Knightess

10

The Queen pushes the doors that lead into the throne room open. A blast of heat hits me as I enter and I immediately begin to sweat. A giant fireplace that takes up one entire side of a wall holds a fire so hot the flames are almost completely blue. I wish I'm back outside where it's cold.

The Queen walks down a dark green carpet that leads to a golden throne. I quietly gasp. A throne of solid gold! The throne resembles something out of a children's bedtime story, not real life. I didn't know such a thing existed. The Queen must be rich beyond imagination. The Queen spreads out her skirts and sits down upon it. I wonder what it feels like.

Keva and I stand on one side of the throne with Luna at the other. "Send him in," the Queen says with a wave of her hand. A guard scurries away.

While we wait for the man to come I marvel at how giant the room is. I gaze up at the ceiling, where green and black banisters with an image of a black fox stamped on it hang lazily. "It's amazing how much heat this room can have." Even though I whispered to Keva, my voice echoes through the room.

Keva chuckles. "Shh," she whispers to me.

My attention turns back to the creaking of the entrance doors. A man with ebony skin and baggy, dirt-stained clothes steps in with two guards at his side. The doors slam shut behind him and he walks down the carpet. He gets close to the Queen, and I can tell he's too close. In unison, Luna, Keva, and I take a step forward and unsheathe our swords.

He takes a few steps back, hands in front of him. The Queen gestures to us to put our swords away, and we obey. He drops down to one knee, head bowed down. "Your majesty," he says.

"Rise," the Queen orders and he stands up. "Tell me your name and the village you've come from."

"My name is Somme Fisher, from the village of Valca, in the East."

The Queen's fingers clutch the armrests and turn white when he says he's from the Eastern Villages. I remember Keva telling me about the protests happening lately. "Go on," the Queen says.

"Well, your majesty, during the warm seasons there was a drought that killed most of our crops and livestock. At the end of autumn we were able to grow only able to grow a third of the crops we planted at the beginning of the warm seasons, and we harvested even less livestock than that."

The Queen nods her head. "I see."

"Valca also mines for coal; we're one of the villages that send the coal to the Palace. Anyway, your majesty, during the beginning of summer the mine shafts suddenly collapsed. My three sons were killed in the collapse." He hangs his head and speaks in a soft voice at mentioning his sons' deaths.

"I am sorry for your loss," the Queen tells Somme. "I remember getting a letter from your village about the mine shafts collapsing."

"We searched the rubble and were able to collect a few pounds of coal. Because of our monthly shipments with the Palace we sent almost half of our coal away, leaving us with very few for ourselves. We are freezing, Queen Delilah. Freezing and starving to death."

I feel sympathy for Somme and his village. Here I am, in a room so hot sweat is rolling off my armor, while the villagers in Valca are dying of hypothermia. I look to the Queen, wondering what her answer will be. Please help Valca, I silently beg her.

The Queen is silent for a moment and raps her knuckles against the armrests. She opens her mouth to speak, and I believe she'll help.

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do."

The man's face turns ashen. "Your majesty?"

The Queen speaks again. "There is nothing I can do. We cannot give up our coal due to this being one of the coldest winters in the kingdom's history, and the drought also effected our gardens, too. We need all our crops and coal and cannot give any. I hope your village understands."

"Understands?!" The man raises his voice. "People in Valca are dying by the hour because of starvation and coldness and you won't help them? They are your people! You're suppose to help them! I don't think they will understand!"

The Queen keeps a blank face during Somme's burst of outrage. "It was nice meeting you, Somme Fisher. I hope your village prospers once again soon."

Somme takes a step forward, and I, unwillingly, unsheathe my sword. Keva does the same when she hears the squeaky sound mine makes. Luna takes a step closer to the Queen. "Don't come any closer," Keva snaps at him.

He glares at her and says nothing for a while. Then he says seven words that chill me to the core: "The kingdom will rise against you soon."

Then he bows once more and marches out the doors. The guards stand there, unsure about whether to follow him or not. Through clenched, yellowing teeth the Queen hisses, "Arrest him. Now!"

The guards scurry out the doors. The Queen rises from her seat, her face flushed and twisted into an angry look. I glance at Keva and see that her face is pale. "The words he said. . ."

"What about them?" I ask.

Keva shakes her head and smiles at me. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just talking to myself."

I look back over at the Queen and see that she's frowning at me. How could she turn away that poor man's help? Doesn't she understand that the village is dying? And it's not as if we are low on food and coal as well; we have more than enough. The fullness of my stomach and the sweat rolling down my back tell me that. I return the frown. She looks away from me and says simply, "You are all dismissed."

We all bow our heads and walk down the green carpet. The Queen stops Keva. "A word, Keva."

Luna and I head out the doors and gently close them behind us. Immediately Luna presses an ear against the wood. " Are you going to eavesdrop on them? " I ask.

Luna gives an embarrassed smile. "You know you want to, " she tells me, and she's right.

I bend over next to her and lay my ear against the side of a door. I only catch snippets of their conversation: "Palma was the same. . .What made you think she would be any different? . . .He said the kingdom will rise. . .Althea is a Sword Speaker, there's no doubt. . . "

Immediately Luna lifts her head from the door and grabs my sboulder, forcing me to do the same. "What? " I ask, crossing my arms.

"I don't think you were supposed to hear that, " she whispers as she leans her ear against the door again.

"No, I wasn't," I agree.

Suddenly she snaps her head back up and gasps, " The Head Knightess is coming, run. "

And together we run away down the hall.