The Silver Rune - NaNo ‘25

Chapter 1 - 1447

My feet tapped against the packed dirt, the short heels of my boots digging into the ground to punctuate my steps. The late summer trees provided a leafy foliage that shielded me from the sun’s sight, casting golden rays across the trail before me as I made my way toward the town.
My fingers dangled limply at my side, occasionally brushing against the foliage and sending a tremor to the stalks. The satchel by my side was tightly sealed and bouncing lightly against my hip, the contents of the bag making a small clicking sound as they made contact with each other.
Whatever was in it, I wasn’t meant to know. Off on another errand for my parents, they were certain that leaving me knowledgeable was far worse than just sending me off without a clue. As the end of the trail came into sight, dirt turning into old cobblestone, I lightly evaded the sight of a passing cart with a slight duck behind the greens around me.
Sure that the way was clear, I finally stepped out into sunlight, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the bright sun. The sounds and smells of the town reached me, drifting through the air. As I followed the trail into town, the people behind the market stands raised their hands to wave like sails in the wind. I blushed, lowering my head as I tried to pass unseen.
“Aela!” A man’s voice called from behind me, startling me as I spun out almost sideways, my toe wedging in a crevice between the stones and causing me to wobble embarrassingly.
“Hey,” I replied, regaining my balance and loosening the satchel from my shoulder before tossing it toward him. The bag landed with a thump as his arms came to wrap around it, and he offered me an easy smile in return.
The man, my uncle, was strongly built, towering over normal people with his extensive height, and had an easy-going charm that seemed to make everyone like him. While my parents, brother and I lived off the side of town, he had purchased a home strictly in the center, and there always seemed to be people coming and going from it. Whatever was in the bag was hardly my business, but I couldn’t help but be curious as I stepped closer to him.
“So, Uncle Jack, care to tell me what’s in there?” I asked innocently, returning his easy smile with one of my own. He laughed boisterously, reaching out his spare hand to ruffle my hair.
I spun out of his arm’s reach, this time more gracefully than before as I blushed again. His habit, formed when I was a kid, was to ruffle my hair. While it hadn’t bothered me then, I was at an age now where it was hardly appropriate to be seen with ruffled hair.
“Same answer as always, kid. Walk with me?” He offered me an arm, mischievous glint in his eye as he led the way toward his house. As I accepted it, I realized the juxtaposition between the two of us, his largely built frame and my slightly less than average one.
“So…” I sighed, blowing out air to push a strand of black curly hair that had fallen out of where I had tied it. For a minute, the only sound that filled the uncomfortable silence was our footsteps down the path, and the cries of vendors as we passed.
“I’ve got something to show you, it won’t be long,” Uncle Jack promised, ducking into an alley I hadn’t noticed before. The buildings on either side of us blotted out the light, and a noticeable chill entered the air as he released my arm.
The change was almost instant as he pushed back his shoulders, taking up more space in an almost regal way. As he continued to walk forward, his head scanned back and forth diligently. I watched with my eyebrows furrowed, confused as to what he was doing. He stopped suddenly, and I collided with him.
“I want you to meet my friend,” he stepped aside, and as he cleared my sight, a figure came into frame, almost my height, but almost the age of my mother. “This is—”
“Thyme,” she interrupted, not allowing him to introduce her. She didn’t seem surprised to see me, but she didn’t seem to care very much, either. “Do you have it?”
He nodded, passing her the satchel carefully. She nodded slowly, inspecting the package without opening it. She touched the length of it as if to confirm what she needed within the bag.
“Thank you very much.” Thyme hummed in thought. “Does she know what she’s carrying?”
Uncle Jack tensed, spine stiffening for a moment before he resumed his easy-going manor. “Her parents don’t want her to know. Either we respect their wishes or the deliveries stop.”
I was growing more and more confused by the second, the conversation unfolding before me sounding like something I had walked into rather than something I was truly involved in. I stepped forward, pushing in front of my uncle.
“Just because I don’t know what it is, doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I can hear you talking?” I eyed Thyme with disdain, a frown weighing down my face as I restrained the urge to glare at her.
Rather than react negatively with my comment, it seemed to rejuvenate her. “Ah, so she does speak. No, of course you’re not stupid, it’s your parents who are.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the direction she had taken, but I didn’t disagree, either. I was old enough to know what I was carrying, although sometimes my uncle and them seemed to treat me like a child for not knowing.
My uncle shot her a warning glance, but she didn’t seem inclined to listen.
“Well, your oblivion ends today!” Thyme said softly, her gaze flickering toward the bag. “These are runes.”
The words hung in the air, and my uncle froze as if she’d drawn a weapon.
My heart thumped against my chest as I realized why they had treated me like a child. I should have guessed this. Runes, or magic, were outlawed in the kingdom. It had been almost a century since common folk were allowed to use it. My family had continued practicing magic in secret since, but I never thought they were stupid enough to sell their runes.
Runemaking was a complicated and time consuming process, and so although my family was often hard at work creating new runes, there never seemed to be many within my house. I guess I now knew why. I stumbled backward, hand connecting with the wall to steady myself as anger poured through my veins.
“Why?” I had to ask, as I could not find a logical answer myself. Why would they risk themselves in this dangerous business? Everyone who knew runes existed also knew they were outlawed, and the price of being caught was severe.
My uncle’s kind eyes did nothing to quell my fear, and I was certain nothing he was about to say would make me feel any better. Ducking underneath his arm, I started towards the other side of the alley. Even as his voice called out behind me, I didn’t turn back. I knew my way home, and my parents both had a copious amount of explanation to begin the moment I returned.
As I reached the end of the alley, a hand stopped my quick strides from entering the street. I bristled in indignation before a large carriage rolled speedily passed, sure to have crushed me if I had popped out.
I fell back a step, taking a deep breath before peering my head around the edge of the alley to see who had saved me from sudden death by carriage.
“You should be more careful where you’re going.” The face I turned around to look at was sharp, lightly tanned with close cut black hair that hugged his skull. He looked military, but also not.
“Thank you,” I apologized, blushing as I stepped into the sunlight so he could see me. He studied me for a moment before deciding I wasn’t worth his time.
My heart pounded as I watched him go, both from the near-death experience and from the new discovery.
As he followed the direction the carriage had gone, I stepped out into the street again. On any other day I would have followed behind, but I was more worried about getting home today.
Starting down the path, engrossed in my thoughts, I never even noticed the tracks the carriage had left down the trail I was following home.

Chapter 2 - 1443

As I kept my head down, I watched the grass curl beneath my feet. The path leading to my home grew more ragged as my footsteps echoed in the emptiness of the trail, unkempt and matted greenage turning to springing fields of wildflower and a strong smell sweeping across the area.
The lopsided log cabin seemed to be at risk of a strong wind tipping it onto its side, its structure built to accommodate the large knoll it rested upon. Dirt turned to a gravel path leading toward the warm structure, but my feet seemed to glue to the ground as my eyes finally found the odd stroke in the painting. The carriage, the same from earlier, parked where the slope began, emptied of its inhabitants. Smoke curled from the chimney placed precariously atop the house—we had guests.
I was still angry about the whole secrecy scheme that had been hidden from me, but knew now was not the time to confront my parents. I steadied myself before resuming my pace, pasting a warm smile onto my face as I approached the front door. I gave the door a final tug before pulling it toward me, fast enough that the scene jumped at me rather than unfurling.
The man who had saved me from death-by-carriage earlier sat rigidly at a chair around the round family table, while five guards had unsuccessfully attempted to blend into the background of the house, instead sticking out like sore thumbs among the oddities of the family home.
“Aela, you’re home!” My mother grandly announced, her smile almost as warm as the tea she was pouring into cups around the table.
My father emerged from the hall leading to our bedrooms. “The lady of the hour.”
I laughed nervously, staring at the man in the chair carefully, stupidly repeating “Lady of the hour?”
My mother nodded, gesturing for me to join them at the table. I pulled out a seat across from the man, wrapping my hands around the warmth of the cup of tea and leaning slightly forward. Oddly, I was wondering whether he had informed my parents of my near death experience. Although he wouldn’t have known it was me, then. What was I thinking?
“So, will anyone fill me in?” I asked, trying to avoid the awkward stream of thoughts that had filled my conscience.
“You’ve heard about the contest, correct?” The man asked, leaning backward in his seat and studying me for a second time that day, this time sizing me up like a predator would its prey.
“The…contest? For eligible ladies to compete for the crown prince’s hand? What does that have to do with…wait.” My eyes ticked between my mother and father’s nervous faces, and it clicked. Another thing they had been hiding from me. I hoped I had hid the betrayal well, feigning excitement. “Oh! Have I been chosen?”
I could tell the man was tempted to snipe back with some snide comment, but he kept it to himself. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. Prince Kieren.”
I suppose this should have been expected. The princes were the ones who were out gathering the selected ladies for the contest, but I had never expected that I would have been one of them. I hadn’t even known I had been entered.
“Lady Aela.”
That was another odd thing about my family, we were technically the lords and ladies over the small piece of forest land. In some agreement long ago, it had been worked out, and had worked that way ever since.
“Well, it is a pleasure to meet you.” I saw the words he didn’t say, once again. “I believe I’ll be seeing much more of you soon. We have a long carriage ride to the castle ahead of us.”
“We—oh—now?” I squeaked stupidly, still shocked by all of this.
“In the morning.” Prince Kieren said this as if it was the most obvious thing to ever exist, and I was stupid for not knowing. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a guard holding in laughter.
“Well then, I suppose I have much to do.”
My mother took that as a sign to jump in, although she could have done it much earlier and saved me some of my embarrassment. “You are welcome to stay as long as you’d—”
“No, I think I’d best be on my way,” he interjected, and I could see the hairs on my mother’s neck stand as she resisted the urge to bristle at the barely concealed insult.
“Very well, then. I’ll show you to the door.” As she busied herself with guiding him toward the doorway, I slumped in the chair, staring at the edge of the cup I was still holding.
I heard the door click shut after some rushed pleasantries before both of my parents slid into the seats near me.
“We know this is a change,” my father finally said, waiting after a beat of silence.
“You want me to compete to be with one of them? Did you see how he acted? How he treated you?”
“He’s a prince, so you’d better watch your mouth, young lady.” My mother took a small sip from her cup, looking over the rim of the cup with innocent eyes, as if I could so easily forgive her for not telling me about this.
“That’s not even all I’m angry about. I went into town this morning to bring the runes you’ve been smuggling in.”
Neither seemed to be able to form a response to that, staring at me stupidly with their mouths agape.
“This isn’t the time to argue.” My mother finally snapped, staring between me and my father. “We aren’t just sending you to the castle to win their hand, we’re sending you there so that you can be something better. We don’t want you to be held down by the restrictions that have hung on our family for so long. Our family name is worth so little, and we only want what’s best for you.”
Despite the validity to what she was saying, I still sensed a hint of her hesitancy. Sure, she believed what she was saying, but there was still something neither were sharing.
I could only press so far, and this wasn’t my priority at the moment. “Why would you sell the runes? Why would you smuggle them out? It’s bad enough that we make them in the first place, but this? This is a whole new level of stupidity.”
“You haven’t seen some of the things that we have seen, Aela. Someday, you will understand.” My father’s response seemed to only infuriate me further, but I knew how far I was able to press.
If neither were willing to offer more information about their dangerous business, they would have to somehow be convinced to go to this competition with stuck up royals. I hardly had the manners or the temperament for this competition, although there were many rumors that argued the only thing they sought out was a pretty face to sit next to their king.
“What will I wear? How am I to act? I don’t know anything about royal life, much less how to win this stupid competition. Your plan has a fatal flaw, and that’s me.”
“Lucky for you, we’ve been waiting for this moment a long time. I’ll be right back,” my mother hurried out of her seat, following the hall into her room and emerging with a small leather pocket journal in hand. “I call this the ‘Ael-yay guide to royalty! It has information on every scenario I can think of. Like here!”
She flipped the book open toward the middle, spinning the pages around to show me the writing.
“How to woo a prince over tea. You absolutely failed at this one today, so I suppose we’ll just have to hope he doesn’t end up being crowned. Or here—”
She flipped once again, showing a detailed drawing of folded napkin shapes and the instructions on how to make them beside the drawing.
“Here is a guide to folding napkins! You’ll certainly charm a prince or two with this trick. Here, this is yours.”
I accepted it from her reluctantly, turning it over in my hands before standing up. As I set my still full cup back onto the table, I shook my head.
“This is ridiculous. I need to sleep on it before I can decide.”
Turning on my heel, I walked away, the idea floating around my head despite my reservations. Did I have what it took to be a princess?
Not just a princess. A queen.

Chapter 3 - 1350

Our shared bedroom spaces were exactly what they sounded like: shared. My younger brother, Liam, and I were confined to one room while our parents shared the other. I shouldn’t have been shocked to find him on his stomach on the floor in his own room, but I jumped a little as I spotted him.
“So you found out?” He asked, peaking up at me with wide rimmed eyes while his hands fidgeted with the wooden chip he was holding, half of a rune imbued onto it.
“About what? Our selling of runes? The fact that I have to enter the stupid competition?”
He blew a strand of hair out of his eye and returned to his work. “Took you long enough. Where did you think all of the runes were going after we made them?”
“I…” I flushed, embarrassed. How had I not noticed before? How had my younger brother known before me? I should have guessed that we weren’t using all that we made, that would be a waste.
“I only found out because I heard Mom and Dad talking about it, if it makes you feel better.”
“It doesn’t.” Maybe it did. A little.
I took a seat beside him, leaning against the frame of his bed and staring up at the ceiling. At this time tomorrow, I would be in a home that was completely unfamiliar. No family to make me laugh, no half-finished runes thrown around the home, just careful and quiet silence. The uncomfortability of living somewhere else was something I had never experienced before, and wasn’t certain I wanted to experience now.
“I can’t believe they didn’t warn me. They knew. Mom even had time to make me this stupid book.” I lifted it up to show him the small journal in all of its backstabbing glory.
“I didn’t know about that until the prince got here and they sent me in here. From what I can tell, he’s a brat.”
I barked a laugh. A brat was the only way to correctly describe the prince. The carriage ride I had to the castle would be a long one, hopefully filled with silence. I wasn’t sure I could put up with hearing the condescending tone of Prince Kieran’s voice for longer than necessary.
“I have something for you,” my brother suddenly said, sitting up and leaving the rune he was working on atop the floor.
I watched as he crossed the room, throwing open the bottom drawer of our dresser and pulling out some clothes to reveal a hidden stash of runes. I sat up in interest, a little less shocked at this secret than I had been the others revealed to me recently.
He pulled a small spruce coin from the depths of his stash, turning it to display it to me. I scanned the cuts that had been made into the wood, a series of slashes and whorls that reminded me a bit of a thunderstorm in their form.
“This is a fog rune, it will obscure you if you’re ever in trouble and need to get out of somewhere.”
I accepted it, weighing the small piece within my hand, feeling not only the weight of the object but the time and preparation that had gone into its preparation. I smiled, nodding as I reached my free arm around him to hug him.
He shimmied out of the embrace, moving toward the window. It overlooked the fields in the front of our house, the fields, forest, and the footpath.
“That’s not all. Follow me.”
He lodged his adept hands underneath the frame, shoving it upward to create a gap large enough for us to climb out of. I wondered how many times he had done this before. His practiced movement told me it was not the first.
He exited first, diving out the opening and rolling slightly as he reached the slope of the knoll, finally tumbling out into the field. I tried to follow his lead, crawling through the small crevice and landing embarrassingly onto my face. A mouthful of dirt wasn’t the only punishment for our sneaking out, as the moment I landed I began to tumble backward, finally landing awkwardly among the field as wildflowers tangled in my hair.
“Liam, do not laugh,” I grumbled as I sat up, disoriented and dirtied. He stood, streaking off towards the forest as I followed indignantly, pulling flowers of every color out of my hair.
At last I couldn’t find the flowers still tangled in my black curls, and followed a footstep behind him as he led the way down a curious trail. The grass was not yet matted, still springing up with its final fight as we trampled it for one of the numerous times since the trail's discovery.
“Almost there,” Liam instructed, scanning the forest and ducking underneath tree branches in pursuit of something. I was almost beginning to believe he was crazy before he suddenly stopped, opening his arms to still my pace.
He turned to face me as I stared at him in confusion, his face filled with concern.
“You can’t tell Mom and Dad about this.”
“I won’t.”
With my promise, he turned and continued, a small clearing, if it could be called that, coming into sight. It seemed inconspicuous, almost completely normal, until my brother turned to brush against one of the trees.
The gentle sound of wings fluttering filled the air as butterflies took flight from the tree, wings catching the evening light in a way that made them seem as if they were ablaze. As they took to the sky, butterflies from the surrounding trees joined them, painting a wildfire in the small clearing.
“Woah,” I breathed, watching as they at last settled. Liam turned to face me, watching as my expression changed from wonder to appreciation.
“I go here whenever I’m not sure about what we’re doing. Selling the runes. Each of these butterflies has been touched by the magic of a rune, that’s why they’re so special. Without our magic, beauty like this wouldn’t exist.
“I know you’re probably frustrated that our parents have been keeping all of this from you, but they had good reason. I think they knew that if you found out, you wouldn’t help them anymore. You’ve always cared more about our family than about the magic we possess. But when you see things like this…this is how I know that we’re doing the right thing. And if you ever have to make a choice between what is right and what is safe, I hope you’ll think about these butterflies.”
I stared at him with new appreciation, surprised that he had thought so in depth about this. I nodded at him, offering a smile.
“Thank you for all of this. I might not agree with our family putting ourselves in danger, but I guess I can see why we do it.”
He grinned, the seriousness washing out of his face as he walked up to my side.
“The last one back is a backfired rune!”
He took off, dashing through the forest back toward home, the picture of how I remembered him. I had so much to think about now. There were so many conflicting perspectives within the family, the words they were telling me fitting together, but creating a distorted puzzle.
I knew something about it was wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what. I also didn’t have the time to think about it. What I did know was that my mother’s words had rung true. Our family had been confined to this identity for so long, it was who we were. The hobbit home out in the forest who stuck to themselves. But maybe that wasn’t all we had to be. Maybe I had the chance to change that, by winning this competition. If I could become a princess, I could completely change our fates.
And if I did that, maybe my whole family would be safe. We wouldn’t have to hide our runemaking if we were royals.
Maybe the competition wasn’t completely pointless afterall.