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The shores along the southern coast line were rocky and gray, lined with square houses in bright colors. In a few days’ time, Magda would find ships, decorated with the pastel flags and the crest of her parents, heading to Flaustra each daybreak. Surely, someone would grant her passage to the south, and she had enough gold to pay her way.

Inside, her heart burned for Aleksy, wishing that he was taking this journey with her. Even the thought that he was dead didn’t seem real in her mind. It was almost as if she was going on a trip, and he would be waiting to greet her back at the Azuremi fortress when she returned. Mere memories of her brother made her throat close and glistening tears threaten to form at her eyes, knowing he was no longer breathing. But those thoughts didn’t manifest as sadness, rather as anger. Why did it happen to them? What had they done to deserve it? Their deaths weren’t fair. Magda’s anger was slowly building into a fierce determination to avenge both Aleksy and her father’s death.

Magda decided then and there that she would solve the mystery of the origin of her powers as quickly as possible, and she would do whatever it took to find the answers. She didn’t have much time, and she needed to get to Dagmara quickly to ensure that the kingdom of Ilusauri didn’t discover their hoax.

Magda continued riding, determined to get to a town by nightfall, where she could buy a proper wagon and food for the rest of the journey. When the sun was setting, she stopped in a small village, but not before pinning her bright, silver hair underneath her cloak.

Magda dropped off her horse at the stables and grabbed her knapsack, before ordering that a wagon be hitched up to him upon her return the next day. Then she turned around and headed toward the town square. “Come on, Odie,” Magda called, and he raced to catch up with her. He was still energetic, as if the sprint to the town had exhilarated him.

As Magda stepped outside of the stable, she looked up at the charcoal sky to see a wisp of falling snowflakes. Magda shivered and pulled her scarf tighter over her mouth and her hood further over her face. Odie jumped up, lapping the snowflakes with his tongue.

To her right, was a group of dogs who looked well taken-care of, darting around the town square. Despite their presence, Odie stayed by Magda’s side as she walked toward the central inn.

Once inside, Magda slipped into a dark booth in the corner of the tavern, hoping to not be recognized, and Odie trotted beside her. There were other customers with dogs, and no one paid Magda any attention when she beckoned Odie under the table.

Luckily, no one in these parts of Azurem had actually met the princess. She hardly even left the area surrounding the fortress. It was clear she was in a small mining town—likely many of the people here spent their days mining salt from the depths of the earth. Most of Azurem’s economy was based on the royal salt mines, which were a significant industrial operation. The mysterious labyrinths beneath the surface of Azurem were known as the underground kingdom. They extended all the way to the fortress, and Magda remembered touring one of the royal mines when she was just eight years old. Nevertheless, the memory stuck with her, for they had walked through chamber upon chamber of decorative salt pieces, including a hand-carved statue of her father.

Magda was promptly served a bowl of soup, slices of meat, and a loaf of bread. The waitress that served Magda coughed into her sleeve. Magda withdrew from the waitress, not wanting to catch any illness herself. She hadn’t realized how many people were affected as everyone in the fortress was safe.

She listened in as she fed Odie scraps of meat under the table. For an instant, Magda forgot the fact that she was a princess, but the villager’s conversations brought her back to reality.

“What do you think of the king and prince’s deaths?” a hoarse voice rang through the room. The man broke off into a fit of coughs, but no one around him seemed to care.

“Shows you that the guardians aren’t gods as they say they are. If a few rogue actors can take them down, how strong are their powers really?”

“They just want you to keep your head down. Keep working in the royal mines, making them richer while making us sicker.”

“Yeah…what do the guardians actually guard?”

“Nothing!”

The room was filled with boisterous laughter and continuous coughing. Magda listened in as the conversation turned to the most deadly illness, zowach, and the fact that nearly no child or teen who got it survived. It seemed to be a bigger grievance than the lack of any form of governance, a dead royal family, or a Mad King that threatened to invade. All that Magda could do was agree with their every word. Her family already knew about the lack of medicine and the illnesses plaguing the kingdom, but was anything being done about it?

Maybe a marriage to Claude wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Magda stayed at the inn that night. The next day, she picked up her horse and a bright new wagon before continuing on the rest of her journey toward the port. While Magda rode her horse, Odie played in the back of the wagon.

She continued riding for hours and hours, not taking her mind off the task at hand. Throughout the day, she only briefly stopped for lunch and a few more breaks for her horse. Every town she came across had some form of the illness. Soon they arrived near the coastline, where the pungent smell of the ocean breathed life into Magda’s nostrils. The salty air was a reward at the end of a long quest, and the setting sun alerted her that she needed to make it to the docks soon to find a place to stay for the night. The harbor town was known as Frostmere, named for exactly what its title suggested.

Magda urged her horse along the pathway, circling down through the myriad of villages that dotted the rocky coast. The wagon bumped behind her, and Magda turned a few times to look back at Odie—her most precious cargo. As the sky grew orange, Magda must have traveled through approximately one dozen villages, descending with the landscape after passing through each one. Upon reaching the shoreline, she spotted four ships docked in the harbor. Three of the ships hosted glorious pastel flags, fluttering briskly, as if the embroidered elks were about to gallop off in the wind. The last ship’s flags were down.

Magda led her horse and wagon along the road, traversing through numerous villagers either on foot or in carriages. They were heading to trade on the docks, hoping that their money would be worth enough to barter for Flaustran treasures at a discounted price now that they were on Azuremi soil. When she reached the dock, she pulled her horse to a halt and gracefully dropped down into the sand. Instantly, a young boy rushed up to her, grabbing the horse’s reins. “How many nights in the stable miss?”

“Keep him indefinitely until I return,” Magda replied, dropping a coin in his hand, which likely was worth his entire yearly pay.

The boy’s eyes widened, giving her a slight bow before rushing to the wagon. He opened the small door, and Odie jumped down to the ground. Then the boy handed Magda her knapsack and side-bag before leading the horse away.

“Odie,” Magda called her dog, and they both continued into the crowd. Magda headed up a set of wooden, creaky stairs, and shoved herself through the rowdy peddlers. A ship ahead was unloading imports—or as the Azuremi called them, treasures. All around, auctioneers screamed out, attempting to attract those with the deepest pockets, but some of the opening bids were still too high for the Azuremi citizens.

Odie circled next to Magda’s legs, not once leaving her side or getting distracted by the newfound commotion. She noted quite a few Azuremi had dogs with them, but none were the same breed as Odie.

Magda searched the docks for anyone who was selling passage across the sea. Her mind spun, as she got a glimpse of words being shouted in Azuremi, Ilusaurian, and Celesta.

Then—to her surprise—she heard the beautiful language of Flaustran. Magda turned around to view the last ship on the dock. The pounding wind inflated the white sails, and a loud commotion came from the sailors as they darted from one end of the deck to another, pulling on the golden ropes. The sailors began releasing their flags into the sky, and out unfurled the symbol of a raging tiger, marking the ship as Flaustran.

Magda’s eyes lit up. This ship was leaving soon, and if she moved quickly enough, she might be able to gain passage.

She rammed her way through a group of women who were all clamoring around a pile of fabric. As she did so, she pulled her winter scarf higher on her face in order to keep her identity hidden.