Prophesy The SevEnth: Blood So Blue.
" Stop! " Shiar orders in a loud voice. She had thought the letter had been from the king of her rival kingdom.
" Let me have it. " She orders the messenger.
Shiar reads the rest of the letter which reveals that Chita has been discovered but he would not be returning to the palace any time soon but instead remain in Tyalia and continue to spy on her behalf.
" Nonsense! " Shiar bellows, furious.
Chita had thought about it carefully and since he had to act fast this was his only option. He knew returning to Shiar will only get him killed so he had sent a letter instead informing her that the royals in Tyalia were launching an investigation into the spies in their country. Of course, the queen will be unable to kill him here in Tyalia and if he were found out by Knight Robi he would experience a less painful death.
" Leave all of you! " Shiar orders. She reads the letter again and decides that it is a good thing they had stopped searching for their lost baby. Even if Chita were discovered he knew almost nothing about the lost princess. Besides, if there were any of her slaves she could trust, it would be Chita.
....
Rilikia woke up just before noon and began her work with Leo at her tail.
Word had spread among the servants that Rilikia had a late night tea with her majesty and I would not say they were jealous but they became warier around Rilikia and for those who had thought she was the queen's daughter they were convinced this was so. When they learnt she was to have tea with the queen in the evenings they had no doubt she must be a relation of the queen.
" Leo, why do you think the queen wants to have tea with me? " Leo was the only person she could vent her frustration to.
" Do you think she knows what we're up to? " She whispers to the dog which wags its tail in response.
" You think so ehn? I think we should be patient a little more. What do you think? " Rilikia asks Leo.
" I think the same, Leo. We'll just exercise a bit more patience. Okay? "
" You know Leo, I saw the queen's face yesterday, she was actually beautiful. Stunning even. " And it is true. I do not think I have described Shiar to you before and for that forgive me.
The queen is a beautiful woman, and extremely so. She has the longest reddest hair and the plumpest pinkest lips. She has dark green eyes and the fairest skin. She is very tall and has a voluptuous body, a very attractive woman indeed.
" If only she were half as beautiful on the inside. " Rilikia tells her dog.
" The world would be a better place. "
" Do you not get tired of talking to your dog? " A teenage servant girl passes by.
" No. Do I know you? "
" I am Trisha, I am new here. "
" I see. " You cannot expect Rilikia to welcome anyone to slavery.
" Everyone here is so uptight. Is there anything I ought to know? " Trisha joins Rilikia in washing the plates.
" It is an order from the queen. We're not allowed to make friends. " Rilikia informs her.
" That's ridiculous! " Trisha laughs, it is a beautiful laugh and it sounds very genuine. It is this laugh that makes Rilikia know that Trisha is truly new to this place and she is yet to see the gruesomeness of this palace.
" You're not allowed to say such things here. " Rilikia says looking around, hoping no one heard her.
" Why not? Will this queen have my head on a plate if I do? " Trisha asks with a raised eyebrow.
" She will. "
" You must be joking. " Trisha sounds sceptical.
" I am not. "
" Well then, I shall make friends with myself like you have made friends with your dog. " Trisha says and they both laugh.
" Rilikia, the queen sends for you. " A messenger comes for her.
" I have to go. It was nice making your acquaintance. " Rilikia smiles at the new girl before leaving the kitchen.
....
Of course, Trisha and Rilikia became best of friends. They did almost everything together but Rilikia knew their friendship was short-lived because it was either she left the palace first or Trisha got herself executed. The latter was certain to happen for Trisha loved to do everything the queen was against.
It was a wonder to Rilikia that she had not already been executed for slander or some such thing.
" Riri you are yet to dry those sheets. " Trisha called to her.
" Ah yes, thank you. Where are you going? "
" It's a secret. " Trisha replies with a mischievous smile.
" You do know there are no secrets here. The queen has eyes and ears everywhere. "
" Well, well, we'll just have to see. " A disappearing Trisha says.
Rilikia had noticed that these days Trisha would go missing ever so often. She wondered what the girl was up to. She could only pray she will not get herself killed.
" Rilikia, the Queen summons you. " Tabi's voice startles Rilikia who had been deep in thought.
" Right. I'll be there soon."
....
" My Queen. " Rilikia bows as she enters Shiar's throne room.
" Dearest, I just wanted to inform you that I will be unavailable for our evening teas. "
" Yes, my Queen. "
" I won't be gone for long. I just want to oversee some affairs in another part of my very vast kingdom so do not miss me too much. " Shiar says watching the little girl's expression for a hint of relief but she spots nothing.
Rilikia did not say anything to this, to be honest, she had nothing to say. What did the queen expect her to say? That she will miss her?
" You can leave now. " Shiar says her eyes still fixated on Rilikia. She wondered why she could never read the girl. Was it her parentage? What was so special about her?
" Yes, my Queen. " Is the reply Rilikia gives before leaving the room.
Shiar hissed as Rilikia left the room, she could not understand why all the magic she performed against Rilikia was not working. She had to do something fast or else if Rilikia chose to rebel by leaving the palace there was nothing she would be able to do about it. And then there was the issue of the stupid rumour going around the slaves that the miserly Rilikia was her daughter, Shiar snorted thinking about it. Normally Shiar is able to control the rumours being spread in the palace because as a witch she had the uncanny ability to do so but when it came to Rilikia she realised she could not control the rumours.
That was why she had decided to take the council of her dear old raven and travel to the lake of purity so she can hibernate in a shrine beneath the lake. There was a legend that the greatest witch that had ever lived had gone there to sleep for a thousand years and had awakened and had become so powerful that the world had quaked every time she took a step. This witch had been so powerful she had become unstoppable and had become a terror even to her kind. Therefore the witches and sorcerers together had come together to send her beneath the earth so she would not cause more chaos but they had only dug their graves because she went beneath the earth and created hell and made sure that all the witches who had sent her below after their death would end up in hell where she will torture them endlessly.
Shiar did not believe the whole story and she certainly did not have a thousand years to spend sleeping but she was going to hibernate in that shrine long enough to have enough power to control Rilikia. Moreso she was the most powerful witch in the universe, she had made sure of this by killing every witch in the universe or so she thought.
After some careful thinking, Shiar placed strong spells in and around the palace to prevent anyone from going in or out of it. She made sure there was no means of escape for anyone and she did not care if the people within the palace ran out of food and had to feed on themselves. Of course, they would not have to do that for Shiar had a vast farm where all the food eaten in the palace was grown.
She then proceeded to start her journey but she was not sure how long it would take, she only hoped she would be back in time before a year passed. You might ponder on the reason she could not just materialize at the shrine but to qualify to sleep in that shrine one must have gotten there without any help at all, meaning she could not even take a horse, carriage or even her dearest raven. It was one of the reasons she had put off this journey for the longest time but she realised now how important it was for her to go.
As she stepped out of the palace she changed her appearance to that of an old woman because it would be unseemly for a queen such as herself to be seen travelling by foot and with no escort. She continued her journey slowly and the only thing that lessened the burden of the long road ahead of her was that she witnessed first hand how her subjects were suffering.
She could read their minds when close enough to them and she could see for herself how much they hated her even though they could not say it with their lips because that would end in their execution and their families would have to slave away inside the palace where they might never get to see the three suns.
She made sure however that the ones who were unfortunate to have their thoughts read by her were met with calamity; unfortunate incidents that they could not phantom like a lingering pain in the hand or the sudden death of their most loved one. The irony was that because they thought that she was an old woman they offered to help her and some even gave her food. She was disgusted that her subjects could show such sympathy; weren't they in enough hardship to be able to feel pity? She could never understand them.
When it was nighttime she had to look for an inn to board. It was to her disadvantage that one of the requirements to hibernate in the shrine was that she could not proceed in her journey once the last sun had set for the day. As she approached an inn to spend the night she transformed herself into a beautiful woman, obviously not the same face she used as queen but a beautiful one nonetheless.
She used to do this in her younger days but after the death of her mother and after she had taken over the palace she had been too busy to venture out to have fun but tonight...
She saw her victim just as she entered the inn, the man, a handsome fifty-year-old man ( mind you a fifty-year-old man is still very young in this world, it can be compared to a twenty-year-old in my world I'm not sure about the world you live in so I cannot speak for you! ) was staring at her from across the room, he was obviously taken by her beauty and even though it was difficult to be wealthy under Shiar's rule he looked well off as he could afford to be in an inn such as this and he was even flaunting a diamond ring on his right thumb.
"Hello beautiful lady, are you with company?" The man asked as he looked at the woman in front of him, even the way she smelled was enough to arouse him.
"Excuse me, how much for a night," Shiar asked ignoring the man completely.