Snapshots

Salis Regina

The queen sat inside her cavernous castle. Her merciless laughter rang through the halls as she threw her head back and filled the empty space. The shrill sound contained an absence of humanity which seemed to leech the little remaining warmth out of the air.

The tiny family looked so pitiful standing beneath her. Her towering throne looked over them, engulfing their quivering forms within its shadow. Limbs trembling, they waited for the queens next words, barely daring to breathe as silence encompassed the chamber once more.

"You dare to ask me for this?" She said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

She lifted one perfectly pale hand and it floated through the air before resting just above her heart. Her tattered dress held a certain elegance about it despite its dishevelled appearance and the grey material appeared to be sprinkled with dust which shimmered ever so slightly as she moved. There was no denying the power of this queen. She was feared throughout the land and only a fool would dare question why.

She froze for a moment with such a peculiar expression on her face that she almost appeared to be thinking. Without warning, she let out a sly smile and leaned slowly forward, her face now only inches from theirs as it rested upon her hand. Her lips curled upwards in an almost menacing grin, dark eyes flicking upwards to meet the gaze of her prey. Hair fell in dark tresses around her face creating an exquisite sight that some might go so far as to call beautiful. However, her next words were anything but that.

"You must take me for a fool."

The words were spoken with a smile and held no obvious resentment, yet the family flinched back at her response. Each member bore a look of unexplainable pain as if they had been struck across the face. An onlooker might describe them as foolish for such an act, but they knew what was coming next. Everyone knew the stories of this queen. They could only hope that she was in a merciful mood.

"Now get out."

She spat out her words like poison, teeth bared as she stared them down until they went scarpering away. The jagged floor began to move and grow, chasing them to the end of the throne room, tendrils of salt lashing at their feet as they lept towards the door and out of sight.

The queen leaned back in her chair, the floor slowly dissolving to what it was before. Her eyes bore no forgiveness or repentance but instead, they showed triumph. These people had made her younger life hell. Now, she was simply claiming their debt.

The queen closed her eyes and relaxed as the screams faded and the halls of her palace became peaceful once more. She was stirred only by a cracking sound from the end of the hall. The massive gates were slowly being opened and she resisted the urge to bury the intruder, curious to see who on earth would be stupid enough to visit her today.

The doors had barely opened when a little girl stepped out from behind the slab of salt. She had brown hair which was pulled back into pigtails and her stance made it clear that she was nervous. One foot was tentatively placed in front of the other and she was repeated wringing her hands together while halving around the room. Her face shone of innocence and purity even though tear tracks were clearly visible against her mud stained cheeks.

Wordlessly, the queen beckoned her over and she shuffled closer to the throne eyes darting wildly as her face hung open in awe of the sight above her.

"Salis Regina." She began, concentrating hard on the words she had come to say.

But the queen cut her off with a finger, her head cocked to one side as she observed this strange newcomer. The girl stood still in wide eyes terror as the queen edged closer.

"What is your name?" She asked.

The words were softly spoken and sounded almost comforting to the ear. The cold calculated look of a queen had been replaced by an almost childlike curiosity.

"Leto." The girl said in a barely audible whisper, "My name is Leto."

"Well, Leto," the queen responded, "What is it you have come to ask me for?"

"Please Your Highness, my sister is ill." The child replied, "We have no food left to give her and if we do nothing, she might die."

"Then why have you come to me."

Leto looked puzzled at the question put before her.

"You are the queen." She simply said.

The queen let out a small sad chuckle.

"My dear, I am the Salis Regina. Salt is the only thing that I can control. My gift does not help anyone. That is why they fear me. Long ago, they decided I was useless, so they cast me out. Now, I have come back to claim this land, only to find out that they were right. I am sorry, but I can be of no help to you."

The girls lip trembled as she cast her eyes to the ground in an attempt to conceal the tears which welled beneath them.

"I see." She mumbled.

The queen put a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face so their eyes met once more.

"Here." She said, placing a small portion of glittering powder into the girls fist, "This is all that I can give you."

Leto's eyes looked up in thanks. Her eyes were dark, like those of the queen, but they appeared to have depth and warmth, a certain amount of hopefulness which radiated out of them. It was almost a mirror image, until the queen caught sight of her own empty eyes in the reflection.

She suddenly jerked back, her queenly stature returning once more as she spoke her words with cool, incalculable malice.

"You may leave now."

The young girl shuffled down the walkway once more, both hands clasping the precious gift the queen had given her, eyes opened wide in awe as she returned to the outside world. The queen watched her retreating back as her expression softened long enough for her to remember back to her youth.

That girl was so hauntingly innocent and hopeful. She had trusted everything the queen had said. Her name - Leto. The forgotten one. She would learn, as the queen did, that names are always chosen for a reason. She knew nothing of what the world was like. But she would learn.

For a queen always knows her successor.