How I Worked For the Queen

Chapter 1

The guard paused in front of the gigantic crimson doors, refusing to loosen his grip on my shoulder. Suddenly, the doors flew open. He repositioned his hand into my armpit, only allowing me a second of relief. After wincing a pit from the pain, I looked around the room, and it was beautiful throne room. It was red, and it had gigantic pillars on the sides in a crimson red, and they made a perfect line towards the throne in the back.

"Stop staring," was all he said. There was a trace of anger in his voice. We probably walked for a good 30 seconds before stopping in front of the throne. There was a short, red-headed teenager laying on the throne, seeming to be sleeping.

"Queen Brittany," the guard softly said.

Queen Brittany shot up, her hair in a fluffy frenzy. She looked around the room, grabbing her dagger that lay on the right arm of her throne, looking ready to stab somebody. Finally, her eyes settled on the guard. "Oh, it's just you," she said, annoyed. "Next time, don't give me such a rude awakening, okay?"

"My apologies for disturbing your cat nap, but we found this delinquent in the palace garden." The guard held up the arm he grabbed, sending a jolt of pain through my body. Queen Brittany just stared at me, not with a look of anger, but rather with a look of curiosity. As she got a good look at me, I got a good look at her.

Her hair was the color of a red-orange fire, and she had smooth pale skin. She wore a black and red dress that went down to her feet and dragged on the floor. "Stop staring," the guard harshly whispered at me. I quickly blinked and looked away, as not to disrespect my Queen, but I thought I already had.

I noticed the growing pain in my shoulder. I began to wince slightly, just so I wouldn't seem weak in front of Queen Brittany. But the guard began to crush my shoulder from just beneath my armpit. I writhed in pain, and tried to pull away from the guard. He had too much of a grip on my shoulder. Just as I was on the border of screaming, I heard words that were music to my ears.

"Release him," the Queen gently, but firmly said. My shoulder was released, and I collapsed to the floor in pain. The Queen bent down, put her hands on her knees, and just kept looking at me. "You're dismissed," I didn't want to get up, because I didn't want to disrespect my queen. Then I realized that the command wasn't for me. The guard that crippled my shoulder walked back out the way we came in, probably trying to get to his post.

"That's where they usually go when I dismiss them."

I looked up in surprise. Did she just...

"Yup. Now get up. You don't want to get your comfy-looking hoodie any more dirty, now do you?" the Queen commanded.

I got up at once.

"Now, come with me to the kitchen."

* * *

I looked around as the Queen poured herself a glass of some red liquid. It looks like wine, but there's no way it is. Maybe a really silky-looking juice? That's when I noticed the cuff on her left hand. It was pure titanium, and colored soul black, with a delicate but strong looking chain leading up to her fingers. Attached to the chain on her fingers were little claws that seemed to have the ability to gouge somebody's eyes out. 

Putting that gruesome thought aside, I looked around the kitchen even more, and noticed only one servant in sight. The servant went all around the room, tossing up ingredients, liquids, literally cooking up a storm. I thought the Queen had multiple servants at once in several places.

"Nope. Just one for each job. My servants are highly capable to using magic and spirits to help them complete their tasks."

Magic? Spirits?

"Yep. But we'll talk about that after we determine your punishment." The Queen set her glass of red, silky liquid down. "Now, tell me, why did one of my guards catch you in my palace garden?"

A million thoughts rushed through my mind. Perhaps I should lie. No, I can't. The Queen would have my head for that. But do you want to tell her the truth? Well, it certainly seems like a good idea. Stealing flowers isn't that bad. But they're from the Queen's garden. The Queen's...Garden!

"Stealing flowers from me, were you?" My eyes shifted from the storm of ingredients to my lap. There's no way I could've gotten out of this one. I had to tell the truth. It's obvious she had been reading my thoughts anyways, so there wouldn't have been any use to lie.

"Yes, my Queen," I squeaked out in a meek voice. "One of my friends is the potion maker for my town, and they wanted to make a potion that would make them popular." I paused for a second, holding back the tears welling up in my eyes. I looked up at the Queen. She had an interested look on her face. Not one of anger, but of curiosity.

"Continue. Maybe the story will get better as we go along," the Queen said.

"After realizing that they didn't have the ingredient, they asked me to get it. I said no, because the only place it was found was in your garden. I told him I didn't want to lose my head. But he refused to get anyone else to do it. So he decided to wager against me in a game of Backgammon. If I won, they would get the flower. If I lost, I would get the flower. If I backed out of the bet, then I would trade my hoodie."

The queen burst out laughing. She fell out of her chair and began rolling around the floor, laughing so hard that her stomach seemed to ache. After a few minutes of the chef servant trying to calm her down and a half-annoyed, half-about-to-cry look on my face, she spoke.

"So, you didn't want to risk your hoodie, so you chose to risk your head?" She began to laugh again, but with less intensity.

"Glad you're having a laugh about it," I sarcastically replied. "Anyways, the reason for that being that this hoodie was from my uncle, one of your -" I stuck out an accusing index finger at her "- war servants. He asked you for something to help him remember me, because he was going to someplace where he would never come back from. At least, that's what he said. He gave you a picture of the insignia I made for myself, and gave you every detail on how it should be made. The color, the material, everything. It took nearly a year to make. When he gave it to me a day before he left, I burst into tears, asking if I would see you again. All he said was...." I had to pause to let the tears flow for a bit. Between my sobs, I heard the queen snap and ask for a box of tissues.

I struggled to remember the words. Then they hit me. " 'If Kali'elan will let me.' A week later, my family received a letter in the mail saying that my Uncle Reginald is dead." The box of tissues slid in front of me, with a right, non-clawed hand of the Queen on my shoulder, rubbing my back, whispering that it would be okay. "So, I lost the aforementioned bet, and the aforementioned friend made me go get the flower. I forgot what type of flower it was, but he said each one was a pretty tint of pink because it contained a Soul of the Favored. Then one of your guards caught me because of my lackluster sneaking skills, and now I'm here." 

All was silent in the room. I slowly slid my eyes up, and noticed that the storm of ingredients was gone. The cooking servant stood where it was with her hands behind her back, her head bowed. Then I looked around. Seemingly every servant for the Queen was in the kitchen, taking the same stance as the cooking servant. Suddenly, the silence broke.

"Reginald was a good servant. He was always kind, no matter what he was put through, and he was strong, and he never took advantage of anyone," the Queen reminisced. "He was always there whenever he was needed. He was never just a war servant. He did every job in this castle several times. I granted his request that was your hoodie because I wanted to pay him back for what he did." The Queen turned me around to face her. I saw a single tear come from her eye. "Your family is highly favored in this castle, and is welcome anytime." Then, the tear evaporated, leaving behind just it's path on her face.

"However, since you have stolen from me, or rather, tried to steal from me, you would have been punished to three years of service to me." I swallowed. "But, since my best servant was your uncle, I'll shorten it to one."