With a gasp, she opened her eyes and bolted upright in the bed. “What are you doing?”
Snatching the blanket towards her chest, she scooted away from Marion with a confused look of shock.
“Waking you,” he stiffly responded as he turned his attention to the room’s sole window, away from her.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked again.
“Yes.” She moved the blanket cautiously down to just below her waist. “I had strange dreams of Amana and Solis.”
“Yes, well, I am sure you did,” Marion said. “You will meet the Queen today. She has a great deal to tell you, Sarah.”
“Right,” she mumbled just low enough to avoid being heard.
“I brought you clothes.” Marion pointed to the rocking chair that now had clothes folded neatly, resting in its seat. “I will be outside while you change.”
When she finally emerged some several minutes later, dressed in black leather pants, boots and a charcoal gray sweater, Marion felt his knees start to buckle, but he grabbed the wall anxiously to stop himself from collapsing to the floor.
Her hair, loose and free, only added an aurora of divinity to Sarah. Gone was the desolate woman he rescued from the cages only yesterday, here was a fantastic free woman.
A beautiful woman.
Perhaps beautiful wasn’t right word. She was not a stunning princess beauty, but there was that something, just beneath the surface that intrigued him and plowed away at his restraint.
“Can I eat first?” she asked as she placed her hand over her flat stomach.
“You will be eating with the Queen this morning,” Marion said.
“Oh,” she said, which only brought a small smile to Marion’s lips, but no additional commentary as he started down the staircase.
Following close behind, she asked, “Who is Queen Zoë exactly?”
She could hear Marion’s surprised intake of air at the question.
“She is the originator of the Minister Knights of Souls,” he said.
“Marion, why am I here?”
“The Queen will explain it,” he said. “Trust me.”
He had hoped the full night’s rest would have softened her desire for answers, but it would seem it did not. Her innocence and her radiance this morning slowly nibbled away at his resolve to remain silent… and his tight control over his growing lust. He almost told her the true reason for her rescue just to erase the concern and fear that marked her face.
“Trust you?” She stopped as he turned around.
“Please, the Queen awaits,” Marion started again down the hallway to the West Wing of the castle. The hallway partially lit by candles and hangings of alternating purple and black helped show the way. Huge banners scripted with the Minister Knight’s crest lined the hallway opposite the windows and drapes.
“Patience,” he whispered.
The early morning quietness made the castle seem sinister and surreal. Marion wanted Sarah to be told of her purpose immediately and in detail. He knew that Queen Zoë was very ill and it was she who knew the entire Antiqk scrolls and the predictions. Best Sarah get her answers from the closest source.
* * *
The open hearths, black and empty, gave the main foyer the feel of being deserted. The night before, the foyer was alive with children and people, but in the wee hours of the new day was vacant. Indeed the entire castle remained quiet and still. The only indication of life was the occasional passing of one of the servants burdened with the early morning chores of carrying the food to the kitchens from the storage cellars for morning meal.
The sweet aroma of sugary glaze and baked breads faint at first grew stronger as Marion and Sarah made their way to the West Wing Hall. The Great Hall as it was often referred to, was the only Hall in which the Minister Knights ate and celebrated. The Great Hall also had the larger of the two kitchens adjacent to it; the East Wing Hall had the smaller of the kitchens.
“The Great Hall,” Marion announced softly as to not to wake the remainder of the castle. Strewn about on the floor were branches and various herbs speckled and colorful from the Northern Forest. She recognized some of the plants and flowers from her trip through the forest.
On the walls were elaborate carpets made from woven threads in charming colors of burgundy and pictures of Veloris landscapes. Dining tables set on trestles were covered with white linen cloths. In the middle of each table sat burned down candles and cooled wax statues. The morning sun streaming through the various windows and into the Hall provided plenty of illumination for the day’s meals.
Just off to the right of the entranceway, an octagonal fireplace lazily warmed the enormous open room.
Marion took Sarah’s hand as he led her into the Great Hall. Seated past the wooden benches and tables, up closer to the front of the Hall was a raised dais of stone similar to the stones used to construct the castle. It was away from the drafts and intrusions that came from people seated at the tables and coming and going through the entranceway during meals; it was far enough away from the belching, boisterous partying and celebrating of the Knights that went on each nightly meal.
Queen Zoë sat seemingly dwarfed by a massive chair with a sheer lilac canopy announcing her royalty.
Stunning and elegant, her intermingled black ringlets were streaked with silver and cascaded freely to her waist. Around her tiny waist was a golden interwoven cord. The somber purple robe appeared to be made of a heavy fabric that probably served one purpose, to protect the Queen against the wintry nights of Veloris.
“Good morning, child,” Queen Zoë said calmly as she directed her full attention to Sarah.
She had thin, almost invisible lips and high cheekbones with pale gray eyes surrounded by wrinkles. Coughing, she held her robe tightly to her chest as Marion raced to her side. The Queen continued to cough and bark; it was a ravaging cough that caused her frail body to shake and shudder.
“Water! Get some water!” Marion shouted to one of the passing servants.
Before the servant could move, Kalah appeared from the side entranceway with a cup of water.
“Here.”
Draining the cup of its contents, Queen Zoë patted Marion’s head and gave the now empty cup back to Kalah who remained standing behind her chair.
Straightening her robe and running a hand through her hair, Queen Zoë cleared her throat and offered Sarah a smile.
“Come, closer.” Hoarse and barely above a whisper, Queen Zoë beckoned Sarah to move closer and gestured for Marion and Kalah to leave. Silently they left the Great Hall through the main entranceway.
Kneeling before the chair, a fluttering of nervousness danced around in her stomach as the aroma of the morning meal from the kitchen scented the Great Hall.
“You have many, many questions,” Queen Zoë said for it was hardly a question.
“Yes, Yes.” Sarah said as she placed a hand over her squirming stomach.
“I can see them behind your eyes, waiting and moving about, rolling around again and again demanding to be asked.” Queen Zoë smiled. “Go ahead…ask them.”
“Can we go back to save my sister, Amana?” She held her breath as she waited for an answer.
“You will return to save her; yes.” Queen Zoë answered.
“Yes! But Marion said—”
“Marion did not lie to you,” Queen Zoë interrupted. “Morning meal will wait, no?”
Confused, Sarah answered quickly, “Yes…”
Queen Zoë waved off the servant who, unbeknownst to Sarah, had stood behind her and inquired about morning meals.
“Yes we can rescue her, but no we can not?” Sarah asked.
“It is best if we start at the beginning,” Queen Zoë said as she took several deep breaths.
Nodding, Sarah waited for the Queen to gain enough strength to explain.
“Along time ago, long before the age of frost and cages, the worlds of Saturn Four and Earth 3012 were shared colonies of Earth.”
“But Earth d
oes not exist any more…” Sarah interrupted.
“Yes, but this is shortly after the colonizations,” Queen Zoë smiled. “The shared colonies traded freely and were quite friendly towards each other. However, when King Nathaniel of Saturn Four wanted his daughter Amber to marry the son of King Tartan, Malcolm, a disagreement arose. You see, King Tartan’s son was already promised to the daughter of King Ander of Veloris Three.
“It came to pass that King Nathaniel demanded the unification of Saturn Four and Earth 3012 by the wedding of his daughter to King Tartan’s son or else there would be a levy strapped to the trade of certain merchandise and goods.
“Well, King Tartan could not break his agreement with King Ander. King Ander’s marriage to his son would unite Veloris Three and Earth 3012, which would give Veloris Three a larger army and outpost in the sector of that galaxy as well as access to more cultured items like ancient scrolls, books and fine carpets.
“Angered all the more at King Tartan’s repeated rejections, King Nathaniel applied the levy. And for many years the people of Earth 3012 paid the tax to keep the peace, but not without comment.
“Years went by and eventually the younger people of Earth 3012 stopped paying the levy and soon all trade between Saturn Four and Earth 3012 ceased. Their relations completely broke down. This was not in King Nathaniel’s plan; therefore he tried to take what he could not freely have.
The annihilation of Veloris Three was simply King Nathaniel getting back at King Tartan.”
“What happened to Veloris Three?” Sarah asked.
“King Nathaniel, well, his daughter Manola, practiced magic and she disguised herself as the daughter of King Tartan. She visited Veloris Three and met King Ander’s son. While there it is said she cursed Veloris Three and the young prince. When she left, Veloris Three exploded.”
“So, King Tartan’s daughter had no prince and Earth 3012 had no army.” Sarah concluded.
“Yes. But there is no proof that Manola’s alleged curse actually destroyed the planet. Some say it was over-mining.”
Queen Zoë paused to clear her throat.
“It did not matter. Tartan was furious and blamed King Nathaniel.”
“A war?” she asked.
Nodding slowly, Queen Zoë said, “Yes. They went to war and have been at war ever since.”
“And Valek?”
Standing, Queen Zoë crept to the side entranceway, her bare feet stepping cautiously, taking each step gradually. “Come, this is no place to discuss such matters as him.”
Sarah followed the Queen down the side entranceway that forked one path to the kitchen, the other up a close spiral staircase that lead to the second floor, then they walked down the short hallway and off to the right they arrived at the Queen’s chambers. Three guards stood watch just outside her door.
“Good morning,” The guards stated in unison.
“Good morning,” Queen cheerfully responded. “Come, Sarah.”
The guards did not seem to notice or question Sarah’s presence with the Queen. They made no indication that they saw her at all. As tall as some of the evergreens growing in the forest, with thick tree trunk-like arms and bulky frames, the guards were identical in appearance from their dull brown eyes to their huge bare feet that had four toes on each foot and extended yellowing toenails.
They carried no weapons, beside their appearance and size; Sarah had no doubt that the three were some trick of magic and wondered where they came from.
Yet another question to ask the Queen.
Pulling back the silver wire embellished screen, Sarah entered the Queen’s chambers, which was comprised of two rooms: a small sitting room and a larger bedroom. Sarah expected the Queen’s room to at least have a door, not a screen to protect Veloris’s most prized citizen and royal. Again, Sarah wondered if possible magic and sorcery had any place in Veloris and the Queen’s castle. Was it the Queen that practiced magic or some other which Sarah had yet to meet?
Decorated in rich, warm tones of copper and brown, the sitting room had a few chairs and one rounded wooden bench. Here too, herbs of rosemary, leaves of evergreens and acacia trees were tossed about on the floor.
Miniature tapestries hung from the walls; one pictured a reproduction of Marion, although a much younger man in the tapestry and directly across was a mirroring tapestry of Kalah. In the middle, next to Marion’s tapestry rested the Minister Knights of Souls’ banner embroiled with silver thread and made of a finer cloth. It had a far more regal appearance than the one hanging in the castle’s foyer.
Cattycorner to the entrance was a fireplace, but no windows, the only illumination arriving through several torches that were mounted to the walls. Two shelves filled with jars of herbs, toadstool and other substances occupied a tiny space of the sitting room.
A petite anteroom adjoined the sitting room and Sarah could only speculate on the cloth, jewels and spices that might be stored there.
Sarah made her way to one of the elegant, high backed chairs, but Queen Zoë entered into the other room.
Sarah followed and entered the Queen’s bedchamber, where an enormous bed with four electric blue posters and a soft bluish linen curtain hung. The curtain pulled back in the daytime and closed at night for privacy as well as protection from the bitter cold. The bed took up most of the room. Three fluffy feather pillows in varying shapes rested at the top of the bed and quilts and blankets were folded neatly along the width of the bed.
Taking a torch from the wall, Queen Zoë placed a few electric blue logs into the boxy fireplace to the right of the bed then tossed in the torch.
“It chases away the chill,” Queen Zoë explained. “This planet is so cold.”
Sarah remained standing as she looked over the Queen’s room. To the left of the bed was a makeshift chest, made of the same wood as the bed. Homely, it had scars and dings. Not what one would expect a Queen’s room to be like, although she had never been in a Queen’s room before.
On the floor were crushed petals of every color and shape giving the room its perfumed smell of forest.
The two windows with creamy, almost clear glass offered views of the west side of the castle, which showed the rising sun and snippets of the Northern Forest. Sarah thought the view from her room was better.
“Where was I?” Queen Zoë asked as she climbed into her bed and under the covers. She leaned over, reached for the quilt, and unrolled it.
“Valek,” Sarah said as she helped the weak Queen place the quilt over the bed.
“Oh, yes, Valek.” Queen Zoë fingered the quilt’s fringed ends. “Yes, well, Valek had been a smuggler of small shipments of spices, garments and supplies between Earth 3012 and Saturn Four. Although at war, certain people on both worlds had a desire for what the other planet offered. And Valek made a business out of smuggling those items. A big business.”
Queen Zoë concluded by sighing and lying back against the two fluffy pillows.
“So, what do the soul cages have to do with his business of smuggling clothes, spices and supplies between Saturn Four and Earth 3012?” Sarah asked.
Closing her eyes, Queen Zoë did not answer.
“Queen Zoë!” Sarah touched the Queen’s slender shoulder feeling the bony frame beneath the thick robe.
“Yes?” Queen Zoë opened her eyes slowly.
“Valek and the soul cages?” Sarah urged as she stood up from the bed.
“Valek’s soul cages and kidnapping of souls began about twenty rotations ago. He discovered this potion on a trip to someplace outside the Pixlis galaxy that allows him to read minds.”
“Impossible!” Sarah gasped. The old Queen must have truly lost grip with reality.
“But true.” Queen Zoë patted Sarah’s hand. “Please, child, I must rest now.”
“But.” Sarah started then fell silent as she watched Queen Zoë close her eyes and her body relax into the comforting arms of sleep.
Bewildered, Sarah glanced outside the window, Veloris’s shallow su
n had rose just above the tops of the forest and shined down on the blinding white snow on the ground. The day had just begun, and the Queen was already sound asleep as evident by her snore that tenderly resounded through the bedroom.
Unsure, Sarah left the Queen’s quarters with her head full of more questions than what she had when she entered.
Chapter Five
Sarah closed the screen and brushed past the three royal guards. They did not acknowledge her as she squeezed by them and walked down the spiral staircase.
With hopes dashed and engrossed in a whirlwind of questions, Sarah stepped off the bottom step and directly into a woman who happened to be crossing her path, causing the woman to drop the items she was carrying.
“Oh! I am terribly sorry.” Sarah hurried to assist the woman who smelled of danker beast and forest.
Holding her nose, Sarah stepped back five paces from the young woman with the woman’s garments extended out to her. “You dropped these.”
Shorter than Sarah by only a couple of inches and sporting a short blonde wooly-hair Afro, the woman lowered her tinted glasses and smiled at Sarah.
“Hello,” she said.
Surprised by the sultriness of the strange woman’s voice, Sarah offered a quick “hello” and stepped back three paces more. The danker beast was strong and awful.
“Danker beast.” The woman laughed revealing a set of tiny, even teeth that seemed to fit just perfectly in her mouth. Her lips were thin and her skin resembled the slick surface of Solis, midnight blue. Perhaps it was more an indigo color, and as the woman turned to the left, Sarah noticed a short, narrow scar just above her right eye.
The woman removed her tinted glasses and placed her dagger into a pocket within her velvet boots and said, “My name is Zykeiah.”
“Sarah.”
Zykeiah had amazingly bright eyes and as they remained rested on Sarah, Sarah started to squirm under the woman’s intense glare. But Zykeiah did not seem to want to move and Sarah could not go around her due to the hallway’s narrowness. The retched smell of danker beast had killed the remainder of Sarah’s appetite and the only thing she wanted more than to escape to her room was for this woman to move from her path.
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