The Mage Queen Book 1: The Princess
Detour

There was just so much to take in.

All she wanted was answers regarding Sofiene's destruction. Not many empires would have wanted to destroy the city as far as she was concerned. But she didn't expect the destruction to come from within. Let alone from a member of the Sofienian royal family!

The bewildered feelings gave her head a pounding headache. She clutched her head as the whole hall shook. Suddenly, something blew a hole and shadow blades shot through. Anastacia yelped and ducked as another projectile flew over her head. Her heart stopped as the shadow tendril snaked towards her again. She slapped it away instinctively, shocked when a white light flashed. The tendril shrieked before shrinking away from her.

Anastacia gasped and looked at her hand. How did she do that? It took years to do something like that, she realized. Generating bursts of magic without chants meant years of practice and mindfulness of one's mana flow within the body. Yet I did it, thinks she, continuing to stare at her hand. She wiggled her fingers but there was no spark.

Before she could continue, a voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Ana?" it asked.

She looked down and saw Rowen quickly filling up the holes in the hull with vines and wooden planks. "We'll have more time later. Need a little help here," he coaxed.

Anastacia gasped and hurriedly grabbed some of the wooden planks, only to yelp when a splinter cut into her finger. She dropped the plank before staring in horror at the splinter, frozen. What did she need to do? Her head swirled until Rowen suddenly grabbed her hand and yanked out the splinter from her finger. She yelped but Rowen dragged her along, summoning more vines in the process.

"We don't have time to freeze," Rowen chided. "It's all hands on deck!"

Anastacia could do nothing save numbly nod. She let herself be dragged along, limply dangling her arms. Her eyes widened when she saw more black tendrils tore holes through the hull. She squinted at the splinters flying into her face but her feet kept going. Her head lagged a little as the flying debris scratched and bludgeoned her head. She was launched into a room and the door slammed behind her, noticing Rowen summoning more vines to hold the door.

"Cap!" Rowen glanced back. "Can we go now please!?"

Anastacia watched Marick flip a few switches. "Give her a bit, sprout. She ain't as young as she used to be!"

"I don't want to be filled with holes!"

"Nobody does but yellin' ain't gonna make this go any faster!"

Anastacia froze in her place, uncertain about what to do. She shivered at every sound of the thumping vines. The cracking of the wooden planks made her jump with fright. But when the ship suddenly lurched forward, the vines shrieked and shriveled away. She fell to the ground and nearly tumbled back until Rowen managed to hold her in place.

"Hold on!" He hollered.

Anastacia nodded in silence. The shocking news of there being another Princess Anastacia was still sinking in. She held the fabric of her dress where the pendant once hung. If Princess Anastacia was able to use that pendant, who did that make her? Most of all, did everyone else know that she was a fake?

If so, why did they play along?

Anastacia could only imagine the deception. Queen Regina lovingly treated her like her own goddaughter. Yet, she wasn't sure anymore if she did it out of pretense. It would explain however why her mother — no, the queen of Sofiene — treated her with such disdain compared to her two brothers. Matthias and Silas, despite their mischievous pranks, never meant any harm. The king, if he knew, why declare her as his heir?

Unfortunately, those were questions that she might never find the answer to.

Her heart sank. The source of the answers lay six feet under the former city of Wisdom. Ruling the ruins now was someone who declared herself to be the Princess Anastacia. Assuming that the princess spoke the truth then, who was she? Why name her Princess Anastacia? Why have her serve as the princess' replacement?

Before she could piece things together, the ship started slowing down. Her eyes widened. "What's happening!?"

Marick growled. "The engine's taken too much damage from that crazy woman's attack. I'll have to manually land this bird!"

Anastacia gulped.

Rowen patted her shoulder with a grin. "Don't worry, Cap's done this before. We'll be fine!"

Shakily nodding, she clung to Rowen. "Captain," she called.

Marick looked back.

Fear threatened to silence her voice. But she buried it and forced out a smile. "I-I expect you to land this ship."

The captain smirked and bounced his eyebrows.

"Lass, I'm Captain Marick Hawthorne. You'd do your best not to forget it."

His confident declaration somewhat soothed her fear but it jumped again when the ship started to descend. She shrieked and clung to Rowen, shutting her eyes. While she trusted Marick to land the airship, the feeling of plummeting still made her want to barf. But as long as she kept her eyes shut, everything seemed to stay in place.

But after a few seconds, loud crashes filled her ears along with the screeching of metal and the splintering of wood. She screamed to the top of her lungs and clung tighter to Rowen even though she knew no one could hear her screaming.

Unfortunately, for the next few moments, that was all she could do.

The crashes and screeching soon stopped along with the falling. However, she continued to scream until her voice became hoarse. Suddenly, someone began to shake her roughly. Her eyes snapped open and found Rowen and Marick gripping her shoulders. She tried to stop her body from trembling as the smoke hissed and rose from the controls. She shook her head.

"Wh-where are we?"

Marick shrugged. "I don't know. It's nothing but trees down here."

Rowen stood up and nodded. "I'll go check outside."

Marick and Anastacia nodded as the little boy trotted out. Once he left, the pirate captain turned back to Anastacia who remained silent. He sighed and sat down next to her.

"A lot to take in, huh?"

She nodded.

He chuckled. "Put it this way, they replaced her for a reason. As for what it is, you'll have to find out."

Anastacia nodded, weakly smiling before looking down where her pendant used to be. "I... I guess so..."

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