The Red Rope

I shivered in the cold. It was the middle of summer, but the night air was biting. We had woken up early, before the morning dew had dried, and slipped out of the castle unnoticed. The prince was gone, the knights saying only that he had something to handle.

We made our way through the streets, careful to avoid any open areas. There was still heavy surveillance, but we managed to slip by.

"Make sure you keep any defining features hidden," the girl from before warned me. "Some people can spot anything from miles away."

"I understand," I said. "I'll be fine. Please focus right now. I want you to live as much as you want me to live."

Not long after that, she went out and bought me a cloak that would cover me completely. While I appreciated the thought, I felt like I looked extremely suspicious.

"Um...don't you think this is a little obvious?" I asked.

"Not really," she smiled. "You'll find that it's a perfect disguise."

I sighed, hoping that no one would notice me. We continued onto a long, desolate road.

This feels way too weird.

"Now!" she said, jumping over a large crack.

I followed her, and the street quickly changed. There were people around, shops, and even restaurants. Music flowed through the air.

A gem like this is in our kingdom?!

"Amazing, isn't it?" she beamed. "This is a secret network of magicians hidden within the Kitelle kingdom called 'the Red Rope'. But don't let it being hidden fool you. It's a major trade hub."

"Why is it hidden?" I asked. "I'd have loved to visit it before."

She gave me a worried look before explaining.

"First," she asked, "what do you know about magicians? I hate giving needless information."

"I know that Kitelle is believed to not have any; technically," I replied. "Mainly because of the strong hold of the church on the kingdom. But those born with those powers within the kingdom are held as saints or saintesses at the temple. I heard they get pretty much everything for free and have set duties to perform. They're mainly temple workers."

"That's not bad but not necessarily good either," she sighed. "Everyone being born in has the ability to use magic since the beginning of the empire. In our kingdom, Robaine, magic is normal and many forms of society are based on magic. In Kitelle, however, it is seen as evil if they aren't a part of the temple or a tool to be used for the gain of the people while masking it as a life of freedom. They also make it seem like only a few can even possess such power. Strong magicians have strong dispositions so living a life of servitude or being bound to one thing can feel too restrictive to them. It also restricts their powers."

"How so?"

"Magic is all about creativity," she chuckled. "Kitelle is wrong in how they teach magic and that is detrimental to the level of magic users they have. Magic was given to us as a blessing. You would think a kingdom founded on religious footing would know how to properly teach it. Each person is able to harness that blessing depending on how much they train it and how they train it. Normally it's best to let the user unleash their creativity doing different things with their magic and then teach them to control it in order to manipulate it at will. Teaching small tasks to do repeatedly get you nowhere. Now, the energy we use to harness the blessing is called 'mana'. Mana comes in many different types. Can you guess which I am?"

I thought back to our initial escape. The only thing I noticed about her was that she always had something handy.

Wait.

"Does your blessing have to do with tools?"

"Not quite," she laughed. "But close. My blessing is with the category of Creation Magic. In that I'm able to study most objects and create a carbon-copy from looking at it. Most of the time I don't even need to know about it. However, for artillery style weapons I tend to need to know a bit to make them work properly. In our kingdom this type of magic has made me famous."

That's incredible! So ordinary people can do it too.

"But why would they limit the magicians in Kitelle that way?"

Her expression turned grim and she stopped walking for a moment.

"Kitelle is a kingdom that rules on social class." She said "A group of people that are rooted in freedom and things that people within certain social statuses can't understand scares them. It also makes them insecure about their power. This is why this exists. People of Kitelle come here and trade secretly with Robaine merchants. It's the only thing they have."

I felt a sting in my heart for her. It seemed as if she wasn't talking about just the people around her, but herself as well. She looked lost in thought about something.

I wanted to change the subject.

"Oh! I still don't know your name. You know I'm Theodosia, but..."

"My apologies, Princess!" she gasped, finally realizing this herself. "I'm Maliece Koriet. Also known as Toybox by some. I was sent to stay with you and ensure your safety until we make it to Robaine. I'm sure you've figured that out by now though."

"What a pretty name! Is Koriet a royal house in Robaine?"

"Yep!" she said. "But not in a traditional sense. Most royals in Robaine have fought for their positions. So I come from a skilled line of magicians, yes, but being a royal doesn't get me much perks except power to get away with certain things. Like not paying taxes, hurting some people..."

"Are you a good guy or a bad guy?!"

"I'm definitely a good guy!" she laughed. "You'll find that Robaine is a bit different but you'll grow to love it I think."

I smiled and suddenly fell to my feet. A woman ran past us holding a child. She was screaming.

"Hide!" she screamed. "They're coming! Hide now!!!!"

Before I could react, Maliece turned quickly and a shield appeared in front of us. A massive sword hit; ricocheting back in the direction it came.

I fell backwards in shock, but she recovered quickly. She grabbed me and we ran through the alley. The rest of the knights with us held off the assailants following us.

We exited the alley but a knight was waiting for us.

"Shit!" Maliece snapped. "Why did it have to be him?!"

Him? I looked up at him. He was tall, and his bulky armor gave the impression he was freakishly muscular beneath. Maliece had a bigger shield in her hand before I could blink but he was somehow faster.

She flew back and I thought I was done for as well. However, I was surrounded by a sphere of shields.

Maliece managed to shield me before being knocked back. She's sharp. She quickly deduced she couldn't counter and defend in time so she chose to defend.

But she got knocked back because of me. And I can't take that guy. I guess they really are going to drag me back.

The shields fell apart and Maliece stood with a blade at his neck. He countered, but she was only pushed back a little and stayed on her feet.

A morning star with a long chain appeared and she pulled him into a heavy elbow to the jaw.

She is so cool!

They fought in a fury, with Maliece switching between different weapons. She used about 8 different weapons before I saw an opening to run past him.

She glanced over at me and I nodded. I sprinted past them. He turned to grab me and Maliece took advantage of the moment and...

"Maliece!"

His head rolled towards me. He was still mouthing something a bit. I couldn't hear it.

I stood frozen. I had never seen anything like that. The way it fell, the way his life left his eyes. It all felt wrong.

Grasping the situation, she grabbed me and we continued to run until we reached a riverbank.

A few knights joined us at this point but only a few. There was a thick fog covering the river.

"The river bordering this area always has a dense fog this time of year," Maliece whispered. "There's always knights guarding this area so we'll need to be careful. Princess, can you swim?"

"Swim?"

"We could take a boat but it would be risky," she said as a device I had never seen appeared in her hands. "But if we swim, it'll be easier and it's a straight shot in our kingdom's territory. Recently, we met an inventor from Cloes. He made this device that allows us to swim underwater for a period of time. You put a mouthpiece on connected to a container holding air to breathe. They're quite neat. If you can't swim that'll be a problem though."

"Wait, I've never heard of this," I said, unsure of the situation. "Is this safe?"

"Well, it was safe when he demonstrated it," she laughed. "We've come too far to go back now though. It's either this, death, or death at this point. So, Princess, can you swim?"

I took a deep breath. This was insane. We could be seen and killed. But I really didn't have a choice.

"Yes, I can swim," I said.

"Alright!" she beamed, handing me the device. "Let's get going before we get hit with an arrow or a blast, shall we?"

I took the device and put it on. It was strange and uncomfortable, but I knew it was our only chance.

Maliece led the way into the river. The fog was thick, and I could barely see my hand in front of my face. But I trusted Maliece, and I knew she would get us through this.

We swam for what felt like hours. The fog made it difficult to navigate, and I was starting to get tired. But I kept going, knowing that it was my only chance to escape.

Finally, we reached the other side of the river. I collapsed on the bank, exhausted. Maliece was right behind me.

"We made it," she said, smiling. "We're still a bit away from our destination but safe. Princess, would you like to look back another time?"

I looked around. We were in a forest, far from the city. I turned back, and for some reason Kitelle looked different. It looked so small; so little compared to how big it felt to me.

"Princess are you okay?"

I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. My vision began to blur as Maliece pulled me into a hug.

Why cry? This is a good moment. A joyous moment.

"It's okay to cry a little." She sighed "But don't let it stop you. You've got so much more to do princess. So much further to go. Let's be friends from here on out and create the life you won't have to cry about."

I looked up at her with a smile. I truly hope so.

"It's great that you two have decided to become friends. But can you hurry up please?"

I jumped, startled to see Evanil. He was standing, pointing to a carriage. I didn't hear him approach at all! He ushered us in quickly, saying we still had things to handle and would be heading home immediately.

Heading home to the royal palace of Robaine.