It has been an entire year since the death of Queen Madeline Baldwin of the Algarve kingdom, and the entire kingdom has been in an uproar since her son is not ascending the throne like he should.
There is a common practice to be followed in Algarve that after a King or a Queen has died, the next ruler should ascend the throne after seven consecutive days, then crowned after fourteen days. But none of that has happened in an entire year despite the heir to the throne being alive and in good health.
There is turmoil among the people of Algarve because they cannot understand the reason behind the throne's vacancy. The only explanation given by the royal council is that prince Killian Baldwin is still grieving from the loss of his mother and isn't in good condition, and it has also been a year since they were promised that the prince will take up his place on the throne 'soon'.
Rumours claim that the Algarve throne is cursed and that is the reason why anyone who sits on the throne meets their demise after one year of ruling. There are other rumours claiming that it is the Baldwin family that is cursed and the throne should be given to another family.
But the true reason why the Algarve throne is empty is because the true heir, the first child ever born to King Roderick III, is nowhere to be found. The woman who should be ruling all of Algarve is missing, and the members of the royal council as well as the Baldwin family knows that unless she comes and takes her rightful position, nothing is ever going to be fine in Algarve.
It has also been a year since different people were sent out to search for this missing heir–right after the Queen's burial –but there were no traces of the woman, as if she was just an illusion in people's minds.
****
~Kragon~
There are many prisons in the kingdom of Kragon, but apart from the dungeons inside the castle, the most ruthless of prisons was built in the town of Hawksley, the farthest town from the capital of Kragon.
It's a no-name prison, built like a fortress and if one wasn't a commoner in Hawksley or the neighbouring towns, you would be fooled by the exterior of the prison. It was a place built for the worst criminals–both men amd women–those that the local authorities believed would be safer confined inside the prison, rather than roaming among people.
But like in any other prison, not all the prisoners are as cruel and ruthless as the world is made to believe. Some were there without meaningful charges or sentences, and some were just falsely accused. The latter was the case for Hazel Troyanda.
Five years ago, Hazel had been captured and confined in this prison for charges she knew nothing about. Charges that didn't even have proof or witnesses, and it was five years ago that she was given a life imprisonment, shortly after loosing her family in a tragic fire incident.
Five years had done nothing to quench the bloodlust and the thirst for revenge in Hazel, but life in prison had hardened her to the core. It wasn't called 'hell' for nothing.
—
It was the fifth day since Hazel had gotten herself into yet another fight with one of the female prisoners, and after almost beating the other woman to death, Hazel had been confined in the underground dungeons where the punishment for 'misbehaving' was handed to the confined prisoner.
Hazel hadn't eaten anything in those five days, but she didn't really mind because being underground was the only way she could get some good rest. When she was with the other prisoners, she always had to watch her back because it was like everyone was out to get her. In the five years she had been imprisoned, she had gotten into more fights than her fingers could count and being sent underground wasn't a rare occurrence for her.
The sound of a metal rod hitting the metal bars was what woke Hazel from her light slumber, followed by heavy footsteps. Staying in prison had taught her to always sleep with one eye open, and now her senses quickly caught any sound around her.
"Hey! Wake up!" The familiar sound of one of the female prison guards echoed inside the almost empty cells and Hazel forced her eyes open, squinting at the tall woman.
"Time to go back to paradise," the female guard teased with a crooked smile, fumbling for the keys to open the cell.
"Already?" Hazel groaned tiredly in response, a heavy sigh leaving her lips. One would think that she would be excited to go back, but going back meant no peace for Hazel and she knew she would be back here soon. Sometimes she wondered why they couldn't just lock her up underground.
"You're the only one who'd been asking that. Come on," the guard entered the cell and helped Hazel to her feet. Both her hands and legs were chained and she had difficulty moving around, but she had learned to ignore it with time.
The guard held her upper arm as she walked her out of the underground cells which were mostly empty. The hallway was narrow and dark, only illuminated by the dim light of a single fire torch.
"Heard you'll be getting out soon," the guard croaked in a rough voice. "It would be better if you avoided trouble y'know. You never know what crosses the warden's mind and he decides to keep you here longer. You're lucky," the woman advised.
Hazel remained silent, having zero energy to drag in a conversation she'd heard over and over again for about four weeks. For some strange reason, the warden was convinced that Hazel was an heir to a very wealthy family with connections all over tha lands of Algarve and Kragon. The warden had made a deal with Hazel; to release her without anyone's knowledge, then later get his reward when she reunited with her family and claimed her position.
When the warden first told Hazel about his discoveries, she had thought that it was another twisted form of torture. You never know what the lunatics inside the no-name prison have in mind so she was far from convinced. Even now, she still didn't believe she would get her freedom so easily despite the warden's reassurance.
When they reached the end of the corridor, there was a set of very narrow stairs that led to the normal prison cells. Hazel heaved another sigh as she gathered the courage to face the other crazy women in this place again.
The stairwell couldn't fit two people so Hazel walked forward, the guard following closely behind. It was completely quiet and the only sound that echoed was the chains clanking against each other with every step she took.
At the top of the stairs, the guard stepped forward to open the heavy metal door and noises erupted from the other side, making Hazel's face twitch with annoyance as she imagined what awaited her.
"Come on," the guard shoved her forward, "Try to avoid trouble, will you?"
Hazel rolled her eyes, her right one becoming itchy as she took a step forward. There was a small space between the door and the long line of cells on both sides. As soon as the people occupying the cells saw her, the entire place turned dead quiet and the only sound again was Hazel's chains.
The other prisoners moved closer to the metal bars keeping them in place, watching with different expressions as Hazel made her way down the corridor.
Each time she came out of the underground dungeon, her cell was switched and she would have to move with other prisoners. Most of them were as crazy as her previous cellmates if not worse, and this time she expected nothing new.
When the walk down the cell aisle finally came to an end, Hazel found herself facing a room with three other women in it. There were two bunk beds facing each other, which was the normal arrangement for the few spacious cells.
As the guard worked on the chains binding her legs and hands, Hazel allowed her eyes to rake over every single face inside the cell. One of them was new, but she immediately recognised the shorter one of the other two women. It was easy to tell them apart because the new ones always had this look of innocence in their eyes… Not the normal kind of innocence, but the innocence of never being in the no-name prison.
"Gale," Hazel called out to the short woman with mascular arms, her lips raising in a playful smirk. "What a pleasant surprise."
The sarcasm was not lost to Gale and in response she gave a wry smile. "Pleasant indeed."
"Behave!" The guard sent a warning glare to the two of them, the cane in her hands hitting the metal bars again.
"Welcome back, scar-eye," Gale taunted.