Castle in the Canopy
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The party of fae led Philothea into the forest, keeping her in the center of their group. Raven followed behind, wearing an irritated scowl.
Pouli sat on Philothea’s shoulder, shouting his displeasure at her captors, calling them “naughty things”, and “very bad”, and telling them they would have no grapes. Zoe took what Philothea thought was the smarter approach. She was fluttering after them in the tree-tops, presumably waiting for an opportunity to help.
The deeper into the forest they ventured, the thicker the trees grew. Soon, when the canopy had become so thick it was blocking most of the sun, they came to a village like none Philothea had ever seen before.
The houses were built among the trees. Some even had upper levels constructed in a circle around the trunks themselves.
As the fae led Philothea through the strange place, their brethren came out from the houses, staring and asking questions.
“Is that a half-blood?”
“It can’t be!”
“Is she like Zeno?”
Philothea smiled nervously at the spectators, but none smiled back. Some looked curious, others absolutely terrified.
Philothea had no idea what to feel when she saw the fear in their eyes. Her adoptive family back at the Temple of Creation found her either charming or annoying, depending on the day. No one feared her. What was there to fear about the tiny, round-faced, giggly girl?
When she looked at the faces of the villagers, she decided she didn’t like being feared. In fact, she would rather see anger or annoyance in their expressions. She knew all too well what it was to be afraid, and hated the idea of stirring that emotion in anyone.
At long last, they came to a broad wooden gate in a wall that, Philothea guessed, surrounded the king’s home. The wall ran between a number of trees that acted as posts. Over it, she could see a dozen rooms built in circles up and down the trunks of trees. These were connected to one another with rope bridges.
The guards opened the gate for them immediately, and when they stepped into the courtyard, a nobleman was waiting to greet them. He was a handsome man, with a somber, lined face; his long black hair was woven into braids beneath a crown made of interconnected polished white wooden rods.
Philothea realized this had to be King Avis.
He regarded her for a long time before speaking.
“Raven,” the king stated, without taking his eyes off Philothea. “Why didn’t you bring her to me immediately?”
Raven moved up through the crowd and put a hand on Philothea’s shoulder.
“Why would I trouble you about a harmless little girl?” she replied dryly.
“You can’t sense her power?” the king demanded.
“What power?” Raven shrugged.
“You realize that harboring a half-blood is treason,” King Avis continued. “By our law and Emperor Zeno’s.”
He kept his gaze on Philothea, as if she would start murdering people the second he looked away.
“Are you really that frightened of her?” Raven mentioned, in disbelief.
“Silence,” the king barked, finally moving his gaze to Raven. “You will be dealt with, right after I figure out what to do with the girl.”
“You naughty king!” Pouli shouted. “This is Kiki’s baby, Kiki will be angry.”
“Pouli?” the king remarked, tearing his eyes off Philothea to look at the bird.
“I am Pouli,” Pouli answered. “I am a good boy. I saved the princess!” He puffed up and sang:
The bitter king has rued the day,
A human stole his love away.
His love, a daughter, his delight,
With lovely eyes so green and bright.
To a prince of men his child fled,
And to this prince, she soon was wed.
Her people utterly betrayed,
By the foolish game she played.
In love, she–
“Quiet, Pouli,” the king ordered. His expression was somehow more solemn. He looked back at Philothea, biting his lip thoughtfully.
Philothea looked back at him, Pouli’s little song nagging at her mind.
“Is Katina your daughter?” Philothea asked.
The king ignored her, instead holding out his hand toward Pouli.
At once Philothea felt a strong wind rushing around her shoulders. It picked up Pouli, who tried to fly against it.
“YOU NAUGHTY THING! STOP THIS WIND! GO BACK IN YOUR CAGE! CURSE YOU, YOU EVIL KING!”
Pouli was sucked farther and farther back toward the king, flapping furiously to break free of his pull. When Pouli was within the king’s reach, he snatched him out of the air and held him tightly in his fist.
The king then handed the bird to one of his servants.
“See that he is returned to Katina,” he requested.
“Katina will be angry! So angry!” Pouli shouted. “I’ll tell her you took her baby!”
He bit at the servant’s hand, trying to free himself. Unfortunately, without teeth, this did little to help him.
“Is Katina your daughter?” Philothea repeated. She did not appreciate being ignored.
When the king did not respond, Raven spoke up. “What? Is she going to vaporize you if you talk to her?”
“Watch your tongue,” the king snapped.
“Gladly,” Raven smirked. “I’ll watch it as it insults my cowardly king!”
“Take her away,” the king ordered. A bunch of his guards scurried to obey.
“Aw, he’s afraid of my words, too?” Raven grumbled. “Poor little king, he’s having a hard day.”
The king’s expression was burning with fury as he looked after Raven. A guard took her by the arm, and the two vanished.
The king turned back to Philothea; his expression was still solemn, but the anger had gone.
“You’re my grandfather,” Philothea stated. “Aren’t you?”
The king winced slightly at those words, then looked away from her, motioning for the remainder of his guards.
“Lock her up,” he ordered. “I will discuss this matter with the council.”
The guards approached apprehensively. It was ridiculous that these burly warriors should be afraid of a little round-faced girl. A laugh escaped her.
The guards froze in horror at the sound, staring at Philothea as if she were about to instantaneously vaporize them all.
Looking at their horrified faces made her double over in a giggling fit. She was shaken, terrified, and couldn’t get over the absurdity of her situation.
“Why are you laughing?” the king hissed.
She looked up through the wall of soldiers. The king was also frozen in terror; clearly, he thought she was about to execute some brilliant plan for escaping and/or conquering his village.
“I’m laughing because…” Philothea coughed. “I’m afraid, and you’re afraid and…” She was too overwhelmed to know what she was saying. She threw up her hands. “I don’t know!”
A little of the fear melted away from the king’s expression, replaced by a deep pain.
He dropped his gaze to the ground and motioned with his hand for the guards to carry out his orders.
The guards led Philothea up a maze of curling staircases and swinging bridges higher and higher into the canopy. She had expected them to grab her by the arm and magic her away, just like they’d done with Raven, but they didn’t.
None spoke a word as they walked, and she dared not speak to them. Pouli, Raven, and Fae were all gone, and she had lost sight of Zoe. She hoped Zoe was still watching her from the branches somewhere. She was alone and utterly terrified, yet she couldn’t stop giggling through it all.
This made the guards even more nervous, which made her laugh harder, and the cycle continued until they came to one of the circular tree houses near the top of the canopy. There, one of the guards took her satchel and, reaching into her pocket, found Katina’s seal.
Despair welled up in Philothea’s throat as he handed it to one of his fellows and ordered it to be given to the king.
She couldn’t use her magic without it, so why were they still acting so nervous?
Finally, they opened the door to the treehouse and ordered her inside. She ran in immediately when she saw Raven leaning against the opposite wall with Fae perched on her arm.
She jumped when she heard the thick wooden door slam shut behind her.
“I see they brought you up the long way,” Raven commented.
Philothea had never been barraged with so many emotions all at once. She was relieved to see Raven and terrified about what was going to happen to them. She had also just met her first blood relative, which was somewhat exciting except for the fact that he refused to acknowledge her and probably wanted her dead.
“What’s going to happen to us?” she asked Raven.
Raven was sitting against the wall with her fingers laced, tapping her thumbs together thoughtfully.
“You mean if you don’t get us out?” Raven asked. “That’s not relevant, since you are getting us out.”
Philothea looked around the room. It didn’t have any windows. The only opening was a small hole in the wall where a knot had fallen out of one of the wooden boards.
“I can’t. They took my ring,” Philothea frowned.
Raven waved off her objection. “The magic comes from you, not the ring.”
“Then why—”
“Your mother’s seal brings it out, makes it stronger, but it neither gives you your magic, nor takes it away.”
Philothea knew that she was right. The ring hadn’t given her anything, it had awakened something that was already inside her. Still, without it, it was harder to feel her power.
“Can’t you get us out?” Philothea tried.
“Do you really think they would put me in here if I could just magic my way out?”
“Well, they put me in here, too,” Philothea pointed out.
“They don’t have a prison that can contain you, little one,” Raven grinned.
As she was speaking, a starling shot in through the knothole in the wall and landed on Philothea’s shoulder.
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” she said, identifying herself as Zoe. “But your handsome grandpa is going to kill you.”
Philothea squeaked.
“Were you eavesdropping?” Raven asked.
“Of course,” Zoe replied. “If I have to be a bird, I might as well make some use out of it.”
“You’re a good girl,” Fae observed, with her usual hearty laugh.
“Yeah,” Zoe continued. “His council was sitting around debating about whether they should hand you over to Zeno or secretly kill you themselves.They’re still talking, but I think they’ve decided on the latter? Either way, your grandpa is the worst, so I think it’s time for you to blow this place up.”
“Love it!” Raven agreed, clapping her hands together.
Philothea bit her lip.
“Just get us out of this room, Thea,” Raven said. “Then we can both transport ourselves somewhere and continue our journey on foot.”
“How?” Philothea asked, a knot forming in her stomach.
“To move yourself, you only need to picture the place you want to go and then will yourself there,” Raven explained. “It needs to be someplace you’ve seen and I can only travel short distances this way. For the time being, we’ll assume you have the same limitation. Once we step out of this room, picture the falls where they found us and will yourself there.”
Philothea nodded. “And Zoe too?”
“You’re still learning,” Raven continued. “I’ll move everyone else. You just need to open the door and go, understand?”
“Alright,” Philothea nodded. “Um… how do I open the door?”
“Will it,” Raven said.
“What does that even mean?” Zoe grumbled.
“You can’t possibly understand,” Raven glared at her. “But Philothea does.”
Oddly enough, Philothea actually did understand. Finding that ability was like searching for a common word she’d forgotten. It was there somewhere on the edge of her mind. She just needed to remember it.
She looked at the door. All she had to do was reach out and… do it. Open it. Break the lock.
She was untrained, weak, but if she couldn’t get them out, they were all going to die.
Philothea took a deep breath and turned toward the door.
The Fables of Para Sympan 