The Celestial Princess

Chapter 9, Golden Lining

(3.2K words — 13 min. read)
Chapter Nine
GOLDEN LINING

I.

Ashley's face drooped.

She felt the icy morning wind blow her tattered clothes behind her, pulling them against her taut skin, and her auburn hair, now a bundle of greasy tangled pieces, followed the gust, cold and lifeless.

She stood on a makeshift stage that the Cloud Casts had constructed in the town square out of sturdy planks and nails. Ahead, she faced the weary, fearful faces of the Glassedge people—commoners, merchants, musicians, and laborers, all gathered in a tight-knit crowd that shuffled with soft whispering and murmuring.

To her left, the Cloud Crown Bodhi stood at the edge of the platform, her towering figure casting a long, deep shadow at the faces ahead of her. She wore a mess of golden silk and polar white cloth, stitched together into a tunic—the trophy heads of Glassedge and Lorvale, now arming her with warmth against the cold morning. Her long white hair sprawled free behind her, glinting with spots of dark brown.

Surrounding the entire area with knives raised and eyes sharp, the Cloud Casts stood their guard, trapping everyone in a fatal perimeter. All of Glassedge's twisting towers, houses, and marketplaces were swept clean of people by the Casts, shoving those who broke resolve and slitting the throats of those who did not wish to participate.

"I'm Bodhi, the Crown of the Cloud Casts!" the large woman began, stretching her voice to the extreme. "Your queen is dead. She was foolish. She led you all to lives that benefitted her more than it did yours."

Ashley kept her gaze down, avoiding contact with any pair of eyes. She sighed as her stomach grumbled; she had not been offered any food since the incident at Marblemere, though she had never gotten in the mood for it since then, either way.

"You may have heard of the news. Your messengers may have been up and about," Bodhi continued. "I crushed Lorvale Dominion to the last stone. I buried the king in a quick grave, and I sent their prince plummeting down the earth like a shooting star. That is what happens to the monarchs when they overstep!"

The words drilled into the orphan's ears, burning her insides with a most ferocious fire. She felt hot tears streaming down her cheeks as she muttered curses under her breath.

Evard, she thought. She hid her screaming.

"Now, your elder is dead. The monarchs are dead." Bodhi smiled wide. "You have no cause to fear. She rules now. The clouds will return to the olden prosperity it had never worn since people with crowns terrorized everything!"

All around, the Cloud Casts set their weapons aside and clapped. Ashley saw some people in the crowd clapping along, their cautious eyes darting around the armed men and women who threatened them by their sides. Most of them, however, kept still and quiet.

Bodhi raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Not promising enough?"

Overhead, dark thick clouds paraded in the reddening sky, keeping the sun out of view. Bolts of blinding scarlet lightning struck through the heavens in deafening roars, arching and zipping. The black rain had stopped the night before, but everyone in Glassedge felt its weight in the air.

Bodhi's face grew sour. She nodded at the Cloud Cast to her left and waited.

The Cloud Cast—a tall young man with clean white hair reaching down to his shoulders—marched down the platform and went towards the crowd, spear at hand.