The Silver Tree (Spirit Animals Fanfiction)

Chapter 12

The rumbling dirt road was starting to give the Prime Minister of Amaya a headache. She'd been on the road for a few days now and even though she'd had servants plan her the fastest route, she was sure an important person such as herself shouldn't have to go through so much torture. If the Emperor of Zhong had wanted to speak so bad, he should have made his way to Amaya! Well, she was almost there now. No point in complaining anymore than she'd already made her driver listen to. She stared at the rising sun on the horizon to keep her from focusing on her misfortunes.

"We're coming up on the gate now, ma'am," her driver, André, announced. He was seated at the front of the metal chariot and a row of bruised and bent bars separated him from her.

"Finally," the Prime Minister grumbled, leaning back on the mildew encrusted pillows keeping her back from being too strained. Everything in her region was kind of like the carriage she rode; old and rotting. All the other leaders turned their noses up at her, but she never felt the need to fix the situation. In her opinion it was just a different way of life. Her people saw the importance of things better this way. They very rarely threw things away and if they did, some homeless person was sure to find it and put it to good use.

The chariot made its way through the elegant front entrance to Xin Kao Dai and the Prime Minister straightened her back so as to look a little more proper before someone else's subjects.

As it turns out, there were only two guards on duty which was very unusual for the over-the-top Emperor. He was more likely to have fifty guards than a measly two. The carriage passed through the gates without either of the guards asking for identification, giving them a salute, or basically doing anything to acknowledge their existence.

This was the first thing that unnerved the Prime Minister, but as she neared the centre of the city she became increasingly aware of something gone wrong. The usual calm, organised feel of the place had been completely thrown away and replaced with utter chaos. People and untamed livestock alike ran around the streets with no clear purpose or destination. Shouts and screams, and the occasional squawk of a chicken, were the only things to be heard all around the Prime Minister.

This reminded her of how she had expected her own cities to react when the children had started disappearing. She kept waiting for the protests and mobs to show up at her house and for the markets and stores to shut their doors, but it never happened. The funny thing is, even after all the tragedy, life continued as usual. Even the kids continued on, although there were a considerable number missing at school. Of course once the Prime Minister thought about it she knew it all made perfect sense. She should have expected her people to pretend like nothing was wrong. Not to show weakness. Oh, how she was proud of them!

With all the commotion going on in the streets, nobody seemed to have noticed the Prime Minister's arrival. Although they stayed mostly out of the way of the carriage, no one seemed to look up enough to see who was inside. At first she'd been a little disappointed, as she'd been hoping for a bit of a warmer welcome. At least some cheering from her adoring fans, and perhaps a well choreographed dance routine. She was here, let's not forget, to discuss something with the Emperor which she assumed had to do with the chaos in the city. She was the soon-to-be saviour of these people and they wouldn't even make eye contact with her.

A few minutes after entering the centre of town, she regretted wanting their attention. She made her first mistake when she noticed a man on the flat roof of a short building. He was holding up a sign she didn't bother reading and shouting some things she couldn't be bothered to process. That was her second mistake. Her third and biggest mistake was when she stood up and called out a greeting, desperate for any attention, even from some ragged, middle-aged man.