The Elements

The Queen

The Queen 

Chapter 3

Brianna Scott’s violet eyes were filled with fear as she stared deep into Amber’s eyes. Brianna started to back up but slipped on the icy ground and fell to the floor. Her hand scraped the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the snow. Brianna wanted to scream, but she was paralyzed with fear. Her heart pounded on her chest as Amber pulled something out from her jacket pocket; it was a dagger. All the blood inside Brianna froze. Beads of cold sweat dripped down her face as the word assassin echoed through her mind. Finally, she stammered the words, “Wh-wh-at are you going to d-d-do to me?”

“I'm here to do my job,” whispered Amber as she lunged to stab Brianna with the dagger. Pain shot through Brianna's abdomen. An evil smile spread across Amber's face as she pulled the dagger out, but there was no blood. Brianna stared at the dagger with confusion.

“Why isn't there-”

“-Blood?” said Amber, finishing the sentence. “You mortals are so ignorant. Do you know what kind of dagger this is?” Without giving Brianna a chance to answer, Amber went on. “This dagger was made by the King of Lands himself, used to bring you mortals to our world.” Amber wrinkled her nose in disgust as she spoke the word mortal. Amber said, “And yes, I'm no mortal. I am the great servant of the Dark Queen herself.” She tilted her chin up, clearly proud of being a servant.

The pain in Brianna's abdomen started to feel worse, like a thousand bees were stinging it. Her breath became shallow and her eyelids were getting heavier. Black dots started appearing and overtook her mind like a black veil. The last thing she knew, she was dying...

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Brianna woke up feeling something crawling on her feet. Her eyes shot open and she stared down to see a brown rat on her foot. She shrieked and flicked it away. It flew off and disappeared into the darkness.

Looking around, Brianna found herself in a dungeon cell. Hay was scattered around the room and rusty water dripped down from a small crack in the wall. At the side was a wooden door with a small window at the top. Around her arms and feet were rusty chains. It cranked around as she crawled towards the door and leaned her ear on the side, eavesdropping on the guards outside. She heard muttering.

“Death....kill.....soul......” A low voice rasped.

Those words made Brianna shiver. Just then, the door creaked open and losing her balance, Brianna fell onto a pair of feet. “Oh, I'm-” She stopped in mid sentence when she saw who it was. It was a man about six feet tall, he had a bushy moustache and eyes as hard as stone. Brianna backed away from him, her hands shaking with fear. His cold eyes followed her as she moved, watching every move she made. Suddenly, without warning, he bent down and seized Brianna by her arms and pulled her up. She yelped in surprise. He carried her up onto his shoulders and went out of the cell. Outside the cell was a dark and gloomy hallway. The only light came from dim torches attached to the wall. On either side were more cells, all identical to her's. Brianna screamed and thrashed around but it was no use. His grip was tight enough to break her wrist. She stopped struggling and just let him drag her around.

He turned to his right and climbed up a flight of stairs to a door. He pushed it open and sunlight beamed into the bleak halls. He turned to his right and climbed up a flight of stairs to a door. He pushed it open and sunlight beamed into the bleak halls. Once outside, the solider dropped Brianna to the ground. Outside was a street, but it wasn't the kind of street Brianna saw back at home. It looked more like a festival. Children in rags danced around and sang songs, stands were built up and filled with merchandise to sell, and silver butterflies flew in the air. One landed on Brianna's shoulder but before she blew it away, she noticed something extraordinary. It wasn't a butterfly, it was a fairy. The fairy had an elfish face, and her skin glowed silver, making her look as pale as snow. The fairy flew back to the other fairies. Finally the people noticed the soldier and backed away, making a path to let them pass. Brianna started to walk and felt someone staring at her. She turned around and there was a little girl, about 6, with bright blue eyes and long blonde hair. When she saw Brianna's face, she gasped and quickly knelt down. Then people all around Brianna knelt too and took off their hats. The soldier shouted something in a foreign language, but Brianna understood clearly.

“How dare you bow down to her,” She translated quietly to herself. She was surprised that she even knew what he had said. The soldier marched her away from the street onto a small road. They tread up the hill. Her legs felt like jello after they had walked for 10 minutes. Finally, the soldiers stopped and Brianna almost crashed into them.

“Watch it,” the soldier snarled. In front of them was a large metal gate, it was opened and they went through, and inside, was a garden. Different colored flowers bloomed everywhere, lush green grass covered the ground, and trees filled with fruits grew to her right. Birds such as bluejays and chickadees flew around chirping. Behind the garden was a castle. It loomed over them like a human looming over an ant. The tallest tower reached to the clouds. They passed through a wooden gate and entered the castle.

Inside, marble pillars stood on either side of her. On the ceiling was a beautiful stain glass window. On the walls were paintings of people and under it, were names. Between the paintings were large windows. The curtains were made out of red velvet, lined with golden thread. At the bottom of each one, there were the initials Q.M. Abruptly, the wooden gate slammed behind them and Brianna jumped up surprise. The soldier turned around and unlocked Brianna's chains.

“There is no point of running, we'll find you. Now you stay here until the queen wants to see you, understand?” The solider said to her coldly.

“Yes,” muttered Brianna as she watched the soldier walk up the corridor and disappear.

Once he was gone, Brianna rushed to the gate and banged on it with all her might, but it wouldn't budge. After trying until her hands were sore, she gave up. She leaned against the wall, hoping to catch a breath but instead she knocked over the curtain and it tumbled down onto the ground with a bang. Behind the curtain was revealed a portrait and underneath was a plague with cursive writing engraved on it. It read Queen Victoria I. The queen looked awfully familiar to her. She noticed the resemblance between the woman in the portrait and herself. She looked exactly like Queen Victoria I....