Chapter 5: No Caged Bird

Shyana stood speechless, Meia's disbelief a wicked sting. Though she hated to admit it, her voice wavered with the hurt she felt. "After all this time. Every battle I've won for you...you question my plans?"

Meia's eyes widened, assessing her sister in a different light. "You're serious about this? You actually want me to waste my most talented general and her men on a quest to chase a legend? Reports have reached me of how close you are to eliminating the Thurucaln barbarians for good and you want me to release you now? That's lunacy and I simply won't allow it."

Shyana's temper flared, her words flying and she slammed her fist on the table. "Lunacy?! I am General of the Xhaian army! For ten winters I've led your men into battle, doing exactly this, retrieving information and seeking it out myself. I have painted the dawn red with the blood of our enemies and you dare question me now? Don't you remember who I am?!"

Then, surprising the both of them, Meia stood and met her volume. "And have you forgotten who I am? You may be a general, but I am your queen! I rule Xhaia and that means I rule your men and ultimately you. I know better than most of your victories and I am grateful, but this is my right as your sovereign. I deny this request and shall hear no more of it."

Meia turned on her heel.

The fire in Shyana's blood threatened to explode and she fought to keep her voice level. "Father would have believed me."

Meia stopped and turned, her violet eyes catching Shyana's, with an intensity that froze the both of them. "Yes, he probably would and if it had been up to him, you would be ruling this country, not me. But whose fault was that, Shyana? Were you concerned with that when you forfeited your duties as princess and ran off to join the Xhaian army?"

"Stop."

"Were you concerned with what he wanted when you didn't return when he was ill? Or how about when he died? When you couldn't be bothered to leave your precious men to see your own father to the afterlife?"

"Meia, I mean it."

"Yes Shyana, let's talk about that, since you are suddenly so concerned with what Father would have wanted."

Shyana's grip tightened on the hilt of her blade, her fingers squeezing so hard they turned white. "I didn't know he was sick until it was too late. I was pinned in the battlefield with enemies on all sides. There was no way I could have come in time. Father knew that. Just like he knew..."

Shyana bit her tongue, a part of her not wanting to throw that barb at her sister.

Meia hadn't moved. "Knew what, Shyee?"

Shyana swallowed her resolve and spoke with deathly calm. "That I was born stronger and twice the ruler you will ever be."

Such insolence was enough to have her beheaded if Meia saw fit; instead, her sister deftly nodded and stood within a few inches of her fuming face.

Her voice was the soft edge of a blade, as it slid through her heart with each word. "Father is dead and the last thing he saw was my face, not yours. What do you think he believed of his precious firstborn then? I can tell you it wasn't as favorable as you like to believe. That favor was reserved for the one who was there for him till the very end...me. Think about that before you make such claims, General."

With that, Shyana snatched the map up and stormed out of the blinding white room. Servants went flying to each side, as her violent stride parted them. Without looking, she could tell Akiem was bringing up her rear, clearly able to pick up her outburst with his exceptional hearing.

She pushed past the ever-attentive doorman who was waiting to open the door to her old room. Throwing herself into its familiar sanctuary, she slammed them shut with Akiem slipping in quietly behind her.

She paced like a caged animal, too angry to form words.

Akiem seated himself on the silken bed, knowing from experience not to speak until Shyana calmed the wilderness in herself. He may have been possessed by a beast, but the one in the powerful woman's anger was even more intimidating than his own.

Shyana's breathing was heavy, her entire body trembling with fury until it finally escaped in the form of her stabbing an unsuspecting chair with her dagger. Then that the ranting began. "I can't believe her! That snot-nosed, primped up, suewe ti nuw chinka!"

Akiem raised a golden eyebrow. "Such language, Shy, and in Xera's walls nonetheless."

Shyana turned, her eyes burning. "Are you on their side now? Those preened, uppity morons?"

She kicked into the air, stretching out her anger through her limber leg.

Akiem shook his head. "Of course not, but need I remind you that whilst in Xera, we are not ourselves? There is a protocol to be followed or else those 'preened, uppity morons' will crumble apart."

Shyana withdrew her dagger from the pierced fabric and continued pacing. "That's why I hate this place. I've never been able to fit into the mold they expected from me. Even when Mother tried so hard to form me into her perfect little princess, I just couldn't do it. That's why we left all those years ago, to get away from this place and its suffocation."

"So, we could go to a place where we might actually be suffocated in our sleep?" Akiem interjected, his smile amused while she rolled her eyes and threw her arms into the air, gesturing to Akiem and herself respectively.

"You decided to come with me, if you recall. I would have gone by myself."

Akiem rose up off of the comfy bed. "I know, but what kind of fun would that have been? I prefer to be under the open skies anyway. But now the important question lies before us-what do you intend to do now that your request has been denied?"

Shyana finally stopped pacing, calmly clipping her dagger back to her hip before walking over to the bed and pulling off all the sheets. "I intend to do what I was going to all along. The Blood Song is out there and I am going to find it before the Thurucalns. I've already summoned Revarian and if need be, I will bring it back all on my own so Meia can eat her words. That's what I intend to do."

Akiem watched her tie together the silken sheets which cost more than most of the villagers' houses and put his hands up. "Wait, just let me clarify something first. You're telling me that you intend to break out of here, single-handedly storm your way into the Fepican Forest, a place no one has ever returned from alive, find a weapon you don't even know really exists, and fight off the Thurucaln army to bring it back, all for the sake of spiting your sister?"

Shyana opened the massive window and threw out the sheets. "Of course not. I am going to end this war and protect the citizens of Xhaia. Spiting my sister is just a perk."

Akiem closed his eyes and sighed. "Of course."

She stepped on the windowsill and held onto the sheet rope tightly. "Now the real question is, are you coming with me or staying here, Akiem?"

He looked to the bed post where her sheets were securely tightened, before stepping closer to the woman with eyes that burned into him. Eyes that made him forget himself and focus only on what she needed him to be.

Shaking his head with a swelling sensation of nostalgia, Akiem caught her wrist and smiled. "You remember ten winters ago when you stood in that exact same position and asked me if I would run away to join the Xhaian army with you? Do you recall what I said?"

She lowered herself out the window and secured her footing, before looking up to him. "Yes, but I would like to hear you say it again."

He grabbed a hold of the sheets she wasn't holding, his wild eyes matching hers. "If you decide to go, I will follow you into the underworld itself."

Shyana smiled and bobbed her head from side to side as if considering. "We're going to the Fepican Forest, Akiem. Consider it practice."