Five Petals - Chapter 1

Gumi watched with concern as her sister paced back and forth violently; Lily’s black and yellow dress, with its short cape and many ribbons, would’ve made for a pretty sight as it swirled around following her rapid movements, but the sight of Lily’s face contorted in anger scared Gumi. It was like a loud, dissonant note in the middle of a sweet song. Lily could be rough and headstrong, but she had never seen her be ugly.

“He’s ours! He doesn’t need anyone else!” Lily grabbed one of Gumi’s stuffed toys that happened to be unlucky enough to be within reach, and began slamming it against one of the sides of a heavy armchair next to Gumi’s bed.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” Lily punctuated each blow with the word.

It wasn’t particularly clear to Gumi if her toy was currently representing their brother or his winged friend, but she feared it wasn’t sturdy enough for the job. Still, she remained where she was, unwilling to direct Lily’s attention to herself.

Finally, Lily threw the toy to a corner of the bedroom, and looked around a bit dazedly. She turned to face Gumi, with a severe expression.

“You remember that day in the library, when he read us about the pharaohs, right?”

“I do.” She answered quietly. It was somewhat a somewhat hazy memory by now, but she recalled that rainy afternoon, a year or two back. They were all curled up together under some heavy blankets, in the least drafty corner they could find, and Gakupo had read from that yellowed, crinkly book until she fell asleep and dreamt of sphinxes and huge, devouring blue skies.

“Pharaohs don’t need outsiders, and they are as powerful as humans can get. So why does he want someone from outside the valley? Besides, that girl is just a thief. You heard her, begging him to show her the treasure vaults…Oh, it must be so beautiful, the jewels shining like stars…” Lily imitated the tones and body language of the winged girl pretty well, all things considered. Gumi could almost see her, sitting with Gakupo in his balcony, as she seen the pair the previous night. She made a face, revolted by the memory. Lily nodded, pleased.

“She’s just pretending to like him.”

“I don’t know about that…” Why would the girl have to pretend? As far as Gumi knew, there wasn’t anyone better out there than her brother.

Lily pursed the lips for a second. “If she really likes him is worse. All she’s going to do is get him into trouble.”

“Yes.” No arguments there. Gumi wasn’t about to start shouting or throwing stuff around, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t unhappy about Gakupo’s visitor. Just having to keep it secret from the adults was grating to her, but she had promised. The fact that her brother was making her lie by omission was actually more than a bit disappointing, but it wasn’t his fault. It was Lola’s. She had to know this wasn’t her proper place.

“We need to protect our brother.” Lily placed her hands on the bed, looking intensely at her sister. “We are the only ones he can rely on.”

“Gakupo’s not going to listen to us. But we can’t tell Father either.”

“No, no.” Lily swatted the thought away with a gesture of her hand. “He’ll get angry at us if we tell. We need to solve this ourselves.”

They considered the situation in silence for a few moments. Then Lily smiled, a slow, dangerous smile.

“Well, she wants to see treasures and magical artifacts. Why don’t we show her one?”

---

Their Father, the Serpent King, had a number of treasure rooms both in the castle proper, and stashed away in secret places all around their territories. However, he also kept a number of special items in his study. And there also was Miburi, the fabled sword from the east that only the rightful king was allowed to wield. That weapon kept itself hidden most of the time, and neither Gumi nor Lily could summon it. Not that they could use it properly anyway, as only Gakupo was being trained for it.

But one of the jewels or staves from the study would do just fine. Gumi was better at looking innocent, so she did her best at asking her father what each weapon on display inside the room did, without sounding suspicious. They needed something showy, but not beyond the scope of what they could control. After all, the idea was just to scare that stupid girl away. After a few days, they had settled on a few items that seemed promising.

That was the easiest part. A considerably larger number of days passed by before they had a good opportunity to act. Lola came by again, and even Gakupo’s blue haired friend that sometimes visited them on the way to a mission, though he wouldn’t tell them who his current target was, this time.

Then came a golden opportunity; Gakupo was going to be away for a day or two on an assignment for the king. Lily had been spying on him for a while now, and knew that he left a letter on the railing of his balcony for one of the girl’s bird followers to pick up. So they went to see him off, and then Lily ran into his room and switched his latest message with one she had prepared, asking Lola to come.

The princesses had a good vantage point from her music room to observe the balcony, and the letter weighted down by a small silver statue in the shape of a dragon’s head. They half-heartedly practiced their scales all morning, their eyes flicking back and forth from the notes on the page to the open window and back. Finally, just before lunch, a black bird flied into view. After singing a few notes, Gumi could tell that it was truly a small bird, and not Lola herself disguised. It didn’t have enough magic to do workings on its own, but it could be a vessel for Lola’s songs. The bird pulled and pushed until it freed the letter from under the statue and took off quickly with it.

 “It was one of her followers” Gumi turned to face Lily with a solemn expression.

Lily nodded in understanding. “She’s probably not that far, anyway. When is a good time to take the staff?”

“At dinnertime, I think. Father usually leaves the study open, and the seneschal goes to put the wards up after making sure the first dish is served.” Gumi had the advantage of already having a follower, despite her age: a tiny young snake that had spent a number of afternoons hidden behind a tapestry just opposite the study’s door.

 “I’ll fake a stomachache, then. Matron will go with you to the dinner hall, at least to get you seated.”

“Oh yes.” The old nursemaid seemed incapable to believe any of them were able to do even the simplest tasks on their own. Gumi guessed that the biggest disappointment in Matron’s life was the fact that the King had so far only fathered three children for her to fuss about.

“I’ll be back with the staff before she comes back to check on me, and then after lights out we go to Gakupo’s room.”

“I hope this works out.” And I hope this is the right thing to do, Gumi didn’t say.

“Of course it will. We’ll go back to the way things are supposed to be, just Gakupo, me and you.” Lily assured her, a big smile on her face.

--

It did work, at least at first. As expected, Matron made a huge fuss about Lily’s supposed stomach ache, before finally agreeing to leave her resting in her room. Lily sat on her bed propped against several cushions, with her best innocent expression plastered on her face. Just as Gumi’s specialty was finding the hidden truths of things, Lily’s was subterfuge and secrets. That manifested both in her songs of illusion and entrapment, and her ability to tell Matron the boldest lies and get away with it, as long as Gakupo or Gumi weren’t directly involved. So Gumi stayed out of the way while Matron and Lily talked, and then followed the servant trying so hard to act normally that she felt about to explode. It took a big effort not to sigh loudly in relief when she finally sat at an end of the long table reserved for the royal family and its closest advisors, in the great dining hall.

 Lily and she had been moved from the children’s table to their current seats just the year before, a pleasing sign that they were considered young woman now. Father was likely already considering marriage candidates for them. Gumi looked down at the plate, her brow furrowed. It filled her with worry, the idea of being handed off to a man from the outside. But no matter what happened tonight, it was likely that the three of them were going to be separated, since the king was keen on making new political alliances.

If only she could be married to someone from her Father’s court, then at least she would see her family every day. It didn’t matter who.

Gumi didn’t expect to love any man on earth as much as she loved her family, anyway.

Dinner went by awfully slowly. Gumi made no attempts to speak to anyone, afraid that her nervousness would alert the nobles that something was up. Thankfully Father was seated too far away to pay her any attention. So the princess ate slowly, in small bites, and looked with disinterest at the evening’s entertainment, a troupe of musicians and dancers prancing about in the space before the royal table. People talked and laughed loudly around her and in the tables for their vassals, so it seemed that she wasn’t the only one that found them less than enthralling.

Finally, it was time to retire. Gumi wasn’t allowed to run (it was not ladylike, after all), so she walked as quickly as possible back to hers and Lily’s chambers. Matron followed her some steps behind, grumbling.

Accordingly, Gumi was the first to poke her head inside Lily’s bedroom. Lily had time to wink at her, smiling, before Matron pushed the door open all the way.

“Honestly, you girls are going to be the death of me. What’s the use of rushing like that?”

“I just wanted to see how Lily was doing. I was worried.” That was true enough. Matron patted her head, apparently mollified.

“Now you’ve seen her, yes? She’s feeling better, I can tell.” Lily nodded in agreement, and Matron began to gently push Gumi towards her own room. “I’ll be with you in a minute, dear.”

“Yes, Matron.” Gumi crossed the small siting room connecting their bedrooms, and sat on her bed, tugging at the fabric from her skirt to release her tension. It was hard to get out of these silly dresses by herself, without turning into her other form, so she actually needed Matron’s assistance. Thankfully, she had put aside some simpler garments to put on for her ‘date’ later.

It only took Matron a few minutes to come and help her get changed into a nightgown. Soon after, Gumi was in bed, listening to Matron’s steps fade away in the distance. When she guessed the old woman was far enough, she sang a little ball of light into existence and got out of bed. The floating light was barely enough to see what she was doing, but that was probably for the best. She took out a plain blouse and skirt from one of her drawers and put them on. Then she cautiously went to get Lily, with the light trailing behind her.

Her sister was standing next to her bed, wearing a yellow and black knight outfit Gumi recognized as one of their theater costumes. It was something of an odd choice, but Gumi guessed it was better for running around than a dress.

A candle sat on Lily’s nightstand, leaving half of her face in shadows, yet her impatience was clearly displayed on the side she could see. Lily acknowledged her presence with an unintelligible mumble and patted a long object wrapped up in cloth, resting on the bed.

“I really want to see that stupid’s girl face when she sees this” Lily said. Something about her tone made Gumi feel really uncomfortable.

“We…we are just going to scare her, right?”

“Of course. But it has to be serious enough that she knows we mean it.” Lily moved closer, studying her face. “…You are scared.”  

“I…I’m not sure about this.” It was only normal to be a bit worried, wasn’t it? There were several things competing for attention in her mind, even discounting the many ways they could fail. Lily’s eyes glinted under the ball of light.

“It’s all right. You wouldn’t be Gumi if you stopped being sweet, even with people that doesn’t deserve it.” Lily kissed her cheek and smiled. “You and Gakupo are like that. That’s why I have to take care of you both.”

She then took a step back, and went to unwrap the object. It was a dark wood rod, engraved with jagged silver symbols. “I can’t activate this on my own, I tried for a while and all I get are sparks. We’ll need to place our hands on it and sing at the same time. Just wait for my signal.”

Gumi nodded wordlessly. It was too late now to be doubtful, she guessed. And if she thought too much about things she wouldn’t be able to sing right.

“Let’s go.”

Still, there was something strange about the way Lily was acting, so gleefully going into a confrontation with against an opponent with unknown powers…

--

Someone, probably Matron, had placed a small vase with rosemary branches next to Gakupo’s bed. The soothing smell surrounded Gumi and Lily as they waited in the dark, staring at the balcony door. Gumi was beginning to feel drowsy, despite her apprehensions, but Lily seemed alert as ever. Finally, as Gumi stifled a yawn, they heard a noise outside. As the sound increased, they recognized it as the sound of huge wings flapping, though slightly warped and strange. A moment later, a dark figure came into view.

“No followers” Lily whispered. She was right; for whatever it was worth, the young woman that landed on the balcony didn’t seem to have any of her birds escorting her.

“Gakupo?” Lola stopped at the doorway, perplexed.

With a few notes, Gumi called her floating light back into existence. Lola took a step back, startled.

“Please don’t leave yet. We need to talk.” Lily said with a light tone.

Lola said nothing, her look of surprise quickly traded for a guarded expression. Now that Gumi had the chance to look at her more closely, she found her dislike for her only grew. There was something about her pure black eyes, about the unblinking way she stared at them that was somewhat upsetting. Then she smiled a wide, joyless smile, and the feeling was a hundred times worse.

“If it isn’t the princesses of Sierpe, what an honor this is! Yet I expected to meet your lovely brother, as you just heard. Was the letter-?” 

“A fake? Very much so.” Lily interrupted the bird girl.

“Highborn girls engaging in such acts! You must have a very good reason for it. ” Lola leaned against the door frame, not even bothering to feign outrage.

”We needed to make sure we could discuss our proposal without being interrupted.” Lily said evenly.  

“Proposal?  What can you precious little serpents offer me? ” Lola’s voice had now a distinctly mocking tone.

As a response, Gumi and Lily scuttled a bit apart, letting the rod placed directly behind them come into view. Lola tilted her head, her expression gradually shifting into genuine interest as the sisters took the rod into their hands, and held it under the magic light.

“We want you to leave our brother alone.” Gumi said, trying hard to keep her voice from shaking.

“This rod is part of our family’s heirlooms, but you can have if you leave and never come back.” Lily added. “It’s very valuable.”

Gumi could see the greed plainly written in Lola’s face. She walked a few steps closer, almost mesmerized. For a moment, Gumi feared that she would jump and try to snatch the rod from them right there and then. But Lola then crossed her arms, amused.

“You actually think I’d trade my dear prince for such a miserly prize? Use those brains, silly brats. One artifact? When you have piles and piles of treasure gathering dust? If that’s the best you can do, then I wonder about this valley’s future.”

“He’s not yours in the first place!” Lily snapped, her grip on the rod tightening.

“Oh, I wonder.” Lola laughed; a low, raspy sound. “I do have ways to sway him to my side that you don’t, unless you three are closer than what I was told.”

With flushed cheeks, Lily growled. “Sing!” Gumi rushed to comply, her stomach lurching. As she launched on a series of scales, she realized Lily and her hadn’t settled on a range of notes. But by then Lily had taken charge of the main melody, with a series of quick, violent notes.

Lola raised her hands reflexively to cover her face. But it was too little, too late. The symbols on the rod shined brightly, responding to Gumi’s and Lily’s song with a distorted, jagged melody of its own. A blast of energy sent Lola flying across the room, until she hit the opposite wall and crumbled on the floor.

Then the screaming started.

Lola howled in pain, twisting and turning on the ground as if possessed. Blood gushed out from her mangled hands, and the many deep cuts in her face and torso. There wasn’t a hint of white in her eyes, nothing but two pools of complete darkness, surrounded by crumbling skin. 

And Gumi screamed alongside her, a high pitched sound that cut at her own ears but she couldn’t control. Her eyes were fixed on the beasts, the coiled, serrated snakes of pure magic that had jumped out from the rod onto Lola, tearing at her flesh.

Gumi! Gumi! What’s wrong?!” Lily was shaking her, panicked.

She couldn’t see them, she realized. Lily couldn’t see the horrible things tearing that girl apart, the old beings of bones and hunger and hate and it was too much, they were too powerful-

Lily slapped her as hard as she could, and then started to haul her towards the door. ”Come on, let’s get the guards!”

Behind them, Lola was trying to stand, swapping the air around her in a way that told Gumi she couldn’t see the beings either, but knew there was something there. She hurled curses at them, insults that degenerated into cries of pain. With an enormous effort, she modulated her voice into a quick tune that made Gumi and Lily stop on their tracks, the latter’s hand already on the door handle. Similarly, the beasts stopped biting at her, for the moment just circling in the air around their prey.

“You die now, little ones.” She laughed nastily, and flakes of skin fell from the sides of her mouth. Slowly, she took one shaky step forward. She sang some more, her posture growing more steady with each note. Lily glanced from her to Gumi’s terrified expression, and fighting her own paralyzed frame, she placed herself between Lola and her sister. Steeling herself, she sang her best song.

Behind her, Gumi blinked. On top of the usual layers of matter and raw magic she usually saw thanks to her powers, there now was a carefully constructed layer of illusion. To anyone but herself, the change would’ve been completely disorienting: from Lola’s perspective, she now was standing alone in a field of white lilies, under a breezy summer’s sky. Lily’s voice was carried by the wind, only a distant whisper. Lola dropped onto a crouched stance, looking around for the girls just a few steps in front of her. Gumi slowly opened the door, hoping the illusion would be strong enough to keep Lola from hearing the hinges. In the distance, she could sense hurried steps coming towards them.

The guards must’ve heard all the commotion. In retrospect, it was also possible that the rooms used by the royal family were enchanted to sense the use of magic inside of them. Gumi hadn’t even thought to try to detect any spells placed on Gakupo’s rooms before any of this. Whatever the case, Gumi crossed the sitting room as fast as she could and opened the door to the hallway. Far to the left, she saw a group of guards and the seneschal himself, carrying lamps. She ran towards them, hurling herself into the seneschal’s arms. 

“An intruder…Lily is still in there!” Gumi managed to mumble before burying her face in the seneschal’s robes, crying.

“Go!” The seneschal shouted.

“Yes, sir!” The guards answered as one, and rushed once more towards Gakupo’s chambers. The seneschal quickly tied this lamp to the sash on his waist, picked up Gumi in his arms, and hurried the other way.

Running as hard as he was doing, Lily’s and Gumi’s chambers were a few minutes away. His footsteps echoed loudly in the empty corridors, and the lamp sent crazy shadows dancing on the walls. The only sound was the hard stomping of the seneschal’s boots, and Gumi’s sobs.

After turning a corner, they crossed paths with a pair of guards on their usual patrol route.

“You, get the Matron to come to the princesses’ quarters.” The guard nodded and took off. “You, follow me.” The seneschal continued on, and reached the door to the girls’ sitting room. He let Gumi down, and opened the door for her.

“Go inside, your highness. I’ll be back with your royal sister in no time.” He said reassuringly. Then, to the guard standing a few steps behind. “Stay by this door.”

Gumi climbed on the nearest sofa and curled herself into a ball, hiding her face with her knees. The seneschal lighted the lamp on the table with a few notes of hurried singing and then left.

The wait was horrible. Alone, surrounded by the dark, images of what had happened flashing repeatedly before her eyes like a nightmare. Later, Gumi would realize that it was barely a half hour later when Lily was brought back, a calm expression on her face. Matron was just behind her sister, questioning her without waiting for answers, her hands planted on Lily’s shoulders like she was afraid the girl would disappear if she let go.

“Lily!!” Gumi stood and hugged her sister. Lily caressed her hair softly.

“She got away” Gumi stiffened, looking at her with dread. Lily smiled. ”But I bet she’ll think twice about coming back.”

 --

Lily gave most of the explanations to the adults, after that. In her version of the events, the bird girl snuck into the castle and managed to take one of the King’s artifacts. Then, the princesses saw her entering the crown prince’s rooms, possibly looking for more things to steal. In what was simply childish overconfidence, Lily and Gumi had confronted her, and in the resulting scuffle they were forced to use the staff to defend themselves.

Gumi listened and nodded with she felt it was appropriate, and tried very hard not to make eye contact with anyone until they were sent back to bed, now with guards posted outside of their chambers and out in every balcony.

Curled up in her bead, she pondered about Lily, and about the lie she had helped fabricate. It had been good enough for Matron and the seneschal, and Gumi wondered silently whether Lily was expecting to be found by the guards from the start.

Was she also expecting to maim Lola as they did? Was Lily hoping for something so horrible?

--

The next morning Gumi and Lily were back in their sitting room, busy pretending to work on their needlework. Gumi felt a chill every time the guard outside in the balcony moved and this shadow fell over her back, but she didn’t feel like getting up from her favorite spot and moving someplace else. Her embroidery laid uselessly on her lap, as she watched Lily happily doing the shoddiest stitches she could pull off before being grounded by Matron, even humming and swinging her legs. Obviously, the whole thing had been a huge success as far as her sister was concerned.

Suddenly, the door was flung open, and there was Gakupo, looking pale and a bit disheveled. Lily threw aside her embroidery hoop with delight, even more when her brother rushed forward to pull her and Gumi into a tight hug. Gumi’s own work ended up under Gakupo’s left boot, as the trio swayed and barely avoided falling to the ground as a multicolored heap.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry…I’ve never thought she’d ever do something like that!” Gakupo stumbled over his words. “Are you all right?”  

  “We’re fine.” Lily surrounded him with her arms and placed her head on his shoulder, smiling cheekily. ”We really kicked her rear, you know?”

Gumi looked down, confused. She knew that Gakupo was, in a sense, responsible for last night. Lola was nasty and she still couldn’t understand their friendship at all. But still, she didn’t want him to feel guilty over a fight Lily and her had started.

“Gumi?” The worry in his voice made her stomach lurch uncomfortably. Maybe it would be better to let him know, after all?

“Gumi’s still a bit rattled over last night.” Lily disentangled herself from Gakupo and cradled Gumi’s face in her hands. ”But I bet she feels safer now that you are here, right?”

The face of her beloved sister, and her steely blue eyes, told her without any room for hesitation that she couldn’t tell Gakupo anything. It wasn’t even like she could claim that Lily had forced her into doing anything. She wanted just as much as her sister to preserve the few years they had together, no matter what. So once again she said nothing and nodded, supporting whatever Lily said.

Gakupo sighted. “If she ever comes back, I’ll take care of it.” He placed his arms around Gumi’s and Lily’s shoulders “I promise.”

Gumi leaned against her brother, and took one of Lily’s hands into her own. She closed her eyes.

This was worth the lie.