Secret Existence

Chapter 4

Imogene and her mother stepped into a small, horse drawn carriage. The carriage was not so much a "carriage" as it was a cart- the floor was lined with loose pieces of hay, and the rickety benches creaked under the insignificant weight of the thin Imogene. But to the young girl it seemed like a queens jewel encrusted carriage. The horse and cart itself weren't much of a surprise to Imogene; she had seem pictures of them in books she had read. The most startling thing was the driver.

He was a man, for one thing. Imogene had seen pictures of men, but she had no idea how they acted, or even what they sound like. She had figured that they sound very similar, if not identical, to her mother, the only voice (other than her own) he had ever heard. So she was obviously surprised when his voice came out as a deep, grumbling, barely audible mumble. "Was this what all men sounded like?" She wondered. She continued to stare at the silent, rude man.

After almost an hour of trudging through muddy dirt roads, the wagon stopped in front of an ancient barn. The sound of clicking chickens, grunting pigs and snoring cows was barely audible from outside the huge, rotting doors. Imogene was eager to go inside, (she had only seen pictures of farm animals,) but to her dismay the rude man only tied the horse to a post outside the doors.

The entire time Imogene was silent. She had multitudes of questions running through her head, but for fear of angering the man or her mother, she decided to keep quiet.

The man ordered the two ladies to turn around. Although she could not see, Imogene figured he was opening some sort of secret door he didn't want them to know how to open. Little did Imogene know that her mother had went through this process numerous times, and that she shuddered at the thought of forcing her daughter to do the same.

~~~

For ten minutes, the group stalked through a dark, muddy, and moldy tunnel. Imogene and her mother were blindfolded, absently following the repetitive beat of the man's shoes on the stone floor. They came to a sudden stop, and a dim light shown through Imogene's blindfold. The man exited and entered the room that let out from the tunnel. Lucky for the pair he had left the door slightly ajar, so they were able to hear the conversation the man had with another mysterious character, the voice of which sounded vaguely familiar to Imogene.

"Do you have the package?"

Said the familiar voice. Then the man that had brought them finally spoke up, his voice surprising Imogene. Surprising in the fact that it was not rough or gritty; but smooth and easy on the ears.

"Yes, sire. Shall I bring them up?"

"Of course! No need to be rude to our long- awaited friend! Bring them in, being them in! I can't wait to greet her! It has been 16 years, you know. Go fetch them!"

The voice was friendly enough, but Imogene couldn't shake the strange familiar feeling of his voice. The man came back into the tunnel and led them into new room. She could smell incense had recently been burnt, and the sharp smell filled her with a pleasant feeling. When the blind fold was removed, she saw that she was in the throne room of the largest place she had ever seen.

One wall was occupied by thrones, the other with ginormous windows that reached floor to ceiling of the immense room. Lining the walls were tapestries, with a family crest shining bright on each one. The other strange man's voice was in fact a king, a large crown encrusted with jewels laying next to him on the throne. He made eye contact with Imogene, his eye welling with tears. Yet in moments the look of fondness disappeared, replaced by a look of scorn.

"Daughter, you need a bath."

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