Free [Books of Bayern 1] The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale Page B

Yulan.
    "Princess Selia!" Several men shouted and raised their swords above their heads.
    "Hush up," said Ungolad. He spoke with genuine anger.
    Talone stepped closer to Ungolad. That Ani could see, they were the only two who had not drawn their swords. Both sides were poised, waiting for action from their leaders.
    "Is that what this is about, mercenary?" Talone did not seem aware that he was shaking his head. "You're aiming to dispose of a rightful princess and replace her with a fraud?"
    Ani clutched at a branch to keep steady. Dispose of a princess. A fraud. They were trying to kill her. Until that moment she had never really believed it. Why would they try to kill her? So Selia could be princess. She remembered Falone's order that she run at the first sign of trouble. But there's still no warning, she thought. My mother's handkerchief will protect me.
    All the same, she thought she had better get closer to Falada. She spoke his name, but he was a long way off grazing at the river and did not respond. Slowly, so that she would not cause a noise, she started to make her way to him.
    "Fraud?" said Selia. "Royalty is not a right, Captain. The willingness of the people to follow a ruler is what gives her power. Here, in this place, by this people, I have been chosen.
    These men are tired of being told whom to follow. Now they have a choice, and they use that choice to call me Princess."
    Selia's words seemed seductively convincing. Even Ani, peering through pine boughs, had to stop herself from nodding. But Adon stepped up beside Talone and challenged her.
    "You mean Princess Anidori-Kiladra, don't you? You want to take not only the title, but the name—her name."
    "I suppose, my little warrior pup, but it's the title that interests me most."
    Ani caught a glimpse of Ungolad smiling at Selia. A couple of men near Talone chuckled at the idea of Selia being a princess, but the other half was stiffly serious, and the laugh fell like water against a stone wall.
    Falada, she said again. He did not respond.
    "You're mad." Talone spoke the words as though they were the final revelation.
    "If we're mad," Ungolad said, "then we are mad in large numbers, at least larger than yours."

    "Where is she?" said Selia. Ani covered her mouth before she gasped. They would look for her now. They would kill her as they had been trying since the waterfall. Why didn't the handkerchief protect her, whisper to her through birds or nudge her to safety?
    "She's by the stream," someone said. Ani could see Terne, one of Ungolad's men, running from the group and toward the area where Falada grazed. Terne was already between her and her horse. Her cold fingers fumbled at the wet fabric at her breast where the handkerchief had been. Where it should be. Ani felt for it, patted her dress, looked at the ground around her feet. It was gone. She realized that she must have lost it in the stream. It would be far away by now. Who would protect her?
    Falada, can you come to me? she said. He did not respond.
    Talone shouted toward where Falada stood. "Princess, do as I told you!"
    Ungolad motioned for another soldier to follow the first toward the stream. Do as I told you, he had said. Run away. Unable to reach Falada without being seen, Ani turned to the dim forest and walked softly, afraid to hear fir needles crack beneath her feet, afraid if she did run on her shaking legs, she would fall. Just a little farther, she thought, get to the next copse, and then run.
    "There she is," said Selia.
    Ani looked back. Hul left Ungolad's side and jogged toward her. Adon shouted and started forward to rush him. He had taken only one step when a bloody sword point burst through the center of his chest. His face ripped in pain and then stilled, dead standing. Ishta pulled his sword out of the dead man's back and grinned with his animal teeth. Ani gasped, and suddenly everything felt terribly real. She tripped, turned, and ran.
    There was the din of sword meeting sword behind