"A Life as a Servant of the Macbeth Household"

Rated M for Graphic Content

Disclaimer: I do not own Macbeth and its original plot. I do, however, own Aveline, Petronia, and the dialogue and most of this plot (the POV, I mean). The overall plot is based on how the play went down.

It was the day that my master, Sir Macbeth, was crowned King of Scotland that all the madness had begun. But before I knew it, I had heard a strange occurrence from a fellow maidservant, who knew almost nothing about the recent murder of the former king, and let alone who the murderer was.

"Aveline!" she cried.

"What is it now, Petronia?" I asked, irritated. I wasn't having a lovely day. I had broken some dishware, stained one of my only dresses, and had my lunch stolen when I left it unwatched on the table for only a second!

She ran up to me and whispered in my ear. "I need to tell you something in private."

I gave her an odd look, but I quickly finished polishing the last goblet and ran with her to our quarters in the other wing of the castle. "So, what funny story do you have to tell me now?" I sat on the mattress that lied on the ground, rolling my eyes. Petronia was one to tell stories and rumors.

"This is real! I promise!" she exasperated.

"Well, then spit it out!"

"Well, I heard that Master Macbeth had seen three witches." She gave a suspicious look. She had a glint in her eyes; even if this was going to be false, she was a great storyteller, so this was going to be a good rumor.

"Go on," I gestured.

She kept talking frantically. "And, they prophesied everything that would happen to him! That he would become Thane of Cawdor, the King of Scotland, and, and—"

"You can stop now. Don't overdo yourself. I get it."

"Are they really witches? But—"

"Hush… I hear someone coming." We soon went right back to our work, before someone came and saw us not doing our job. I saw his Majesty Macbeth walk through the hall, and he said to a fellow servant, "Let the next guests come inside these walls, no matter how rugged or dangerous they may look." He then left swiftly, and all of us got back to our duties, and that statement left me wondering.

Later in the evening, after my duties were done, two ragged men came inside the castle, so I hid behind a wall, but I poked my head through so I could still see what they were doing. I noticed they were holding bloody daggers, and were snickering devilishly among themselves. Then, Macbeth came in and began to tell them about someone who was their enemy. I waited for a bit, and then he said that Banquo—kind and noble Banquo—was the enemy! He then gave them a bit of money, and then asked them to find him and his son, Fleance, on their ride home to their castle. They left swiftly, so I then decided to follow the strange men, but keeping myself carefully hidden.

They had been walking for a while, and they soon came upon another man, also carrying a knife with him. They then began to talk to each other, like they were conspiring something. I, of course, was hidden in some shrubbery so they couldn't find me. Soon, the feet of galloping horses were heard, and Sir Banquo and Fleance were riding by on noble white steeds. The three men hid before the two nobles could lay eyes on them, but the two of them stopped, as if they had heard something. Suddenly, the three men attacked Banquo and Fleance, tackling the two of them to the ground. One was straddling Fleance, who was kicking and screaming, trying to push the strange man off. Another killed the two horses with two quick slashes of the neck. The horses fell in their ever-growing pools of blood, their white hides being dyed red because of it. Finally, the last man had Banquo pinned, but the nobleman punched him across the face, causing the murderer's lips to bleed. Suddenly, the murderer struck his final blow, stabbing Banquo directly in his neck, ripping into it. Banquo's eyes went wide in shock, and the murderer's wide in insanity. Banquo wheezed his final order: "Fly, Fleance… fly, my son, fly!"

And his son did so, pushing off the murderer and running down the path as fast as he could, never to be seen again.

Soon, the murderers left the body of the dying noble alone, grumbling about how Fleance got away and I came out to see what was going on. Sir Banquo was lying there and trying to breathe. With every breath, blood gushed out of the wound in his neck and he would choke on the fluid for a moment when it would drip back into his throat. The gash in his neck was ragged, with skin, muscle and windpipe all visibly torn. The puddle of blood he was lying in grew steadily. He looked up at me for a moment, but then his eyes rolled back and shut, and his skin turned pale. I looked down at his corpse in horror; so many feelings had rushed into my mind, like fear and sorrow. I couldn't respond in any other way but to scream and weep. Why would Macbeth want to kill such a benevolent, compassionate man, who had done absolutely nothing to make his Majesty release his wrath upon him? I then quickly ran back to the castle frantically all the way to my quarters, where Petronia waited. "Why are you crying?" she asked.

"Sir Banquo," I wept, "he's dead! Macbeth had ordered three murderers to kill him!"

He eyes widened in shock. "This can't be…"

"I can't believe it myself. Oh, why…" I placed my left hand on my temple and bit my lip, trying to avoid crying again. "I saw him die before my eyes! The body, oh dear God…" My eyes widened and tears fell; I knew I couldn't control my sanity.

"I'm saddened by this, too," Petronia uttered, placing her hand on my back, "but it's getting late. We need to go to sleep now."

"…Right…" I then went into the small closet provided in our rooms and changed into a simple, white nightgown. I then went to bed after Petronia, but I found it hard to sleep, due to seeing Banquo's blood-spattered corpse every time I'd close my eyes.

After about a week, Macbeth had grown in corruption. He ruled with an iron fist, giving no mercy to serfs, and he and his wife were going absolutely crazy. Macbeth lost much sleep, and even the fair Lady began to sleepwalk, always rubbing her hands together. None of us were truly aware of what actually happened, so we all just ignored the matter when we could.

Another day went quite normal, until Sir Macbeth came up to me. I immediately bowed shakily before his presence and he soon told me to rise again. "Tell my fair queen that I am going to see the witches again," he ordered.

"Yes, my lord," I replied as he left through the giant double doors, them slamming in my face, and I would never speak to him directly ever again.

Later in the afternoon, after his Majesty returned, Petronia was running toward me, looking absolutely exhausted. "I… I just heard the most outlandish prophecy," she panted.

"Tell me more in a bit." I hung the last dress on a wire to dry, and then I sat, giving her a look to tell her to start talking.

"Master Macbeth has seen some… strange apparitions when he was with the witches. He first saw an armed head."

"W-was it just floating there?" I asked, horrified of the thought.

"Aye; it told him to beware of Macduff."

"Maybe Macduff is conspiring to kill Macbeth. Oh dear…"

"And there was another! It was one of a bloody child."

I cringed at the image she had just given me.

"It then told him that no one born of a woman could kill him."

"So… no one can kill him?"

"I don't know of anyone who wasn't truly born of woman." Petronia rubbed her chin, as if she was trying to think. "But there were two more. One was another child, but he was wearing a crown and was holding a tree in his hand, and he told his Majesty that he wouldn't be defeated until the Great Birnam Wood and Dunsinane Hill came to attack him."

"Huh?" I pondered. "How can parts of nature move?"

"I don't know. That's what that spirit said."

"But anyways, what was the last apparition?"

"It was a line of eight kings, the last holding a glass, and Banquo's ghost was standing with them!"

My eyes widened. "What did they say?"

"They said nothing; they only stood still and they disappeared."

"Who'd you hear this from?" I asked, wondering where she got the information.

"I got it from a squire who directly got the information from overhearing his Majesty."

"Huh," I mumbled. "Well, we should finish our chores, so we don't have to get yelled at by the head servant again."

Petronia nodded and we soon got back to our chores again.

Nothing new happened for the next week, until the same squire ran quickly out of the castle for a few hours. I was going to ask him what was going on, but he left too quickly, but as soon as he came back a few hours later, I asked him, "What happened?"

"His Majesty sent ten soldiers to murder all the men, women, and children in the Macduff household!" he replied, panting. "I ran into them as soon as I left to warn the family, so I tried to stop them. Alas, it was no use; there was no hope for the Macduff household, not even the babes."

Everyone except for the king and queen, obviously, was grieved by the loss of the family whom was so close to us. We mourned and our work paces slowed, causing even Lady Macbeth to directly berate us and make us get back to work.

As I tried to sleep that night, I heard someone walking down the hallway. I got up quietly, cracked open my door, and peeked out to see Lady Macbeth. She stumbled and rubbed her hands together as she strode down the hall, so I concluded she was sleepwalking again. Suddenly, she began to speak audibly, which she had never done before while she went through these episodes. I heard her shout, "Oh, here's another blotch of the former king's blood. Get out! Out, I say!" She inhaled deeply. "We have so much blood on our hands; not even the perfumes of Arabia could get rid of this stench! The Thane of Fife had a family, and we murdered every last one of them… will these hands ever be clean? Will I ever obtain absolution?" She abruptly turned around. "To bed, my good Sir, let's go to bed." She pleasantly smiled in a spine-chilling way and walked back the way she came and probably to her room. I stood there, shocked at what I had heard. I wanted to tell the others, but I knew no one would believe me, so I went back to bed, but her words haunted my dreams throughout the rest of the night.

Within a few days, the Macbeth household had received news that Malcolm had gathered Macduff and was going to try to bring Macbeth down with the English Army. All of us women servants had to evacuate the building, but before we could do so, I saw Seyton come in and tell his Majesty, who looked upon the maidservants as we left, and he declared in a solemn tone, "Good sir, the Queen is dead."

The king looked shocked for a moment at him, and then muttered, "She would've died eventually anyway." He sighed and continued, "Life is a meaningless path to death. It's a foolish thing; a story told by an idiot in fury and stupidity. It means nothing… and everyone—everyone—will be eventually forgotten."

Seyton looked at Macbeth in shock for a brief moment, until Macbeth began to speak again. "Alright, continue the evacuation. Malcolm's petty forces should be here any moment."

Soon, all of us were put in wagons and were driven far away from Dunsinane Hill. As we rode by Birnam Wood, it almost seemed to be moving, but I saw thousands of soldiers within. I knew it reminded me of the prophecy, and then I remembered a rumor about Macduff not being truly "born". I looked to my right and saw Petronia looking directly back at me. We gave each other a slight nod, and we both knew the dreadful fate for the former Thane of Glamis… the former Thane of Cawdor… the former and hailed King of Scotland.