EDWINA (Sample)

Chapter Four

The guards bowed and gently led the weeping queen who was too tired to fight anymore out of the king's chambers. Finally, there was silence and peace in the room again and the king slumped into an arm chair  sighing in distress. His wife had gone haywire all because of a maid. Was his wife so fond of Edwina that she would hate him? She had told him just that right to his face, her eyes fierce and filled with anguish.

Cornelius bowed before the king and exited the room, leaving the king to his thoughts. He walked down the corridor and down the stairs then towards another wing of the castle and stopped before Hector's slightly ajar door. He walked into the dim room which was lighted with chandeliers of candles and found Hector seated at the small dining table, his chin in the hollow of his fist which was on the edge of the table, and his other hand stretched towards a small chandelier on the table, skillfully rolling a small sheathed dagger among his fingers. He was staring blankly at the flame of the candles in front of him and seemed to be in deeply lost in his thoughts like his father.

Cornelius looked up when he saw the magic parrot that had been gifted to Hector by a sorceress adjust its footing on the edge of the wardrobe and blinked down at him. "He's been this way since he left the banquet."
The parrot told him. Besides the bird being made out of magic, it was quite a nuisance and inky Hector could tame it.

Cornelius approached the table where Hector's food remained covered and untouched and cleared his throat. "Hector?" He called.

Hector slowly lifted his head and looked up at Cornelius who was taken aback by the sorrow he saw in his eyes. He had been in Avalon for as long as he could remember before the birth of Hector and his brother, Cedric. He had watched Hector grow and become the brave prince he was. The only time he had seen such anguish in Hector's eyes was when he had lost his mother in his teenage years but right now those sorrowful tears that would never spill were in his eyes again.

He was rather surprised to see Hector in the state and what had shocked everyone the more was the fact that he had offered to kill the slave in the most gruesome way which got Cornelius thinking what possibly could have come over Hector to make him suggest such a despicable thing. "Are you really going to kill that innocent girl?" Cornelius asked.

Without a single word, Hector got up and walked to the large window that overlooked the village below. He stared at the lights glowing through doors and windows and at the moon which was half hidden behind a dark cloud, and the night breeze howled outside and swept back his long brown hair which was loose above his shoulders. "The morrow will tell, Cornelius." He simply said without taking his eyes off the village, obviously in s solemn state.

Cornelius lingered for a while, sighed heavily and left the room. If Hector decided to stay true to his words and murder the poor maiden, he knew he was sure going to miss Edwina who had been like a daughter to him.

           ***
Edwina sat on the dungeon floor, hugging her knees with her back against the wall. The reeking stench of the dungeon was so strong that she found it difficult to properly breath. Sometimes, she would press her face to the little crack in the dungeon wall and breath in the little fresh air the crack could only allow from outside the wall.

She felt dejected, dejected not because of her situation, dejected because she was going to miss the queen and all her friends. She remembered the shocked look on the Queen's face when Tiberius had chosen her to be his bed mate during his entire stay in Avalon.

The queen had always cherished her, and had always wanted her to willingly give herself to a man who she thought was deserving of it but now, that was never going to be, not when she had been sentenced to death.

And it was all because of that coldblooded murderer, Tiberius who had slain her father before the very eyes of hers and her sister's, Joan and had taken her mother away from them forever. Joan, her elder sister had comforted her and they had survived by working as maids and when they were grown enough and could fully cater for themselves, they had accepted their fate of never seeing their mother ever again and had continued with their lives but Edwina had always secretly harbored a revenge in her mind against King Tiberius.

She had been waiting a very long time to avenge her parents but here she was in the dungeon, awaiting a death penalty while the tyrant who should be in her place lavished wine in his chambers and ravished more maidenheads, making their first sexual experience a bad memory for them.

The sound of approaching footsteps interrupted her thoughts and when she looked up, she saw Katrina and Cyril appear before the bar gate of her cell. She stood up and went to them. "Katrina, Cyril..." She acknowledged each of them.

"We brought you something to eat." Katrina said, slipping the food under the gate towards her feet.

Edwina wrapped her fingers around the bars and shook her head without glancing at the food which was now between her feet. "I'm not hungry."

Katrina sighed and exchanged wary looks with Cyril before she turned to Edwina again and lowered her voice. "Did you really try to kill king Tiberius?"

Edwina scanned the dungeon to be sure that no one was in sight and she nodded. "Yes."

Her reply surprised them but they tried not to say anything concerning the king anymore, he was renowned for his vile ways by all and what good will chiding her do anyway, when she was due to be killed the next day. "I know Hector can't harm you... He's different..." Katrina said, harbouring tears in her eyes.

Edwina simply nodded without a word, she would rather not talk about Hector, she didn't feel Amy different about him because she also held him too in contempt. She turned to look at Cyril who spoke this time. "I'm very certain that Hector won't do as he said... I think it was all a ploy... He's pure of heart... He will do anything to protect the innocent... Whatever he said in the banquet hall, I'm sure that he didn't mean it, Edwina..." Cyril told her reassuringly and yet Edwina didn't utter a word.

Katrina's hand slipped through the bars and held Edwina's which was still holding one of the bar. "I'll miss you..." She said in tears. "We will all miss you..." She pressed a kiss into Edwina's hand, unable to hold her tears back anymore. "Promise you'll return to us if you can." She beseeched, sniffling.

Edwina hesitated. What good was it coming back to Avalon if she lived, she would only come to face another death for escaping the first but to make Katrina feel better, she made the promise anyway. "I promise."

A smile penetrated Katrina's face through her tears and she muttered. "I love you, Edwina."

Edwina nodded and offered her a weak smile and Cyril who couldn't bare the anguish anymore backed the cell to conceal his emotions from them. Hector had told him that brave men didn't cry and Cyril was doing all his best not to, not that it was easy anyway. He turned back to face Edwina still holding the torch they had used to make their way down to the dungeon. "We must leave now before the guards finds us here, Edwina." He said softly, pulling Katrina away as they finally turned and quickly made their way out of the dungeon.

Edwina sighed and picked up the wrapped plate of food her friends had brought her. They believed so much in Hector. He murdered her sister, although not literally. Her sister had died in the fire which the Avalonian soldiers had set on their house, Caleb, her sister's fiancé had been killed with arrows fired into his back while they had been trying to flee through the woods, attempting to escape from the ravaged village. She hated Hector for all of it. He was the heir of Avalon, if they had peacefully left her village alone, her sister wouldn't be dead and she wouldn't be in Avalon in the first place, branded as a slave to serve the royal family.

With her mind resolved, she decided that if she couldn't kill the murderer of her parents and avenge their deaths, she could at least avenge her sister's death. She would take a life for a life and no guard or soldier would be able to come to his rescue in the woods. She would kill Hector Brereton. She just hoped her friends would be able to forgive her for what she had made up her mind to do. She just hoped so even though she knew that she would forever be a fugitive if she succeeded in taking the life of the heir to the throne of Avalon. The royal family will have her hunted to the ends of the earth but it would be worth it.