Aureus is Melicus the Musician's female golden panther. They, Princess Lysentia, and the Orien warrior woman, Seleritas, have just escaped from Calignia's excubian guards and are trying to make their way back to the their rebel encampment.

The trio and Aureus scampered along the dirt path leading away from their captors. Soon Melicus suspected the Excubian Guards would come the same way and overtake them. He suggested they cut through the woods to intercept the road leading back to the river, and then to freedom behind Albanaqua Fall. Once there, the blue-haired princess would remain for three years while her guardians planned to retake the kingdom from Avidus. They would mount their rebellion for liberation once she came of age.

     Reaching the edge of the woods by the road, they sat under the trees to rest.

     "I have a feeling," Lysentia said. "Maybe we should go in the woods and wait."

     "Nonsense. We can not afford to lose more time. Away we must to yon cave city. Five minutes more of rest only."

     "Your Majesty," Melicus said, "we have the element of surprise. They may still not know we're gone. We need to cover as much ground toward Nova Specula as we can. If we wait in the woods, then after combing the roads, they'll search the woods between. They have a great many pairs of eyes and can obtain many more. We are but three."

     Lysentia pointed to Aureus. "Four pairs." A pressure pushed against her lower abdomen. "I must relieve myself of liquid."

     "Move with thrice speed," Seleritas said. "We must leave in five minutes."

     Lysentia bounced to her feet and scurried into the woods. She squat next to one of the larger trees, but soon heard a twig snap. The urine locked up inside her, and she sucked in her breath and listened.

     There! I heard it again … the rustle of leaves. It sounds like more than one person. Could Calignia have discovered our absence so soon after our escape?

     Lysentia pulled her panties up, rose, and listened again.

     I swear I hear the leaves being jostled by heavy feet … but I'm not sure.

     Sliding to the other side of the large tree trunk, the princess knelt and peered out. There being no moon, she couldn't see very far into the night.

     What should I do? If only Seleritas had accompanied me. She's the warrior. Yes, soon enough they will train me in the arts of self-defense, but future training cannot assist in present circumstances. I need that training now. Calignia could plunge from the darkness, take me away, and poor Melicus and Seleritas would never see me again … end of kingdom. What now?

     The rustling of the leaves increased in intensity, and seemed to be edging closer. She bolted away in the opposite direction, and hit a tree after three long strides. Tumbling to the ground, she eased a hand on her throbbing forehead.

     "Ouch!"

     Oh, no! How stupid. I blurted and told the guards exactly where I am.

     She jumped to her feet and dashed as fast as she dared. Looking over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of motion and doubled her speed. Her foot caught a root and she sprawled on the forest floor, flipped over on her back, and panted.

     A form leapt from the darkness and loomed over her, causing her bladder to nearly let go.

     "Please, don't kill me. Please!"

     Reaching up to protect herself, her hands touched animal hair. She opened her squinted eyes to see the muzzle of Aureus's mouth before her.

     "Oh, sweet dulcis rolls. It's you, Aureus, come to watch over me. I came here to lose my liquid, and you very nearly forced me do so without undressing." Then a sadness swept over her. "And I lost my fortitude … again! I should have handled this differently." She rose. "Come. Let me do my business, now that I can feel secure with you standing guard. Then we must return to the others." She slipped a finger to her lips. "You won't say anything about my cowardly feelings, will you, Aureus? I promise I will work to eradicate them."

     Lysentia blundered from the woods after doing her business. "You should see what just happened …" And she froze at what she witnessed before her.

     "Yes, sweet blue-haired Princess, you should see what just happened."

     She stared at the man on the scoreus pellis lit by the lanterns of the two Excubian Guards flanking him and discerned the form as Calignia. Many armed Excubian Guards, all mounted on similar beasts, grinned all around him. Had she not already relieved herself, her underwear would have become soaked just then.

     "Where's Seleritas and Melicus?"

     Aureus leapt into the air toward Calignia, who stared at the great beast without flinching a muscle. Something flew through the air, hit Aureus in the side, and caused the beast to fall on the ground and remain motionless.

     Lysentia dashed to the beast and knelt over her. "Aureus! What have they done to you?" The lanterns provided enough light for the queen to spy a stick of wood protruding from the great panther's side. At the end of the stick tiny flu-flu feathers had been grafted to it. "What manner of weapon is this that can strike from a distance?"

     A guard next to a lantern bearer forced his pellis forward. He thrust out an arced stick with a string tying the ends together. The tautness of the string caused the stick to bend.

     Calignia laughed. "A little gift Avidus brought from the Securisarma Continent. Both the warring republics of Raptus and Bellam are using the bow and arrow."

     Lysentia couldn't tear her eyes away from the arrow. She ran a hand up and down its shaft. "A new way to hasten death."

     "And an effective way, I might add," said Calignia.

     The pain inside Lysentia made her think her organs had ruptured. No longer did she house fear-the fear that now morphed into a determined anger-one bent on revenge. She stroked the still breathing beast, then she glared up at Calignia, and if her eyes had been lethal weapons, he would have dropped dead on the spot.

     "What manner of weapon kills from a distance? It's the coward's way. You, Avidus, and all who follow you are cowards of the highest degree. Death best served is death served by revenge. And it shall be served on you one day. I swear it!"

     Calignia dismounted and most of his guards did likewise. Many of them encircled the queen and Aureus.

     "You should have kept your beast at bay," Calignia said. He turned to the few guards still mounted on their pelli. "Bring them forward."

     Several pelli eased forward and on one of them sat Melicus and Seleritas, bound with their hands behind their backs. Other dismounted guards pulled them from their pellis and dragged them to Calignia.

     "Have them kneel," Calignia said. "The princess, too."

     Calignia paced before them after the guards shoved all three to their knees. "You are all so very stupid. You thought you could hide from us once you escaped. Well, now your beloved golden panther lies dying for your efforts." He stopped, spun towards them, and threw his arms out on either side. "And it was all for nothing. Word came by messenger before we left to recapture you. Avidus has given us orders concerning you, my little blue-haired princess. If we find you …" He thrust his hands into his hips, stooped over, and shoved his grinning face in Lysentia's, "… we should kill you." He guffawed and stood tall again. "And your friends as well. So I will waste no more time with you." He pointed to the queen. "Her first!"

     Two guards jumped on either side of Lysentia and dragged her forward. Another guard stepped in wielding a Demeter Lamina, a large curved blade used in the lost art of cutting off heads.

     Seleritas spat on the ground. "Me be dashed to see Avidus in top sadistic form. 'Tis a scourge to renew a barbaric practice banned for the last hundred years by all seven kingdoms of the Trinistis Continent."

     Calignia grinned. "Welcome to the new civilization." He waved at the guard holding the Demeter and stepped away.

     The guard eased closer to Lysentia. "Bow your head."

     Lysentia glared at him. "What? And loose my head? Surely you jest."

     Calignia knelt and drove his fist into Lysentia's stomach. All the wind blew out of her as she bent forward. In another moment, Calignia had scurried behind her, drew her hands back and plunked one foot on her back to force her to stay bent over.

     "No!" Lysentia screamed. "I won't die without saying my peace!"

     "But you are willing to die?" Calignia said. "How curious."

     Lysentia whipped her head around, but couldn't stretch far enough to see Calignia. "Yes! I am willing. I am the last member of a Regal Family. I have the right to speak my peace. Allow it, please!"

     Calignia eased his foot off her back and allowed Lysentia to raise her torso. "Speak then, for nothing will stop your head from rolling. With your death, the guarantee of the end of your line will be realized. It would be a tragedy if you were allowed to run free and propagate a new crop of regal brats. Now, say your peace!"

     Lysentia gathered in as much oxygen as she could, but when she delved inside to calm her fears, she found none.

     Nobilis! I've found it! For sure I've found fortitude. I'm about to join you in death, and I'm not afraid. I am not afraid!

      'Good,' echoed her sister's answer, soothing the interior of her brain with the melody of her voice. 'Then you have something I never could achieve. I knew you had it in you. But, behold, things are never what they seem. I'll see you in my spirit world, dear, sweet sister … but nearly sixty years henceforth if all plays out as it should.'

     A loud screeching roar thundered from the direction of the woods. Everyone twirled around to see, but the feeble lantern light barely illuminated the tops of the trees. They watched them bend apart in one area. Then into the light sprang a huge beast. Furry all over, it towered three times the height of a scoreus pellis. Each forelimb came armed with a pair of three-quarter pedi claws. Its fat, round torso lumbered forward as its head twisted from side to side roaring incessantly.

     With one mighty swing, it tore into a group of Excubian Guards and pieces of them flew everywhere. Then it grabbed one, thrust him high in the air, and released him to fall the twenty-five pedi to the ground. The guard lay motionless as the beast roared what seemed to be a triumphant wail. Then it scooped up the injured guard and bit off half of him.

      "What is it?" yelled Lysentia.

     "The Ursid Beast," answered Seleritas.

     Lysentia shook her head as she spun to stare up at the beast. "And you stared one down? Were you out of your mind?"

     The three bound companions glanced around and watched the guards scatter in every direction. Calignia sprinted off for the woods with about a half-dozen of his guards. Several men lay groaning on the ground near the Ursid Beast where it had felled them.

     The beast surveyed the area and then gobbled up the lower half of the guard it had bitten in two.

     "What do we do now?" Melicus asked. "All the perrens have fled but us. Surely in a few seconds the beast will be on us."

     The guard with the Demeter Lamina still hovered close to the ground, fear shaking his body. Lysentia recognized it as a weakness-a weakness of the mind.

     "You really didn't want to kill us did you?" Lysentia asked.

     The guard looked up from under his arms. "No. But I must do what I am told. Or else-"

     "Then listen to me!" Lysentia said. "I, your queen, order you to cut us free so we can be spared from this beast." The guard rose to his knees and screwed up his face. "Hurry! Just do it, man!"

     The guard scampered over to them, cut their bonds, and then fled into the woods. Seleritas jumped toward the beast. "Me stared one down before, me can do it again."

     Seleritas stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and stared at the creature. The Ursid Beast roared and edged closer to the Orien warrior. Then it settled down and stared with an intensity that would have melted her if it had beamed an energy equivalent to sunlight.

     "It's working," Melicus whispered in Lysentia's ear.

     The beast thrust itself higher, roared and swiped at Seleritas. The back of its clawed forearm knocked Seleritas ten pedi away. She lay motionless as Lysentia jumped to her feet.

     "Seleritas!" Lysentia sprinted toward her best friend as the beast's other forearm swept her up. Lysentia found herself dangling from the giant paw twenty pedi in the air.

     "No!" Lysentia said. "Don't let go, Ursid Beast. I'll never survive the fall."

     The muscles in the Ursid Beast's hand loosen around Lysentia.

     This is it! The beast will drop me and then eat me … and I will join my sister. Everything is over and Avidus has won!

     Then the giant paw tightened around her, and when she peeked out over one of the claws, the breeze blew her hair out behind her. The night had been still of any breeze, but this one rushed past her due to the huge beast lumbering through the woods.

     It's taking me away to devour me later. What a fate. I'd rather it had dropped me and been done with it. Now, it's going to eat me while I'm still alive. Help me, Nobilis. I lost my fortitude!

     Seleritas shook her head as she and Melicus watched the beast abduct Lysentia.

     "We must away and rescue her."

     Melicus shot air between his lips. "What chance do we stand against such a beast?"

     Seleritas dug deep inside. She envisioned the sailors on the ship raping her sisters and her mother before her eyes. Her teeth gnashed together.

     "We can do it. We must do it!"

Houses of Pristia, the capital city of Metus

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The Blue-Haired Princess Series. All rights reserved ©1999-2006 by Dakota Balmore.