Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 4.5--The King's Castle (part 2)

The throne room was beautiful. Cream colored tiles, each with a black diamond in the middle, covered up the floor. The walls were made up of stone and what looked to be diamond pieces, because every time the light hit them they'd sparkle, although windows as tall as I am covered most of the wall. Each window had a deep crimson curtain for it, held back by a silver hook. A golden chandelier on the ceiling, surrounded by tiles of the same crimson color, sparkled just perfectly as the light bounced off of it. The throne looked to be the same color as the curtains, with a golden trim around it.

Women, children, and men were standing up next to the throne. They all looked quite silly to me: the men with their brightly colored capes and turned-up shoes, and the women with their long, hoopy skirts that trailed one the floor. One of the children ran past me giggling. It was a girl, the spitting image of one of the ladies standing up at the throne. It suddenly occurred to me, if that fire had never happened and I had grown up in the upper kingdom, I would have been that girl running by, no cares in the world.

"Lizaveta Tribeka?"

I jumped, startled by the deep voice that called my full name. I didn't think about my next sentence very hard, and I just responded, "Yeah?"

The person on the throne raised his eyebrows. I cringed. It was the king that just spoke to me, who I had answered with a disrespecting 'yeah.'

Vadik, the only guard who was still in the room, elbowed me hard in my ribs. "That's the king, Zara."

I turned to Vadik and smiled a sarcastic smile, picturing my elbow hitting him square in his perfect nose. To his credit, he looked away.

Good. He deserved to be somewhat ashamed.

I looked back up at the king. He was no longer looking at me, but waving the extra people in the room away, his ringed fingers catching the light of any and everything.

"Lizaveta Tribeka," he began again after the people left, "do you know why you have been called here?"

Do I know why I have been called here? Yeah, I know why. I just enjoy standing around for no apparent reason.

Instead of saying what I was thinking, I answered his question the more polite route. "All I know is that your guards told me to come for a matter concerning my brother, Your Majesty," I added the title through gritted teeth, glaring directly at Vadik as I spat those two words.

The king nodded and waved his index and middle finger around in the air, apparently ordering for something to be done. He looked at me and smiled, his lips parting to reveal a set of perfect white teeth. A moment later two guards come in, dragging a person along with them.

The man was shackled, his wrists and ankles bound together by a chain, which was then connected at the end. I was amazed that he didn't just slip through his chains, considering that he looked to be all bones. His head was bent, and his hair and beard were long and black, matted and stringy from his dirtiness.

He wore a green soldier uniform, torn and stained from fighting. When the two guards let go of him, I half expected him to collapse to the floor, but he didn't. He was stronger than he looked. One of the men handed him a wooden cane and he leaned against it. It was only then that I realized that he had a fake leg strapped on. It must have been new, considering that he still needed a walking stick for balance.

The man looked up, and I took a step back. Although his body looked to be one of a forty-year-old, his face, battered and tanned from the sun, was no more than seventeen. His emerald green eyes locked onto mine and I gasped. That was not just a random man that they brought out.

That's my brother.

"Joshua!" I shouted, running to him. As I reached him he dropped his cane and steadied himself. I threw my arms around his neck as he wrapped his around mine.