The Queen

chapter 3

    Victoria felt her self being pulled, when she opened her eyes she was in front of the court of Shame as it was nicknamed by the villagers . There was blood flowing towards her feet  and looking up she saw the heads of her father and  brother on  pikes. Their bodies had been hung like scarecrows at the city gates it was an awful sight. The pulling motion began again before she could react  and she found herself at the most notorious brothel in the city, there her mother and sisters were being forced to serve disgusting old men with their bodies. She tried to call out to them but it was like they were oblivious to her existence. She felt so weak, so helpless.
The pulling began again and she found herself at their chateau. It had been burned down to ashes and she heard some people say that all the servants who lived there had burned to death along with the building. She couldn't believe what she was seeing .She began to weep but she felt herself being pulled once more .This time she found herself in the middle of a battle field. The field was blood red having been soaked for days in the blood of fallen soldiers. She  looked ahead and saw a sea of bodies .She recognized some of the soldiers as people she had known and some of them she had even grown up playing with. She looked westward and saw women and children being dragged off into slavery. The entire sight was sickening. For the last time she was pulled and she found herself staring down into a river  of blood. She just stood there staring when she saw something -a cradle -floating along the river .she tried heard the piercing screams of a child and she tried to pull the cradle out of the river but it wouldn't budge she continued to struggle until alas the tide pushed it closer to the bank .she pulled out the cradle and looked into it. It was a baby boy, the child's face was as white as a plain sheet and his lips where blue as if he had been choked to death; looking at this child she felt an intense sense of grief even more so than when she saw her family and home. She screamed and shouted but it was of no use; no use crying over spilt milk.
      She got pulled once more, for the last time. This time she felt like she was floating for a very long time, she jolted awake, observing her surroundings she realized that she had woken up in her room. She ran out into the corridors to find her family. Everything seemed normal but the house was way too quiet for this time of the evening. She didn't run into a single servant which was also very weird. Victoria started to fear that her dreams had become a reality. She searched around but she couldn't find anyone, she was about to give up when she heard her sisters familiar laughter from the family room running there she rushed into her father's arms and started to shed tears
   The entire family was shocked at her appearance. She looked as though she had finally gone mad. she was in a dressing gown and her bare feet were covered with grim and dirt. Victoria finished her episode before she realized that something was wrong. The family never used this room unless they needed to discuss extremely important matters. She looked at all their faces and realized that she had missed the fact that they were all wearing odd expressions. She knew that they must have been shocked by her display of near madness but that wasn't enough to make their expressions this glum.
"What's wrong?" She asked shakily. There  was probably something wrong with that question because her sister Louise immediately turned white.

"My dear ..." Elizabeth started softly "We received words from the palace today with that Victoria's countenance changed, word from the palace was never good news for her .

Elizabeth wished she didn't have to say this but what had to be done had to be done so she went on.

"You are to be wed in a months time but the wedding party leaves for Vreur in week ." No words could be used to describe Victoria's emotions at this point in time. At this point she could either betray herself or betray her family, if this had happened yesterday she would have chosen to betray her family but not after what she had seen in the afternoon. So she replied ok and stalked out the family room.

     Victoria couldn't sleep, she continued to toss and turn all night, at a little past midnight she heard a knock. It was quiet and subtle but she knew who it was, so she quietly opened the door.

"Mama..." she began but her mother stopped her.

" I'm sure you are curious as to what happened this Afternoon" Victoria nodded in affirmation.

"The woman we met today is Brujian, and although the use of magic is prohibited I needed you to see what your defiance would cost us" She stopped to observe the look on her daughters face before going on.                                                                                                                                                                        " I imagine that whatever it is you saw was terrible because you fainted in the middle of it and had to be carried home. So tell me don't you think the price you are paying for peace is relatively small." Victoria nodded once more, Elizabeth turned to leave but not before saying 

" You know you don't have to leave in Vreur as a captive. Your ability to use your feminine charms will determine how well you will live but you must first harness what is yours" and with that she left. Victoria was far too worried about her future to ponder her mothers advice.

           The week flew by in the blink of an eye. Everyone was excited, except of course Victoria who couldn't do anything but sit by and watch the maids make arrangement. The nana had been called in to teach her about female virtue and duties and a Vreurian seamstress had taken her measurements to make her Vreurian style cloths befitting of a queen. 

          Finally, the day came when she was to depart from her own world into an unknown kingdom filled with people who probably already hated her even if they didn't know her and a husband who she had never met. She had spent the last seven days preparing herself mentally for what appeared to be the rest of her life. She knew that she would probably never see the streets of Carveiq again but with tear filled eyes she bid her family goodbye because duty came first always.