“This is awful,” Cinderella grumbled. “Just awful. What does he have in mind for us, I wonder?”
“If I had to guess, I'd say he intends to ransom you to the prince... and dump me on the side of the road,” her stepsister replied. “So... I'm more worried about you, to be honest.”
“Ransom?” Cinda gasped. “Do you really think so?”
“It's only a guess, but it seems plausible.”
“Hmm.” Cinderella sat back and crossed her arms. “If that's the case, do you really think Prince Sharman would pay up? He barely knows me, after all. I'm practically a stranger to him.”
“A stranger who happens to be his fiance,” Terra pointed out. “If he cares enough to marry you, he should care enough to want you safe.”
Cinda heaved a seemingly endless sigh as she leaned toward the window. “Everything's a mess. I'm so sorry, Terra. I shouldn't have asked you to come.”
“Well, if nothing else, it's been an adventure. It's been a--” Terra's voice trailed off when she got her first glimpse of the passing caravan. As the covered, colorful, horse-drawn wagon zipped by, she scooted toward the window. “Help!” Terra screamed at the passing vehicle. “Help us, please! We've been abducted!”
Cinda decided to join her. “Heeeeeeeelp!” she cried. Her screams were twice as loud and twice as sharp as her stepsister's. “Help uuuuuuus! Pleeeeeease!”
“My god!” Terra's hands flew to her ears, protecting her from the dissonance. “You've got quite a set of lungs on you, Cinda! I had no idea!”
Cinderella took a deep breath and tried again. “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!” When her lungs were completely empty, her cheek collapsed against the carriage wall. “I think they're ignoring us.”
“Clearly,” Terra snorted in agreement.
A moment later, a carriage-rattling clap of thunder made Cinda sit up in her seat. Once again, she turned her gaze to the window. In a sea of purplish swirling clouds, a ribbon of lightning skipped across the sky. “The weather's bad...” she whispered.
“How bad?” her stepsister asked.
Cinda's answer was silenced by an earsplitting shriek. All of a sudden, a massive, orange bird swooped from the clouds, narrowly avoiding a brush with lightning as it spiraled down to earth. It was at least twice as large as an eagle, and its wings were wrapped in fire.
“Is there no end to the madness?” Terra cried. “First... a dragon. Then a madman. Now there's a giant fiery bird?”
“Um, apparently.” Cinda nibbled her lip as she watched the bird fly alongside the carriage. “Do you think it wants to incinerate the carriage?”
“Do you really expect me to guess the intentions of a giant bird, Cinda?” Terra asked with a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, you ask some silly questions.”
When the bird unleashed another deafening shriek, Cinda's palms clapped together in a prayer-like position. “Please!” she whimpered. “Please, Mr. Bird, I don't want to die!”
“Be calm, Cinda! It might be a... a nice bird?” Terra tried to reassure her, even as the bird's fire-wrapped wings were flapping within an inch of their window. “Or maybe it wants to pluck out our eyes? Who knows.”
* * *
When Rank glanced over his shoulder and saw the orange bird, a thesaurus of colorful curses poured from his lips, followed by a disgusted, “Bloody hell, it's you!”
Rank's right hand was occupied by the horses' reins, so his left hand reached for his crossbow. When he fired the first bolt, his aim was slightly off, and the bird tilted out of range, avoiding the projectile. “Stay still, bastard!” Rank hissed as he reloaded.
The bird swooped down, swiping the hat from Rank's head. “Hey!” The self-proclaimed master swordsman shook a fist at the feathered beast. “I liked that hat, you little shit! You owe me!”
Rank's fingers fumbled with the crossbow as the bird distracted him with a series of screeches. When it was finally loaded, he released the horses' reins and gripped his crossbow in both hands, holding it steady. He fired again, landing a direct hit on the bird's chest. “Ha!” he cackled. “That's for stealing my hat!”
The bird was unaffected by the attack; in fact, its fiery wings flapped harder than ever. It swooped down again, capturing the collar of Rank's shirt in its thin, hooked beak.
“Get off!” Rank threw a punch, but the bird didn't back off. He was determined to keep his beak on Rank's collar. “I said getoffame!!”
The bird effortlessly lifted Rank from the driver's seat and tossed him aside. Cinderella was looking through the window when she saw her captor's body drop and roll.
“Oh my god!” she gasped. “That was Rank!”
Terra's eyebrows shot up. “Rank? What about him?”
“The bird just picked him up and dropped him on the ground!” Cinda explained. “I saw it all happen.”
“Then... who's driving the carriage?” her stepsister asked.
“No one!” The revelation made Cinda scream. “Now we're really going to die! Or, at the very least, the carriage will crash and I'll have a hundred broken bones.”
“Why are you always so quick to panic?” Terra criticized her. “Maybe the horses will eventually just... stop?”
The horses did stop, but they weren't without guidance. A mysterious driver hopped down from the seat. The girls could hear the thumping of his footsteps as he walked around the carriage.
“There's someone out there,” Cinda whispered. Her blue eyes grew to such an immense size, her stepsister almost laughed at the sight of them.
“I know. But who? Are you sure Rank fell?”
“I'm absolutely sure!” Cinda exclaimed, seizing and squeezing Terra's arm. “Why can't anything go right? Why has this entire journey been a series of hardships? Am I being tested? Are we—”
When the door popped open, Cinderella screamed. The carriage's mysterious driver had a relatively harmless face—but she couldn't stop her scream from slipping out.
“Oh no! Don't be alarmed!” the young man exclaimed. “I'm nice, I swear! I'm not here to hurt you!”
As she pried Cinda's constricting fingers from her arm, Terra replied, “You'll have to forgive us if we're cautious. We've been through a lot.”
“I understand,” the young man replied.
When her heart resumed its usual steady beat, Cinderella climbed down from the carriage. She wanted to get a better look at him, and she needed to stretch her legs. Compared to Rank, he was a bit short—a mere few inches taller than she was. He was probably a few years older than her as well. His face was adorable, perhaps even a bit ethereal. His hair—short, brown and wavy—was tousled by chilly winds.
He thrust out a hand and introduced himself. “I'm Fenix. Fenix Kole. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
His politeness had her sighing with relief. “It's lovely to meet you too, Fenix. I'm Cinda.”
“Cinda, hm?” His straight lips were twitched by a temporary smile. “Unless I'm mistaken, Cinda... you were in need of a rescue?”
“Yes! We were taken by a strange man named Rank. Before that, we were almost eaten by a dragon! It's been a... difficult day.”
Terra stuck her head through the window and forced her way into the conversation. “There's something I don't understand. We were attacked by a big, red bird, and then you--”
“Orange bird,” Fenix politely corrected her. “And he wasn't attacking you. He was rescuing you.”
“Right. So you say, but... how did you suddenly appear?” Terra asked. “And what happened to the bird? Did it fly away?”
Fenix's eyes snapped back and forward between the faces of Terra and Cinda. Would they believe him? People rarely did—until he proved it. “The bird didn't fly away,” he told them. “I am the bird.”
“You're... the bird...” Terra apathetically repeated. “Right. That doesn't sound absurd at all. Now that we're revealing things about ourselves, I should probably tell you... I'm a bear.”
Terra suspected her naive stepsister would be much more apt to believe his nonsensical story, and she was right.
“You were the bird? Really?” Cinda gasped. “That's amazing!”
“Thanks.” When Fenix smiled again, the expression stayed on his lips a little bit longer. “Currently, I can shapeshift into seven different creatures. The bird is one of them, of course. I can also morph into a fly... which is more useful than you'd think... as well as a mouse, a bat, a horse, a wolf and an Onocentaur. If you haven't heard of the last one before, I'm not surprised. Basically, it's a cross between a centaur and an ass.”
“But you can't morph into a bear, which means I'm better than you,” Terra teased him. She didn't believe a word he was saying—but Cinderella swallowed it all.
“I'd like to see your other shapes!” Cinda exclaimed. “That would be incredible. I'd really like to know what an Onocentaur looks like and... oh!” Her eyes fell to the dark stain in the center of Fenix's red tunic. “What's that?”
“Ah. I was... shot.”
“In the middle of your chest?” Cinda shrieked. “Are you alright? Are you dying?”
“No. Unfortunately.” Fenix lifted his shirt to check the wound. The tiny crossbow bolt was lodged in his heart. Every time the organ pumped, fresh blood seeped from the hole in his chest. With a weary sigh, Fenix yanked the bolt from his flesh.
“Oh no!” Cinderella squeaked. When he removed the bolt, a stream of blood gushed from the wound. Clapping a hand over her eyes, she cried, “You are dying!”
“No. I'm not,” Fenix corrected her. He almost sounded a bit disappointed. “I can't die. I'm immortal. Look.”
Cinda opened one eye, but only slightly. Her other eye was tightly shut. To her surprise, the grotesque sight was gone. Fenix's wound was entirely healed.
“As I said, I can't die. Ten arrows could strike me and have no effect. I might get knocked down for a bit, but I always bounce back. I've been cursed with immortality,” Fenix explained. “It's one of two curses I have to live with.”
“What's the other curse?” asked Terra, whose skepticism was erased by his vanishing wound.
“I... would rather not speak of the other one.” Fenix's hands disappeared into the pockets of his oversized tunic. “But I do want you to know, you have no reason to fear me. You're safe with me. I promise.”
As her chin raised, Cinda declared, “I believe you.” Terra was glaring at her again, but she tried to ignore her stepsister's disapproval. Fenix's gentle face and warm, blue eyes made him difficult to distrust.
“I'll take you anywhere you'd like to go,” Fenix said, sliding backward to the horses. “I assume you had a destination?”
“Indeed. The Winter Palace in Westerwood,” Cinderella replied. “I'm Prince Sharman's fiance.”
“Ah... wow. That's amazing. I had no idea.” Fenix felt his eyelashes fluttering, so he quickly changed the subject. Turning to the other girl in the carriage, he said, “I don't believe I ever got your name.”
“Terra,” she answered without inflection. “In case you didn't know, I actually can't morph into a bear.”
“I guessed as much.” As he returned to the driver's seat, Fenix told them, “Well, we're off to Westerwood, then. We'll have to make a couple of stops along the way, but we should get there by tomorrow. From now on, I'll try to make your journey a bit more pleasant.”