Opening Doors

“What is happening here?”

The sharp sound of metal falling to the ground rings loud in my ears. Everyone had dropped their weapons. 

I look around in confusion as everybody looks ahead. My eyes trail their view until I look at a man dressed in an attire of a royal noble. I know he's here to catch me because of the earlier chaos. I must not let that happen and so, I proceed to leave until a hand grabs mine. My reflexes take the better of me as I twist his hand, freeing mine with ease, and kick him. Seeing the bright chance to run away, I take it. The guards get down with fire raging bright in their eyes and emotionless faces which urge me to run faster. I look to my right and see a narrow opening between their heavy swords and so, I run. I run as fast as I can but I don’t know where I am going, I don’t know.

My mind screams with my eyes set ablaze. The rough sound of horseshoes scraping upon the ground and men screaming at me to stop rings wildly in my ears. I turn to my nearest right with locals going on with their day, selling and buying flowers, rice, meat, and living life just as any day that they would--and I add spice to their lives. I run through the narrow pathways colliding with people.

“Sorry!” I scream at the people. With raging forces following me, I keep on running. Faint music ringing in my ears. I look back.

My hair a mess and my attire somewhat torn. The flair of my gown which was once white was now brown and my shoes, covered in mud. 

Suddenly--I feel a stone at the bottom of my foot and before I know it, I fall face-flat on the ground.

I look up to see them hollering at me. “SIEZE HER!”, one of them yells. I try to get back up on my feet but my short try to run comes to end as the armed soldiers surround me. The sound of heavy footsteps resonates through my ears as the same man from whom I had run earlier was facing me, standing all high and mighty looking down upon me with no emotion visible upon his face.

I don’t dare to say a word yet my eyes throw daggers toward him. “Who are you?” His voice emerges in the sudden silent atmosphere that the crowd around us had created. 

I stand up high with my fast heartbeats resonating in my ear. 

“Raya Franklin,” I reply. 

He raises an eyebrow at me and then at my attire. A stern look painting bright across his face. “Seize her,” the man announces as two of the soldier grab both of my arms in their tight stern hold. I stay calm and let them drag me until darkness emerges right before my eyes; they had put a black bag over my head. 

They tie my hands and make me sit on a horse. I don’t move and stay still.

“Sheriff,” I hear the man from earlier say.

“Lord Arthur,” another voice speaks. 

“I believe I have reached here on time or things might have gone out of control.”, Lord Arthur announces. 

“The whereabouts of this young lady are classified to her only as she has not given any of her information despite being asked to.”, the sheriff speaks. 

“I must’ve you forgetting. The management on the borders and doors that connect to Caldorus should be powerful enough to not let in the allowance of anyone that crosses our border without proper information, I kid you not,” Lord Arthur raises his voice in an authoritative manner. 

“I apologize on my behalf, Lord Arthur. The lady started falsely alleging of our pure-willed soldiers for taking advantage of her. Her screams are what guided light to the public here as they rushed to help her.”, the sheriff proves. 

“You must've been forgetting that the public is not at all in any circumstances allowed near any borders, especially with that our neighbor, Caldorus,” He raises his voice and refers to the crowd around us listening to him, “The authority and management of Dajoah is mindful enough to not train a distracted army to protect our sacred land. Leave matters as of these for our blissful kingdom to manage.”

 Heavy footsteps echo loud amidst the silence. I hear The sound of all the soldiers gathering themselves upon their horses. 

This is going to be a long way to our destination and I know why they are taking me--they know that I am from caldorus. I believe they Have an idea that I may know something, and I know that whatever I must do, I will not let them know of my true identity, until and unless I get shifted under the care of higher authorities for them to know who I am.

"People often think that women are meant to be stupid--warry and irresponsible, unlike men who are ‘brave’ and ‘keen' on their actions. I describe the relationship between a man and a woman as of a puppet and his puppeteer; the puppet, being a man, is the life of the show, so blissful and so attractive, yet what the audience fails to see is the mindful puppeteer who controls him, his every move and all of what he calls his emotions. And once the puppet gains the courage and arrogance to think that ‘he’ is what the people love, and then disregards, and dismisses his puppeteer, the puppeteer being wounded by his actions, does whatever in her strength to get rid of him.

She may ‘ruin’ him by cutting him into thin pieces or she may leave him as is, attached to his head and in the same form he was earlier--no scratches and cuts, no wounds, and no scars. It is then, that he realizes, that without his puppeteer, he is nothing."

I know where they are going to take me--I’m not stupid and neither am I new to the rules followed in a kingdom. They’re going to interrogate me and question me about who I am and what is my origin. All I know is that this man, Lord Arthur is a keen one, he knows I belong to the palace of Caldorus--I just have a feeling he does, or why else there is no reason for him to take me.