Dancing Blades

Slave

        Kiara sat on her bed, staring at the wooden door leading to the hallway, waiting for her body to adjust to the restraints of the seal. She felt strange, like there was something pulling at her back draining her physically and mentally. She slowly stood after a few hours, her legs weak and her body heavy as she walked towards the mirror in the corner of the room. A pale face stared back at her, skinny and scarred, blood still covered her body and clothes and her eyes looked dead. This wasn’t the woman that had fought to protect her kingdom. This was just a horrible nightmare that she needed to wake up from. 

        Kiara stared at the girl in the mirror, refusing to accept what she had become. She looked like a monster; a half dead, beaten down monster. She shook her head, the image burned into her mind. She slowly made her way to the bathroom, her feet gently scraping against the stone floor. Kiara filled the bath in silence, removed her shredded clothes, and sunk into the warm water. She started to wash the dirt and blood off of her body, scrubbing her skin till it was almost raw. Staring down at her red arms the tears started to gently roll down Kiara’s cheeks. She couldn’t hold it back anymore; the pain welling up inside her was just too much. Kiara held her head as her body shook with each sob that rolled through her.

        With no more tears left to shed and her throat sore, Kiara stood and climbed out of the bath. She dried herself off and went back into the bedroom, got dressed and looked around her. The bed took up most of the space in the room, a small desk against the wall across from the bathroom, a dresser beside the desk, and the mirror next to the bathroom door. Kiara walked over to the bed and gently sat on the edge, feeling suddenly nauseated. She clamped her right hand over her mouth, the other laying at her side, trying to regain composure. The damage to her brain was taking its toll as her vision went in and out of focus. Without realizing it she slipped out of consciousness and fell back on the bed.

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        When Kiara finally woke up, her head was spinning and her body felt numb, it took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t the same numbing sensation she’d felt while she was held in the cell. This was the feeling of having no pain. While she had slept the seal on her back had worked and healed her from the inside, mending her broken bones and cuts and bruises, only white scars remained on her skin. She slowly climbed out of bed and walked over to the mirror; this time she looked more human, the frightening image of the hollow and broken girl that was in the mirror just hours ago was gone. Her skin was still pale, her body too skinny, and her face still lacked emotion, but she wasn’t frightened by the woman that stared back at her in the mirror.

        Kiara gently touched her fingers to her lips, thinking of Alyn. “Thank you,” She whispered softly even though she knew he would never hear her.

        Walking over to the dresser on the other side of the room wasn’t so hard and getting dressed in trousers and a tunic didn’t take much energy. She closed the drawer softly with her hip, taking a small band off of the top of the dresser. Pulling her auburn hair back into a low ponytail with the band, Kiara sat back down on the bed and waited for the servant Alyn mentioned to come. She stared at the wall in silence, mulling things over in her head and trying to make sense of her situation. Being allowed to leave the prison perplexed her; she was a blatant danger to the Kingdom of Haeas and had attempted to kill their King. Yet they still allowed her to leave and even allowed to walk about freely. Without trying she knew the door to her room wasn’t locked, sure she had the seal on her back but could it really be enough? Kiara didn’t want to test it in her current state and she also didn’t want to lose the freedom she had just gained. 

        A knock on the door snapped Kiara out of her thoughts and stood as the door opened. Standing in the doorway was a small girl with soft brown curls no older than 14. The young girl stared up at Kiara with big blue eyes, sizing her up. Kiara hesitated as the girl held out her hand and said in a soft voice, “It’s nice to meet you, my name is Rin.”

        Kiara took the girl’s small hand in her own and gave it a gentle shake. “It’s nice to meet you Rin, my name is Kiara,” Her accent made Rin’s small smile grow a bit bigger.

        “I’m going to show you to your work and introduce you to a few important people, if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” The small girl waited for Kiara to nod before continuing, “I work in the gardens by the stables where you will be working tending to the horses. I understand you have experience with them?”

        “I have some, enough to get started anyway.”

        “Good, the old stable hand passed away earlier this week and we have been having a tough time taking care of the horses. It will do us some good having someone who knows what to do. You will be working alone for now, but again if you need anything just ask. I’ll show you to Cora and Abner later, both are busy with the morning chores; they are the ones in charge of all the servants on the castle grounds.” With that the girl turned and led Kiara down the hall, closing the door behind them with a soft click. 

        It took Kiara’s eyes a minute to adjust, still not used to the bright light of the morning sun. This time Kiara could actually take a moment to look around her surroundings. There were many wooden doors along the left side of the hall, and windows lining the right, allowing light to flood into the hallway. The walls were made of stone and the floor was covered in a long blue rug, blue and gold banners lined the stone walls. The crest of the Kingdom of Haeas stitched delicately on each of the banners, the griffin with a snake in its talons. She listened silently as Rin showed her around the servant’s quarters, making a mental note of where everything was in the large building. 

        Rin stopped in front of a large wooden door at the end of the hall, giving it a gentle push as more sunlight flooded in. The two of them headed towards the stables, Rin giving Kiara tips as she showed the way, “Don’t look any of the guards, especially the knights in the eye. Always keep your eyes cast downwards and don’t speak to them unless you are spoken to. If any of them ask you to do something, just do it as fast and accurately as possible. It makes things easier on you and the rest of us.”

        Rin stopped in front of the large stables, the structure completely made of wood and the building was massive. There was no way that one person could possibly take care of all of the horses inside, but Kiara didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Kiara listened to Rin as she explained her duties and the rest of the information she needed to know. “Feed the horses every morning and evening if their troughs are running on empty, same with the water. Clean out their stalls every day, two times a day if needed, and keep an eye on the health of the horses. Brush them especially the Knight’s horses and the Royal family’s horses as often as you can, keep their manes trimmed except for the Queen’s and Princess’. The blacksmith will come every week to shoe the horses; it differs each week on the day he comes. All the supplies you need are in the shed in the back, if you need more food for the horses tell the blacksmith before he leaves, he’ll bring more when he returns the next week,” Rin stated and thought to herself for a moment to make sure she didn’t forget anything. After a moment she looked back up at Kiara,” Any questions?”

        Kiara shook her head and Rin nodded, “Ok, I’ll come see how you’re doing when I bring lunch. Good luck.” 

        Kiara watched as the small girl walked away, pulling worn out gardening gloves from her back pocket and sliding them onto her small hands. Kiara then looked back at the large stables before her, took a deep breath, and walked through the stable doors. “Might as well get this over with,” Kiara sighed.