Page 3 of Feathered Thief

Last of all, the Baron of Lómza, southwest of Starogard, had two snooty daughters, Kornelia and Malgosia.

At age eleven, Helena found boys intimidating, so she preferred to ignore them. Sadly, the four other girls moved in their sister pairs, bickering almost constantly. She pretended not to care, but in her heart she longed for a friend.

One sunny summer day—Prince Kazimierz’s twelfth birthday—a group of servants was assigned to organize games for the older children in the formal gardens behind the castle, while a few even unluckier footmen did their best to contain the feral little boys from Plock Castle.

Helena played hide-and-seek with her peers for a while, but that got boring and ended in arguments, so she observed while everyone else sat around and chatted. The boys talked about their military training, boasting of their skill and accomplishments until the girls began to yawn. Once the equally bored servants were called inside to resume their usual duties, Prince Kazimierz suggested heading down to an old pasturebeyond the archery ranges where they could play Blind Man’s Bluff without supervision.

Even though her archenemy had proposed the idea, Helena nodded, more than ready for action. Czwarty and Twardo pleaded with the other girls to play, since four players wouldn’t be enough.

Helena privately thought Kornelia was delighted to be convinced. Anyone could tell she had a huge crush on Czwarty. Those two were already thirteen, the oldest of the group. Kornelia was ladylike and proper, and she had beautiful red-gold hair and only a few freckles. Czwarty, heir to the Principality of Starogard, was large and strong, not exactly handsome but good-natured . . . and he was utterly clueless about girls.

When everyone had agreed to play, Helena followed the others to the castle’s west side and used the amazing (and possibly magical) terraced steps to descend the face of a granite cliff. Once they’d crossed the archery ranges, Kazik opened a gate to a seldom-used meadow, and they all filed in.

Boundaries and rules for the game were quickly laid out and agreed on. Twardo drew the long straw, so he wore the blindfold, a clean linen kerchief, first. At twelve, Twardo was built much like his older brother but clumsier. Helena found him easy to evade, and he seemed set on catching his sister Jadwiga anyway, so she mostly drifted around the edges of the game, amused and slightly scornful of the active players. Several rounds later, she had yet to be tagged. Then Czwarty caught Kazik, who laughed, winked at Helena, and donned the blindfold.

A thrill of horror and anticipation ran through her. The evil prince wouldn’t hunt her down . . . would he?

Yes, he would, like a hound on the trail. Kazik could have caught the giggling girls several times but didn’t even try. Twardo and Czwarty each smacked him, and he still didn’t take the bait. He followed her with uncanny accuracy. Could he beusing magic? She didn’t sense any, but how else could he find her when she made scarcely a sound?

The other children started to mock Kazik, but he paid no attention. He finally cornered her and guessed correctly which way she would dodge. His fingertips brushed her skirt and latched hold. “Helena,” he stated without doubt.

She wanted to sulk, but he’d caught her, fair and square—as far as she could tell. “How did you find me?” Her question was more like a challenge.

He pulled off the blindfold, and she looked into his twinkling eyes. “You’re as quiet as a cat!” he exclaimed, handing her the kerchief, which felt damp and warm. “And you smell nice.”

A compliment? He couldn’t mean it!

Could he?”

“If I’m quiet as a cat, I’ll catch you back, like a rat.” She meowed and curled her fingers like claws.

He grinned, and his dark eyes lit up. “Do it!” For an instant she wanted to smile but instead clapped the blindfold over her eyes. Ludmila tied it securely without tangling Helena’s hair in the knot.

The blindfold was hot and damp on her face.Ick!Oh, why did I agree to play this silly game?

Then Czwarty said, “Go.”

Everyone went so quiet that Helena began to wonder if they’d all crept away to leave her searching alone. But then she heard a snicker, and a few moments later someone gasped. She snatched in that direction but caught only air. She could never react in time to the sounds.

Someone lightly pushed her, and she stumbled. Giggles followed—that had to be Malgosia. Helena focused on light footsteps around her. One of them must be Prince Kazimierz. There! Someone was sneaking close behind and to her right. Shewhirled and lunged . . . but misjudged, tripped, and sprawled on her face, even scraping her chin in the grass.

Did someone push me?She rolled over and sat upright, stinging and humiliated.

Hearing laughter all around, she ripped off the blindfold and scrambled to her feet with fire in her soul, determined to punish that annoying pest of a boy. Her legs were longer than his, and she was taller. Ignoring everyone else in the game, she targeted him with malevolent intent.

Twardo said, “Cheater!”

Even without the blindfold, she still couldn’t catch Kazik. He darted and dodged, laughing all the while. Then Malgosia chanted, “Helena is a boy chaser!” and the other girls joined in like a chorus.

Enraged to the point of tears, Helena pursued her enemy even harder but could not catch that red-haired, freckle-faced, utterly horridboy! When she finally curled over with her hands propped on her knees, gasping for air, Kazik faced her in the same position, grinning from ear to ear. At least he was panting hard too, and so flushed that his freckles hardly showed.

She couldn’t speak for lack of breath, so she did her best to sneer.

His evil grin faded. “You’re not really angry, are you?”

Between gasps, she snarled, “I could beat you in a fair footrace, like . . .” She glanced around, then pointed. “Straight from that holly bush to the tallest pine tree there on the knoll.”

Kazik’s eyes lit up. “Sure. Let’s race. You’re really fast.”

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