King's Quest

CHAPTER 7: THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY

Rosella is destroyed, she had just doomed all living things and there seems to be nothing she can do about it.

"Take her away!" Lolotte commands her soldiers, before changing her mind. "Wait, I almost forgot about your reward."

Suddenly, a spark of hope ignites within Rosella's inner most being.

"That's right I told you I'd give you what you were really after. Yes, you may marry my son Edgar," Lolotte speaks as she indicates the misshapen green man at her side. "And it will be a wonderful wedding, all of Tamir will be there. Well, at least those who haven't fled. Now, take her away and be sure to strip her of all her belongings, she won't need them anymore."

Rosella is taken to a different room this time, though of similar comfort to her previous one. She looks all around her, but their doesn't appear to be anything she can use. She stares into the mirror attached to the burea. She looks at the woman who stares back. Worn, tired and ready to break down.

How is she to escape? How is she to save Genesta? She likes Tamir just fine, but she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life here. Then there's her father, is he even still alive? Or was he in a state of pure agony, wating upon the fruit that she no longer has?

Rosella begins to weep, as she breaks down before the mirror. She buries her head in her hands, she can't bare to look at the failure she sees staring back at her.

Suddenly, she stops, her body tenses, as her adventurer's instincts kick in. She listens intently, someone is coming up the stairs. It's time for action. She pulls a drawer from the burea and stands ready to one side of the door.

The footsteps stops, she could feel someone standing there, they're hesitant. A single agonizing moment passes, before a flower is pushed under the door and the mysterious person goes back down the stairs.

Rosella plucks the flower, a red rose, with a small golden key tied around it with a small blue ribbon. Could this be her ticket to freedom? She places the key in the keyhole and turns it, the lock disengages. She opens the door and departed.

Slowly, carefully, she makes her way down the spiral staricase to the floor below. There's an open hall way with one of the winged men standing next to it. But there is something different about it, its round white head is devoid of contour.

It has neither eye nor mouth, it's a bit creepy. Rosella prays this means he is not watching, as she stepped through his line of sight, more than glad, that she makes it through.

The next room has a dining table and another faceless guard as well as a black bird tethered to a perch. There are two exits and she opts for the one nearest the wall she hugs the wall, careful not to disturb the bird, which she also is not certain if it were sleeping. She is now in a kitchen of sorts.

She checks the cabinets, there's nothing of use in the one, but her search is far from fruitless, as the other one contains all of her possessions, including the fruit and even Cupid's bow and quiver.

She stares at the lovely weapon, as she recalls Lolotte's reaction to it, she was scared. Was it merely it's persuasive ability that she feared or something else? It's time to find out. One way or another, she is going to get the medallion.

She leaves the kitchen, ax at the ready and enters the other doorway. It leads into the throne room and another immobile goon. There's the exit just below her, but she ignores it entirely and takes the next entry way, which leads to another set of spiraling stairs. She goes all the way up, ignoring the other doorway on the landing.

Further up she goes, to another locked door. She tries the key and the door opens wide. Before her in a luxurious, four poster bed, lays Lolotte. Upon her heaving breast is the medallion, Genesta's medallion.