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Wind rushed around her ears as Maude fell through the air.

Unbridled joy sang in her heart as she continued to plummet, the rush of adrenaline pounding through her.

It wasn’t until she got close enough to the ground that she realized she had no way to stop.

Her air galder had never been reliable, and there was nothing beneath her to break her fall.

Panic began to set in, and she extended her palms out in front of her like she was going to catch herself before her body hit the hard ground.

Trying to find some sort of concentration, Maude tried to push the air around her to slow her fall.

Time slowed as the ground crept nearer and nearer.

She heard screams echoing from the windows she passed.

“The Heir Apparent!”

“What’s happened?”

“She’s falling!”

“Someone catch her!”

Maude focused until the only thing she could hear was the sound of the rushing air inside her ears.

At that thought, her palms began to tingle in the same way they did before she used fire for the first time.

Maude opened her eyes and saw she was only a few feet from the ground when she pushed with all her might against the air.

And stopped falling .

One foot more, and she would’ve been flattened. Maude’s air galder had lashed out and stopped her from falling to her death. She looked above her, expecting to see her father in the window of her bedroom, but there was no sign of him.

Finding no time to think on it further, Maude righted herself and withdrew her axe, her short sword still in hand.

The shrill sound of a bell sounded from deeper onto the palace grounds.

Maude ran in the other direction, toward the private courtyard belonging to Mama, where the palace wall was easy to climb because of the night-blooming flowers that grew up the side.

Any soldier she met on her path to freedom was cut down without a second thought.

The further she fought, the more exhausted she became, having already burnt out her galder that night in her anguish.

Thoughts of Mama and Bryn, when they discovered she had left, were heavy in her heart.

Maude thought that if she were lucky, they would be in her garden trimming the weeds like they used to years ago.

Then they could come with her. Maude would keep them safe and protect them, just like the shieldmaiden she had read about all those years ago as a child.

Maude rounded the corner, the blood of the Flame Soldiers mixing with the blood still pouring out of the wound her father bestowed on her in her tower.

Soon, the pain in her face was numb, but she was growing tired too quickly, the gash across her eye blinding her. She sheathed her weapons so she could run faster.

Finally, Maude reached her mother’s private gardens. She quickly scanned the area and found it empty. Disappointment and despair raged in her; they weren’t here. She was going to have to leave them here with her horrid father until she could return for them.

Soldiers turned the corner at that moment, the largest group yet. Maude braced herself and sprinted for the far wall.

Arrows flew by as Maude ran through the red-brick courtyard. Dodging the projectiles left and right, she ran for the eastern wall. Toward freedom.

She heard the dull sound of an arrow skimming her left ear as she dropped to the ground and slid on her side to avoid the swing of a sword from a soldier who appeared just before she could jump to reach for the bricks that led the way to Logi.

The Kingdom of Flame soldier, clothed in a red, orange, and white uniform, turned and swung his short sword downward as Maude rose to her feet.

She drew her sword and axe at the same time, metal on metal crashing through the small space as they crossed above her head.

Throwing her weight behind her block, she threw off the soldier's attack and slashed. Her sword opened his belly, his insides turning out. Blood sprayed out and arced across her face, painting it red. Her face stung, but she couldn’t think about her pain right now.

She couldn’t think about the emotion bubbling up inside her; refused to give it a name.

Sheathing her sword and placing her axe back at her side, she ran and jumped up to grasp the first vine sticking out.

Her frustration and anger had boiled over, and the tears she had been trying to hide fell freely down her face, burning the open wounds and causing the drying blood to run down her face again.

Everything hurt. Her arms, her ribs, her face, her ankle that had twisted in the fight. Her heart. Her soul.

Gaining a foothold, she started to climb.

It wasn’t until Maude reached the top of the wall that she heard her scream Maude’s name.

Grabbing the bow she had hastily hung over her shoulder, Maude drew an arrow from her quiver in one fluid motion and turned towards that lovely voice.

But what she didn’t know was that it was already too late.

Standing on the other side of the courtyard was her father, gripping her mother in front of him with his thick arm around her shoulders and a dagger to her throat.

Everything emptied out of Maude’s head at the sight.

Her vision began to burn red at the edges, flickering with whatever fire she had left.

“Let her go,” Maude said between her teeth.

“Get down from the wall,” he replied, the dagger he held to her mother’s throat digging a little deeper.

Neither of them moved. The soldiers surrounding them froze in place, watching their standoff.

“You cannot escape, child. You cannot escape me,” her father sneered. “I created you. You are my monster.”

“Run, my light,” her mother whispered, but Maude could hear it as if she had shouted it across the courtyard.

“Do you support this? I’m disappointed in you, Sylvi.”

“She is not your monster; she is my daughter,” her mother responded, never taking her eyes off Maude.

More tears threatened to fall from Maude’s eyes.

“Nonsense,” her father said, pressing the dagger harder until a single bead of blood trailed down her mother’s delicate throat. “She is what I made her to be. And she will step down off that wall if she has any sense left at all.”

Maude drew the arrow back, aiming it at her father’s head.

“Let. Her. Go.”

Her father paused for a moment, a cruel smile forming on his hateful face. There was only silence in the courtyard. The city. The world. Even the gods held their breath.

He looked at Maude and then at her mother.

“No.”

Her father drew back the dagger to slice across her mother’s throat.