The Last Masquerade

Night Walkers

A young male stands in a vanity gesture in front of me. His smooth complexion shines from the reflection of the sun. His grin peaks into a overly handsome sculpted face, mastered by the work of the ancient gods. The stiffened shoulders are covered by the heavy clothing and fine medals he wears on his chest. The name, Prince Ernest is stamped into the clear, silver metal underneath the portrait. The thick glass protecting The Prince's portrait reminds me that my brother never cared for such work of art. He would rather spend his time reading a book or joining the high council with their foolish meetings. In his own words he would call this a mediocre painting and simply walk away.                                                                                                                   

As for me, I would much take pleasure in an evening stroll or perhaps a nice visit in the kingdom. Of course, my mother would rather have a guard at my side whenever I'm out of the castle and I'm always not too fond of that either.  However, I found it quite more exciting when I sneaked past my guards once or twice when I went out into the kingdom. They would usually spot me from the rest as the commoners and follow my lead as I kept walking. After they returned, they would report to my strict mother of my misconduct as I would receive my consequences when she confronted me. Eventually, I gave up going anywhere outside of the castle or even in the garden. It was a waste of my time, and I wouldn't enjoy it with my guards watching my every move. The security wasn't always as strict as it used to be. Until my brother died. According to my mother, everything changed after that. 

It was a few years ago when my brother died. I retired to my chamber early, as so did mother. Ernest was more fond of staying up and finishing the last of his lengthy book. No one knew what was to come that night. The palace guards weren't quick enough to protect him in time. 

The towns that our kingdom owned was not very pleased by my brother's uninterest in ruling the kingdom. A couple of commoner folk had held a meeting a few months before the assassination. The assassination to kill my brother had unfortunately succeeded. The palace guards we have now were much better trained than the ones we had before the assassination. It taught mother a very valuable lesson, never leave the ones you love most unprotected. 

I don't like to think or talk about my dead brother much. I've gotten over that time in my life, I don't need to linger onto the old memories of my brother anymore. 

Light footsteps come into focus as they creep closer to me. I leer at my mother's head servant as she carries a tray of tea and plain oatmeal. Her black, flat shoes squeak against the polished tile. The tile speaks in it's own language, bringing life with the bright stated colors. The servant strides over to me. "Good morning, your Royal Highness." she curtsies, holding the tray as still as ever. "Is my mother prepared for this morning's tea?" I ask, ignoring her polite attitude.

 "Yes, she is. In fact, she is awaiting for your arrival in her chamber as we speak. Would you care to accompany me to Her Majesty's chamber?" I don't have to hesitate on the thought. "I would rather enjoy the company." I respond. She beams in delight, and starts to walk. The servants walk differently than the royals. All were carefully taught how to properly walk. It seems ridiculous to me as servants only need to be trained how to do their duty, not to walk. 

A dark strand of hair sticks out from the bottom of her bonnet. I carefully tuck the lonely piece of soft hair back into the bonnet. It tugs the bonnet back, making it slide down. "My apologies, your Royal Highness, I didn't see the strand of hair that I missed." She shivers a little as I try to keep fixing the hair, indicating that the situation of having the princess tidy her hair is making her feel uncomfortable. I shove my hands away from the hair. It makes the situation more unsettling. Not being able to think of what to recover from the little, awkward conversation, I decide to study the gown that the maids put me in earlier this morning. It was shipped from Australia, making the waiting of this dress more longing. My friend, Anna Berveskly, a seamstress who travels with The American Circus. She was picked to design and sew the costumes for the performers because of her highly qualified knowledge of the vouge. In her spare time, she makes lovely gowns and sends it to me. The light blue cloth covers me from my feet to my neck with a flowing trail in the back. I can tell she embroidered lace into the second layer of the dress as the darker blue lace blends together with the lighter blue. It reminds me of how much I miss her, and how long I haven't seen her. I sometimes wish if I could be in her shoes, making costumes and traveling around the world. I'd rather be there instead of here. I don't think that, I know that.

"We're here, your Royal Highness." the servant mumbles as we stumble across my mother's chamber door. 

.................................

The long and boring day does not make me in a tired state at all. After I retire to my chamber, and the maids help me into my night dress from my gown, I stay awake for most of the night. For some chances, I might decide to read a book, or rest with my cat Bluebell. But for the most interesting nights are when I get my telescope that I stole from my brother. The telescope hides away underneath my bed to keep my mother from knowing. When the maids clean my room, they avoid the telescope. All of the maids know that it's only one of the little pleasures that I have left in this bloody castle. Setting it up is easy, almost able to do without any thinking at all, I've done it so many times that I'm used to it now. 

The telescope's sharp vision is able to show me the nearest town to the castle. Ketple is a larger town than from the rest of the kingdom. The larger population and bigger land tends to have more crimes then the rest of the towns. Luckily, the community is very close together and have been trained to know what to do during certain situations. Most nights there's nothing interesting going on in the town, except for the Night Walkers. The Night Walkers are the poor citizens of the towns who go around and beg from door to door. Or they are the town drunk's and uncivilized creeps. They mostly like to shout, scream, dance, and entertain themselves in the town square where they meet up with one another to do foolish things around the town. I stare through the eye of the telescope into the square. There's only a couple people there, as they sit down on the ground in a circle, a few more people come to join them. It's hard to notice but with this advanced of a telescope I can see the citizens take one another's hand. I almost smile to myself, the drunk's are going to play a game together. That only causes for more commotion, for they argue with one another over who should have won and who shouldn't have. 

I take note of something different though. Unless they are close friends, the drunk's don't play silly games with one another. 

Then I realize that they are not playing a game. They're praying.