prince and for that, I was grateful. I was in no mood to defend my choices. The constant noise and crowds of people made me feel overwhelmed and irritable.

Because of the threats to my safety, I wasn't able to escape the busy palace. The Zlarovian troops had been sighted, getting closer and closer to the palace, and Father went as far as to ban me from setting foot outside the castle itself, so I couldn't even slip off to the stables to look after my rescue animals.

One particularly busy morning, I managed to slip away from the rest of my family and found a peaceful window seat to curl up in with a mug of tea and a small branch I was carving into a lizard for Bash. I didn't look up until Father found me several hours later.

'Elia, I'd like to take you for a ride this afternoon,' Father said. 'Just the two of us.'

'Now?' I asked.

'There's something I want to show you,' he said. I nodded, and he smiled, kissing my head.

That afternoon, dressed in my favourite green riding habit, I walked around the back of the palace to the stables. Father was already there, mounted up on his palomino horse, with my chestnut mare, Firefly, saddled and waiting beside him.

I tucked my brown curls up into a riding hat and mounted Firefly. Father smiled at me, then lead the way out of the stable yard and out towards the southern hills, accompanied by four mounted guards. With the threat of kidnap still looming large, Father wasn't taking any chances.

The last frosts were just thawing, and the first few spring flowers were beginning to poke through. The forest was just starting to come back to life. We rode for a while in silence for a while, both lost in our thoughts. I noticed Father was muttering to himself, he seemed to be acting out different sides to an argument.

Looking at more closely at Father, I noticed a few grey hairs that I hadn't seen before. He also looked tired, there were dark circles around his eyes

'Are you alright, Father?' I asked.

He smiled briefly at me. 'You know me, Elia,' he said. 'I'm chuffing along.'

'Is everything alright?' I asked. 'With the realm, I mean.'

'There's a lot going on,' he admitted after a slight pause. 'It's not an easy job.'

We rode on for two hours or so, until we reached the top of a hill. Father came to a halt and pointed across the valley.

'That river is our border with Zlarov,' he said. 'Look over there.'

I looked where he was pointing and caught my breath. What had once been acres of sweeping green forest now looked like a barren wasteland. Trees had been uprooted and I could see several huge bonfires burning, throwing plumes of smoke into the sky, nearly blotting out the sun. But what took my breath away was the thousands of people, working to cut down more trees and dragging them away. There were building sites where yet more workers laboured to build ships and siege towers and the river was already clogged and polluted.