The Queen And The Flower

Part 2

We stayed and talked about petty things, like which maids were flirting with the knights at the castle and which men at the market where likely to hire a whore for a night. I showed her some of my circus tricks, and she sang for me. Her voice was lovely, soft and flowing. She sang me a lullaby, and I felt like a babe, being cradled softly. It was very relaxing, and her eyes lit up when I applauded her performance.
Her laughter was the best part of the day. What started off as polite chuckles and dainty giggles muffled by her hand slowly turned into a deep belly laugh and her head tossed back. It was like watching a royal shell fall away to reveal a person beyond the long hair and fancy makeup.
I liked it.
When Empyrean began to set, I offered her my bed and told her to rest. She looked terribly small curled up in the blankets, drowning and lost when I threw more over her to ensure her warmth. Her big doe eyes looked betrayed when I headed for the dumbwaiter, and she seemed no more at ease when I promised I was only going for a walk.
Either way, out I slipped, down the dumbwaiter and out my door into the streets. In the fading light the window blew cold and I wished I’d thought to change into something beyond my tights and off the shoulder makeshift shirt. I pulled the fabric bundles out to cover my shoulders, but it did little to stop the goosebumps rising along my bare arms.
I headed towards the castle, Waving off men who thought I was a whore and whores alike. It was dark enough to be difficult to see by the time I arrived, and I wondered if I’d still be able to do what I had planned.
With the castle two rows away, I turned west, towards the sea. Soon enough the salty taste in the wind hit me, and I searched for the soft pink house. That house had a drain pipe thick enough for me to climb up, and from the rooftop I could see both the castle and the docks.
Sure enough the docks were full of big, fancy boats with big fancy flags, some I knew and some I didn’t. Through it all I thought I saw the flag the old circus used to fly. I smiled to myself, of course the bloated bastards would come perform for a ball this big. Good money.
Though the ball was to be held tonight, the gates were not thrown open as they usually would be. Instead, the doors were shut tight, and even the docks were on lockdown, guards patrolling every pier.
Looking down I noticed lots of guards roaming the streets as well, and it occured to me that they wouldn’t take kindly to riff raff sitting atop a roof so close to the castle. I began making my way back down the house.
The moment my foot touched the soil I heard a shout, and just like that I was running. I wove between houses, back into the market where I leapt over carts and stands, trying to shake them. The late night roamers disappeared into the night when I past.
Soon the shouting of the guards behind me grew faint, so I made my way back home. It was late, and the girls would all be gone now, so I slipped in through the front door. I regretted it the moment I heard a voice, raspy and quiet, cutting through the quiet.
“Amaryllis?” I jumped and ducked, spinning to look at who’d spoken. Curled up in her plush bed, surrounded by tissues, sat a blonde girl, looking pale and sickly in the moonlight. “What are you doing down here?”
“I could ask you a similar question, Melane.” I had rescued Melane a year ago. I found her early one morning when I had been slipping out to get my breakfast, bleeding out in the alley. I made sure she got home safely, and in return she didn’t tell anyone about my living above them. She was a sweet soul, I found a piece of cake in the dumbwaiter the day of her twenty fourth birthday a few months ago and I hoped it would become tradition.
“I’m sick. Strep throat we think,” she rasped.
“Thats a shame. I’ll be going now, if I may. Too many guards out tonight, not good for a walk.”
“What are they doing? Will everyone be okay?”
“They’re looking for the princess, she’s missing.”
“But it’s the ball tonight!”
“I’m aware.”
“Oh… will everyone be okay?”
“Of course. I made sure they knew the guards are around,” I said with a cheeky wink. “You rest up, and feel better soon, okay?”
She nodded. “Thank you Amaryllis.”
The door to the dumbwaiter closed as the front door burst open, causing Melane to shriek. I wanted to jump out and help her, but the Princess was waiting for me. I figured, in the end, she’d be fine.
When I arrived, the princess was sitting up in bed watching me arrive. I offered a small smile. “You ought to be resting, your Highness.”
“I was worried. Where did you go?” she said, pulling the blankets tighter around her.
“To the castle. I wanted to see what was happening with you missing.”
“And?”
“And it was amusing. The ball has been postponed, and the docks are in lockdown. Guards are around every corner.” I said, sitting in the blankets across from her. She kicked some over my legs.
“Were you seen?”
“Oh, yes. We had a nice little chase.”
“What?!” she exclaimed, panic stricken.
“Relax, I needed the exercise. Those tin can wearing klutzes couldn’t catch me if their life depended on it. Besides, there’s no real reason to them to follow me. Why would the person sitting on a roof have their beloved princess?” guilt writhed in my stomach. They probably had followed me back. And now they were taking Melane and the others.
It was a shame, I had grown fond of them. I hoped whoever bought the building afterwards were nice.
The princess nodded solumley. I smiled. She offered a weak one back.
“Lay down and sleep, Princess.” I said softly, resisting the urge to pat her hand or stroke her hair. She did as she was told, bundled up in blankets. I pulled one around my own shoulders and sat the way I was, too on edge to even think of sleep.

***

It wasn’t even an hour later when I was shocked awake by heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. The princess lurched forward to grab my arm, and my brain, slow and sluggish in its sleepy state, decided the best thing to do was tuck her under my arm, as if that would keep her safe.
The stairs weren’t sturdy, half of them burnt away from the fire, and I was sure there was no way they could get up them. But the sound of splintering wood and pained shouting never came, and instead we were surrounded by guards.
I suppose my brain couldn’t keep up. I knew they were shouting things, and I knew the Princess was screaming back at them. My arms were being jerked behind my back and I was pushed to my knees. As they tore apart my blankets and dumped my clothes out of my box, the only thing I could clearly think about was how bitter I was.
I could have been using the stairs this whole time? Damn.
The tinkle of breaking clay is what snapped me out of it, clearing the fog from my mind with a snap. At one of the guards feet lay my mask, its theatrically dramatic pout split by a jagged crack. I screamed before I even realized I was the one making that horrible, screeching sound. I jerked as hard as I could, twisting to escape the guards hold and save it, save the frowning mask looking at me with its big, sad eyes. I felt my shoulders pop in and out of place as I thrashed, nearly got free when another guard grabbed me.
A boot came down hard on the piece of clay I’d carried my whole life. I’d made that with my own six year old hands, painted that curve oh so carefully. And now it was nothing but dust under the heel of a knight.
He held the other mask above his head, the grin twisted and leering at me. I braced for impact, but It never came. Instead, the mask was snatched from him by a dainty hand with lovely dark blue nails.
And then we were lead away.