The Last Flame

Chapter 2

"Is this really how you treat those who work underneath you?" asked the Princess in a tone that sounded completely unlike her. Unlike any female in general. Actually it sounded more like two voices were speaking at the same time, one male and one female. I was so transfixed by the Princess and her wings that I barely noticed the Chef who was lying on the floor at the Princess's feet, cowering. Everyone else in the kitchen was as far away from the Princess as they could possibly get. I couldn't see many of them because they were on the floor bowing so far that their heads touched the floor.

"If any more harm comes to him or anyone else under you, you will never see daylight again," the Princess told the Chef quietly but the way she said it sent shivers down my spine. I wonder if the princess knew about what had happened to Gero last night. "And as for you. You will be relieved of your duties effective immediately and my father will decide the proper punishment for you."

She was looking over the prep tables to where the Royal Advisor must've been hiding. I heard some movement coming from that direction and suddenly I could see the Royal Advisor. He looked very shaken and his eyes were on the ground. He did try to look up at the Princess once but immediately dropped his eyes to the floor again.

"B-but your highness, he is one of the evil creatures and should be dealt with properly," the Royal Advisor said with growing confidence. I think that he might've been trying to convince the Princess that his point of view was the correct one. Now I was nervous, I was nervous that she would turn on me just like everybody else did. Other people had tried to defend me at one time or another but they all turned on me one by one.

"So you're objecting to the worker that I hired?" the Princess replied sounding mildly angry now. Whoa, she was the one who brought me here to work? I didn't even think that she knew that I existed until yesterday. I had always thought that the royals were to be feared and that they didn't care about the little people like me. Although I have been told that it didn't used to be like this when the old queen was still alive, I'm not too sure what had happened to her and no one ever spoke of her. The children of the king and old queen were said to be thousands of years old, and knew magic that was said to no longer exist. The Princess was the eldest and only daughter of four children, which meant that she was probably 5000 years old give or take a century.

"Y-you h-hired him, milady?" the Royal Advisor asked nervously but he sounded kind of lost. I was right there with him on that part. What was so special about me that the Princess wanted me to work for her?

"Yes, I did," the Princess replied and then turned around with her head up high in a very regal gesture. She walked over to me and, before I had a chance to react, she picked me up in her arms. She turned around one more time and pointed to the two kitchen workers that were standing closest to her. "You two, clean up this mess."

She had gestured to the shattered porcelain to make sure that the kitchen workers knew what she meant. They nodded but kept their eyes on the floor. The Princess nodded once and then walked out the back door of the kitchen. She didn't put me down again however, until we were surrounded by trees and a small bubbling creek that cut through the forest was right in front of us. The Princess put me down on the soft grass and tended to my wounds from the shattered porcelain. I was a bit embarrassed at having to be tended to by a woman, especially after my father had hammered it into my head that men are supposed to be able to take care of themselves. Then again my father had most likely been killed by my mother, so his advice was out the window. Frankly though, even if I could speak, I wouldn't try to argue with the Princess about tending to me. It was kind of nice to be taken care of for a change.

"There we go, good as new," the Princess said when she was finished. The wounds on my hands and feet had completely vanished. She looked very different now that we were out of the kitchen. The Princess looked happier and more relaxed. I don't know what made me and others think that she was so scary. Right now, with the sunlight coming through the tree leaves, she looked like a goddess. Even though it was probably wrong of me to want to know but I did want to know. Why did she pick me? I mean out of all of the people she could've picked, why did she pick me? I mean she could've picked Gero to save but she didn't she chose me. The Princess smiled down at me like she knew something I didn't know.

"I'll tell you when you get older, my love," was all that she said and then returned her attention to watching the creek. Hang on, what did she just call me? Stunned, I sat down beside her and leaned against the same tree that the Princess was leaning against. Had she just read my thoughts, too? I was starting to feel a little sleepy after the adrenaline had come down from the scene in the kitchen. The peacefulness of this place and the sound of the trickling water helped with my exhaustion. I felt my head grown heavy and tip over on to the Princess's shoulder. I kind of forgot that she was the Princess for a moment and forgot why I was so stunned by something that she did. I don't remember what it was right at this moment but I was sure that it was something important. My eye lids began to droop and the Princess bent her head down and kissed me tenderly on the forehead. I think that I managed a smile before I fell into the very first good sleep that I've ever had since the day I was born.