A/N: Happy belated Valentine's Day, dear readers! Here is the next installment of Yui and the Seven Seiryu; hope you've enjoyed so far!
Chapter 1: Flight into Hiding
One morning, shortly after Yui had turned 15, Taiitsukun posed her usual question: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" But today, the mirror's answer was different. For, rather than acting as a normal mirror and reflecting the queen's image as it usually did, it showed Princess Yui going about her chores, her beauty showing through the dirt and rags. Needless to say, Taiitsukun was furious. Her dislike for the young princess exploded into white-hot hatred as she stared at the girl's image. After throwing a few very expensive crystal goblets at the wall and smashing them into pieces, she calmed down enough to think of a plan to remove her new rival.
An hour later, the queen went and met privately with one of her guards. "I have an important job for you," she said without preamble once they were alone. "Take the princess out near the woods… there is a meadow where she likes picking flowers. And once there… I want you to dispose of her."
"Kill the princess? But, Your Majesty…" the guard began, horrified at the orders he was given.
"Be silent! You have your orders."
"But the king… when he returns…" he trailed off, afraid at what she might do at the mention of the king. Some of Taiitsukun's servants gossiped the queen dabbled in magic in an attempt to preserve her youth and beauty. Those who were particularly dissatisfied with her privately gossiped that she might even be so brazen as to use her skills in magic to arrange an accident that would ensure he did not return alive so she could take over the kingdom. Of course, they took care to make sure word of this didn't reach her ears.
Many in the kingdom were now growing furious with the queen as she squandered the wealth of the treasury; consequently, the queen had such a fear of the discontent of the populace, combined with her disgust for the common people, that she kept herself shut up in the palace, which she took care to keep well guarded so no one could get in to harm her. All were waiting for the king's return, for once he learned of the state to which she had driven the kingdom he would surely get rid of her. With the hated royal consort so well protected by her guards and magic, not only was he the only one in the kingdom with any authority over her, he and he alone could remove her from the position of queen.
"Fear not… everyone will be made to believe it was an accident. Make it look as if some wild animal attacked her when the foolish girl wandered off when you chanced to look away; I'll see to the rest. And I will want to make sure you have not failed me." She picked up a box from a small table beside her. "Once you have slain the girl… bring me her heart as proof she is dead."
The poor guard paled. "Your Highness… I cannot…"
"You can, and you will. You know the penalty if you disobey or fail me," Taiitsukun said coldly before dismissing him with a wave of her hand.
Later that day, Yui was allowed to bathe properly for the first time in years and given clothing suitable for her station as a princess. Scarcely believing her good luck, she went with the guard without question when told the queen wanted her to pick flowers to decorate the dining hall.
The guard watched with regret as Yui merrily went about her work, humming softly as she gathered the flowers. He drew his dagger and stepped forward to slay the young girl, but he was stopped by the look of horror in her eyes as she turned to face him.
"Your Highness, please forgive me!" he cried, dropping to his knees and stabbing the dagger into the ground. "The Queen ordered me… she's gone mad, I fear. She'll stop at nothing to get rid of you!"
Yui gasped in horror, taking a step backwards. "What… what should I do?" she asked frantically.
"Run… run into the forest. Hide there, or better yet, find a way to leave the kingdom. The queen clearly wants you dead and will stop at nothing to see it happen. You must flee this land, Princess, and stay away until your father returns! He is the only one in the kingdom who can stop her; you aren't safe here without him!" he warned. She did not need to be told twice.
Without another word, she turned and fled into the woods. Knowing that now he needed a way to fool the queen, the guard stopped in the village, where he found a butcher's apprentice cleaning a deer carcass he'd just bought from some hunters. With more than enough coin to ensure his silence, the guard bought the deer's heart to give the queen in place of the Princess'. He only hoped she'd fall for the ruse long enough to buy time for both he and the princess to flee the kingdom.
Yui struggled to contain her panic as she ran through the forest. She vaguely recollected there were vast hills and mountains on the other side of the forest, and beyond that, a town. Surely she could find someone to give her shelter or transportation out of the kingdom.
Finally, after having spent 2 days running in the forest, her fine clothing torn and dirty, she found herself out of the forest. There, nestled deep in the hills was a small cottage. Yui breathed a sigh of relief. "Just in time," she murmured, as it had begun to rain heavily.
She ran forward and beat her fists against the door. It opened to reveal a young woman a few years older than Yui, tall and pale with reddish-brown hair and eyes to match. "You poor thing, what are you doing out here in this weather? Come inside and sit by the fire," she said kindly, ushering Yui inside. "Suboshi, go up and get some of my clothes, then the rest of you go upstairs for a few minutes," she ordered the other occupants of the cabin.
A few minutes later Yui had changed into a plain, dark green dress and sat by the fire, wrapped in a thin blanket.
Soi, as the woman introduced herself, was tending to a pot of stew cooking over the fire. "So, Miss Yui, how did you end up in the forest all alone?" she asked as the other six people living in the cabin came back downstairs to join them, after Yui had introduced herself. Though Yui hadn't disclosed she was actually the princess, the clothes she had worn when she arrived were enough to tell the cottagers she was from a wealthy family. At her words, Yui burst into tears and begged Soi not to make her say anything just yet. Soi nodded and didn't press the issue any further.
"Allow me to introduce everyone. This handsome gentleman here is my fiancé Nakago," she said, indicating a tall, pale man with bright blue eyes and vivid blond hair. "That brooding fellow" (gesturing at a tall dark haired man standing silently in the corner) "is Tomo, and the bald runt next to him is Miboshi."
"I am not a runt, I'm just short!" Miboshi snapped, glaring at her. Soi shrugged and waved at a pair of identical looking young men with dark blond hair and blue eyes. "These two are twins; Suboshi is the one in orange, and the one in blue is his older brother Amiboshi," she said.
"And folks all me Ashitare," grunted a wild-looking man sitting by the fire. Yui nodded politely.
"The girl can't stay here, Soi," snapped Tomo suddenly. "We've no room for her."
"Have a heart, Tomo. We're not throwing the girl out, not in this storm," Nakago said as a lightning flash lit up the windows. "Miss Yui, please don't be uneasy. Stay here with us for tonight, and one of us will escort you back to your home in the morning."
"No… please don't do that! If I go home, if she finds me… she'll kill me for sure!" Yui exclaimed in terror.
"Who, Miss Yui?" asked Amiboshi, not liking the obvious fear radiating from the girl.
"My stepmother… Queen Taiitsukun. That's why I was in the forest. She tried to have one of her guards kill me, but instead he let me go, told me to run away and hide. Please, I beg you; let me stay here until my father comes back from his journey. It won't be long; the last I heard, he'll be back in a few months."
Soi gasped in surprise, quickly curtseying to their royal guest. She'd recognized Yui was of a noble family, but she never imagined that she'd be a princess. All but one of the male cottagers fell to their knees in deference.
"Absolutely not; there's no way I'm risking what'll happen if the queen finds you here. I've heard people say she's a witch; how can you possibly hope to hide from her when one spell would show her where you are?" Tomo, the only one who had remained standing, demanded. "Besides, what could you offer us? There's no guarantee the king will return- people meet with accidents or fall ill all the time when travelling, so there's no way you can promise he'd come back alive to reward us on his return. You're not cut out for hunting or cutting wood as we do to support ourselves. Better we sneak you out of the kingdom so you can seek shelter in another land."
Yui sighed, looking around the room. Noticing the state of disarray the house was in, she had an idea. "What if… if I helped cook and clean here in exchange for being able to stay?" she offered. "My stepmother made me work in the palace kitchens for years, so I'm pretty good at it."
"That's an excellent idea! I can't properly cook and clean for all seven of us without some help, but you're all too tired when you get home at night, and every time I go away for a few days to sell our goods, you turn this place into a pigsty," Soi said. "Though I must admit, it really doesn't feel right, having a princess cook and clean for us."
The others nodded at that, but gave in when Yui began describing all the foods she'd make for them, and saying it would only be until her father returned in six months. Tomo was the last to agree, finally won over by the vast array of promised dishes.
Time went by and Yui became accustomed to life in the cottage. Every day, Nakago and the other men went to work off in the forest, cutting wood and sometimes doing a little bit of hunting. Soi was too afraid to venture too deep into the forest, and at least one of them needed to look after the house, so she stayed and tended the cottage. Yui and Soi cooked, cleaned, wove, tended a garden, and made wood carvings from some of the wood the others cut. About every two weeks, Soi loaded up a wagon with the wood, carvings, and some of her and Yui's weavings. She travelled into town for a few days to sell them, and buy food and other supplies. Each of them reminded Yui every day to be careful and let no one but them into the house.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Queen Taiitsukun was in a rage. She had learned through her mirror that the guard had tricked her and let Yui live. When she had ordered his arrest, it was discovered that he and his family had fled the kingdom as soon as he had left the audience where he presented the false evidence and were now far beyond her reach. But, she told herself, even though the treacherous guard was gone, her mirror had shown Yui was still within the borders of the kingdom where she could get to her.
Sneaking up into the tower where she secretly practiced her magic, she prepared a disguise to make her look like an old peasant woman. Then, she snuck out of the palace, determined to put an end to her young rival once and for all.
*End Chapter*
