The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Madoka's Fate (Fall 6)

VI.

Madoka opened her eyes and found herself lying on the floor. She sighed. Tomorrow did arrive and it was today. Sunlight soaked through the windows and blinded her for a moment. The night before was not a dream. It weighed heavily on her bones. Madoka placed the thought of the bird as a mere nightmare. It was chilly in her room but she remained sweating and engulfed in nervousness.

Outside her window where the bird rested at, however, was the clear view of a pillar of light piercing the sun. Madoka recalled it flying directly up in the night sky. That trail of light piercing the heavens must be left by the ominous bird. Was it a warning sent by the kind gods?

Madoka cursed herself for sleeping later than she should. She quickly got up and avoided looking at the princess's chambers. Madoka assimilated with the other maids while suppressing an uneasy feeling forming in her gut. She would sleep with the other maids in the shared quarters from now on. Those soldiers were going to come for her and the Palace seemed to be much more oppressive than lately. She still believed Elise will survive this ordeal, although she could not erase the princess's screams from last night out of her head.

As she did her duties, she could not help but feel nervous at every sound. Madoka's neck felt strained from looking over her shoulder. She was in a hallway, expecting signs of the whispers's return or anything ominous but nothing happened. Before she closed the curtains on a window, she noticed the pillar of light still remained from across the view.

Suddenly heavy boots stomped near her and startled her. Some of the guards looked at Madoka and laughed at her reaction before saluting the patroling soldiers but they left her alone. The other servants seemed as carefree as they were before. How could they act normal in times like this? In a way, she envied their ignorance. On the other hand, she could not help but feel like she was truly crazy.

She swore the soldiers would immediately take her away but they simply walked on by as she attempted to dust things. By all accounts, she was just another invisible slave serving in the Palace. At least that is what she hoped. Madoka was not going to take any chances so she made herself scarce. She hoped no one would notice her shirking her duties. A pit in her neck still formed from the guilt of doing so. Madoka ignored it and rounded the corner directly into a soldier's chest.

"Please! Don't take me away!" Madoka begged as she cowered.

"Madoka?"

A friendly voice came above her. It was Squash-face's voice.

"Squ- Jacob?" Madoka looked up at him. She felt a wave of relief at the sight of his face and she never thought she would feel that way.

He looked at her with a worried face.

"Madoka?" He asked again. Madoka cleared her throat and recovered by briskly wiping her skrit off. "Why are you cowering like that?"

"A-Apologies, sir. You startled me," Madoka did not trust him and tried to walk away but Jacob laughed.

"There's no way someone like me can startle you like that," he joked but got serious. "Hey, so I heard some crazy news."

"It's the princess, right?" Madoka tried to play ignorance of Elise's arrest, hoping the quivering in her voice did not show. Squash-face leaned in closer.

"Yeah, they got her in the middle of the night," he said. "How mad is that? Roughed her up something fierce."

Madoka's heart sank.

"Your breath stinks," Madoka said to him because he was too close. The soldier backed off and bowed.

"Whoops, sorry," he said. "It's just that, I figured you would be more worried. I can't help but feel like this Palace has gone backwards lately. Kind gods seal my lips, but the princess seemed harmless if not a little eccentric. Why did they arrest her?"