(Year 0)

The more Cassidia tried not to think about Merila, the more she wanted to find her.

She should be around here somewhere, she mused, glancing at the buildings around her. While Falcondar City was in a pure hot desert area, some of the more beautiful parts of the kingdom were the canyons and cliffs near the edge of the Forbidden Peaks -- parts that had until recently belonged to Shairisel, along with the kingdom’s pine forests and lakes.

Falcondar architects didn’t focus on the buildings themselves like Shairisel used to -- instead, they were designed to blend in with the terrain. Here, that meant taller structures built out of coppery red stone. It was all similar in shape to the tan buildings of Falcondar City, but for some reason it felt so different.

“Are you alright, Princess?”

Cassidia glanced at the man next to her. 

I’m really on an adventure. So why do I feel so weird about it?

She shrugged to herself, adjusting the stifling cloak she wore and swallowing to pop her ears -- they had been stubbornly hurting all day.

“Need help, girl?” someone said behind her.

Cassidia jumped, but recovered, turning around. “No thank you, I-”

An arm landed on her chest, and she was pushed to the ground. Luckily, the hood she wore to conceal her very-obviously-royal hair didn’t fall off -- she’d even tied it to her hair on top to make sure it wouldn’t. But that didn’t change the fact that she was now lying on the sandstone street, the wind knocked out of her, with three men moving to surround her.

Cassidia wheezed, then coughed. Her back ached like she’d been stepped on by a wandering land-bound sea dragon. “What was that for?” she demanded, her voice breathy and weak.

One of the men scoffed. “Dear, you’re traveling alone with a large, expensive-looking pack and a fancy-looking weapon, cloaked so that your face is concealed. You’re asking to be robbed.”

Cassidia almost sat up, but thought better of it, deciding they’d only push her back down and restrain her this time. Instead, she clutched her pack to her chest. “I didn’t think common bandits had so much intelligence,” she said snappishly, regaining more of her voice.

He scowled. “You should be glad you got us. Others would do… worse things to you.”

“Like what?”

“You don’t want to ask that. Now, be a good girl and hand over your pack.”

Cassidia raised her chin defiantly. “No.”

Moving faster than she anticipated, he bent and grabbed her wrist, and she yelped, trying to tug it back, but he didn’t budge. “What are the chances you can actually use that pretty weapon of yours?”

“Pretty good,” she huffed. Kind of. But revealing a sword’s power will only get my family in more trouble. “And you’re not even the toughest people I’ve faced this week.” That much was true, and it felt good to call out her recent accomplishment.

He ignored the comment and peered closer at her face. “Light blue eyes. So unusual for someone in these parts.”

“Yeah, well, I’m nobility. I’m just… travelling.” She tried to move her head away from his, but it was already against the ground.

“Oh really? Which house?”

“Uh… Valetellire,” she blurted, thinking of the first name that came to mind. She then had to suppress the anger that boiled up in her upon hearing it.

The man snorted at this, but didn’t lean back or loosen his hold on her wrist. “The Valetellire family has no daughter.”

Cassidia scowled. “They do sometimes. Harrier’s genderfluid.”

“Harrier has gold eyes. You obviously do not.”

“Well… I’m their youngest daughter. I don’t go out as much.” She glanced at the situation around her. “Which is why I’m stupid enough to end up in this situation,” she added, completely truthfully.

He chuckled. “That, at least,-”

Her forehead surged toward his face. As he quickly leaned back, she yanked her wrist free, clutching her pack with her other arm, and scrambled back. She ran into someone behind her, who grabbed her shoulders, and dropped her pack as she fumbled for Silverstone at her hip. Her fingers managed to close around the hilt, and she pulled the blade free, waving it wildly behind her.

The motion caught her new captor off guard, despite not actually hitting anything -- she wasn’t at the angle to hit someone so close behind her -- and she felt the hands on her shoulders disappear.

But before she could run, she was surrounded, and this time the bandits had handaxes drawn. She spun around, trying to find an opening, but they were being more careful now.

She started to yell, intending to use Silverstone’s magnetism power to push their weapons away, but the sound died in her throat. I can’t reveal the swords! Not even to protect myself from getting robbed.

They closed in, and she lashed out with the blade, but she was desperately lacking in skill. It felt awkward in her hand, and when it caught the first bandit handaxe, the shock the impact sent up her arm almost made her drop the weapon.

And then she was in the fray, and had no idea what was going on. A slash from the left, jab from the right, blade came at her from above. She jumped back, hit a fist, fell, got up, fell.

Cassidia felt a sharp tugging sensation on her neck, followed by a loud snapping sound. Snickers followed. Lying once more on the ground, she reached up to her neck to find it bare where there had been a necklace.

No! she thought, heart dropping. She blinked, looking up to see what was presumably the bandit leader with her necklace clutched in his hand. “This oughta sell for a good price,” he mused. The pale blue beads sparkled in the desert sun.

“Give it back,” Cassidia snarled, making a grab for it.

The leader snatched it out of her reach. “Why should I?”

“My sister gave that to me,” she snarled. Then her head cleared enough to add, “Uh… Harrier when she was a girl.” I’m not sure that’s how that works, she thought, but it was too late to swallow her words.

“Quite an expensive gift for a mere sibling,” the leader observed.

“Yeah, well, we were close.” Cassidia tried to focus as she talked, thinking of any way she could get out of this situation. I could offer them more stuff, but I can’t give them my skybike bracer or Silverstone and Azurizt, and those are the things they’re most likely to want.

I could reveal that I’m a Falcondar royal, but that’d only make my family look like fools, and it probably wouldn’t make them leave me alone.

“Alright, girl,” the leader said. “Hand over everything else and we’ll let you go unharmed.”

“Little late for that,” Cassidia huffed at him.

He leaned toward her, keeping the necklace tantalizingly out of reach. “Honey, we haven’t done anything.”

She surged forward and landed her fist in his nose.

The leader took a step back, managing to keep the necklace away from her grabbing hand as his eyes watered. He reached up to his nose, hand coming away with a drop of blood. He shook his head slowly, spitting on the dirt and leaning forward again.

I’m so dead.

Cassidia swung for his face again, but this time he easily caught her arm in his hand.“That was a mistake,” he hissed.

She swallowed, trying to squirm away. 

The rest of the gang of bandits laughed. “Look here, rich brat,” one of them spat. “No amount of praying is gonna save you today.”

“Some paying might, though,” the other added snidely.

A form came careening very suddenly from the side, knocking the bandit leader off of the Princess. Then they stood, levelling a spear at the group. “Take your men somewhere else, Estin,” they said in a soft female voice.

The leader growled, but moved back, motioning for the other two to retreat.

Cassidia blinked, then hurriedly picked up her pack before turning back to her rescuer. It was a woman with short, dark hair, dressed in commoner’s clothes. Nothing really stood out about her, except for the determined glint in her gray eyes.

“Thank you,” Cassidia said finally. “I-” then she froze. “They still have my necklace!”

The woman glanced at the retreating bandits, who were now almost to the end of the street. “It’s not worth starting another fight.”

“My sister gave it to me.”

The woman shook her head. “You don’t stand a chance, and I’ve already meddled enough. Be glad that you have one less thing to make yourself a target.”

Cassidia felt tears coming to her eyes. “You don’t understand-”

“Stay out here long enough, and you’ll understand,” her rescuer said, not harshly but not kindly either. “I only stopped Estin and his men because you’re young and naive, not because you deserve your possessions more than they do.”

Cassidia felt hurt at that, but as she glanced around at the ragged people and buildings, shoved between canyon walls, she thought she might understand. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just take this as a lesson. This place isn’t safe for you.”

“But my father said-”

“I don’t care who your father is or what he said. Things have changed here in the last few years, and it’s not safe. If you want to have a surviving chance, go into the Forbidden Peaks themselves. That is where one runs to not get found.”

Cassidia swallowed again. “Aren’t the Forbidden Peaks filled with monsters?”

“Just a different kind of monster than the one here. And there are ways they can be avoided. Don’t go deep into the peaks, just to the outskirts where the canyons stop and the mountains begin.” She glanced over the Princess, eyes softening. “For what it’s worth, I do hope you survive.”