Chapter 2

In the morning Emma was taken out of the cell and up to the throne room where her father and the two high priests and two high priestesses were waiting. She looked around the room, built from the red rocks that could be found out in the naturally occurring rock quarries past the desert. She always wondered how they got the rock to shine the way they did. She had seen the raw material, it was dusty and nowhere near as pretty as what she was looking at now. The nobles were gathered in the background to witness what was going on. When Emma was brought before her father, she looked him right in the eye.

            “Princess Emma, you have been brought here today on charges of blasphemy…will you atone for your actions?”

            “I will not.” She said, in the background she could hear the gasps of a few nobles. She observed the faces of the priests and priestesses, trying to read them, but like always, their tanned faces and black eyes were set like stone in an emotionless display. She wondered, while her father spoke, why the clergy shaved their heads, even the women had shaved heads. She snapped back to attention and focused on her father.

            “The penalty for blasphemy is death.” The king said, eliciting more gasps from the crowd. “However, because you are royalty, we waive this penalty and substitute it with another.” He stated, looking at her and then at the crowd of nobles as if he was putting on a show. “You shall not be put to death; instead you will be banished, sent to live with the other unspeakables.”

            She stood straight and proud as her sentence was read out.  She didn’t show fear and she didn’t show remorse for her actions.  She knew that banishment was coming, and she had prepared herself for it mentally during her night in the cell.

            One of the priests looked at Emma, and spoke. “Princess, if you were to atone for your sins, we could speak to the gods on your behalf. Then your punishment could be reduced from banishment to perhaps community service in the temple.”

            She looked at the priest. “I have no sin to atone for. I do not wish to rule, nor do I wish to marry someone that I will never love.” She looked back at her father, trying to find some emotion on his stone cold face. She saw nothing, no compassion, no fatherly love, nothing. He looked back at her and spoke again.

            “Since you once again refuse, you will be banished immediately following this sentencing. Should you return to this city, you will not be shown mercy again, and death will be the penalty.” He said. “May the gods show you mercy as we have.” He said, giving the final word.

He motioned for the guards to take her away, back to the cell for the time being. One of the high priestesses followed. Back in the dungeon she thrust black robes at the princess.

            “From this day forward, no longer may you wear the royal and holy color. You shall wear black, like the other unspeakables.” She said her voice cold and hollow.

            Emma took the clothes and looked at the priestess and the guards. “Can you leave so I might get changed?” The guards nodded and left, along with the high priestess. Once they were out of sight she took off the silky dress and removed all jewelry. She put on the course and rough black fabric. It would take some getting used to, but she already felt free.

            When the guards returned the grabbed her by the arms, and paraded her out into the city, built from the same red rock as the throne room. She noticed though that the structures were not polished like the palace. When she finally reached the city gates she looked up. She had never really noticed them before. She had never noticed the way they wrapped around the entire city. She was shoved out of the gate unceremoniously, and she turned to watch as the gates shut. She turned and looked around.

She never realized how desolate the landscape was beyond the city walls. It was nothing but sand, miles and miles of vibrant red sand. She took a deep breath and started walking towards her newfound freedom. The sun beat down on the earth, making the journey close to unbearable and the black clothing that covered her entire body didn’t help matters.

            It was quite a ways past the sand dunes that she spotted what looked like a tent city. She had heard about the tent city, but had never left the city to see it. Before her eyes was the city of the unspeakables, those who had been banished from the rest of Pasivian civilization. She walked towards the tents, hoping that there she would find acceptance from people, that she would be treated as an equal.

She stopped at the edge of the camp and looked around, looking for people, for anyone to talk to. She walked in, and soon found a small group, huddled around a fire cooking their evening meal. She could tell they had been there for a while. Their naturally tanned skin was even darker from constant battering of the sun. Their hair was white, but not well kept, in fact, most everyone, women included, had short hair. Their clothes were black, but faded from the sun. Finally she spoke up.

            “Excuse me?” She asked, in a soft voice. A man, whom she assumed to be the leader of the camp, turned and looked at her.  She saw the mark of a commoner on his forehead and wondered what he had done to get banished.

            “Hello, welcome to the city of the banished…” he said. “You must be new…” he said, observing her. She just nodded, finding herself unable to speak now. “I’m Martin; I’m the unofficial leader of the camp. And you are?”

            “My name is Emma.” She said, taking her cloak off.  As soon as Martin saw the marking on her forehead, he took a step back and bowed.

            “Your highness.” He said. The rest of the camp looked at her with wide eyes and bowed.

            “It’s just Emma….” She said. “Just Emma, I’m no longer royalty.”

            “Your highness; may I ask…why are you here?”

            “I was banished…for the crime of blasphemy.” She stated, knowing that if she hadn’t been royalty, she would be dead. She was given looks that ranged from pity to shock.

            “Blasphemy?” He asked, standing up, his soft features hardened. “I’m sorry…but you can’t stay here…we need all the pity from the gods we can get, we can’t allow a blasphemer to stay…we’ll give you supplies and a tent, but you can’t stay here.”

            With that her heart sank. Any hope she had of being treated as an equal among these people was gone. She held back tears as she nodded. She was given a tent and few basic supplies to see her along.

            “I thank you for the small kindness you’ve shown me.” She said, before leaving the camp. She walked on, not stopping until their camp was out of sight. She looked around the desert landscape and sighed.

She didn’t know how to survive on her own, and that scared her. She had never learned how to hunt or build a fire. She had never needed to before. She managed to set up her tent within a few hours of struggling. It wasn’t much, just a basic piece of cloth and some poles. She put the blankets she had been given inside of her shelter, and then she tried to build a fire.

She tried many times. Her eyes lit up when she got a spark, but her mood fell once the spark didn’t catch. Eventually she gave up and resigned herself to her tent, shivering in the cold desert night air.  She gave up her brave façade and started crying. She had tried so hard to find equality and acceptance, and now she was alone in the desert. 

Author's Note

This is an updated version of this chapter. One thing people were stating was that I hadn't given a description of Pasiva, so I added some things in.

Reviews

[jjwilbourne]

Loving this so far.
Just 2 suggestions
The sentence: "She had heard about the tent city, but had never left the city to see it." Seems a tad weird. Maybe just say the name of her city instead?
The other thing is that you mention She tried hard to find acceptance, but I didn't feel like she tried very hard at all. I would have believed that she was too proud to beg for help, but I didn't get a desperate vibe. Especially since she took her banishment with head held high.
Perhaps. If you expanded the paragraph where she receives the supplies. Perhaps while Martin works to gather the supplies you can have Emma putting a bit of effort to find refuge among them.
Just an idea.
Stoked to read on!

[KMC]

Thanks! Reading it again, it is a weird sentence! Yes, that is a good idea! Thanks you for your feedback!

[S. Barber]

Make sure you stay consistent, Marcus and Martin are different names, but the same person.

[KMC]

Woops! THanks for catching that!

[NoelHC]

This chapter is as good as the first one. About the only suggestion I would make is in the part when Emma is taken outside the gates you write " She turned and looked around. She never realized how desolate the landscape was beyond the city walls. She took a deep breath and started walking, walking towards her newfound freedom.

She looked around the desolate landscape; it was nothing but sand, miles and miles of sand. "
It is somewhat repetitive, maybe the start of the paragraph could read "Everywhere she looked there was nothing but sand, miles and miles of sand." Or something along those lines.
A very interesting story so far

[KMC]

Thank you for your feedback! :D I will take your suggestions into consideration and make it less repetitive!