by C. A. Sabol
Before the king could sentence him for a punishment, the high priest went and got out the hidden moonshine out of the cabinet in one of the throne room’s hollow sculptures.
Moonshine was the most popular form of drinking throughout Sapphira. The strong drink not only caused the body to produce a feeling of relaxation and merriment, it also was able to seduce the mind into thinking about nothing at all, and often heavy drinkers would comment on the hallucinations that the drink stirred in the mind. The scenes would blur over the eyes and play on the mind’s large viewscreen, almost like an alternating reality. The liquid was a slivery array of many minerals, unique to Sapphiran islands. There were a variety of colorings, flavorings and additions that could be made to the Moonshine in order to spice it up, but they all reflected a lustrous radiance, thus justifying the name Moonshine.
“Here you are, Majesty,” Jerommien said, reluctantly offering the decanter of Tropical Moonshine to his friend.
“Fine, fine,” Lukiahs waved him off as he took a long sip from the decanter. The glowing liquid burned down his throat and clouded his mind from what had just occurred, the flow of it down his throat almost whispering assurance to him. “Did you ever hear such ridiculous nonsense? Imagine me, a father, again, at my age. I am well past that at this point in my life.”
“Yes, sir, ridiculous. I am sure he was not sane in his mind.”
After a few more careful sips, the King laughed. “I guess I ought to see about which island I want to send you away to after you kill all my prisoners,” he said between laughs.
“Oh, come on, Luke, don’t jest with me,” Jerommien rolled his eyes. “It has been a disappointing, exasperating day. And you still have to meet with your wife, remember? Actually, you are rather late for your tour of the new gardens, are you not? You were supposed to meet her earlier.”
The King laughed. “I forgot about her,” he admitted. “I’ll have to tell her about the ‘Prophet’ and his little joke. She’ll like that, I’m sure.”
“Er ... Luke, that’s a bit heavy for her to absorb, don’t you think? She might not like that there is supposedly a lot of blood and tears to be shed. She might cry.”
Lukiahs sighed. Then he looked up at his friend once more. “I am a king. Right, Jerommien?”
“Of course, Your Highness,” the high priest agreed.
“I am a king, and yet I still cannot demand that my new wife get a sense of humor!” Lukiahs stood up and threw down his strong moonshine bottle, the glass cracking against the marble floor at the impact. “What good is it to be the king, if you cannot decide how things should be around this trash heap?”
“Kaena seems to be warming up, sir, she really is. It’s just that, well, you know that she had been supposed to marry an Islander before the council intervened. She is most likely trying hard to think of a way in which she can please you as much as you have pleased her in saving her from marrying a dirty, uncouth islander. And let’s face it, Sire, that is a hard thing to think of.”
The King seemed satisfied with this explanation and sighed. “I guess you’re right, Jerommien. I cannot only blame myself for this. I am just too nice sometimes.”
Jerommien clapped his arm around the king’s shoulders in a brief, brother-like action. “That is absolutely right, Your Highness.” He started to walk with the King out to the garden halls when he added, “Speaking of being too nice, sir, you aren’t really going to send me away to an island, right?”
The King laughed all the way down the hall.
QUEEN KAENA LOOKED down the hall as she heard the familiar steps of her husband coming. His elderly, grandfather-like steps, so different from her own vigorous and able pace, stuck out in their slow pattern. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and disgust.
She had been from the realms of Diamond City, and had been born into a well-bred family of the middle class. Her long, blond hair was combed back for the day, held up in an elaborate and ornate headdress, with many braids and some silken flowers here and there. Her royal robes were of the finest, softest material, encrusted with gemstones and fine, gold-threaded material. On her feet were the daintiest of expensive fur bed slippers; they were hidden from questioning eyes by the large expounding layers of her gown she was under. She stood there, next to the entrance to the Luxury Garden Hall, waiting for her husband to show up. Kaena was grateful that for the first time since she had arrived at this Palace that she had been able to get her handmaidens to leave her to herself while she waited. Currently, they were all out about the town until the noontime meal. Once a job was granted at the Palace, trips to the city were only twice a month for those in such a prestigious position. It was only when a worker got married that he or she could move out of the castle; it was either that or when a worker was fired that they were let out of the palace. The handmaidens were much more than willing to accept a free lunchtime from the new queen.
Kaena thought as she waited, her eyes staring far off into the distance as she allowed her mind to wander. She thought about her family, and how she missed them. Royalty, especially the women, were often considered by the councilors to be ‘in danger’ outside of the castle, although this was a friendly world. There were few people would want to cause trouble here, Kaena thought. It was unfortunate that she knew some of the ones who did.
Having been a part of the middle class all her life, her family had taken her and her brothers and sisters every year to the sand swept beaches of the Jewel Island, located in the South Seas. It was there that she had met her one true love, the Islander, Ammos. She’d been his friend for years, until her family, kind and sympathetic to her love, had agreed that she could marry him if she was truly in love.
So the engagement had been announced at the end of the past summer at last. Ammos and Kaena had been deeply in love, and the celebrations had gone on until well into the early mornings as they celebrated. When she left that time, she had been his promised wife.
Until the king and his councilors had decided she would be perfect for the new Queen.
Despite the title, the house, the fine clothes and gifts and parties and servants, Kaena only wanted the one thing she did not have—love. Her parents had begged her to go at the King’s command. She had eventually agreed, but reluctantly. She could never see her beloved Ammos again. Once the engagement had been broken off, he had wed another girl from the island, and they’d already had a child together. From what Kaena’s spies had told her, another child was on the way, along with a rebellion.
She had heard news of the Rebellion all right. Try as the king might, he could not keep her locked away from the world forever. She had been planning to run away, but this plan had been ruined by the news she had received today. Her worst fears had been confirmed; she was stuck here, playing Queen for the rest of her life.
Her thoughts would have lingered on her misfortune had King Lukiahs had not appeared just then, with Jerommien holding him up. She disregarded this action, though it was untraditional for the King to be so close to his advisors. Kaena curtsied for her husband and nodded to the High priest. “Your Majesty,” she welcomed him gracefully. “I have been waiting for you. Shall I take your arm as we look through the gardens?”
The King looked at her with fondness in his eyes. “Yes, you may,” he agreed as he dismissed Jerommien and took hold of her extended arm. “Queen Kaena, might I say that you look as ravishing as a blooming orchidia today?”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Kaena whispered uncaringly in response, as was her usual custom. She knew he did not mean it. He had not cared for the idea of a wife in general, just as she had not wanted to become his, and she—along with the rest of the court elite—knew it. Regardless, it was her duty now to carry through with this charade of a life, this imitation of a marriage. She reached out and took his arm, tucking hers around his. Together, they walked through the door into the new Gardens.
The Luxury Hall Gardens had been the Great Hall Gardens the previous year. This year, they had been redesigne
d to give the Queen a hobby, a miniature job to oversee as she began to grow adapted to the Palace life. Lukiahs had seen it as an opportunity for the Queen to make her own mark on his Palace. This was supposed to be the premiere tour for him, before it was opened up to the public a few weeks later on the King and Queen’s first year anniversary.
The ceiling was opened up, windows placed in certain areas to illuminate the darkened hall. They walked in silence for a while until Kaena spoke up. “Do you like what I have done to the gardens, Your Majesty?”
“What?” the king asked, jumping slightly. He had not really been attentive. He was getting sleepy, and the scent of the wonderful flowers all around him was not helping him to pay any attention or even to stay awake. He was half-ready to fall over fast asleep at this point.
“I asked you what you thought of the gardens, Your Highness,” the Queen replied without changing her tone or expression.
“Oh. Right. Um ... I think it’s very beautiful, Queen Kaena. You are truly a master of gardening, it looks like.” He then slumped back into his world of apathy.
“I have to confess, Sire, that I did not bring you in here to merely talk about the garden,” Kaena said slowly. She was hoping to get his attention.
“Oh. Right. Um ... that’s nice of you, Kaena,” the King said. “Say, is that a bench? Well, how about a break here, love?”
“Sure, all right.”
When the King was sitting down, Kaena could not hold her news in any more. “My Liege, I am with child.”
“Oh. Right. Um ... ” His eyes had been glazed over until the impact of her words had sunk in. His eyes grew clearer than ever, as wide as ever, and he nearly shot out of his seat. Then he smiled and chuckled, as though he alone understood his joke. “I’m sorry, Kaena. I thought you just said you were with child. What a funny old man am I? I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
Kaena’s striking eyes held no joy as they found his. “I am with child, Your Highness. We are going to have a baby.”
“No,” the King said. “No, we are not, and I do not appreciate this joke of yours, Kaena. It is not funny at all. Not at all, do you hear me?” His sentence ended with him shouting, nearly sending Kaena into a crying fit.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as her eyes began to water. “But it’s the truth!”
“Liar! Liar! You cannot be telling the truth!” Lukiahs looked wildly around and around, his disbelief melting away as he tried to comprehend this. That blasted prophet, that annoying old man, he had been right! Haiasi had been right! His hands flew up to his ears, and the King crouched over, trying to block out the sound of his crying wife. “This cannot be!” he yelled, turning away from his young, pregnant wife, and running away.
AS MUCH AS KING LUKIAHS did not want to believe it, it was true. Queen Kaena had been plotting to leave, but she had found out only days before her exodus into the real world once again that she was carrying the King’s child.
After nine months, the queen had grown big with child. But she was also very, very sickly.
Having calmed down a bit, and having more than enough moonshine, the King had come to accept this. He assumed that the prophet had simply heard about the Queen being pregnant, along with the exact details of his dream, from some spy who was in the castle. He’d torn Diamond City apart, sending his guards to carefully comb the area, looking for the spies who had betrayed his secrets and his wife’s to the prophet. In the end, he could find no one. So, he had Haiasi captured and detained within the prison until further notice.
On the day before the birth, King Lukiahs sneaked down to the prison. The King looked around as quietly as he could. He had never before been down to the prisons. They were bleak and gloomy, and very unwelcoming. The small rectangular windows were cut with an array of cloudy glass, the walls adorned with small fire lanterns. The shadows, little as they were, were cast onto walls of a deep gray. He had to make a mental note to congratulate the designer of the prison. They had a point to get across, and that point was that no one would want to be in here. And their point was met very effectively.
He was just starting to shiver and to think about leaving when a voice called to him.
“So, Your Highness, you have come to visit?”
It was he, the one who called himself a prophet. So, Haiasi was apparently never surprised. He had the appearance of a man who had been expecting King Lukiahs all along. This idea made King Lukiahs think that maybe this was neither the time nor the place to start letting paranoia settle in. Besides, royalty such as him never made this type of a trip unless there was a special reason. And the King had an exceptional reason indeed - he had come down to gloat to Haiasi, of course.
The King would allow himself to admit, at last, that his nerves had been rattled by this strange man’s words. But he had now, in his hand, all the proof he’d needed to establish this so-called prophet as a false one.
“Hello, there,” the King smiled. “I trust you are enjoying your residence here with us?”
“This is not my lodge, but I find it quite suitable for the time being. Congratulations, My Liege. I hear that you have a child on the way soon.”
“Yes. Well, I must congratulate you, as well, for finding that out,” the King replied. “I must get you to tell me one of these days how you managed to get that information from the queen, but that can wait.”
“Oh, I see,” Haiasi said with a knowing look. “You still take me for a fraud.”
“Of course I do,” Lukiahs said. “You told me that, well enough, but I’ll have you know that after you came, I agreed to see no others pretending to know what my dream was about. I have gotten plenty of good, needed rest these days, with no dreams to harp upon my nerves. Also, I can even tell you that the rebellion has been losing ground swiftly. There are so few left against me. And as for the matter of my child ... ” The King paused here, and held out the weekly weather report out to Haiasi. Haiasi took hold of the paper, and read it with mild interest.
Haiasi read the paper, and then handed it back to the king. “Very interesting sir, but I was hoping to see the City Chronicles, not the News Line.”
“It’s not the newspaper, idiot! It’s the weather report. You told me that my offspring would be born of night’s shadow! Ha! Can you not see that the day report is going to be sunny and clear! And I’ll have you know—in case your little spies had not thought to tell you this—that the child is thought to be arriving in the middle of the day tomorrow. There is not a drop in your bucket of hope that can prove you right on any terms!”
Haiasi looked disinterested still. “Who are you trying to convince, Your Highness - me, or yourself? I do not need to see the weather or know the times to know that the Guardian will work all things out according to his will.” His gaze turned from one of sureness to that of a very tired, very sympathetic man. “Your Majesty, I beg you, quit fighting this battle. Reason and logic are often lucid—it is your emotions that you are struggling against. Why are you so afraid to embrace what is clear?”
“I’m not afraid ... And tomorrow, I’m going to embrace the clear, sunny day!” the King laughed all the way out of the prison. He had won this battle. He was sure of it this time.
“AUGH! OOOOH! OOOOH!” Queen Kaena’s face broke into a horrific scream as the baby made its way out of her body. It was one of the only times that she raised her voice. Even all through her pregnancy, she had been as meek as a lamb. But it was a different story now. Her brow was covered in sweat, and her body ached all over. She did not care, she did not care, she thought. All she wanted was this baby out of her body, and now. “Ow! Ouch!”
There was tremor after tremor ripping through her body. The doctor’s room was supposed to create a sense of calm, but the queen for the large part had only been disturbed and concerned with the large windows open. The last thing she needed was for the entire city, indeed the entire world, to know that she was in the process of giving birth to the King’s baby.
And to top it all off, th
e sun was shining right in her face. Queen Kaena was not very happy at the moment.
The contraction slowed, but another one was coming soon enough. She breathed deeply, in and out very fast, wishing very hard that it was over.
It was then that the sky suddenly started to grow darker.
Queen Kaena looked over at the windows briefly, silently thanking whomever it was for shutting the blinds. She was surprised to see that the sunlight had just faded, and there were no clouds in the sky. “What is going on? Why’s the sun getting darker?” she yelled, completely confused and no doubt overwhelmed.
“I don’t know Your Highness, but we have more pressing issues at the moment,” a handmaiden named Enricée hurried over and held onto the queen’s shaking hand. “It’s going to be alright, I promise you.”
The queen felt no desire at all to bring a child belonging to the King into this world. Kaena felt completely alone, and depressed at the thought of not having a child that she felt she could not love. She wanted to have a child that belonged to her, and someone she loved. She had not seen the King throughout her pregnancy at all. It had been this morning when she’d seen him for the first time, looking happier than ever. It looked like he had come to terms with having another baby. She turned and watched out the window, screaming and yelling every so often, as the sun slowly disappeared.
“Is there an eclipse today?” She yelled half in wonder, half in pain, as she watched the gray sun disappeared completely behind a Sapphiran Moon, though she did not know which one it was at the moment. It was dark now, dark throughout the whole world. “Hurry! Get this kid out of me now, please!” she yelled more loudly as the pain increased.
“I’m sorry, My Lady, but it looks like you are going to have to push once more,” the doctor said as she moved to help catch the baby. She had completely ignored the Queen’s question. “Are you ready?”
