Lady Grim: A Fantasy Short Story

Chapter 13: Newfound Hope

After Hubris took over the palace completely, he treated as if he was the new god of the Underworld. He was pretty abusive towards everyone, especially the servants.

He would yell at them to bend to his every need;

Wash his garments...

Hand feed him food...

Bathe him...

Basically anything that a parent would do for a child.

Where's Clotho in all of this? In the dungeon with Lida being her next door neighbor.

The only thing Clotho could feel was failure.

She failed her plan...

She failed her role as a queen...

But one thing Clotho failed, that she refused to admit to, was that she failed her parents.

Clotho punched the bricked wall in anger.

"Dammit! How could I've been so careless!?" She yelled out.

"If only we could've sniffed out the plan sooner or later." The father sighed out as he looked at the shackles on his wrists and ankles.

"Will the others come to save us?" Lida asked her father.

"I'm not sure." The father replied. "I can't be there to give them the commands nor I can howl to call them because of that bastard above us."

"There has to be some way to get out...there has to be!" Clotho yelled.

Lida then snapped.

"There is no way! Your plan got us all captured!" Lida yelled.

Clotho was a bit taken aback.

"How was I supposed to know that he found out?" Clotho asked.

"If you were to hide your plan more carefully, maybe it would've worked!" Lida yelled. "Now thanks to you, my father is going to be the first one to die along with me!"

Clotho frowned as she pressed her hands against the brick wall.

"Lida...I'm sorry." Clotho apologized. "I didn't want to put you and your father in danger."

"You were too focused on trying to have us be here that you neglected your role of being a ruler of the Underworld." The father pointed out. "Responsibilities always come first, that was something I always told Lida and Claw."    

"Not when they're being forced onto you, you don't know how my parents were when they were alive." Clotho defended.

"Clotho...answer me this; what would you do if you were ruler of the Underworld...if you didn't meet my daughter?" The father asked.

Clotho sighed.

"How my parents were when they were rulers...I would've done the complete opposite." Clotho began. "They treat people who aren't royalty like shit and...I remember growing up they didn't let me have friends unless they were royalty." She explained. "I just want...the Underworld to feel like a great place for everyone."

The father chuckled.

"You sound like you have a good heart, I can see why Lida fell in love with you." The father chuckled.

"Dad!" Lida exclaimed as her face turned red.

Clotho cracked a smile.

"Thank you sir." Clotho thanked.

"Lida...I need to tell you something because I'm not sure if I'm going to make it out of here alive." The father spoke. "If they opened the door, run...run as fast as you could to escape this palace, warn the pack and tell them that Clotho is in trouble." He instructed.