The Wild Swans by K.M. Shea

dagger out of his uniform as Elise and Falk scrambled to check on the fallen trio.
    “Hold your tongue , you fool,” Clotilde said. “You will die without honor.”
    Gerhart ran for the door. He tried to wrench it open but it wouldn’t budge. “Arthur! Arthur, open the door!” he shouted, pounding on it.
    “It’s no use. I have sealed this room. You will not escape,” Clotilde said.
    “You won’t get away with this. The people will revolt. It will be obvious you killed us ,” Steffen said.
    “If I kill you when you are human , yes. But not if I curse you first,” Clotilde said with an evil smile as she slipped a hand into a black silk bag. “A swan will do nicely. I’ve always hated those birds. They are too beautiful and pure. It will be wonderfully ironic, of course, as your family crest is a swan. Maybe I’ll make you all into a cloak.”
    Erick tried throw ing his dagger. It made the shield of magic Clotilde used to protect herself crack and fizzle, and it lodged in the surface, but it was not able to pass through.
    Clotilde pulled something out of the bag and clasped it in her hands before starting the spell. As Clotilde spoke in a deep, eerie voice unlike her own, Rune, Mikk, and Nick recovered and tried to attack again. They hit the magical shield and again bounced off it.
    Clotilde ignored them and spoke in a dark, guttural language Elise didn’t recognize.
    “Puss , do something,” Gabrielle said.
    Steffen unearthed several daggers and threw them at Clotilde. They bounced off the surface of her shield, unlike Erick’s, and fell to the ground with a clatter.
    “Arthur!” Gerhart shouted , pounding on the door as dark fog filled the room.
    Falk ran up the stairs , making a beeline for King Henrik. “Father,” he shouted when he could get no closer. “Father! Wake up!”
    Clotilde’s voice increased in volume until it made the air and floor shake. She held her hands up with a flourish , still clutching something in one fist, and shouted. “Now, I curse you, princes and princesses of Arcainia. I curse you!”
    “Gabrielle , hold on!” shouted a voice Elise didn’t recognize.
    “ But Steffen—,”
    “It won’t do hi m any good if you’re both swans!”
    The magic hit Elise and her siblings like a wave of black water. It struck Steffen first, coating his body in black liquid. A black cloud formed around him and started shrinking. Inside the cloud, Steffen yelled. His voice turned wild and the cloud shattered with an explosion of white feathers.
    Mikk and Nick were next. They braced each other and tried to stab their swords through the black magic, but it engulfed them. Elise could hear the clang of their swords falling to the ground as they, too, screamed.
    Erick held his hand out in front of him and said words Elise suspected were part of the language of magic, but the wave of black filth did not flinch backwards and enveloped him as well.
    Falk and Rune were only seconds behind, their screams adding to the cacophony of the air.
    A cloud formed around Gabrielle , but it did not shrink. Something seemed to be pushing it back.
    Elise and Gerhart were last. Elise saw the black magic surround Gerhart before her vision was blocked off.
    The curse slide across her skin like a snake coil ing around her. It pried her mouth open, dripped down her ears and oozed down her throat like tar. Elise choked as she felt the curse tighten around her and fight its way to her bones.
    Clotilde was going to win.
    All would be lost. Not just her fami ly, but Arcainia as well.
    Clotilde , the witch, would ruin it. The servants, her Treasury Department staff, the kind stable hands and the brave soldiers. All would be ruled by a tyrant who was bent on their destruction.
    “ NO !” Elise shouted. Her rebuke was drowned out by the tarry magic, but after she choked it out, the curse froze.
    “NO!” Elise repeated. The curse retreated from her mouth and inner body with enough suddenness to make Elise wretch , but