Chapter 2: The Silver-Haired Princess

Everyone does something reckless at some point during the course of their lives. The important thing to remember is to have the courage to do something reckless again when it matters.

Ryan stealthily followed the silver-haired girl as she clumsily made her way through the woods. It seemed pretty obvious that she wasn’t used to this kind of terrain, but that didn’t seem to deter her. In fact, because of the difficulty she faced, she seemed all the more determined in her trek as she continued doggedly through the trees.

Ryan easily stayed out of sight as he observed her with both curiosity and caution. There was something startlingly seductive about the girl, and it was more than her status as the most gorgeous ten or eleven-year-old alive. Her presence gave off a tangible aura, bestowing her with temerity that went beyond her years. From what Ryan could tell, she appeared very angry about something as her brow furrowed in both frustration and focus. Then, a more alarmed and worried expression came to her features, and Ryan wondered if she noticed him watching her. But that couldn’t be it. Ryan knew these woods well, but more than that, he knew how to hide his presence in the woods from his father’s hunting lessons.

Right at that moment, he tripped over a branch and tumbled into a bush of red thorns, the ones that stung like bee stings. It took all of Ryan’s self-control to keep from yelping and running to his mom for comfort. The girl quickly turned in Ryan’s direction, but couldn’t see him hiding painfully in the thorn bushes.

Well, I am kind of stealthy most of the time. Least dad didn’t see that.

Ryan still messed up from time to time, which caused the game to get away, but his father never got mad as he laughed and would say, “I’ve seen drunken Were-elephants with more grace than you.” In some ways, Ryan wished his dad would get mad instead of giving him those crumby one-liners.

As Ryan thought of his actions up to that point, he didn’t really know why he was following the girl in the first place. But then as he considered things more carefully, he realized the answer almost immediately. This girl had obviously come from that mysterious vessel, which meant that she came from off-world. Judging from her aristocratic bearing, she was probably someone of great importance, and people like that always had something to do with Elementals.

At the very least, she’d be able to fill him in on more details of the Elementals than the scraps he got from his parents, or the Elves whispering rumors around the village. Ryan didn’t know how or why, but this girl was somehow inextricably linked to the Elementals, and he felt determined to find out all the answers he could. It was more than just a mere passing fancy; it was destiny, or something cool like that. As the silver-haired princess turned away from the bushes and resumed her journey, Ryan continued to follow his quarry as subtly as possible.

It’s a good thing she’s not an animal, or she would’ve noticed me by now, Ryan thought to himself as he stepped on twigs and occasionally tripped on rocks accidentally. His father would be beside himself with grief right now; either that, or laughing up a storm.

But as much noise as Ryan made, it was nothing compared to this girl bulldozing through everything in her path. Judging from her fair skin, she hadn’t spent a day outdoors in her life, let alone a hike through an alien forest. It soon became obvious that the girl was searching for the way back but had become hopelessly lost as they started going in circles. They continued like that for a while until the princess finally realized her predicament. When it seemed like she’d never find her way back, she knelt down and sobbed pathetically into her arms.

Ryan couldn’t help but feel bad for her as he slowly made his way closer, but then thought better of it. Ryan knew from his father’s stories that there were bad Elementals as well as good ones. ‘Mystics’ he’d called them. Despite the fact that she looked like a harmless little girl, Ryan knew that she could be anything but harmless. There was no telling what kind of powers she could unleash on him if he revealed himself.

She might have super strength and lift him up by his ears to give him a spanking. She might be able to summon his greatest fear; Ogres dressed up as clowns, a secret Ryan had managed to conceal from Henry and his father up to that point. She might even have the power to turn him into the thing he dreaded even more than Ogre Clowns ... a girl. His mom would faint, and his father wouldn’t even be able to look at him. He’d be the village laughingstock. Or more accurately, he’d be an even bigger village laughingstock.

Ryan was just about to abandon the idea of speaking to her altogether when he looked over at the girl, noting her obvious distress. Finally deciding to throw caution to the wind, he boldly strode toward the girl ... or rather, he boldly, but quietly, climbed the trunk of the tree that she leaned under. Instead of just saying ‘hi’ like a normal person, he got a better look at her from the branches.

I may be the hero, but I’m not an idiot, he thought to himself in an attempt to justify his abandoned sense of bravado.

The girl seemed to sense his presence as she suddenly stood up with alarm and shouted, “Who’s there?”

Ryan watched quietly from above as he desperately tried not to think of anything incriminating in case she could read his mind. Oops! He just started thinking about the time he put hot sauce into everyone’s drinks back at the autumn festival. Great! Now she’ll know I’m a prankster; that should endear me to the all-powerful witch girl.

But instead of responding to his thoughts, the girl continued her act of feigned ignorance. “If there’s anybody there, I’m warning you. My godfather’s a very powerful Elemental, and he’ll trounce anyone who’s mean to me.”

Mental note: don’t be mean. Mental note number two: what the heck does ‘trounce’ mean?

Ryan was just starting to think about whether or not her Elemental godfather knew his dad when his grip on the trunk slipped, and he unexpectedly fell face-first from the tree. Luckily, he managed to wrap his legs around a stray branch right before he hit the forest floor. Not so lucky, he found himself staring upside down into the beautiful, violet eyes of the silver-haired girl. They stared at each other in shock for a few seconds before the girl screamed in terror and delivered a stinging blow to his nose.

Of all the places, why’d she have to hit me in the nose? I have a very sensitive nose! That’s where Henry hit me after all, and it still hurts!

The sudden violence to his olfactory region suddenly caused his legs to lose their hold on the branch, which ironically made him hit his nose on the ground yet again when he fell. From the depths of his agony and humiliation, Ryan observed the girl turn to flee, but then she stopped as if afraid to be alone again. She seemed to be scrutinizing him intensely in a way that made him feel uncomfortable, no doubt discerning how much of a threat he represented.

Trust me, sister. I’m the one who’s threatened here!

No doubt from this distance, she would notice his red hair and even more frightening red eyes that he had inherited from his father. She could probably even see his scales, and would realize that he was a half-breed. Ryan expected the girl to bolt just like all the other human girls who saw him did, but surprisingly, she just quietly observed him, which he found even more disturbing in some ways.

Ryan quickly composed himself, dusting off the leaves from his clothes and the blood from his nose, as he rose to his full height. Not that his full height appeared imposing since she stood at least a head taller than he did. He was just about to deliver the most cutting remark he could think of when he found his mouth going slack just looking at her.

She looked even more exquisite up close. Even with the tears in her dress, and the dirt on her face, nothing could subdue the beauty of her presence. At this distance, he could see small diamonds all over the dress that made every color of the rainbow. Her skin was fair and creamy, almost pale. She had a flawless, angular face with high-cheekbones. Her shiny, silver hair covered one of her eyes, but the other flashed at him as clear as a purple star. The faint scent of roses and strawberries wafted into Ryan’s nose, reminding him of his mother’s perfume.

I swear this girl is beauty incarnate! Ryan had once heard his dad describe his mom like that, and it seemed an apt description.

The awkward silence dragged on and Ryan realized that the girl was waiting for him to say something. In desperation, he clung to his original idea of protesting his victimization and rubbed his sore nose.

“What’d you do that for?!” He thought he gave a good impression of victimization very well.

The girl suddenly seemed to panic as she said, “I-I’m sorry! You just startled me, that’s all. But you couldn’t have come at a better time. I was wondering when Zand would send someone to fetch me, but I didn’t think it would be a...” She trailed off midsentence as she seemed to notice something, “Are you crying?”

Ryan quickly realized in horror that the double impact endured by his nose had produced tears of their own volition. Hoping to contain the situation, he wiped his eyes and fell back to the only defense that nine-year-old boys possessed in situations such as these, lying through their teeth.

“I-I wasn’t crying,” he said a little too loudly, “There were just a few water slugs on my face. Besides, I’m a warrior, and warriors don’t cry.” Ryan remembered that last part from one of his dad’s holomovies, and from then on it became one of his mottos.

The silver-haired girl didn’t seem to be convinced as she smiled capriciously with a raised eyebrow.

How could she not believe that? It’s in literature! Well, I’m pretty sure holomovies count as literature. And everyone knows that water slugs are real, they just don’t come out that often. Man, maybe she really can read minds!

As if on cue, the girl cocked her and said with obvious delight, “Well, it certainly looked like you were crying, didn’t it?” She spoke in a silky, sweet voice with just a hint of sarcasm to drive the knife deeper into Ryan’s ego.