Long Suffer the King

V

Ophelia groggily wakes up to the bumping and clacking of the carriage. She groans but realizes it's muffled. She opens her eyes and sits up, but falls back down immediately because her hands are tied behind her. Not only that but her mouth is gagged, making calling out for help useless. Tears begin to form in her eyes when she realizes the whole situation. Dimitri has wanted this, he's been planning this all along to get rid of me. I can't believe I didn't see it before.

There's no one else in the carriage with her and all windows are curtained. Nonetheless, she can see the sunset peeking through when they hit a bump in the road. She starts panicking, remembering what the guards had ordered.

Soon enough the carriage does stop and she hears the driver swear before getting off and opening the door. She closes her eyes from the bright light and tries talking through her gag.

He just laughs and picks her up, putting her over his shoulder. "The poor poor queen. Maybe you should've died with your mother."

Ophelia can hear the rushing of water and starts kicking. He's a large man though, so it does nothing.

"Now, I'll untie your hands but I don't think it'll be fair to ungag you. Your brother told me you couldn't swim so it's fair enough." he sets her down on a rock next to the rushing river and cuts the rope tying her hands together. Ophelia whimpers and shakes her head, trying to make him stop.

"Long live the king." he grins at her and pushes her into the river.

Water begins to fill her mouth as the river pushes her through the current. Ophelia doesn't know what to do, instinctively she tries pushing herself upward like she had seen countless others do but it doesn't work. The river is too strong. Instead it pushes her farther down and next thing she feels is her head hitting a rock. She gasps and feels the water fill her lungs even more.

It feels like hours being under the water and Ophelia starts praying for anything to take her away from the misery.

As if she's been answered, a couple pair of hands grab her body and jerk her out of the water. She starts coughing up water and shakes from the onset of cold.

There's voices around her but it's all distant as she tries bringing herself back to the moment. Gentle fingers grasp at her gag and tear it away. She looks over at the body the hands belong to and is met with a kind face.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Ophelia can hear them but everything sounds muffled to her. She shakes her head, wincing. "Pain."

"Gregor, get the mage. She'll know what to do." the lady orders. Ophelia begins to protest, mages were banned from the kingdom. They were criminals. But she can barely make out one word without it getting cut off from her teeth chattering. She's starting to get tired. The lady in front of her gives her a puzzled look. "You're from the court aren't you?"

"No longer." Ophelia mumbles, closing her eyes. "Oh no you don't, stay awake." the lady taps at her cheek. Ophelia opens her eyes and sighs. "He deserted me."

"Who?" the lady looks around, voice low as if she doesn't want anyone to hear them.

"My brother." she passes out.

When Ophelia does wake up again it's in a cot with three blankets piled on top of her. There's a dim candle beside her on the floor. That's dangerous, she thinks, but enjoys the light. It's better than being completely in the dark.

"Good, you're awake."

Ophelia looks to the end of her bed. Sitting there is the lady who had first talked to her when she was pulled out of the water. "Where am I?" she tries sitting up but her head swims the minute she tries. She groans and lies back down.