Late into the night Fern, my mother, and I sat down around our modest kitchen table that Fern and I had built together. Despite being exhausted, my mother wouldn’t let me sleep.

  “Abel, knock it off. Wake up.” She gently wacked my shoulder as she stood up from her chair. I lifted my head off the table looking toward Fern across from me. His fingertips nervously drummed on the tabletop, one by one. That rhythmic tick, tick, tick tempted me into nodding off. My chin bobbing against my chest.

  “Abel! Wake up, damn it! Fern, smack him again.” He pushed on my shoulder, not saying anything.

  Through sleepy eyes, I watched my mother shuffle in the wooden crate at the edge of her bed. When I was little, I once rummaged through it only to find old blankets, baby clothes and a faded light blue rag of cloth large enough to swaddle a baby. She fumbled with the bottom of the crate until it broke free with a pop. No wonder I never found anything of interest, everything is hidden under a false bottom.

  My mother clutched an ivory colored scroll nearly as long as her torso, tied shut with an aqua ribbon. She gently laid it down on the edge of the table and teased the knot open.

  “Remove yourself,” she commanded, not looking up from the scroll.

  I grunted in protest as I lifted my arms from the table dropping them onto my lap. The scroll slowly unrolled across the entire length of the tabletop. My mother caressed the edges to lay it flat. With wide eyes, I studied the map of the kingdom sprawled out in front of me. My fingers traced the elaborate lettering in the top corner of the map. “The Kingdom of Saint Caldzand.”

  The quality of the map is exquisite. The contours of the land filled with rich greens, browns and blues marking the kingdom’s forests, mountains and waterways. Thin black lines cut the kingdom into uneven parcels of land, each marked with a unique symbol in its own color. In the western ocean, the ram-fish of House Ramseas reared toward the islands of the north. The dark, black lines of the symbol overlayed with thin lines of gold that caught the light of the candles.

  “Is this real? The gold?”

  My mother glared at me, eyebrows drawn tightly together. “Of course it is, your father gave me this map.” Her finger pointed to a small, secluded dot in the northern forests. “Here is Zelheim.” I nodded and followed her finger as it traced the lone road heading east toward a large dot nestled in the mountain range. “This is the royal capital of Sirjandian. I’m sure you’ve seen it from the hill.”

  A small twinge of guilt poked at my stomach. Sirjandian. Hera wanted to run away with me to the capital, start a bakery, live a simple life. How long would have that life remained simple? Knowing what I know now. It don’t matter. I never apologized to Hera. “Yeah, I’ve seen it,” I mumbled.

  “It seems closer than it really is. The kingdom is so flat and the city is built into the mountain range,” she explained. “In reality, it’s a day’s walk with fair weather.” I knew that from Hera’s stories. I loved hearing about her adventures helping her father deliver goods to the capital. I wondered if she was still there. What is she doing?

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  “Are you listening?”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry, mother.”

  She shook her head. “Every noble house has a villa in Sirjandian. My sister, being the oldest of House Ilja, spends most of her time at court in Sirjandian. Unless, she’s visiting me of course.”

  “Lady Alemania?” I rubbed the drowsiness out of my eyes.

  My mother nodded. “Yes, Alemania.”

  My mother’s finger whisked to a dot on an island in the western ocean just off the southern coast. “Before the announcement of my marriage, I lived here, in Ilrunen.”

  She lifted her finger revealing a single branch with clusters of round berries hanging off it, the symbol of House Ilja drawn in a familiar light blue. I looked at Fern sitting next to me. He stared intensely at the islands. He pointed at Zelheim and grunted, clearing his throat.

  “My lady, if I may,” he asked cautiously. My mother frowned.

  “Fern, knock that shit off. We still live as peasants,” she scolded him as she lightly smacked his shoulder.

  His finger traced a path through the wilderness from Zelheim to a city in the south on the coast by the Southern Islands. “We take one of the market tents and the hunting gear. Peanut is sturdy enough to carry it on her back. The dense forest will provide cover for a while. In Umbtelo I’ll get supplies for the journey down to Maydema. There we will take a boat to Ilrunen.”

  My mother pointed to a large city halfway down the coast at the mouth of a large river. “You’ll have to avoid New Janderus at all costs. But that shouldn’t be too hard.”

  “Why?” I covered my mouth hiding the wide yawn. I don’t know why I bothered.

  Fern’s thick finger traced a circle around the dot representing the city. “New Janderus is home to the main harbor of the royal fleet. The citizens there are more likely to recognize someone of royal blood than in the rest of the kingdom.”

  My mother chuckled and covered her mouth with her sleeve to hide her smile. “If you were a proper Ramseas, you’d probably be the brave captain of one of those the mighty warships.”

  Fern broke out into a hearty laughter. “Very funny, Margie. We both know that the king would’ve married him off to a neighboring kingdom before he even saw a warship.”

  I glared at both of them. “Very funny. When are you going to start calling me ‘Your Highness’ then?” I mocked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  Fern slapped my shoulder lightly. “Lighten up, boy. We’re just kidding around.” I rolled my eyes.

  My mother rolled the map shut and gently tied the aqua ribbon together to keep it closed. She stood up and tucked the scroll back into the crate before making her way to the door. Fern tossed a thick wool mantle my way. It fell to the floor by my feet.

  “So it’s settled then. You two will take Peanut and make your way to Ilrunen. I’ll try to send word ahead through my sister so my father knows that you are coming. He should have the sense to keep you hidden.” My mother pushed open the door. The candlelight flickered as the cold air rushed in kissing the flames. “Come, let’s load up Peanut. If you two leave tonight you can get a good head start.”

  My jaw dropped as my heart skipped a beat, jumping in my chest. Wait, you two?

  “You’re not coming with us?” I stuttered as she took her first step into the darkness of the forest surrounding our house. “But, mother, you have to!” I pleaded with her. My eyes started to water. “He’ll find you if you stay. Please, come with.”

  She looked me in the eyes. Her light blue eyes not filled with pain, but with the sparkle of a new found courage. “No, Abel, it is my destiny to buy you some time to escape. I must stay here and distract the royal family.”