"Your Highness," yelled Cynthia. My gods it's probably six in the morning. "Yes Cynthia?"
"The Queen would like to see you in her chambers." Great, what could she possibly want? Everyday she sees me and teaches me how to properly be queen for when mother and father pass into the afterlife. "Tell her I'll be up when I'm dressed for her majesty."
"She doesn't care about how you look, just go up now!" I looked out the window and Spiritwind is still sleeping while the castle is awake and moving. I tidied up my hair and put on my slippers. Moving toward my door something in my gut was telling me that this will be very bad for me or the town. When getting closer to the chamber time seemed to go so much slower. The Queen's chamber doors were open and there was talking from the inside.
"She's old enough to be married off! So what if we risk peace among the other empires we need to think of her safety."
"Marrying her off on her name day is the dumbest thing I've heard. Why not let her enjoy the chase of suitors like I did as the Princess heir."
"Stop thinking like that we both know that the warlocks and orcs aren't getting on right now!" That took me by surprise because for one mother or father have had an argument for as long as I can remember. Plus when were they going to tell me that things were shaky in the northern empires. I walked in and the King most likely left through one of the many secret entrances in the castle.
"Good you made it up here and not a moment too soon." How can she go from begging to being happy? If this is what it takes to be queen then I won't have what it takes to survive. "So what did you need me for so early in the morning mother?"
"We need to plan out your name day party and you are going to be my shadow from today for the next few months."
"B-B-But why so early I mean you're not going to die anytime soon. I mean why not start four or five months after my name day. Let me have some fun staying up late, going to parties, and being chased by every suitor who deems himself worthy to sit on the throne and be my husband."
"I know dear but there are some… um… factors that are in play. Plus your father… ahh… has some other ideas on your name day." Gods no tell me she isn't going along with the King's plan to marry me to another race. My dream of my name day would be dancing with a bunch of gentlemen trying to get me. I wanted a cat chasing a mouse though there would be lots of cats and one mouse. "What does he have planned because the split second I get named Princess heir I get married. I don't want to be told on what to do, when to do it, and how I'm to do it. Surely you understand how I feel because this only happens once like marriage."
"I know dear but you should talk to him yourself to convince him." Then with the moment of silence we could hear footsteps coming up quickly, almost too quickly. I grabbed the sword hidden behind the queen's dresser and got prepared for the possible battle. The King showed up and almost impaled himself when he bursted through the chamber's door. "Rose what the hell were you thinking just pointing a sword straight out at the door. I hope you know you could've killed me."
"That was the point of holding the sword like that, your majesty." He is extremely irritable when it's morning. "Dear you have to understand she was trying to protect herself and myself. So, be grateful you have a warrior as a daughter." As she was talking she went to her windows and opened them. The heat from the summer's sun felt amazing on the cool stone floor. "I guess that is true so thank you for defending yourself and the Queen."
"Your welcome, your majesty. I do however have a question for you as your daughter. If I may ask for your permission father."
"Proceed Rose as your father I will answer wholeheartedly, but be forewarned I may not be able to answer many questions about boy issues," he replied with a wink.
"Father, what are your plans for me on my name day?" Father gave the queen the dirtiest look ever almost as if he wanted to kill her. "Exactly how much do you know about my plan?"
"The most I know you have other ideas. For instance I won't be able to have the normal chance of the chase of suitors like what mother had. I heard you had other plans because of the outside factors."
"Dear before you say anything I feel like she deserves to know what is going on outside."
"All right but promise me Rose that you won't overact on what I have to tell you."
"Okay father I won't overreact but depending on what it is about I will still stand my ground."
"So… there is a possible war going to happen between the orcs and warlocks. They are still trying to recover from the war we had a century ago. It has been tough so they're trying to go after each other's wealth to survive. With these tensions rising sky high we have ordered our traders to evacuate the areas as soon as possible. The wizards and dwarves were talking about whether we should ditch the century old treaty and allow any of us to cross on to each other's turfs."
"Okay how does any of this have to play into my name day?"
"It has everything to do with it. The war that could happen in the north might threaten your life. The toss of the old treaty could allow us to be more united and… marry off someone to make alliances with each other." He said that last bit a little too fast that it took a minute to understand.
"But father, who would you want me to marry. I can tell you I will not be married to one of those… creatures."
"Honey we could change the future for your kids and future generations of Kings and Queens."
"I understand but," I froze trying to think of another excuse to change his mind.
"Serrel, maybe what she's trying to get at is she wants to marry someone who could see warming her bed and no one elses."
"Trust me I will make sure they sign a document saying they can't just go around and warm other women's beds."
"That still won't be enough. How could she marry someone just for her father's pleasure. She most likely feels like she's getting TOLD to love the man she married. If I have learned anything from this marriage is that love blossoms not already grown and given. So maybe we could have wizards and dwarves as her suitors so she can still have the chase every young princess breams of doing after their name day."
"Please father I won't complain if they are trying to court me. I just want to enjoy the chase like what you and mother had many years ago." I must've struck a nerve because he sat there for a bit thinking. I looked toward mother to see if I played the piano correctly. She gave me a quick nod saying I did well now it's up to him. "I suppose honey but the only restriction is you have to treat your wizard and dwarf suitors as you would any other suitor. That is my only restriction with you having suitors."
"Alright I will do exactly that. Though this may be off topic but why were you running up here?"
"Crap I almost forgot but we possibly got some fake news… because there might be a half-elf in our kingdom that possibly lives in this town as well." How all elves were killed shortly after the Six Empire War. If it wasn't for the Dark Elf we would still have elves as an alliance. Orcs and Warlocks wouldn't be close to war, everything would be just fine. The Human Empire might've had a few Elvish Kings of Queens in our bloodlines. "So when did you learn that there might be an elf in our kingdom? This also seems extremely impossible stating the entire race was killed after the war. How could it even be possible father?"
"Well if you gave me a bloody second to explain it to you just as my guards explained it to me. I found out about half past seven. The royal guards said the redcoats noticed someone with pointed ears last with pointed ears last night around ten. They discreetly followed him around for a few blocks then he noticed them. He took off into the rooftops and lost them in a hurry. The redcoats plan on looking for him this morning and take him as prisoner."
"They only have a hunch because he has pointed ears," asked mother.
"Yes and I guess that is a good enough reason."
"What about their Queen and my daughter? Are we elves just because our ears are slightly pointed as well? This has to be the most idiotic haunch a Human could possibly be!" Why did her majesty have to throw out my biggest insecurity? I know we're not elves but still my ears stick out like a sore thumb.
"Dear don't kill me for the one order I gave to the redcoats." Mother was clenching her teeth so hard I was so afraid a tooth might fly out and hit one of us.
"What did you tell them?"
"I told them that if they find his identity. Anyone who gets in the way or tries to lie about not knowing the kid to kill them on the spot." Out of everything the king could have done. He gives an order to kill someone if they try protecting someone they know and love. "Your majesty as the princess heir did you ever think about the possible outcomes from this? This 'elf' could be a normal human like mother and I with pointed ears."
"As King a couple lives is nothing compared to the massacre that could happen if he is an elf. Plus did you think of how he ran away from the coats. It's almost as if he knows he's an elf."
"The coats have a reputation to beat people for their money because they are supposedly the law. There are many reasons why that kid could have run away. So the next time this happens your majesty think about all of the possible factors that could be in play."
"YOU don't tell ME on how to run MY kingdom. The day you're crowned queen is the day you can do whatever the hell you see fit!" With that he left the chambers and slammed the door shut. I was so shaken up by standing up against my father's decisions. "Well", sighed mother, "you did the one thing I never could have done to my father. That makes me even more confident that you will be a great, powerful queen that I never could have been during my entire reign."
"Mother! You have been running this empire just fine. If I were to run it I'd do it just like you." The Queen's façade seemed to crumble right before my eyes. Normally she is always happy around me and now she's on the brink of tears. "Rose, you need to understand you have a fiery passion that I can't match. You may say right now you would do things like me, but when you start shadowing your young mind will find other ways to do it compared to me."
How can she have so much hope for me when I don't have any for myself. Then again mother has always expected great things from me.
"That's it for tonight Rose you've had a long day. You should start heading to bed. Remember tomorrow you'll start shadowing me and learning on how it works to be in meetings all day. So make sure you're up here by-" Before Mother could finish there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," yelled the Queen. One of father's messengers came into the room.
"I have a message from the King." He handed her a piece of parchment and waited for her approval to be dismissed. "You're dismissed and let his majesty know I'll talk to him tomorrow in between my meetings." The messenger nodded and turned on his heels to head out. Once he left the chambers mother opened the letter. After a moment's silence she looked irritated at what she read.
"What is it Mother?" She was so flustered that she handed me the parchment.
My dearly beloved Queen,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our conversation from earlier just now struck me. My guards a little before I wrote this now came with news about our little "elf". The red coats saw him down at town square with a girl that appeared younger than him. They were down there for a couple hours. After a while he noticed the uncommonly large amounts of red coats around town square. So him and the girl both left heading out of town. After twenty minutes the coats sent out two after them but not at an exceeding rate. They followed them to an old shack that was later noted as a rickety "house". They stayed in earshot of the house. A civilian was walking by but the coats stopped her and asked if she possibly knew who lived there the only person she knew was a young man named Thomlinar Twilightblood. Which happened to be the assumed name of our suspect. After she left the two coats heard him yelling. They waited a bit before they would investigate. They started toward the house and saw the same girl from earlier run into the house. They knocked on the door and an older woman answered. Still unknown on how she is related to Thomlinar. The coats asked if she knew our suspect. She tried to lie to them but they yelled and slapped her for doing so. When she landed on the floor she yelled something about going to camp and talk to someone. Before she could finish the one who smacked her decapitated her. They walked more into the house and saw the backdoor open with no sign of the girl or the suspect. The coats tried to follow and find them but failed.
I'm sorry for this if I knew they were going to kill someone just because they were trying to protect him. In the future I won't make the same mistake but we are still going to try and find him.
Love you husband,
Serrel
"How can he just say sorry about the death of a woman that could've been his mother or the girl's mother? Plus she could've helped us understand him if it means so much to the king!" After reading I was just as irritated as mother.
"I don't know dear but tomorrow him and I will have an extremely lengthy conversation about this topic."
"Alright mother my mind will be more at ease now you'll be on his case." I left my mother alone and started heading down toward my chambers. I couldn't help but wish Thomlinar and that girl a safe trip to camp. Also praying to Lagenia to have that woman pass judgement and live in Kosaris's kingdom. Then maybe she can be happy being dead and watching those two from above.