PEACEFUL, THAT'S HOW BEST TO DESCRIBE the atmosphere. That kind of cold and silent peace that best seems to cling to the dark forest A lady dressed in dark robes was on a mission that night. She could barely see with all the fog, yet she stumbled as though the devil himself was on her heels while clutching her bundle to her chest. She ran until she burst from the entrapping trees of the forest into a clearing, where she slowed down for a bit, exhausted and happy to have reached her destination. The rushing of a river roared over her ears as the lady walked slowly and came to a stop in front of the river, where she freed her bundle of its wrap. The wail of a child pierced through the night air, louder than the chirping of the nocturnal insects. The lady took no care to appease the wailing, naked child as she hastily placed the baby in a bowl. With a heavy heart, the woman waded into the river and laid the child down. She stood for a while, gazing at the infant as she thought of al
TODAY WAS A DAY OF CHANGE, an emotional and mental change. The type of change you feel in the air.I feel it before it happens. Like a low buzz of energy underneath my skin that makes me lightheaded.Every time something of significance is about to happen, I feel it.I felt it before Father failed to show up to my seven-year-old birthday, the next day, he was found gravely wounded close to Revillon borders.I felt it the moment Mother got pregnant. She lost the baby a few months later.I feel it now, I've felt it since this morning.My head jerked to the door of the Queen’s waiting chambers, as the guards pulled it open and my parents walked in regally.“Mother, Father,” I greeted them with an incline of my head.The King returned my greeting with a warm smile and the Queen ignored me.Typical.Queen Vanisha sat by the fireplace where a warm fire crackled dispelling the cold winter air, and she gestured opposite her for me to do the same.Seating was the last thing I wanted to do but p
When I walked out of the queen's waiting room, Kezira stood outside waiting for me. I did not have to tell her what had happened, she could read me as easily as I could read her. Kezira is my ladies maid, I wouldn't go as far as saying she is my best friend. I don't t keep friends but Kezira comes close enough."None of this makes sense. Her majesty just wants me to run away, what of my soldiers, who's going to lead them?" I asked Kezira in annoyance as I walked away from the door and stalked down the hallway.The ladies of the court knew better than to test me, they all walked briskly like scared kittens, eager to get away from the warrior princess before they experienced my wrath. Wouldn't be the first time. "Azura calm down, I think it's mostly for your protection" Kezira said as she walked briskly in an attempt to keep up with me. Kez is the only person person apart from my parents who calls me by that name."It was a rhetorical question, if you're not going back me up, then plea
THE STORY OF THE ANCIENTS CLAIM you become the opposite of yourself when you dream. Well I can confirm, that's a lie.I dreamt. For a long time, but became nothing. Just darkness and a deep void.My eyes fluttered open to extreme silence and the smell of chemicals. Heat seemed to waft from a corner of the dark wagon I was in and my mouth tasted like wool. A woman sat at the edge of the wagon, stooped over a sachet in her hands, her clothes were the dirty brown of revillon slaves and her silver hair was tied in a tight bun at her neck."I see, you're awake,” Her voice startled me “ I was thinking we'ere goin to have to toss ya out. I sure am glad you didn't tun out to be completely useless after all,”Her voice was hoarse from years of overuse, and I could tell from her accent, she had been around the Braavasi for a long time. "Well, what are ya waitin for? Sit up and lemme take a look at ya” She was surprisingly nimble as she walked over to the edge of my makeshift bed.I tried to si
I FELT THE HARD GRAVEL PRICKING MY SKIN before I heard the noises. The gruff voices of strange men laughing and jeering, the injured horses whining helplessly, A girl screaming with a voice so loud, it pierced my muddled brain. But I couldn't command her to stop, I couldn't even move to look at her, every cell in my body hurt but it was strangely peaceful. I mean If I died, then I would be free of all responsibilities and unspoken pressure. Maybe the queen would even miss me, I know she'll definitely not cry at my funeral --that's a major sign of weakness. Okay, lets see what I can feel. I think I'm laying down on the ground, maybe under the carriage because I can feel a heavy weight on my hips but I can't feel anything in my legs. My Sarfar(Revillionain scarf) had been ripped away, but the wind couldnt move my hair. My long tresses were stuck to my face in the places where there was blood. The screaming stopped abruptly and I opened my eyes. Okay, I was right, I'm on the floor
I COULD FEEL A number of things. I could feel the pain in my bad leg and the ache in my slightly better leg, I could feel the cool midday breeze on my bare chest where my clothes had been ripped off, I could feel the rough hand palming my right breast. I opened my eyes quickly and tried to push the offending hand away, but I could only muster a weak pat. Loud laughter followed my measly attempt at attacking the hand, and I looked around. I was outside the tent now, in something like a mainsquare. Several men surrounded me, and they bickered over whether or not I was worth much. "I reckon she'll do alright. She's got a lil spirit that's for sure" A man whose name I later learnt was Tim said. He was the one who was feeling my breasts. I tried to push him away again but that just ignited more laughter. Another man dressed in Revillionian attire stepped towards me and started caressing my bad leg. "But I doubt she can do much with that leg. I don't buy damaged goods." "Nonsense! We g
THE NEXT MORNING, I wish I could say I was awoken by beams of sunlight or maybe even the chirping of birds. Those would have been pleasant.But no.When I woke up, I couldn't even identify, if it was night or noon. The tent was that thick. With no windows and just a door flap, its a wonder we didn't suffocate.Somehow, during the course of the night, Kezira had moved and now layed curved in on herself. I don't know how she was so comfortable sleeping there. Hell even I, don't know how I slept through the night. Must be some of the magic left in my system.When the flaps were thrown open for the first time that day, I knew we had arrived somewhere critical.I could feel the difference in the air. The men whispering excitedly among themselves. The new spring they had in their steps. Even the horses seemed brighter somehow. Like they knew something good was up.The braavasi are normads, they move, they capture, they trade.But its only natural that throughout the years, some of them had
I DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT LONG to find out, cause the next hallucination that came was indistinguishable from reality. One minute I was trudging along the line and the next, I was swamped by a dead ringing in my skull that made me scream and fall to the ground. For the next few minutes, I wavered in and out of consiousness.I vaguely remember them putting me in a crate filled with other items that were to be sold.I remember the musty smell of the crate and how cramped my limbs were. The crate stopped once- I thinkCause I remember the smell of Missy's poultice applied on my leg.When I eventually regained full conciousness, we had arrived. My leg was healed and I was a mess.The crate was opened by the goons and when I was let out, I stood on my feet.I smelt as bad as the stable hand we had in the palace and I'm sure I looked way worse.The other captives were no better.As we had already been sold, our masters were waiting at the port of entry to collect us.We had arrived Mistlyn, th
Chapter 18I sighed in satisfaction as I stepped back to survey my work. It was impressive how much I had learned in the last few weeks to protect my cover.Last week, I learned to make a bed properly, yesterday, I learned how to sweep and cleaned and today, I finally figured out how to old clothes. To say I was proud of myself is an understatement.Working for Prince Scott had surprisingly not been too bad so far. Yes, the man still made me want to scratch my eyeballs out and chuck a pillow at his head every time he opened his mouth but if I’m being honest.He wasn’t so bad once he realized he couldn’t get rid of me by overworking me.I whistled happily to myself as I picked up the clothes I had folded and put them away neatly in his closet. Once I was done, I stood staring at the room.Everything was neat and clean, for the first time in a long time, I had finished my work on time.Scott wasn’t in the room presently. He had gone to yet another meeting with the kind, probably to bad
Chapter 17I TAKE THAT BACK.He is a bad person. A very bad person. I paused in the closet for a minute to catch my breath.“Maid! Faster!” Prince Scott yelled from the room.I rolled my eyes and swore under my breath. It was just 10 AM yet my limbs were trembling from all the running around he had made me do.“I’m coming! And my name is not Maid!” I yelled back as I staggered under the mountain of clothes he had requested and made my way into the bedroom. I was sleeping peacefully this morning. The bell in my bedroom rang by 5:30 AM. At first I had ignored it and gone back to bed but then Neema had come banging on my door to yell at me for not answering my master and I had groggily stood up, weaved my hair, and gone up to answer Scott.For someone who didn’t seem pleased about me serving him, he was enthusiastic about making me run around.First, he had me assist him while he trained in the grounds outside. The cold Revillionain morning air had bitten at my face and rattled me unti
Chapter 16“I’m so sorry your majesty, I I, It was,” I stammered in panic as I bowed my head deeply in apology.My heart pounded loudly as the extremities of my crime dawned on me. Some of the nobles cried in outrage and I knew they would surely have torn me apart if they could,“Have you gone mad girl?” The king asked me affronted as he stood up from his seat and began to observe the damage I had done to his clothing.“I deeply apologize your majesty. I didn’t mean to, the wine. It had pineapples,” I whimpered as I began to discreetly survey just how men I would have to take down if it came down to the worst.“Pineapples! You destroyed my dinner for pineapples?!” The king yelled enraged.I began to shake my head vigorously as I tried to backtrack and say something to salvage the situation.“It was me,” Prince Scott whispered softly in disbelief.“What?” The king asked in confusion.“She, the girl knocked the glass because of me your majesty. I am allergic to pineapples,” Prince Scot
CHAPTER 15“Don’t just stand there, serve them!” Vianna hissed at me as she shoved me out of my reverie and went past me to serve the nobles.I blinked quickly and followed her lead. The better part of the evening was spent with us serving nobles, refilling glasses, and attending to the whimpering noble women trying to catch Prince Scott’s attention.It was hilarious actually.I had watched Lady Trowper cough and cry more times in this single meal than she had over the weeks I had been attending to them.She would put a spoonful of food in her mouth and then proceed to cry or cough until Scott asked about her well-being.Some of the other ladies tried to win him over by barely picking t their food. I understood why he had been reluctant to eat with the rest of the nobles before, his presence almost turned the dining room to a circus.“I am having an incredible amount of fun tonight,” Vivi whispered to me as she inclined her head in Lady Trowper’s direction.I snorted and almost spill
Maid for me chapter 14 The sudden pain caused me to lose my balance and I swooned. “Mari! Are you okay?” Tara exclaimed in shock and concern. I blinked rapidly trying to chase away the hot headache that had enveloped my skull. “Hmm, yes. I’m fine,” I whispered to her reassuringly. “Liar, you can’t even stand upright,” One of the maids said worriedly. I looked around and realized that they had seized their conversation and were all crowded around me. I gripped Tara’s hand tightly, as she helped me stand upright. “I think you better go lie down,” Tara said softly. I frowned at her and looked at my uniform I was still washing. “I’m not done here yet,” I explained to her. “Leave it. Just follow Julie. I’ll take care of it,” Just the thought of spending a few minutes in bed, sounded incredibly pleasant and gave me great joy. I flashed Tara a grateful smile and let go of her hand so I could hold on to the maid call
Chapter 13I SPENT THE next few days following a routine schedule and getting to know my way about the palace.At first, Neema had been placed on breakfast duty in the kitchen but within a few hours, it became apparent that I had no idea what I was doing.I had cut myself, burnt my fingers, broken dishes, and started a small fire. It was obvious I didn't know my way around the kitchen.Next, I had been put on cleaning duty. That didn't go down too well either. I could never tell the difference between the cleaning agents and would constantly substitute soap for bleach.Neema had received thousands of complains from the maids made to work with me and the occupants of the rooms I had cleaned.Finally in frustration, she had paired me with a wiry looming girl called Vianna and made me assist the girl.Vianna was a high ranking maid. She had direct access to the king's breakfast table. And while my fake limp made me slow, the one job I was able to do properly was balance stacks and stac
Chapter 12I knew I was in big big trouble as I stared at him.He was sculpted. From my spot, I couldn’t help but admire every lean line and toned muscles that seemed to make up this incredible human.The prince stared at me in absolute shock and blinked rapidly like he was trying to clear his thought process.“Hey,” I said to him with an awkward chuckle as I waved my hand slightly.“Palaskda ve!” He swore sharply as he grappled my wrist and found me away from my hiding spot like I was some demon.I clutched my arm to my chest in shock as I went crashing to the floor.“What the hell is your problem? Do you have marbles for brains or something?” I hissed at him in pain as my leg began to steadily ache again.He seemed even more surprised at my fluency in his tongue than the insult I had thrown his way.“This demonic country has sent me an ifrit! And you came into my closet!” He yelled at me in anger.He kept muttering more insults under his breath as he aggressively picked up a pair of
Chapter 11I SIGHED IN IRRITATION, a bit self-conscious about my lack of uniform.Apparently, a new prince was in the palace. I don't know why this was such a big deal, at home we used to host several royal ambassadors and even some meters of the royal family.But in a way, I understand their reasoning. Revision is an aloof country and it always has been. They were rarely mixed with the rest of us, so a royal prince from another country must be quite exciting for them.The maid who Neema had been yelling at was called Tamara and she was a bit dim-witted.She had attempted to balance two trays of food at the same time and go up the stairs to serve the new prince.Now, anyone with even half a brain could tell that it would end in disaster. But Tamara was built differently and proceeded to leave the kitchen like that.And maybe, just maybe she might have succeeded in her task. But unfortunately for her, Neema saw her trying to balance the two trays and sent her back to the kitchen in a
NEEMA TOOK ME down a corridor to a series of rooms that I was sure belonged to the servants.We stopped in front of one of the wooden doors and she brought out a ring of keys from within the folds of her dress.I watched her carefully as she unlocked the room door and handed the key over to me.She obviously had another key, the way she gave me was too casual. I would have to device a different way of locking my room from within.“Comin lemme show you where the stuff are,” Neema said to me as she walked into the room and I hurriedly followed behind her.The room was tiny, it had one small bed, a table and chair.That was it. No clothes for wardrobe or anything go like that.I had stayed in worse though. Camping with my soldiers was sometimes different so I could adapt and manage for a while.Neema walked over to a connecting door and opened it. I coughed a bit from all the dust in the room.“Sorry dere, the room’s a bit old eh,” Neema said with a chuckle as she walked into an even