Charlotte and the Kingdom of Starsha

Chapter 14

Charlotte felt cold hands on her head and she stirred awake to find the nurse again feeling her head. Strangely, her head was not feeling as bad as before. 

"Sorry to wake you hon', but Commander Basik is here to escort you to the queen. You're lucky to be under Basik's, care. He's as sweet as pie and fair, but piss him off and he turns into an Ikur in the flesh."

What's an Ikur?

"Be careful with your head. I hope you find a place to stay and I have some o' those tea leaves for you when you get the chance to rest. I assume you will be in the castle from now on and truth be told, they probably have the same stuff I do, but you can't be to careful," She gave Charlotte a smile.

Charlotte took the little bag and put it in her jacket pocket. 

"What is your name, dear?" the nurse asked.

"Charlotte, Charlotte Mitionia."

"Charlotte...tis' a pretty name. I am called Ruth. Is it true you be a wielder?"

"Ummm," Charlotte didn't know how to respond. What would happen if I said no?

"Dear I know a wielder when I see one. You have the smell o' one. You do not seem like the others that say they are. Liars...Oi! Here I am chattering and keeping the commander behind his duties! Hurry now!"

She hastily lifted Charlotte up as if she was a doll and steadied herself to see if Charlotte was fit enough to walk. Then she lead her to the doors and out into the lobby. Awaiting her there was Commander Basik with Jerreth on his right and another guard on his left. Without the sun to blind her, Charlotte could see their faces more clearly. Commander Basik was an aged man with white hair with specks of gray in it. He wore silver armor with a purple crest embedded in the armor of an odd shaped flower. Jerreth had a helmet on with the visor raised to reveal an older face, but had some youth to it. His mouth kept twitching from his black mustache. The guy on the left had his face covered, but she could see blue eyes underneath.

Commander Basik smiled as if he was seeing his best friend. "How fare ye, Charlotte? I know tis a little early, but the queen demands that we hurry." He looked at her clothing in disgust. "Hm, you might want to present yourself as if you were not a prisoner from Cannan. Ruth, do you have anything in storage that would look presentable for the queen?"

Ruth nodded and pulled Charlotte to the right of the building. They went down a hallway and through a door on the left. Inside were trunks and chests full of clothes. Most of them were robes and rags from the sick, but one chest in the corner revealed some dresses and slightly nicer things than the clothes stranded on the ground.

"Tis my daughter's extra clothes I have been neglecting to deal with. She was as poor as a beggar till she met some lord-ling. Anyway, he bought her many fancy dresses and gowns and she decided her old wardrobe wasn't good enough for her anymore. All those clothes I got for her over the years..."

Ruth pulled out the clothes from the chest with quickness and placed then on the table that reached up to her waist. She pulled out a simple light purple dress with half sleeves and a small collar around the neck. Ruth held it up to Charlotte, nodded in approval, and then gave her the dress. "Put that on quick. Trust me, it'll fit ya. Just hurry up." Ruth made way for the door and shut it behind her giving Charlotte a moment with her thoughts.

The queen eh, yea she is going to take one look at me and realize I am definitely not one of these wielders everyone is so hyped about. 

Charlotte could not believe she was here right now. Her head was throbbing and it was not just from the fall. She tried to recall what was happening so far. She was worried what will happen when the queen saw her. How would she get out? Obviously this was some sort of medieval world so wouldn't they kill her? Could she plead for her innocence? She could say she was from Cannan, but what if that was worse? How could she explain all of this...

She brought the dress over her head and felt the waist almost give away before she finally fixed it around her waist. She noticed strings hanging from the back of the dress. She hadn't noticed while she was trying to figure out what to do. She still had her converse on her feet, but the dress almost touched the floor so no one could see that she was wearing them. There was a mirror in the corner surrounded by trunks of dirty clothes. From afar, she could see a girl in a pretty dress with wild hair and large blue eyes staring back at her in fear. She quickly brushed her hair down with her fingers and saw that she still had a ponytail on her wrist. With a sigh of relief, she put her hair up. 

Maybe I can fight my way out. She laughed at herself. There was no way she could take on the entire guard. She felt hopeless. She had no control. She was scared of what was to become of her. She felt like screaming and running away. But instead she looked around the room. The only thing that looked like a weapon was a quill that was right next to weird-looking paper on one side of the room. Trunks covered the pathway to it and she tripped a few times in her new dress trying to get to it. She was about to reach it when her dress snagged on another trunk and she fell on the floor in  a thud. Her elbows scrapped against the wooden floor. She winced as she lifted herself up. Before she did, there was something glimmering underneath the table. She reached for it and grasped something cold and sharp. She pulled it out from underneath to reveal a small dagger with rust encrusted on the metal. It wasn't much, but it beat taking the quill.

She another thought ran through her mind. Where would she put it? All she was wearing was a dress! But then she remembered she still had her pants underneath. She took a rag from of the trunks that didn't look moldy and wrapped the dagger around it. Then she lifted her dress and placed it in one of her belt loops. Fortunately, the handle was to wide for it to go through the hoop, so she was set. She put down her dress just when Ruth rushed in all red faced.

"Shew, and I thought I was slow at dressing. Come, come now. You must go!"

She grabbed Charlotte by the arm and almost made her trip again as she pulled her down the hall.