by A Lonergan
Chapter Seven
Willow
I had been instructed to work with the two genies that were under the King’s rule. I didn’t know how I felt about this, because they were mostly silent, but it wasn’t uncomfortable and I was happy to be interacting outside of the castle walls. I was happy to be seeing more of the city, even if it was a tad bit chilly.
The pink skinned one, Ifrīt, was unhappy and solemn the whole time. While the blue skinned one, Marîd, didn’t mind talking to me and explaining the different foods and vendors around us. Springtime in Rosalia was gorgeous, all of the flowers blooming and produce carts, made the inner darkness inside of me start to fade, but only briefly. Even with spring, it was cold. The wind was a constant, and I hated that.
Our trip had been needed, but it was brief. I was thankful for the small bit of fresh air we were granted, and even though I preferred the shadows, the sunlight was a nice addition, as well. As we were carrying our burlap sacks back to the castle, pounding hooves sounded behind us. A monstrous horse blazed by us, almost right into us. I toddled trying to regain my footing in the surprise of it all, but it didn’t matter. One of my bags toppled over and I fell onto my side as I watched all of the trinkets, and breads roll across the dirt path. Everything else was delivered to the castle but these. They were specialties and specialties weren’t large enough to be delivered. Cal was a good man for understanding how hard the bakers and artists worked, and he didn’t make them do anymore than necessary. I cried out as the horse trampled the sweet rolls. They had been something I had picked out. Their smell had drawn me into the little bakery.
Ifrīt shook with anger and raised her clenched fist. The horse skidded to a stop and the man straightened in the saddle. The man let out a curse. He looked around frantically. His long brown hair swished around his head. In his anger and confusion he took his whip from his belt and started to beat the rump of the white animal as punishment. Blood welled up from the behind of the animal.
I pushed myself from the dirt and rushed to the horse’s side, terror pushed me more than anything else. “Stop that!”
The man was dressed in a fine, expensive tunic and untouched leather shoes. He turned to look down at me and raised his whip. His clean shaven face was a mask of rage. He let the whip fly and it sliced through the top of my dress and chest. I fell to the ground again, at the shock and impact of what he had done to me. The dirt and sand bit into my hands and side. “Dumb slave! You will find your place.”
Marîd helped me off of the ground with wide eyes and thunder sounded in the distance. Ifrīt beckoned with her finger and the whip flew from the man and into Ifrīt’s peach palm. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed the leather. She continued to squeeze until there was nothing left but dust. She opened her hand, and the dust blew away in the breeze. She gave him a sadistic smile.
The man on the horse finally realized what he was dealing with. Two of the most powerful beings in all kingdoms and he had wronged them. He fell from his horse onto his knees and begged for his life, his hands clasped in front of his face. He pressed his forehead into the ground, and I watched as his body trembled in fear. The boots that had been untouched, were now covered in dirt and horse crap.
I held the top of my dress closed and prayed that the all powerful beings wouldn’t want to inspect the damage further. I didn’t need anymore questions, especially from the two that could read through my lies with ease. Blood was starting to sprout across the top of my dress but I didn’t make a sound. Tears didn’t even prick my eyes. I had been through much worse than a whip. I had been trained to withstand torture. The skin from my hand had been removed once, and I hadn’t uttered a sound. The man doing the torture had thrown me into a cell and pronounced my soul to be from Hel, herself, straight from the Maiden of Death.
Ifrīt’s voice shook as she spoke. “What has you barreling through here like madness?”
“There has been more death!” he shrieked as he scrambled away from us on his hands and knees. The gritty sand was stuck to his forehead, and little pinpricks of blood were sprouting along his hairline from the abrasive minerals he had pressed his face into. “Three more bodies found at the Wasted Sea! I was to deliver the news to the King immediately! The guards told me that nothing much stop me!”
Ifrīt threw her hands in the air as she looked at Marîd. “Go to the king immediately, but if you ever harm another innocent soul, I will know and I will bring down the wrath of the djinn on you and your family. You will wish for the Maiden of Death. You will pray she takes you to her wasteland, but I will hold onto your soul and I will never let it pass on. You will serve me until the end of this world, and the next.”
The man was gone within minutes. Both of the genies turned to me slowly. I was trying to salvage the spilled goods and see what could be salvaged, but they would not have it.
Ifrīt used her magic to pick up the flowers and rolls, while Marîd tried to get a better look at my wound. She turned me side to side, while trying to pluck at my split dress and apron. I tried to evade her concerned gaze as best as I could.
“I’m fine, I promise.” Which was true. It was also nice that I had a good bit of adrenaline running through my veins to help.
Ifrīt looked at me with madness. “If the King finds out that we didn’t heal you, he will be upset. He doesn’t like his people treated badly and not taken care of.” Her words rang true even though I had my doubts about him, but what had my doubts stemmed from? The hatred that my Emperor had tried to instill in me? The hatred in order to get his daughter back and punish the accused? It wasn’t that I had never killed noble blood, I had. I had killed many nobles and dignitaries. I had killed king guards and handmaidens, as well as princes and dukes. But this kingdom was different. I didn’t want to believe it, but how had he managed to get the two most powerful in, probably the whole universe, to serve him? How had he managed to win their respect? It shone in their eyes brighter than the Sun when they spoke of him.
As if they had read my thoughts, and they might really have. Marîd spoke up. “He saved us from a life of sex slavery and death. He has cared about our lives, even though he didn’t have to. He could have used us as all the other Royals have in the past. But he doesn’t, he is special, and he actually cares. The King is not like any other in this realm or others.”
I swallowed and then nodded. I kept my hand on my wound as we made it back into the castle. I didn’t need anymore attention on me than I already had. If I had known that most of the servants had fair skin and hair, I probably would have met with a witch before hand to have my appearance changed. It was too late now, the damage was done. I was the odd one out.
The red haired guard, Nico, was the first to come barreling our way. He took one look at me and his face paled. “What happened?”
I shook my head and tried to reassure him. “I’m fine, I promise.”
His face contorted into what looked to be controlled rage. “Are you in pain?” By now the entire front of my white dress and apron were covered in bright, red blood. Which, definitely didn’t look fine.
I shook my head, my black hair falling from the twist at the top of my head. “I am fine, I have suffered much worse than this.”
His face twisted again, but this time it looked like he was experiencing inner turmoil and didn’t know what to say or how to proceed.
“We must bring you to Madam Colver, immediately,” he finally blurted out.
The two genies on either side of me bowed and were dismissed. “We have not been properly introduced now that you work here, I am Nico.” He held out his hand to me, then realized what he had done and took it back. Shaking my hand wasn’t exactly the thing to do at the moment, what with all the blood and torn clothing.
I curtseyed. “My name is Willow.”
He studied me for another minute before he pressed his hand to the small of my back and lead me to the kitchen. Madam Colver let out a shriek when she saw me. She scuttled across the room and shook her
head.
“Divine above!” Madam proclaimed. “What happened?”
“She got in the middle of a dignitary disciplining his horse.” Nico said, with a pinched face.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “A horse that was at no fault.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nico asked.
“Ifrīt stopped the horse to speak to the man that almost trampled us.” I swallowed. “She used her magic and he started to beat the horse. So I told him to stop and he turned the whip on me.”
Nico had nothing to say. Madam Colver shooed him out of her territory and pulled the front of my dress down. “You should really see a healer. This is far past my knowledge.”
I began to pull away from the robust woman. “No, I would rather not. If you have a needle and thread, I can do it myself.”
Madam Colver clucked her tongue. “You must have lived a profound life up until this point in order to be Abel to do that. I will stitch you up.”
I didn’t look at the wound, knowing it would leave another profound scar on my body. I didn’t flinch or move when she pulled and pushed the skin with stitching. This was customary in Arinal, and it had been done plenty of times. Another serving girl rounded into the kitchen and let out a gasp. I didn’t blame her for the shock... There was a good amount of blood everywhere.
“Why isn’t she being tended to by a healer?” Her voice was every bit suspicious, but I didn’t care. Madam Colver came to my rescue.
“This is what they do in her past kingdom, she isn’t ready to be touched by a healer. It is customary here, but very abnormal there.” The girl nodded her head and rushed from the room, no doubt she had a weak stomach.
“You have a strong stomach for a woman and an even higher pain tolerance.” Madam said after she had finished her stitching. “I am sure you also know a thing or two about hand to hand combat.”
I looked at her blankly. I didn’t know what she was insinuating, but I wouldn’t give her a reason to be suspicious. I had asked about training for the other girls, but I had kept my voice and expression as innocent as possible. It was a great act.
“I heard what you told the other girls about your story. You don’t escape a merciless master without knowing something.”
I had set myself up for this. I pulled my dress back over my chest just as the handsome man from dinner came strolling in. I kept my mouth closed. I didn’t need everyone to know my story. Eventually the story would get unraveled and I wanted to be as far from this place as possible when it did.
He looked at me with wide eyes, “What in blaze happened?”
I stammered. “I-I-”
“I’m sure Nico can fill you in on what happened.” Madam said nonchalantly.
“I don’t want to hear it from my commander. I want to hear it from both of you, while it’s fresh.”
Oh, oh no. I dropped into a curtsey so deep it pulled on my stitches. This hadn’t been the description that I had been given. He was the man from the balcony, the man from the dinner and most certainly The King. I couldn’t believe it. But his hair wasn’t long and down his back. It was very blonde, but it was cropped close to his head in a brutal fashion. In the parchment that had been sent to me in the middle of the night before I was paid and left Arinal, it had stated that the King preceded his hair long like the eleven kingdom, and he was thin. He was most certainly not thin. He filled out every single stitch in his tunic and britches.
Madam Colver nudged my elbow. “Quit that girl, you’re injured.”
I stood back up and wouldn’t look him in the eyes. I wouldn’t do what I had done at dinner previously. I was lucky I was still alive. I couldn’t believe how dense I had been. I should have known.
“Let me see it,” he said.
I eyed him like he had lost his mind. His light lavender eyes assessed me. Witch.
“Excuse me?”
His blonde eyebrows lifted. “I would like to know how harshly I should punish Ralph.”
I shook my head, this movement pulled at my stitches, too. “I think Ifrīt and Marîd scared him enough.”
The King took a step toward me and extended his hand. “Please,”
I folded down the top of my dress just enough for him to see the beginning of the damage, I wasn’t about to show this man my breasts. I didn’t care if he was a king. I didn’t care for him to see the map of scarring right underneath it either.
He inhaled sharply. “Let me fix it.”
I looked him in the eyes then. “No.”
He was taken back by my words. “What do you mean no?”
“I am sorry that you aren’t familiar with that term, but I would rather you not.” I pulled the cloth back up and pressed my palm against it, to keep it in place, and to remind my heart to stop beating like a jackerbate. They were cute creatures and quick, but stupid and the jackers always found their nests of furry babies.
He blinked at me for a few seconds before he laughed. Madam Colver seemed to have been holding her breath. “I like you, you’re a breath of fresh air that this castle has needed for a long time.”
And with that he strode from the room shaking his head. When I looked at Madam she was smirking like she couldn’t believe I had just gotten away with that, or she could believe it. I still couldn’t get a proper read on the woman. I was right there with her if she hadn’t believed it, I definitely didn’t believed it either. A part of me had hoped he would have proved me right. That he was just like the others. But the smile and sweet eyes weren’t helping my case.
That night when I made it back to the servant quarters, we were all notified that we would no longer have a mandatory guard and if we felt uncomfortable around any one of the guards that approached us, we were to tell Nico immediately. My request for the girls to learn self defense had been approved, but that didn’t help me feel any better for the 3 empty cots in the middle of the room. I had been gone when they had been taken and then I had been so preoccupied with work that I hadn’t noticed their absence that morning. None of the girls were in the mood to speak, and I didn’t blame them. It could have been any of them. I chose not to leave our room again that night. The girls needed me, and in a way I needed them.
Chapter Eight
The King
I shook my head. These spitfire women. How had I managed to find another in the kingdom like her? They looked completely opposite of each other, but Willow was just as head strong as my past love.
I frowned. I couldn’t think of her now. I had to make sure that the people in my kingdom were safe. I approached the morgue and took a deep breath. I hadn’t been ready to see the bodies before and had avoided it, and that’s how I had ended up in the kitchen. I wasn’t exactly ready to see them now, but it was apart of my duty. I had to do this.
I drew closer to the 3 silver tables nervously. I didn’t want to be here. The smell was enough to kill a giant. The mortician stood off to the side as I peeled back the white cloth from the first body. She was a pretty thing. I could see her little elven ears peeking out from beneath her brown hair. I wondered who she was, what she was like and who would miss her. She was one of the new serving maidens, so I hadn’t learned her name yet. I tried to learn all of their names, even though we had so many of them. She had bruising covering her pale skin and what looked to be a few spots of hair missing from her scalp. I continued onto the next, she resembled the one before her in build but not in hair color. She had blonde hair and her death had been caused by the same as the first. Her bruising was similar.
The third one made me pause. I pushed my hands against my head, where my long hair had once been. I closed my eyes and moved away from the bodies, I didn’t know these women and it did me nothing by looking at them now except depress me. I looked at the mortician and asked the question I was dreading, “Do these match the others?”
There had been at least ten other young girls that had washed up on the sands at the Jaded Lands by the Wasted Sea. It was a common secluded place for lovers because of the cli
ffs around it, called the Jaded Lands. They were all random women from the marketplace and the city. Now these three were from my servants. We had been investigating, but now it was closer. It felt more personal. I had let the guards in the city handle it and let them lead the investigation, but now that it was in my castle, I knew I had to lead it. The body count was now thirteen. Who would be next? Was it one of the men in my arsenal?
“Yes, they all match. Even the lacerations on the neck. They are using the same knife.” He bowed his head.
“Did you scent magic on them?” I could have looked at their charts, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It seemed too personal.
“No, but they all had the same sleeping drought in their systems.”
“They were drugged? I don’t remember that being disclosed when I looked over the last victims.” I frowned.
“The victims families were present with young children, Your Grace.” That explained it.
“They were raped weren’t they?” I hadn’t wanted to ask, but it needed to be. I had to know all the gory details, no matter how much they hurt my heart.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
He would strike again. I had a feeling it would be soon.
Chapter Nine
Willow
“Why don’t you just sniff out the murderer?” I asked Ifrīt and Marîd as we were cleaning guest rooms. I stripped the beds and they made them. I changed the towels out and they magically cleaned the toilets.
“Our magic doesn’t work that way.” Marîd said. She had her blue hair pulled back away from her face and Ifrīt had her pink separated in two plaits down the back of her head.
“Then how does it work?” I asked as I picked up some more dirty towels and dumped them into our work cart.
