Flower In The Palace

by Jordan Silver

  His anger and resentment grew until only the bottle would suffice. In all his years he’d never imbibed, but tonight, he was afraid if he didn’t, he wouldn’t live out the night.

  The mourners were long gone. Everyone afraid of the illness that had taken her young life. Everyone except her father who had stood by the graveside and wept like a babe.

  Her mother had taken to her bed, too weak and heartbroken at the loss of her only child. A child that had so much promise, was gone, just like a puff of smoke in the wind.

  He’d stayed behind, couldn’t leave his sister alone in the cold dark. The bottle had been long gone, its effects no longer felt. He’d looked up at the stars silently raging against the injustice of it all when he heard the noise.

  At first he’d thought it was a wild animal come to sniff around the fresh grave and had been ready to shoo it away. But the incongruity of what he saw left him speechless for the first few seconds.

  Then he drew his sword and jumped forward with a loud cry. “Fiend, despicable cad.” He was ready to draw blood until he saw the old wrinkled face of a woman looking back at him from beneath the shawl.

  “What…who are you?”

  ‘There’s no time for that now. We must get her out or she will die.” He couldn’t make sense of her words, but something kept him from stopping her as she dug at the grave.

  Then her words registered and he didn’t know why he believed her but he joined her in digging up the grave. His heart almost stopped when the top of the old coffin was torn away and he heard a small cough.

  “Mia, MIA…” He pulled her from the grave and into his arms, holding her close against his chest as tears of joy and relief flooded him. “How?” He looked to the old woman for answers but she looked around furtively, shaking her head.

  “We must get away from here now, quickly, there’s no time. Bring her.”

  “Wait, where are you taking her? What is going on?”

  “If you want her to live you will follow me and stop the questions.” Again he followed without thought, not knowing any other recourse in that moment. “Come!”

  He followed the old woman into the darkness until they came upon a cart. “Put her there.” She pointed to the back of the old cart but he found it hard to release his burden.

  “Hurry we don’t have much time. You’ve already kept me back enough.” The urgency in her voice propelled him into action and he placed Mia gently in the cart on the soft blanket laid there.

  The old woman pulled a tarp over the sleeping girl from her place on the seat. Des ran around to the other side and defied her to tell him he couldn’t. She knew it was no use and there was no time anyway.

  She’d already wasted precious time and knew the girl’s life would be in danger if she did not get her to the cottage where she could tend to her. She didn’t bother fighting with the young man, it was obvious she wouldn’t win that battle but this was a development she hadn’t planned for.

  It took more than an hour to reach the cottage in the woods. By then Des was coming out of his shocked stupor while the old seer was filled with worry.

  Because of his interference she hadn’t gotten the Crown Princess out of the coffin in time, and now she’d gone back to sleep and hadn’t stirred. “Bring her in!”

  She made her way inside to the room she had set up for the girl. She lit the few candles and pulled the covers back from the bed as the young man brought her in and placed her there.

  The two of them stood over the sleeping form, one in disbelief and one with worry. “Who are you, what is going on, why is she alive?” She studied him for the longest time before nodding her head in resignation.

  She’d seen enough in him to know that there was no getting rid of him. His attachment to the Crown Princess was strong, as strong as any bond between blood kin who’d shared the same womb.

  “Come with me, she’ll rest for a while yet I think.” He followed her from the room to the little sitting area where the door had been left open.

  She sat in her old rocking chair, filled her pipe and lit it before starting her story. She started at the beginning, from years ago when she’d seen the first vision up until when she’d poisoned the child under orders of the Empress.

  “That bitch! I’ll kill her with my bare hands.”

  “No, you will not. That’s for someone else to do.” She took a draw from her pipe and studied him.

  “Now that I’ve told you everything, if you repeat a word of it both you and the girl will die as well as I.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  Narrator

  It was a long night in the little cottage. The old seer and the young man kept watch over their charge, both wracked with worry. It was almost dawn when the girl finally opened her eyes and looked around in confusion.

  Her head hurt and her mouth was dry and had a foul taste. She didn’t know who or where she was as she looked around the tiny room and when she tried to call out her voice was little more than a croaked whisper.

  The two in the other room heard her all the same and came running. “Mi…” Des started but was shushed by the old seer.

  “Do you know where you are?”

  She leaned over the bed and into the girl’s face. Mia shook her head before grabbing it between her hands with a loud moan. The room began to spin and she felt ill.

  “Who are you?” She looked at the two people with something approaching fear. She couldn’t remember anything no matter how she tried.

  Des looked at the seer in angry frustration. “What’s happening, why can’t she remember?” The seer silenced him with a glare but she too was worried.

  The potion was only supposed to make the child appear dead long enough for the burial, but she was supposed to wake up the same. She’d planned to hide the child away until the time was right to bring her back to the palace, but this was a new wrinkle.

  Maybe it was for the best, though she didn’t know how long the memory loss would last. Maybe it was best that the girl not awaken to all she’d lost because of the evil deeds of others.

  “Water!” Mia croaked out the plea and Des hurried from the room to fetch her a glass. She squinted as if that would somehow dislodge her memories but nothing came.

  For the next few days Des and the seer watched over their charge anxiously, expecting that she would regain her memory any day now. With each passing day it became more and more obvious that her memories were lost and they set into a new routine of sorts.

  Every morning Des would take Mia outside of the cottage for long walks. Sometimes he’d test her to see if she remembered any of the things they’d learned together. And though her mind was gone, her body still remembered.

  And so it was that her mornings were spent in combat training, with her brother, while her days were spent learning the art of healing from the seer.

  The three of them settled into their new life together, and as the days flowed into weeks and weeks into months, Mia gradually gained back some of her earlier light, but she never regained her memory.

  Des stayed by her side, never once did it enter his mind to leave her. He was sure the others thought him dead by now, but his first and only loyalty was to Mia. If the day ever came like the old woman Giselle was always alluding to, and they returned to the palace, he wanted her to be strong enough to protect herself this time. He won’t leave her alone ever again to be trampled by the wiles of others.

  CROWN PRINCE JAI

  It’s been two years since her death. Two years in which I stopped caring about life. I’d crawled into a shell that fateful day and there was nothing to bring me out.

  Father had tried everything to get me to show an interest in matters of the court, but I had none. I didn’t even care about inheriting the throne any longer. I just wanted to follow Mia to the grave.

  Her grave, I don’t even know where it is. She’d been taken out of the palace and laid to rest in some abominable place beca
use of fear of an outbreak, an outbreak that never came.

  It’s only today that I have shown any signs of life and it was only because I wanted to commit murder. “What did you say?” Eunuch Van wrung his hands and looked anywhere but at me.

  “The Empress dowager, she says your time of mourning is long over and you must marry…” I was out of my chair and headed for the door before the words were dry on his lips.

  How dare she? I didn’t go to her, I didn’t want to see her face. Instead I searched out my father. It had been a few days since I saw him last but as soon as I saw him I came up short.

  He looked…ill. “Father?” I forgot my anger for the moment, the paleness of his face giving me pause. He looked like he’d lost more than a few pounds in a matter of days. How can that be?

  I stepped into the room and sat at his feet the way I always have. “Are you ill father, should I call the imperial doctor?” He shook his head no then grabbed it as if it hurt.

  “You must let me call him, you do not look well, please.” I felt such guilt. Maybe the matters of the court have been too much for him. How could I have been so selfish?

  Am I destined to always disappoint the people I love? I’d been so lost in my own pain I’d neglected to help him even when he’d asked. In my anger at my great loss I’d shut out everyone and everything around me.

  When he fell forward I was just in time to catch him. “FATHER? Eunuch Van, call the imperial doctor.”

  “Yes your highness.” He rushed from the room as I lifted my father in my arms and took him to his bed.

  He felt so light and looked so frail against the pillows that I felt real fear. How could this have happened so soon? I’d seen him only a few days before.

  I heard the rushing feet of the doctor and his assistants as they entered the chamber and stepped back out of the way. “I’ll get the Empress.” I left to go in search of my mother.

  My mind was frozen in shock. This can’t be happening again. How can I possibly lose so many loved ones so close together? And what is this strange illness that seems only to strike members of my family?

  No one else in the palace had been befallen with any illness. There was no time to think of such things now, I had to get mother; father would want her by his side.

  One of my biggest regrets is not being there when Princess was so ill. It’s something I struggle with in the dark of night when sleep eludes me. That and lots more

  NARRATOR

  “The Emperor is dying, everything is going as planned.” The Empress dowager was very pleased with herself as she relayed this news to her son. It had taken lots of planning and patience.

  She’d had to bide her time to avoid suspicion, but things were coming together so well that she no longer resented the wait.

  “What difference does it make? Crown Prince Jai still refuses to marry.”

  “Yes, the Crown Prince may refuse but the Emperor cannot. An Emperor needs an empress, it’s the way of our land. His first duty is to produce an heir have you forgotten?”

  When Prince Loren followed his mother’s line of thought a smile broke out across his face. “Yes of course, we can use the people whom he loves so much to force his hand.”

  “I never should’ve doubted you mother, you always know what to do. It’s just that Princess Rowena has been growing impatient. It’s been two years since we got rid of the Morgana bitch after all…”

  “I know how long it’s been, but these things take time. What’s a few years wait for a lifetime of power? Everything we’ve ever wanted is now in the palm of our hands.”

  She’d planned it very well. She’d always meant to get rid of the current Emperor anyway, but his son’s obstinance had forced her hand. It was just as well, she was growing tired of having to share power in the inner palace with the current Empress.

  With her husband dead she’d be too grief stricken the lovesick fool, to meddle in the affairs of the palace. As for the Crown Prince, she had no doubt that she could handle him.

  “Get Princess Rowena ready to move to the palace. I will move up her wedding as soon as possible.” She toasted herself for a job well done as her son left the room.

  No one can blame her for not having patience and knowing when to move. Though it had pained her these years past, watching life go by as others usurped the power and position that was rightfully hers, her time was finally at hand.

  The old seer could not be found this time so she’d had to rely on others to carry out her deeds, but there was no shortage of people willing to do her bidding for the right price.

  Of course she never left any of them alive. Nothing is secret when shared by two. Except for her son who she knew she could control. She had no worries about him knowing that her hands were dirty. Didn’t he have the same blood on his hands as well?

  The Emperor wasn’t going to last out the night. The palace was in an uproar, the whole nation was on its knees praying for a safe recovery, but Crown Prince Jai knew it wasn’t to be.

  He sat next to his father hoping against hope, but the shake of the doctor’s head before he left after doing all he could told him that he was hoping in vain.

  He was there when his father drew his last breath, but this time the scream stayed locked in his head. Fate had betrayed him once again.

  Emperor Jai

  “I know what they have planned and I cannot stop it.” I looked at my brother who I’d called to the palace to vent my spleen.

  “I must take a wife, the people demand it. The ministers kneel outside the royal court day in and day out pleading.”

  I pounded my fist on my thigh. The thought repulsed me more than I thought possible. The Empress dowager had finally found a way to back me into a corner.

  The kingdom was in an uproar. My people were wary of all the deaths befalling the royal family. I’d thought to use the death of my father to put them off, but alas time had ran out. Now it looked like I had no choice.

  “Brother, don’t you think that all these deaths happened in a rather suspicious manner?” His implication had bile rising in my throat.

  “I once thought of that, but there’s no proof.”

  It was something I didn’t want to revisit. The thought that my loved ones were murdered left me with a cold dark feeling in my gut and turned my heart to a block of ice in my chest.

  “I’ve had some time to think and there seems to be a pattern. As if someone is playing a game of chess, moving around the pieces as needed to get to their goal.”

  I sat in thought for a while, thinking over his words, moving them around in my head. “There’s only one person who would benefit from such a thing.”

  “Yes, now what do you plan to do about it?”

  “Where do I start? When my Princess died I didn’t want to accept it. My mind went to such things, but no one knows where the old healer who took care of her disappeared to.”

  “And grandfather’s death was so long ago and everyone thought it was just old age that took him. But father; from the moment I saw him that last day my mind went to Crown Princess Mia.”

  “It was as if they both fell ill over night and were gone just like that.” Could this be true? Could the old woman really be this diabolical that she’d murdered to get her way? And if so, when did it start?

  “So are you going to follow the ministers’ suggestion and marry our cousin?”

  “I’d rather abdicate the throne? Fancy being emperor?” He turned glaring eyes on me as I knew he would. He could never take a joke when it comes to such things.

  “Don’t be an ass. We have to be careful. If what we’re thinking is true then they will stop at nothing. We have to move fast because they’re already setting things in play. Give me a few days.’

  He started for the door. “Where are you going? What are you going to do?”

  “I can’t think here brother, stall for time, I’ll come up with something to save your hide. And then we’ll get revenge for our father and my sister in law.”

/>   He left before I could say more, leaving me with a heavy heart. As if the pain of her death wasn’t enough, the thought that she might have been murdered right under my nose kills me.

  I’d sworn to protect her, to always stand between her and danger. But how was I to know that the danger came from within? I’ve never had any love for the Empress dowager.

  Not just because of the rumors pertaining to my grandmother’s death, but because of the person she is. As long as I’ve known her she’s never been true.

  And what about Princess Rowena? Was she a helpless dupe in this game? Or had she been part of it all along?

  Though I bear her no liking and know well that her father’s blood run in her veins. Murder? That was not something to accuse one of lightly.

  But now that the thought was once again in my head it refused to leave. And this time there was no ignoring it. This time I had to search for the answers no matter where they may lead.

  For six months I was able to hold them off while Prince Javan scoured the kingdom in search of the old healer and answers. In that time I’d been gathering as much information as I could.

  I learned from her father that her childhood friend had gone missing after her death. His grief at the loss had sent him away somewhere. But other than that there was nothing.

  Prince Javan felt guilty because he couldn’t be of more help and in the end my hands were tied. The people were in distress because there was no empress on the throne and as much as I abhorred the thought, it was my Princess’ own words that pushed me to give in.

  Her love for our people was as deep as mine. During one of our many conversations she’s made me promise that when I came to power I would put them first. I remember her words like it was yesterday.