Madam Rosaline woke up with a brain splitting headache. She walked up to the mirror as she usually does,her long dark braids were messy and looked poorly kept,her ebony skin was pale and rough and she had bags under her green eyes.
She undressed herself and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. She was taller than most women her age,her figure was curvy and her body was well toned. She made sure to scrub every inch of herself before stepping out. She breathed a sigh of comfort as she stepped out in her white puffy robes and slippers.
After eating her fill,she took her precious time in freshning up and applying her make up, surely to hide the wrinkles that were beginning to appear on her face. She wore a long,red,silky dress and on top of that,a black leathery jacket. She showed no signs of discomfort walking around in her heels. She also held tightly,a silvery purse. Well fed and properly dressed,she walked out the door to her house, a house that seemed to be situated in the corner of a really large compound. She headed towards and into the carriage that was waiting for her right out the door. As she entered the carriage,she took a quick glance at her golden pocket watch,it was just about six o'clock in the evening.
The driver wasted no time in coming down to open the door for her. She stepped out the carriage and the driver shut the door carefully behind her before leading her towards the building of their destination. It was a factory with incredibly loud noises coming from it, the heat emanating from the building itself was intense.
She gracefully walked into the factory,driver walking right behind her as she climbed the stairs to the very top floor where she could get a better view of the workers.
There were metal tamers of different varieties,fire tamers and water tamers all working like drones. The metal tamers dismantled the various metallic objects, flattening them and placing them into a close furnace with arm holes at the bottom,holes through with the fire tamers would melt the metal. Subjected to intense heat and pressure from the furnace the metal melts and flows towards the water tamers who then cool the melted metal for the metal tamers to now reforge into rods,sheets and plates. There were different divisions for different metals.
Madam Rosaline watched all this from the top floor,eyes on the prowl for any signs of lethargy or sheepishness. As lenient as she might've been in the past she had now made it a priority to punish anyone who delays production even in the slightest to the fullest extent of her wrath.
One of the workers,an old gruffy and greasy man, probably one of the more experienced worker, walked up to her,he was holding a seal in his hand. He walked away as fast as he could after giving it to the driver who is turn gave it to her. She opened the seal and read it,it simply said
'It's not enough.'
She felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She swallowed hard and her breathing got sharp. She read those three words over and over again until she closed the seal. Just those three words were enough to frustrate her to the point that her wrinkles began to show again. She closed her eyes took a deep breath,she climbed down the stairs and her driver followed. She walked out the factory and headed towards the carriage, the driver had raced past her to ensure he got to the door first before her,he quickly open it, only closing it back after she had entered.
"Where to Madam Rosaline? The Fabric factory? Or perhaps the Stone factory?" The driver asked coolly,
"Take me to the other end." She replied coldly.
When they arrived at the other end of the compound, Madam Rosaline had the urge to burst open the carriage door herself as her driver couldn't be slower. She resisted the urge to strangle him then and there after he had opened the door for her. A cold fury washed over her but she wasn't about to lash out at her driver,no, that would be a sign of weakness and mental fragility.
"Wait here." She said, struggling to maintain her cold and composed voice.
She walked into the building on her lonesome. There was a long hallway between her and the open room. She emerged from the hallway into the large room and straight to the throne that stood at the end of the room with steps leading up to it. She carefully sat down on her throne and took a good look around the room. There were children quietly standing on either side of the room, their sleeping bags laid down. Her presence was so terrifying,so horrifying that nobody in that room wanted to make eye contact.
There was a great center table in the room filled with more metallic objects, mostly utensils, fabrics and rocky minerals. She looked at it unimpressed.
"This was far less than I had expected," She said, "Why is that?"
Her question was directed at the four children who sat down bound in chains around their arms,legs and neck. The same children who were with Almyrah three days ago.
None of them answered the question. She continued,
"It seems everyone in this room has made it a priority to disappoint me." She said, "I expected that you'd all be working hard to keep up your end of our deal. Don't you want sleep I afford you? Don't you want food that I feed you?" She asked with a cold fury in her voice,this time however,there was a response,
"Al- Almyra-" came a parched voice,one of the chained children,the one known as Dontei,the one who called for Almyrah after Rashen had caught her.
"What was that?" Madam Rosaline asked with a pinch of irritation in her voice. Dontei spoke up with all the vocal strength he could muster,
"We- we have to rescue.... Almyrah"
Madam Rosaline looked at him with a mix of curiosity and disgust,
"And why should I or anyone else in this room devote our time and energy in rescuing her?"
"B- Because," the other bound child,Lekan,a tall and skinny boy,spoke up, "It's been three days and...she's not back."
"We're worried about her... please let us go find her ourselves." Said Nunji, the only other girl other than Almyrah present that day.
"No!" Madam Rosaline said flatly.
"But- but-" Dontei tried speaking up,
"That's enough!" Madam Rosaline said in a much louder tone, "I will not hear another word of this matter."
"That's not fair" Dontei said seeming to have misplaced the initial fear he had for Madam Rosaline,
"Dontei stop!" Warned Bazey,the plump but agile member.
"You...you always said that Almyrah was the best of the best and had the most potential!" Dontei said with tears in his eyes, "But now that she's been captured you don't even care enough to go save her!"
Madam Rosaline was silent, carefully watching the children she had bound chains. The disgust she felt at that moment was at herself because she knew that Dontei was right. She had always thought Almyrah was indeed her best thief. She was tough,smart, resourceful and she wasn't afraid to take risks. Yes,she was disgusted with herself for allowing the chattering Dontei to be right,she was disgusted with herself for feeling even a twinge of regret that Almyrah was captured.
Madam Rosaline was an extremely logical woman. She would never throw away anything at her disposal to rescue one worker,even if that worker was the best she had,not especially at a critical period such as now when 'They' were constantly breathing down her neck. She was at least thankful that she had drilled it into Almyrah never to reveal the truth about her operation and location,she drilled it into her and each and every one of the children in the room painfully. She sighed,
"Do you know why you four are chained?" She asked,but before any of them could answer she continued, "It's not because you lost me my best worker,no. It's because you all kept rallying the other children to help you get her back, going against both the Imperial Soldiers and the Grittshore Watch and risking our- MY entire operation."
"We'll go by ourselves, I'll go by myself if I have to." Dontei spoke up,
"Shut up Dontei!" Lekan ordered,
"That's another reason why you're being punished." Madam Rosaline continued, "Almyrah got herself captured,she will suffer the consequences herself. That's how life works,never expect anyone to bail you out from your own mistakes."
Madam Rosaline let out a sinister and bone chilling laugh, "Besides." she said, "If Almyrah did get captured while the four of you escaped,then perhaps I overrated her a bit. Perhaps she's not as good as I thought she was-"
"SHUT UP!!!" Dontei screamed,
"DONTEI STOP BEING STUPID AND JUST STAY QUIET!!!" Snapped Bazey,
"YOU'RE AN EVIL! PURE EVIL! THAT'S WHAT YOU AR-ACKKKK!!!"
Nobody knew how she even got there,but there she stood,Madam Rosaline, looking dangerous, pressing down her heels on Dontei's neck.
"You're an ungrateful brat. I feed you and shelter you and this is how you choose to repay me? By defying your master?!"
"Madam Rosaline please he didn't mean it!" Lekan pleaded,his only response was a kick to the face from Madam Rosaline.
"I've been too lenient with you,with all of you." She pressed harder on Dontei's neck, "Perhaps your slow, painful and agonizing death by my hands will serve as a reminder to everyone in this room just who it is I am and just what I am capable of doing." She said looking rabid.
This was too much,so much so that the children began to cry,some pleading for their long dead parents and families to comfort them. Some children simply watched in silence,they knew help would not be coming,they had completely given up hope.
They knew that was just how Madam Rosaline was, she's a cold and calculating woman who only views people irrespective of their age,gender or background,as assets and would go to any extent to gather as many assets as possible,and once your usefulness has expired, she'll discard you like an old rag. This was Madam Rosaline.
Dontei could feel the pain shooting across his body. He wanted to cry and scream for help but he couldn't,his hearing was faint and his sight was failing him. All of a sudden there was a bright red light and a loud crashing sound, he could feel instant relief on his neck.
"That's enough out of you Madam Rosaline."
Standing there in his cadet suit,his beautiful red flames dancing in the air and his eyes lit with fury,Imperial Cadet Rashen.