by A. J. Bell
“John is being summoned, not ordered, by His Majesty, who will wait for you at the floating gazebo in the Queen’s gardens. His Majesty said you knew the location. There will be guards at each entrance of the gardens to ensure privacy,” he assured me. “What should I say to His Majesty?” he asked as Rosie came into the tent.
“I will be there,” I replied.
“Where are you going?” Rosie inquired.
Both Sir Daniel and I ignored her and walked out of the tent. I went to tell Mother, whose face showed curiosity. “His Majesty is requesting my presence. I shall go and meet him after Rosie and Sir Richard are asleep.” She nodded.
We went back inside the tent, where Rosie was lying on her mattress fast asleep. Not too long after that, the candles in Sir Richard’s tent went out too. I got up and headed out towards the Queen’s gardens, but took a couple of wrong turns since I had not been in the gardens at nighttime before. But the glimmering lights coming from the gazebo were hard to miss, even though there were only two paper lanterns floating in the water – one to remember Queen Kyrah, the Prince’s mother, and one to remember Karianna, the Queen’s best friend.
I arrived before the Prince, so I took my boots off and dipped my feet into the water, which felt cool and very relaxing. After a few minutes, I stood by the small fence where we had stood together before. I stood there admiring the glow from the lanterns reflected in the water. The moonlight also playfully lit the water in the pond, and every so often, I could see a fish or two peeking to the surface. I removed my cap and unbraided my hair, allowing the wind to play with it.
“You left without saying goodbye,” whispered the Prince in my ear, his lips kissing my skin softly. “Why do you make me miss you so?” The contact between my skin and his lips made me shudder.
I had been so lost in thought that I had failed to notice when he arrived. Needless to say, I did not even realize he had gotten so close to me until he spoke. I remained speechless. I thought of saying that the Queen had ordered me to go, that I was afraid. A thousand excuses I could have used. Instead, I said nothing. He put his arms around my waist and caressed his lips against my neck. I almost lost control, like the day the Queen had found us.
“Your Highness,” I started to say, but he quieted me with a kiss.
“I told you to call me Victor; for you, I am just plain Victor,” he whispered.
His kiss engulfed me like a dream, but my dream turned to a nightmare in a matter of seconds. I pushed the Prince away when I heard a very familiar voice calling my name again and again.
“John, where are you?” The voice wasn’t that far from us. Soon, she would notice the light from the lanterns and follow their glow to us. I panicked, and I tried to put on my cap, but I didn’t have time to braid my hair. I couldn’t hide it under the cap without being braided.
“Who is she?” Prince Victor asked.
“Rosie,” I said in exasperation. “She serves in Sir Richard’s household and won’t leave me alone. She can’t find out the truth about me and John.”
“I have an idea!” he said. “Take your clothes off,” he said.
“Just how stupid do you think I am?” I replied, looking at him in disbelief, remembering the words the Queen had uttered in regards to his true intentions, but he didn’t wait for me. He ripped my shirt open, exposing my corset. Rosie was fast approaching, and I was unable to move, confused by the Prince’s actions. He unbuckled my belt and pulled my breeches down, leaving my legs exposed. In less than a minute, he had me almost naked and threw my clothes behind us. I heard the splash as they fell into the pond. I stared at him, angry at the humiliation. I crossed my arms over my bosom to cover myself but was rooted to the floor, unable to move any other way. It felt one hundred times worse than when Sir Richard spanked me back in Stoneburg.
He stared at my body in silence. “Kiss me now!” he commanded. I took a step back. “Kiss me!”
“Rot in…”
He didn’t let me spill my bile. With his left arm, he pulled me closer to him. Then he forced his lips onto mine. I dug my nails into his chest in self-defense. Seconds later, I heard the gasp of Rosie as she froze like a statue, halfway through the small arched bridge that crossed to the gazebo.
“John?” she asked nervously. The Prince was holding me hard against him; struggling was useless. I was breathing heavily.
“Your Majesty,” she bowed at the recognition of his face, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She lifted up her eyes and looked at me. “My Lady,” she bowed again. She didn’t recognize me. I sighed quietly in relief.
“Who are you and what are you doing wandering around my palace at this late hour?” asked the Prince, softening his hold on me. I kept staring at him, my anger diminishing with every second. He had wisely created a distraction by taking away everything that made me look like John, and left Elle alone in his arms.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I thought I saw my betrothed coming in this direction. I was mistaken,” she said humbly.
“Betrothed? John is not your marrying you!” I snapped.
“Not now, Elle!” The Prince tightened his grip around my waist as a warning. “Your husband-to-be isn’t here,” said His Highness. I shot a killing glance at him. His grip tightened even more when I tried to pull away. “Do tell the guard at the entrance to summon Sir Daniel. We will be waiting for him right here,” he commanded Rosie.
She bowed one more time and then disappeared, still calling out for John.
Chapter 8
“Let go of me!” I yelled.
“Are you mad?” he asked, just loud enough for me to hear. “You almost gave yourself up.”
“She was lying! I’m not… John isn’t engaged to her, nor will he ever be,” I said resentfully.
“Don’t you think I know that!” he said. “Couldn’t you just let it go for a minute? She could’ve told Richard, and every sacrifice your parents have made to keep your secret would have been in vain.”
I kept quiet, lowering my gaze and trying to calm down. “I can’t let her lie like that about me.”
I looked up as the light of a torch made its way towards us from the same direction Rosie had gone. Sir Daniel emerged from behind a wall of gardenia bushes, accompanied by another soldier. Or so I thought, until I heard him speak.
“So it is true.” He sounded a bit disappointed. His Majesty stood between us, as if trying to protect me from Sir Richard. “You can’t see beauty without wanting to have it for yourself, Victor,” said Sir Richard.
“What I do or don’t do with the beauties around me is none of your business, Richard,” said His Highness. I felt ashamed when I realized what their words were implying. My arms flew towards my chest, trying to cover up once more, but I was helpless.
How would my parents feel if they saw me wearing only my undergarments among men?
“Fine!” said Sir Richard. “I am here to tell you that the answer to your request is No! John will come back home with me after the tournament. If you want a servant with his gifts, find one somewhere else.”
“You can find another squire in Stoneburg easily,” said Victor, getting angry, unused to not having his way.
“John is more than a squire to me; he’s a friend and friendship isn’t for sale. You should try it sometime, getting something without paying for it or taking it by force,” concluded Sir Richard. He then turned his face towards me. “Goodnight, Lady Elle.” He bowed his head slightly, and then disappeared behind the gardenias.
I could barely lift my head up, since he had recognized me from before. This time, he didn’t need to rescue me from Gypsies. This time, I looked like one of those girls who lined up to be a knight’s lover. He couldn’t hide his disappointment, nor could I hide my shame.
Interrupting the silence formed by Sir Richard’s departure, Sir Daniel approached us with a wooden box in his hands. It contained a gown, purple in color, beaded lace shimmering on the top, layered silk in the skirt. I hadn’t seen so much beauty
sewn together since I had left the palace a few weeks back.
“It’s a gift for you to wear at the banquet,” the Prince said proudly. I held it in my hands, confused with his words.
I’m not going to the banquet, I thought. Yet, I didn’t want to discuss that. In my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder about the words of my master. “What did Sir Richard mean?” I asked him.
He took my hands in his, as I had done in his tent when we first met. “I asked him to leave you behind. I told him he could have as many servants from the palace to take with him to Stoneburg, if he could just forget about you.” His response surprised me, not because he wanted me to stay, but because the lives of the other servants were worthless to him if he could just have me. “I told him that you didn’t need to participate in the tournament to be honored, that you had found favor in my eyes,” he continued with a little smile of satisfaction on his face, as if what he was saying was actually a compliment. “I told him that you had enjoyed life in the palace and wanted to stay but were afraid to tell him so because you owed him so much. I asked him to think about it tonight and give me the answer in the morning. I guess he couldn’t wait until then.” Even Sir Daniel didn’t approve of what the Prince was saying. He was shaking his head from side to side as His Royal Highness continued to dig his grave.
“You asked him to leave me behind, and he said no! Does my opinion count in this matter at all? Did you even ask the servants at the palace if they would mind leaving everything behind to go to Stoneburg and serve Sir Richard there?” He was shocked by my comment. “I might be a peasant, but I’m still human, not some sort of trading thing that you don’t even own. Did you even ask me if I wanted to stay? Did he… Did any of you think about where I would be the happiest? What if I would rather be in the middle of the forest, dancing in the moonlight with the Gypsies? What if I would rather go to the Gardenhills instead of staying in the Everlands?”
“Gypsies!” Prince Victor said, insulted. “You would rather be with those filthy people than stay with me! I understand now; you would rather be with Vince. I guess he’s a better match for you,” he said, taking a couple of steps away from me angrily. “You’re dismissed!” he commanded. “Daniel, see that her clothes are recovered from the pond,” he said with his back to me.
“That won’t be necessary, Sir Daniel. I can do it myself.” I jumped into the water, got my clothes out, put them on, and started to walk away towards the tent, dripping wet. I stopped a few feet away from him and turned around. “If His Highness had asked me to stay when he first saw me tonight, I would have said yes. But now, soaking wet in the clothes that His Majesty himself so cleverly ripped off my body and threw to the bottom of his mother’s pond, I am only glad you didn’t ask. Goodnight, Your Highness.” I bowed all the way to the ground, mockingly, then resume walking away. I heard him call out after me, asking me to come back, to sit down and talk about it, that he was sorry. But I did not turn back.
The word “angry” could not describe the way I felt. I was furious at Sir Richard making decisions for me, at Rosie spreading the news of her non-existent relationship with John, and even at the Prince who thought I was already his without considering my own opinion in the matter.
I was so furious at all of them. They seemed to think that I was incapable of making my own choices, of knowing what was best for me. They were all wrong!
It was almost dawn when I finally fell asleep, but angry thoughts consumed my dreams. When I woke up a few hours later, I was as restless as when I first went to bed.
With the first rays of dawn, I was up and about. I washed up and went straight to the smithy shop. With permission from the Royal Blacksmith, I began working on an old unfinished sword that was on the ground. My rage increased with the force of my hammering. Sweat was pouring off my forehead; I could feel my shirt sticking to my soaked back. I kept on going since I was in no mood to deal with anybody. The blacksmith sensed it and left the shop, but not Rosie. She was completely clueless, and she came to the shop with a jug of water for me. She reached out with the ladle to my lips.
“Back off,” I said.
“I brought you a drink,” she said shyly.
“I said, back off!” That did it. It gave her the not-so-subtle hint that said I don’t need your water or you, so be gone! She left the shop in tears. Just for a moment, I pitied her, but then I remembered her cunning lies to His Majesty the night before, and all the pity was gone. I kept hammering until all my strength drained out and I collapsed on a chair nearby, rubbing my temples between my fingers and trying to recover my breath. The anger, the rage, and the frustration were going farther away with the passing minutes, but for me nothing can be that easy. The door swung open with force, and Sir Richard stood in front of me, anger flaming in his gaze. He took me by the arm and pushed me out of the door where I fell onto the feet of a tearful Rosie.
“Apologize to her!” Sir Richard ordered.
He should’ve waited a little bit longer. I stood up in front of him defiantly. “No!” I said to his face. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said firmly. People gathered all around us.
“John! Apologize to her!” He was starting to lose his patience; it was obvious by the way he clenched his teeth when he talked. I knew I was pushing him to his limit, but I didn’t care.
I looked at Rosie with as much hate as I could gather. I wanted to tell her to enjoy the attention because it wouldn’t last long, but I didn’t. I just held my gaze until she lowered hers and began sobbing uncontrollably. Her theatrics brought a cynical smile to my face.
“You dare to defy me,” said Sir Richard, getting so close to my face that I could feel the anger on his breath. As intimidating as it was, I held my place, sticking out my chest and straightening my shoulders to show him I wasn’t afraid. “Obviously, you have forgotten who the master is. You will remember after this” he said angrily. “Apologize to the lady or–”
“Or what?” I cut him off. “You’ll change your mind and leave me behind in exchange for a handful of poor servants from the palace?” He eyed me like a lion watching its prey before pouncing. More people gathered around us – my parents among them. Mother was trying to run to my side while Father restrained her with his arms. Both looked frightened, but I ignored them. I was angry at them too. “How much gold were you offered to leave me to rot in here?” I taunted him. “Having second thoughts about taking that offer, aren’t we?”
“Silence!” he commanded. “You have gone too far. You will apologize or I’ll–”
“Make me!” I was not sure what got into me; probably all that hammering shook my brain so hard that I couldn’t think straight or control my own hands. I hit him square on the face with my clenched fist. The impact sent a wave of pain all the way to my head as Sir Richard fell to the ground. He got back up with his lip bleeding and charged at me, but my father stopped him before we could wrestle.
Mother was holding me back, and Father was holding Sir Richard, but I wanted Father to let go. This was my chance to prove to everybody present that I could take care of myself. Mother was in tears, pleading with me to put an end to it. Father was begging Sir Richard to forgive my offense, but my offense had passed the point of forgiveness and deserved punishment. Sir Richard brushed my father off and walked towards me.
“Punishment for your offense will be ten lashes. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s your choice!”
Mother begged him to not do it. “It’s all right, Mother. Let him get his whip. Let him show me who the master is.” Mother shook her head frantically.
“Father, please take her away. She doesn’t need to watch this.”
Sir Richard tied my hands to a T-shaped pole, one hand on each branch of the T. Father removed his own leather belt and folded it over for me to bite into. I refused at first, but took it when he said Mother would die if she heard me screaming. Needless to say, I was grateful to have, later.
My anger faded as I came to my senses. Tied and unab
le to run, I began panting but held my position to not show the fear that was overcoming any other sensation I had. The anxiety attack I felt due to the anticipation of the first lash was nothing compared to the actual pain. I knew it would hurt; yet, part of me still dared the pain to come.
I had no doubt the first lash split more than just my shirt. I could feel the blood trickling down my back; the second one left a burning sensation, as if my skin was being consumed by unending fire; the third and the fourth only intensified the feeling until my whole body was ablaze. By the time the fifth one came, my back started to feel numb. Although I felt the actual hit, the pain was barely there. For a second, I thought I had fallen asleep, but a pleading voice woke me up. A young man was pleading with Sir Richard to stop, a young man hiding somewhere in the multitude.
“She wants to act like a man, so she should then be punished as one,” came out the response to the young man’s plea, but this response didn’t come from Sir Richard. It came from my own head.
The sixth lash hit me on my lower back. The fabric of the corset cushioned the hit and gave me a quick breather. The seventh hit me, then the eighth, and the fire was back, consuming the rest of my body. I had only two more to go, two more to endure. I felt a surge of sudden strength fill my body, knowing the end of such punishment was close enough to taste it. I tensed the rope with my hands and pulled myself back to my feet. I spat out my father’s leather belt to the ground and received number nine on my lower back, feeling its sting cut me through, but I did not quiver. I was ready for the last one, but Sir Richard’s hand halted in midair.
“Richard! That’s enough!” said the Prince, dismounting his horse. Everyone fell to their knees at his sight, even me. Sir Daniel took the whip from Sir Richard’s hand.
“What have you done?” asked the Prince, staring at my torn back.
My father stepped out of the crowd and untied my hands. Mother also came running, and together, they helped me into the tent. Rosie was sitting on a chair, still crying. As I was laid on the bed, I heard the Prince’s dismissal to the spectators.
