The Kingdoms of Eden

CHAPTER NINE: Bones of Saints

Amy awoke early the following morning. She had slept remarkably well considering the events of the previous day. The king's tower echoed with sounds that were unfamiliar to her. She tried to reason away what she was hearing—everything is normal; this is what the comings and goings in a palace sound like; but try as she might, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was terribly amiss. There was some frenetic about what she was listening to, and it knotted her stomach.

Servants prepared the tower for the day ahead as the guards from the night watch were replaced by their day watch counterparts. She crossed the room and cautiously opened the door. The door had been unbolted sometime during the night, as she slept. Although relieved that she was no longer locked in her room, it did leave her feeling a little vulnerable—someone had been in her room during the night; or at the very least, they had been keeping a close eye on her.

The man in uniform standing on the other side of the door was not the same guard who had taken her to the city wall, but he was still a guard and she was still a prisoner, of sorts. She slowly, quietly, closed the door and she stepped back into the room. On the other side of the room, next to a pair of double doors that led to a balcony, a small table was laden with fruit, bread and cheese. Next to the food a metal jug of water sat beside a simple metal cup. She was absolutely certain that the table had been empty when she went to bed the night before. That they had opened the door during the night to check that she was still in the room was completely understandable, but it was unsettling to think that someone had come that far into her room during the early hours while she was sleeping. She poured half a cup of water and plucked a slice of fruit from the large bowl in the middle of the table. She stepped out onto the balcony. Branna was already standing on the balcony.

"Did you bring the food?" Amy asked, holding out the piece of fruit.

"Nope. Two women brought food to my room about an hour ago. They must have called in here too."

"An hour ago? How long have you been awake?"

"I didn't sleep," Branna replied.

"And how long have you been in my room?"

"Almost half an hour. Though I did visit you a number of times during the night."

"I wish you had woken me."

"I didn't want to disturb you."

"You are creeping around my room, watching me sleep; that disturbs me."

They exchanged smiles before sitting at the table.

"So," Amy began. "Now that we had time to sleep on it; well, some of us slept on it; what do you think we should do? Should we help him? The king? Is that even possible?"

"I was hoping you could help me with that."

"How so?"

"You can see into their hearts, or whatever. Look at him again and tell me what you see."

"I don't know what it is that I am seeing. How can we trust what I see when I don't understand it? I have seen the darkness around your father, more than once, yet he isn't evil. And perhaps the king can mask his darker side if he tries? As a human evil detector, I'm really not that reliable."

"But there is evil in my father's soul. It was imprisoned there by my mother when the demon tried to turn him; but it is there, and that's what you saw. I have that same evil inside me."