Are you daft, girl?!”
My head turned, ears picking up the unmistakable screeching of The Madam. The kitchen froze, all the maids freezing in place as the robust woman stalked in. Her eyes searched the group of cowering girls, finally landing on me. Unlike the rest, I had no reason to fear The Madam. Being the Queen’s favorite, as uncomfortable as it may be, did come with certain advantages.
Her lips twisted into a sneer. It was quite evident that the woman held a strong dislike for me. Perhaps it was the knowledge that she would be punished severely should she ever disobey the Queen in regards to my personal safety. Unfortunately, that meant she chose to channel her anger towards someone else.
As expected, her eyes left me and quickly targeted one of the other girls. In two quick strides, she loomed over her victim. It was one of the newer girls; Aleryia. A nice girl who did not y deserve the torture she received at the hands of Madam. I truly felt bad for her but I knew I could not.
I angled my body away from the others, flinching as the undeniably crack of hand hitting flesh echoed throughout the room. Aleryia cried out, sobbing as the Madam continued her brutal assault. No one intervened. We all knew that doing so would only make things worse for the rest of us. After a couple of seconds, the Madam stormed out of the kitchen, muttering to herself.
Aleryia lay on the floor, unable to lift herself from the cold marble. The anger reflecting in the other’s eyes was directed towards me. A sigh left my lips as I slowly made my way from the kitchen without a word. Their thoughts were loud a clear; being the Queen’s favorite, I could have intervened. Perhaps I could have. But nothing would have been solved. The Madam simply would have directed her anger towards someone else when I was not around.
I had attempted many times to persuade The Queen to release The Madam from her duties. I was always warned that it was not my place to question The Queen’s choices when it came to her staff. They wouldn’t understand, even if I did attempt to explain myself. It was simply one of the many reasons I remained alone for most of my day. I wasn’t expected to complete the normal daily chores that the others were forced into. It left me with quite a lot of time on my hands.
As usual, I wandered out to the training grounds. As I was of the female gender, I was forbidden from any formal training in regards to fighting. Thalion, however, had devoted some of his time to “informally” training me since the incident that had occurred in my room several weeks ago. It warmed my heart how he worried about my safety. He wished to ensure that, should my secret ever be discovered, that I was capable of defending myself if I were ever attacked. The Queen had been told and, up to now, had said no work against it. She’d spoken of it me when we first again, claiming that it would be to my benefit to continue the sessions. I hadn’t argued against it. At least now I didn’t have to worry about being seen.
Thalion stood a few feet in front of me, sparring with another soldier. They were so intertwined in their duel, they didn’t notice my approach. I settled myself on a concrete bench, waiting for them to finish. I recognized the other solder almost immediately, though his name escaped me. He’d been noticed by me on several different occasion, none of which were pleasant. He constantly harassed the serving maids. He was not a nice man in any sense of the word.
While I watched, the man who’s name I couldn’t remember suddenly spotted me. He froze, crystalline eyes darkening in anger. Thalion inclined in his in my direction, allowing the other to get a cheap shot to the stomach. He doubled over, gasping for air. I was by his side in an instant, glaring at the other with all the anger I could manage. He grinned, no amusement in his face. Just as I began to speak, Thalion laid a restraining hand on my arm. My jaw snapped shut. Even without speaking a word, I knew Thalion was right to restrain me. Nothing would come of it. He was another of the Queen’s favorites.
“Another time, Thalion,” The man spat, “The air has suddenly became foul and I no longer wish to remain. Good day.” He spun on his heels and stalked away.
After a few moments, Thalion finally reclaimed his ability to breathe. He stood slowly, a thin sheet of sweat gleaming on his face. “You certainly have a way with people,” He chuckled, not missing the heated look his opponent had cast in my direction before sulking away.
I chuckled in response, firmly assured that the low blow hadn’t caused any serious injury. I backed away slowly, giving him space to straighten himself out. He stretched, arms rising high above his head. He bent over, retrieving the blade he had dropped a few moments earlier. He juggled it from hand to the other before turning back to me.
“Shall we continue our lesson then?”
He extending his blade towards me, handle facing me. I wrapped my fingers around the smooth metal, eyes never leaving his face. One of the first things I’d learned during our lessons; never take your eyes off you opponent. He was unarmed.
Nibbling on my lip, I made no move towards him. He’d always shown great prowess in hand to hand combat, easily outmaneuvering the sharp blade with each of my clumsy swings. I would have preferred for him to be at least somewhat armed, enough to deflect the blade should it come too close. He had refused.
He wiggled his fingers in my direction, “Come on then Let’s see what you have learned.”
The sword raised above my head, I half lunged towards him. He darted away, laughing at me whilst he did so. My face flushed in anger. I swung the sword again. He looped behind me, one hand grabbing a wrist and twisting in behind me. I cried out, mostly in surprise then pain, and dropped the sword.
“I surrender.” I gasped.
“Am I interrupting something?” A voice spoke from behind us.
Thalion immediately released his grip on me. We both turned, coming face to face with The Queen. She donned her typical royal attire; A long, flowing ball gown of elegantly stitched fabric. Two servant girls accompanied her. One girl held a pale pink umbrella, positioning it to keep the heat of the morning sun from burning the Queen’s fair skin. The other waved the Queen with a large ivory fan. Both girls were drenched in sweat and looked close to fainting.
Her face was simply radiating with glee. Her eyes darted between the two of us, the wheels in her mind clicking. I dipped into a low curtsy while Thalion bowed deeply. A pang of sympathy stabbed my heart. It must have been a great insult from him to have to bow to his own mother. The Queen took no notice of Thalion, setting her conniving glances upon me. I was careful never to meet her gaze. She took it as an offense.
“Eve, How are you fairing on this lovely day?” Her words were light but there was something lurking beneath them. The Queen wanted something from me. The Queen always got what she wanted, one way or the other.
I bowed my head. “I am quite well, my Queen. Is there something you require of me?”
The Queen’s face glowed at my words. She took a step towards us, “I shall be blunt, Eve. As you may know, Elven law dictates that only a woman can ascend the Summer Throne. Some conspire the place Queen Eleria’s second daughter on my throne.”
Rumor had spread throughout the court concerning the line of succession. It was true; The Queen had no daughters but I hadn’t heard of the possibility of Princess Celeste being placed on the throne. She was every bit as vicious and cold hearted as her mother. I’d had the displeasure of meeting the Princess twice now and she was indeed a foul woman. Our current Queen was no saint but if she was a better ruler than Princess Celeste would be.
“I have devised a plan of my own, Eve.” The Queen continued, interrupting my chain of thought, “I have a secret, Eve. One I have longed since concealed from you.”
Her words caught my attention, “You bear the blood of royalty. You are a direct descendent of…”
Before the Queen could finish her sentence, there was a high pitch whistling noise. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, yanking me back. One of the serving girls dropped to the dirt. I cried out, eyes landing on the arrow that protruded from her back.
The Queen seemed frozen and then, all hell broke loose. Guards swarmed the training yards, surrounding the Queen. Before I could even register what was happening, the strong arms still around my waist began pulling be back. More arrows poured into the training ground, sinking into the guards that surrounded the Queen.
Everything moved in slow motion. I was drug further away from the Queen. More men rushed into the area. These, however, bore the crest of our neighboring kingdom. Surprisingly, their target was not the Queen. They focused on me.
“There’s the Witch!” One roared, drawing his bow.
I flinched as the arrow released from the drawstring, aimed right at me. I prepared myself for the impact. Nothing happened. The arrow disintegrated before it ever reached me.
The other archers halted, stunned for only a moment. It was long enough. Thalion forced me to my feet. I shook off the numbness that had set in. I followed behind Thalion as the two of us ran. The archers were in quick pursuit as we reached the stables.
“Hurry!” He ordered, helping me mount Bolt, his prized black Stallion. Thalion paused, glancing back towards where his mother remained, “Farewell, Mother.” He whispered and heaved himself onto the horse, positioning himself behind me.
One sharp kick to the ribs was enough to set the horse into a full gallop. I’d never ridden a horse before and feared I’d be tossed from its back. Thalion’s arms rounding my waist to grip the horse’s mane were the only thing keeping me atop the massive beast.
Thundering past the throng of people that had gathered, we were forced to to flea the only home either of us had ever known.
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