The Prince and His Slave

Chione - [The Throne Room]

Waking up in a comfortable, large bed is a beautiful thing for any slave. But when your head is throbbing in pain, it’s not as beautiful as it should be.  

       “Oh! Alexandra! Thank goodness! You are ok! I was so worried!” Saia screamed, she hugged me and I sat there shocked.

       “Saia, what happened?” I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

       “You were running near the well, the floor was really slippery there so you slipped. You banged your head really hard! Oh, and it was the boy who saved us from Lady Aziza who saved you again!” She said. She lightly touched my face. “Are you feeling okay?”

       “My head aches, I feel a little out of it, my back is killing me, and so are my feet. Other than that, I’m fine!” I told her.

       She smiled at me. “Hope you get better soon.”

       I returned her smile. “Thank you.”

       “Oh wow Alexandra! I can’t believe that boy saved you again! You should see him, he is so handsome!” She said clapping her hands together. “He is so gorgeous and so polite; he called me ‘My Lady!’ Wow, you’re so lucky! He’s like… he is like your hero!” She looked like she was daydreaming. “Can you believe he’s of a higher class? He’s so nice! I mean, he knows we’re slaves. No one has ever been so nice to us slaves… He even smiled at me! Higher class people never smile at me.”

       I frowned at her. “Rich people are fools.”

       “But not this boy.”

       I remembered the boy and then shook my head. Yes, he was nice, but I couldn’t believe that he was just nice. There must be something he wants. I shivered at the thought of what these upper class people would want from slaves.

       I looked around, trying to get my mind off the type of people I hated, and noticed that we were in a bright room, and I felt so comfortable.

       “Saia, where are we?” I asked.

       “Huh? Oh, I don’t know, probably the room of some high class person, the bed is grand isn’t it!” She replied, admiring it.

       I quickly got up. “We should leave Saia.” I said. My head still hurted, but if Lady Aziza saw us here, she would probably make it worse.

       Saia left to finish some of her work, and so I walked alone in the halls. I wonder what happened to the water… I thought.

       “You! Chione!” Someone called, I forgot my Egyptian name and I kept walking for a moment, but when it hit me, I turned around. Lady Aziza was marching towards me. Perfect.

       I remembered how she responded when I told her my name.

       “What Alexandra? What kind of name is that?” She yelled.

       “It means ‘man’s protector’.” I told her.

       She laughed, hard. “How pathetic! You? A man’s protector?” Her face then changed to a mean, strict face. “Child, what is your Egyptian name?” She yelled.

       I sighed, “Chione, but I prefer Alexandra.” I told her.

       “Chione! Much better, young lady, that is the name you go by in this palace, understood?” She said.

       I, of course, won’t go by that name, Chione means the Princess of the Nile, and I am no princess. The woman walked towards me and yelled at me as usual. “Where is the water I asked for so long ago?”

       “My Lady, there was an accident.” I said.

       “An accident?” She snapped. “You will be punished for not doing as you were told, no dinner for you and no sleep, you will clean the floor of the palace throne room tonight! Understood?”

       I just nodded my head and sighed.

       “Now, go help out in the kitchen.” She ordered.

       I bowed and then walked away.

       I helped in the kitchen for the rest of the day. Kitchen work was probably the thing I actually liked to do. It helps me feel as if the day is passing by quickly. Before I knew it, it was already late in the evening.

       I sighed and got ready to clean the throne room. I filled a large jar with water, brought a couple of cloths and walked to the throne room. Unfortunately for me, I had never seen the throne room, so when I did see it, I was shocked.

       It was huge.

       The throne room was one large square hall. At one end of the hall sat a large, golden throne. All around the throne room was another smaller square of tall, tall coloumn which reached all the way up to the roof of the room... which was very high up. The coloumns seemed to make a path around the throneroom which allowed for people to pass through from door to door. But the place was huge and lit up dimly by a few flames.

       I was cursing Aziza while I worked. What a nasty old bitch! I thought.

       The hours went slow now, and the moon didn’t seem to move. Not even the slightest bit. It took forever to clean one tile, I was so mad but kept going, I had no choice.

       After what seemed like hours, I finally sat back. When I looked around, I noticed that I wasn’t even close to done.

       I looked up and put my hand on my head.

       Just a little nap won’t kill me. I thought.

       So I sat there for a bit, leaning against a large column and soon, I dozed off.

       When I woke up, I knew I hadn’t taken ‘a little nap’. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw someone doing something unbelievable. I stared in disbelief.

       This was bad.