by Kami Bryant
“No,” said Em and with as much dignity as she could manage she collected herself from the ground and with her head held high, walked through the crowd of filthy commoners and back to her stick hut.
Em paced her nasty stick hut and listened to her stomach growling. The dirty scoundrel was right, Em had never been hungry. She had never experienced poverty and she hated everything about this situation. Fuck! Why hadn’t anyone shown up to rescue her yet? Wasn’t anyone out there searching for their queen? There should be warships blanketing the skies. Surely this camp shouldn’t be too hard to spot.
Em turned to pace in the other direction when with a start she realized that she wasn’t alone. A small figure wearing a black cloak stood in the doorway. Em had a moment of déjà vu as she stared at it. She felt like she had seen this person before, maybe in a dream.
“What do you want?” commanded Emberlyn.
“I was curious,” said the figure in an eerie hissing voice. “I was curious as to why he loves you so much. You don’t seem like a very nice person.”
“Excuse me? How dare you speak to your queen in such a manner!”
“You are not my queen. I am from Traetan.”
Em gasped and slowly backed away from the cloaked figure. “What manner of horror are you?”
“I am called Juniper,” said the figure removing her hood. She had violet colored hair and black eyes, her fingers were unnaturally long and her fingernails glowed silver.
“Get away from me,” hissed Em
“I am not going to hurt you,” replied the tiny monster. “He told me to save you though I don’t know why. Why are you so important?”
“I am queen of Mirovia,” replied Em in a quiet, scared voice.
“That can’t be it,” replied Juniper. “Why does he love you so much that he is willing to risk everything for you?”
“Who loves me?”
“Beau does.”
“He doesn’t love me,” said the astonished Em. “He doesn’t even know me. I have never seen him before in my life.”
“Yes, you have, you just don’t remember.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Em. She realized that she had been talking to the tiny monster for some time now and it didn’t look as if it was getting ready to tear her limb from limb. Em regained some of her dignity and haughtily stared down at the tiny monster.
“You are under an enchantment,” continued the monster called Juniper. “Your memories have been taken from you.”
“That is ridiculous,” laughed Em derisively.
“I really don’t think you are worth all of this trouble. Beau could have been killed taking you from the castle. But he didn’t care. He loves you, but why?”
“You make no sense Monster,” said Em with her nose high in the air.
“From what I hear, you are more monster than I,” and as Em gave out an astonished gasp, the tiny monster named Juniper turned and floated away. Em realized that the entire time that she had been speaking to the creature, it had been floating three inches off the floor. What is this horrible place? thought Em. And how am I supposed to get out of here? It wasn’t as if she could just walk out of this place to her castle. She wasn’t exactly sure where here was and she was pretty sure that the Forsaken wouldn’t just let her leave.
Later Em lay on the modest bed with the down bedding and ran through the conversation with the monster named Juniper. How could The Scoundrel love me? We’ve never met. But the monster said that we knew each other but I didn’t remember because I am under an enchantment. Which, of course was ridiculous but the longer Em thought about it, she thought that maybe Beau did look a little familiar. She felt as if she had seen those bright aqua eyes before.
Em woke up the next morning to the sounds of her stomach rumbling. With a sigh, she got out of the modest bed in her stick hut and quickly put on the leather pants and cream corset. She then put on the boots and with her pert nose high, went to go find the blonde girl Emmy and the gardens.
As Em walked out the door of the hut all conversation stopped and all the poor, ragged looking rebels turned to stare at her. They really didn’t look like much, this rebellious motley crew known as the Forsaken. Women with tangled hair nursing their babies. There were small children running around with dirty feet and scabbed knees and the elderly. There weren’t any men, or Beau, in sight.
“Have the men gone on a raid or something to destroy my airships and steal goods from my silos?” Em asked a young girl with rosy cheeks and dark hair. The girl was very young with only a tiny hint of breasts pushing against her corset.
The girl squeaked, dropped into an awkward curtsy and stammered, “Your Majesty.”
“Whatever,” said Em. “Where is my captor, your leader, the one known as Beau?”
“They have gone out,” whispered the shaking girl.
Em felt like smashing the girl like a fly but instead she said, “To raid my food stores and destroy my ships, right?”
“I….I….I,” stuttered the girl.
“You…..you….you, what?” growled Em haughtily.
“I…I…I,” continued the terrified girl.
“Let me stop you there before you pee yourself,” grunted Em. “Where is the blonde girl Emmy and the gardens?”
“I…um,” stammered the girl.
“Take me there at ONCE,” ordered Em which made the girl jump a foot in the air. The girl looked like she was about to start crying. An older woman joined the angry queen and the shaking girl.
“That’s enough of that,” said the older woman. “Go on, Priscilla,” she said to the shaking girl. “I will attend to our queen.” And with a sob, the tiny girl took off running.
“Just as well,” grunted Em. “She was about to piddle herself like a puppy. I thought I was going to have to kick her to get her going.”
“That is quite enough out of you,” said the woman.
“Excuse me?” hissed Em.
“If you weren’t a queen, I would slap you for your rudeness,” replied the woman.
“I am a queen and speaking to me like that is a good way to get yourself beheaded!” screeched Em.
“Except you have no power here, my queen,” chuckled the woman. “You are Mr. Beauregard’s prisoner and have lost all authority.
“I will have you KILLED!!”
“If you say so, My Queen. Now, I am Miranda, and I will show you to the gardens. Mr. Beauregard did tell me that you were a handful. I guess you got too hungry, huh?” laughed Miranda. She was a wide, busty, mocha-skinned gal. Her hair was long, curly and a had a distinct raspberry cast to it. She wore brown pants, a green ruffled blouse, a forest green under bust corset and a striped brown vest with rows of buttons open in the front. She also wore a brown top hat with goggles on the band, brightly colored feathers and stitches adorning it. To finish her look she wore thick brown belts, brown fingerless gloves and brown and green trousers.
“You dare!” screamed Em, vibrating with her rage.
“Like I said, My Queen, I am not afraid of you. Now come along.” And with that the plump woman started walking away and Em had no choice but to follow her.
To amuse herself, Em pictured the sweet screams Miranda would make while she was eviscerated. Em chuckled to herself and thought, that would show her. And then Em began imagining flaying the plump Miranda.
“Here we are,” sang Miranda and Em came back to herself with a start realizing that they were now standing in the gardens. The blonde girl, Emmy rushed toward them. “Where would you like her to start?” the plump woman asked Emmy.
“I guess she could start weeding the carrots,” sang out Emmy, her voice like a tinkling bell.
Em thought about vomiting on the two women’s shoes and then bashing in their brains with a shovel, but instead she said, “I hate both of you.”
“We know, Your Majesty,” laughed Miranda. “You okay here, Emmy? Or would you like me to stay?”
“I am all right. I don’t think she will be to
o much trouble.”
“I AM STADING RIGHT HERE!!” screamed Em.
“Okay then,” said Miranda ignoring the angry queen and walked away from the two women.
“I WILL HAVE YOU KILLED!!” screamed Em at the retreating figure. She could hear Miranda’s retreating laugh. “I hate you,” mumbled Em to herself.
“Okay then,” began Emmy, “If you would please follow me.”
Em reluctantly followed the smaller blonde woman called Emmy. They walked through the crops on a narrow dirt path between patches of plants and Emmy led Em to the neatly manicured patch of carrots. What fresh Hell is this? thought Em.
“So, all I need is for you to come over here and weed the carrots,” said Emmy. “Do you know what a weed looks like, Your Majesty?” Today Emmy wore a brown top hat adorned with pheasant feathers and brown and white flowers. She wore a beige blouse, chocolate brown under bust corset and a darker brown skirt.
“Of course not,” grunted Em in answer to the girl’s question.
“Okay, if you would please come over here,” said Emmy. “This is a weed, and this is the carrot,” said Emmy pointing to what looked like to Em to be identical looking plants. “So, you want to pull out this plant but leave those, okay? And with that the blonde girl knelt on the ground and grasped the plant in her hand and yanked it out of the ground. Em thought that the girl’s long sleeve blouse that she rolled up to her elbows as she demonstrated how to weed the garden, was much too low cut for decorum’s sake.
“You want me to what?” asked Em astounded. She remembered that Beau had said that they didn’t have any automatons and they did all their labor themselves, but to see it done was quite astonishing.
“If you would please kneel beside me, I can show you,” said the very patient Emmy.
“I don’t want to,” said Em petulantly.
“Beau said that you had to work if you wanted to be fed,” sighed Emmy.
“What do you do with these plants, anyway?” asked Em as she with a loud sigh of a martyr knelt on her knees beside the blonde Emmy.
“We eat them, of course,” laughed Emmy. “Where do you think food comes from?”
“I am a queen. I don’t care where my food comes from.”
“Of course, you don’t,” sighed Emmy. “Maybe some manual labor will do you some good.”
“I sincerely doubt it.”
Emmy had to stop Em several times from pulling out the immature carrots and instead to pull the weeds. Em complained the whole time and was quickly becoming more and more irritated the dirtier her hands got. Finally, Emmy decided to give up on this venture and to have Emmy pick blueberries instead. Em squished lots of the fruit until she figured how to gently handle the berries and then she started putting more into her mouth than in the basket that Emmy had given her. Juices stained Em’s fingers and dripped down her chin when she heard a deep, very masculine chuckle.
Em looked up and saw Beau standing in front of her in a pair of pants, bare feet and bare chested. A black and red stone rested between his hard pectorals. Em screamed and fell backwards, upsetting her basket of berries. Beau reached out his hand to the fallen queen. “Put some clothes on!” screamed Em.
“Do I offend you, Your Majesty?” laughed Beau.
“Yes,” said Em quietly. Beau’s chiseled chest was extremely muscular. His biceps were bigger than Em’s thighs and involuntarily, Em’s gaze traveled down Beau’s chest, to his chiseled abs, down the strip of light blond hair that traveled down, down, down, past his belly button. With a hiss, Em covered her eyes with her hands. “Put some clothes on,” she said indignantly.
Beau laughed again and said, “I was going to go take a swim, do you want to join me?” he asked cheekily.
“I most certainly do not,” said Em peeking between her fingers and eyeing Beau’s bare chest. Em squeezed her eyes tightly shut. The more Em stared at Beau’s bare, chiseled, muscled, and deep vee of his chest the more flustered she became.
“You have seen me without a shirt on before, Em. Though I have gotten a bit bigger since then, in more ways than one,” he said his voice dropping. He then bent closer and said, “Do you love me, Em?”
The man is too sexy for his own good, thought Em. Blindly, Em reached behind her for a handful of blueberries and tossed them at Beau. “GET AWAY!!” she shouted.
“Hey now,” admonished Beau.
“Those are supposed to be for a pie for tonight’s dinner,” said the blonde Emmy.
Em looked over at the younger girl and saw the girl blushing as she too was closely eyeing Beau bare chest. Em was overcome with a fierce emotion. Anger, she thought. Surely I am not jealous? Either way Em was overcome with the need to jump to her feet or yank out every silky golden strand from Emmy’s head. The girl was barely a woman, probably only ten and six or seven. Beau seemed to be a few years older than Em’s five and twenty years. Em saw Beau’s eyes dart from the two women.
Beau bent toward Em and whispered in her ear, “Your eyes are flashing Em. Are you jealous?” The corner of his mouth lifted, and he continued as his voice dropped an octave, “See something you like?”
Em could feel a very warm feeling beginning in her stomach and moving lower and then Em struck out her hand, intending to slap that confident sexy look off of Beau’s face.
Beau easily caught Em’s hand, turned it over and kissed her palm. “Well if you change your mind the lake is that way,” said Beau pointing over Em’s shoulder and with that he walked away. Em couldn’t help but check out Beau’s tight ass as he walked away. She then looked up to see Emmy was doing the same.
“You are acting like a whore, staring at him as if he is a piece of meat!” hissed Em to the younger girl.
Emmy’s cheeks burned a bright crimson, she coughed and said, “I don’t know what you are talking about, Your Majesty. Now if you would please pick up all those berries that you dropped and please fill that basket before the sun sets, thank you,” and with that Emmy walked away to a different patch of the garden.
Fuck, thought Em. I really need to get out of here.
Em followed the slutty Emmy back to the camp. A long wood table was set up in the clearing of the camp surrounded by stick and log chairs. Everything in the camp was made of sticks and slats of wood except for the stone kiln. The camp was set up in the forest and all the wooden stick huts perfectly blended into the rest of the forest, camouflaging the fugitives from the patrolling hoverships in the aether. Em sat at the table with a deep sigh.
“Are you going to help with the cooking?” asked the slut Emmy.
“No,” growled Em. The Forsaken people stopped what they were doing to stare at Em. She glared back at them.
One café au lait colored man with long, loose dreadlocks almost dropped a log off the pile he was carrying. He wore a black top hat with goggles along the band, loose fitting khaki pants, a brown leather vest and a loud blue and brown patterned shirt. When he saw her angry face he quickly turned away and hurried away with his armful of wood.
A café au lait skinned woman with wildly spiked platinum blonde hair stoked the fire in the kiln as pan after pan was placed inside the stove and then pulled out to be replaced with more pans. She wore a tightly fitting black leather jacket, brown and black striped trousers and soft black suede boots.
I need something to change into for dinner, thought Em as she stood up from the table and started looking around for Beau. “Hey, you!” yelled Em at a passing girl. The girl with short red hair, goggles on top of her head and a tattoo on the left side of her face stopped in astonishment. She wore a short sleeve peach blouse with a full black leather corset, cream fingerless gloves and a white and peach skirt.
“Um me?” asked the perky girl.
“Yeah, you,” grunted Em. “Where is your fearless leader? Hmmm? Where is Beau?”
“I last saw him talking to Ned,” replied the girl.
“Take me to him at once.”
The girl dipped into an awkward curtsey and said, “I am Kat
herine Charity Carton.”
“I don’t care.”
The young girl sighed and started skipping away, and Em followed her until they saw Beau talking to a chocolate skinned youth that was a few inches taller than Beau.
“That is Ned Abraham Vyner,” said the girl gesturing to the youth.
“I still don’t care,” repeated Em and stomped up to Beau. “I need something to wear to dinner,” said Em.
“Okay. What’s wrong with what you are wearing?”
“I have been wearing it for two days and it is quite unsuitable for dinner, even a dinner with ruffians in the forest.”
Beau laughed and bowed to Em. “Okay let me find Miranda so that she….”
“No,” interrupted Em. “I hate her.”
“Emberlyn can you try to be nice to my people? Please?”
“No, I will not,” said Em stomping her foot. “She was rude to me,” she said in a softer voice.
“Did she hurt your feelings?” Beau teased.
Em growled and started to launch herself at Beau and punch him in the face when, the girl beside her, Miss Katherine Charity Carton, interjected, “Papa found a trunk of lady’s clothes at the last raid. They are quite grand. We were going to sell them. He said they must be worth a lot, silk and such.”
“That will do,” said Em. “Take me to them,” she commanded.
“Say please, Em,” said Beau.
“No,” said Em and then shouted at Miss Katherine, “Now!”
Miss Katherine jumped and started walking away. Beau gestured to the tall youth beside him in a way to suggest, what can you do?
Emberlyn followed Miss Katherine to a stick hut and followed the girl inside. “Papa?” called the girl. “Guess he isn’t here, the trunk is just in here,” said the girl.
Emberlyn followed her into a room and bent down to the trunk as Miss Katherine excitedly pulled it open. The girl was right; the clothes were very nice and many of them were silk as was suggested. Em started pulling out dress after dress and tossing the unsuitable ones behind her shoulder as Miss Katherine hastily rushed around rescuing the rejected gowns. Em pointed to the pile of clothes that she wanted and said to Miss Katherine, “Okay, bring these.”
