"Do you have a mission for me today? Please tell me yes!"
"I never had someone who begged for work, that's quite amusing," comments Erick, sipping his hot chocolate. "You don't have a jack-"
"I had no time! Just give me some chip, some quest, something."
"If you insist," he places a pink chip on the desk. The heater behind him hisses and whines as the temperature of the room increases. "This one is of royalty, so I suggest you watch your tone and demeanor when you speak with her. Yes?"
"Yeah, yeah got it-wait, you said royalty?" That castle in my dream, it's real? Could it have been a vision or something? Now I'm psychic? Fuck yes. "What kind of royalty?"
"The queen will explain when you get there. Do remember to be genteel, as you always are."
"Okay I'm on-hey, was that sarcasm?"
"Ow, burned my tongue." I send him a glare before I rush out the door. That prisoner had to be Haruki. I mean, he might've looked different here and there, but my instincts tell me that he was definitely in my dream. But why was my house there? That part was a little random but irrelevant-the most important thing is finding Haruki right now.
'
Nighttime casts a gloomy darkness above my head. I can barely see anything, but that huge castle ahead of me is starting to become an eyesore. It looked a lot better and cleaner when I dreamt it-in reality it looks ruined. There are random blotches of black or brown spread all over and the bridge that broke in the dream; it's less than sturdy when I walk across it. Two guards standing outside the doorway obstruct my path inside.
"Turn around traveler," commands the frail-looking one. I take out the document that Erick gave me to give to them.
"Read it and you'll see I have business here," I say all business-like. "Punks." The zit faced guard next to frail one uses the torch above him as a light to read it. They scrutinize it for a minute and then apathetically look back at me.
"Enter. If we hear anything out of the ordinary, you shall receive no mercy."
"Yeah ok, that's great and all, but did you escort a prisoner into the castle sometime…last night? Morning? Day?"
"We don't answer questions. Just go in."
"Alright, alright," I hurry inside. "Sheesh, what's up their panties?" Paying no mind to the exquisite and opulent décor of the grand hallway, I run to the throne room. I figure it's the throne since the door is covered with a beautiful painting of a celestial woman. I shove the doors open-it took some effort because they're really heavy- and rush into the throne room. I step on soft, yellow carpet with dryy black blotches and look up at the dome ceiling for a second and then at the throne itself. A tall woman with back-length the color of mint wearing an ornate, overzealously bejeweled crown-ugh I don't have the time to study the décor of her crown. Haruki's on my mind.
"State your purpose here girl," she commands proudly. I'm here to rescue my brother from your clutches. "Are you not going to bow? Am I like the common folk?" Something about her smile feels shadowy and wrong, but I hold my tongue.
"Oh, of course you aren't," I get on my knee, remembering what I learned about the hierarchy pyramid from school. "You have asked my boss for a request?"
"Erick McGraw?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." I nearly gag. I hate saying shit like that to people-they're no better than me. If I lived in this world, I would have been guillotined at a young age for treason against Queeny here. She rises from her throne and forces the guards standing in front of the steps to exit the room.
"Go on, go! I need to speak to her privately." They stiffly curtsy and shut the door behind them. "Ah yes, Sir McGraw said that I can ask anything of his slave, is that correct?"
"I'm not anyone's slave," I snap, then remember manners. "Uh, Your Majesty."
"Ah, but for today you are to be or else you can receive no compensation," she retorts teasingly. She continues in a low voice, "As a grieving widow, I fear that many of the common folk think they can do whatever they please, including attacking me and this castle. I need you to strike fear into the hearts of the men, women, and children that live in the nearby town. Make them fear me."
"Oh, getting a little Machiavelli-like aren't we?" I mutter under my breath.
"Excuse me?"
"Please continue Your Majesty."
"I have given you your command. Now hurry, move through the shadows so that you are not spotted."
"Wait, Your Majesty. I need a favor from you."
"You dare ask for a favor without completing my command first. You are an insolent girl that Sir McGraw has sent me."
"I just need to know, did you spot a prisoner enter this castle sometime yesterday?" This Machiavelli queen might be insane, but she should have some decency to help me out a little. "A boy."
"I refuse to answer such a question until you have fulfilled your duty to me," she brushes me off briskly. Even though her eyes are the color of ambers, there is nothing warm or beautiful about them.
"And I don't have to a single thing for you if you don't answer my question!" At that moment, the doors open and two guards hurry over to me. The queen's face turns red and hot like magma.
"Your Majesty, I can sense hostility here, shall I have her removed?"
"Yes, just take her," orders the queen exasperatedly, dropping to her firm throne like a puppet missing strings. "I don't feel like myself." The guards bow before "politely" escorting out of the throne room. For a second, I swear that Queeny's body radiated an ebony glow just as the doors closed.
"Are you going to point me in the direction of the dungeon?" There's a possibility that he might be down there. I'm going down there, whether any of these people like it or not. The guards exchange apathetical glances.
"The queen wanted you removed," the taller one states matter-of-factly. "She said nothing about locking you in the dungeon."
"Of course she didn't! She wants me to interrogate and terrorize the prisoner you guys captured yesterday," I reply condescendingly with my hands on my hip. The other guard shakes his head at me and jabs my chest.
"I specifically heard the queen mention striking fear into the hearts of-"
"Prisoners, you silly fool," I playfully correct him. "Starting with the new one. Unless you're forbidding me from doing the Queen's command-I'll let her know that it was you two who got in my way and wouldn't let me complete the mission I've been sent here to do." I head towards the door, but the tall one snatches my wrist.
"Wait, wait. Her Majesty is very tense right now and she wouldn't want to hear that. The dungeon is below the left hallway, alright? We'll escort you down." Damn, that's not what I need right now. I can't have them following me. I stroke hair from the forehead down; I've got to think of doing something else.
"Thank you ever so kindly gentlemen, but I merely need the key to the new prisoner's cell," I request with my sweaty palm out. They stare at me suspiciously.
"The queen would never-!"
"Your Majesty!" I call out, opening the door and ignoring the guards' frightened expressions. "Your guards are being obstacles in my mission. They don't want me to harm anyone!" Queeney's voice echoes sickly and agitatedly off the hollow hallway.
"You give her whatever she needs or so help me, I will do more than remove you from this castle," she warns in an exhausted tone. Despite the bullshit in her tone, the guards take her threat seriously and drop the antique key into my palm. I walk into the Left Hall until the guards leave my sight, then I run. Finding him is all that really matters to me-not this castle, not what that queen wants-just Haruki and only him. I've been through enough suffering and maybe he has too. We were practically inseparable when we were little.
Before pulling open the dungeon trapdoor, I grab a flaming torch off the wall and use it to navigate myself through the darkness. Mice squeak and scamper as I swing the key's ring with my finger. As I look into each of the cells, I can see nothing but dead, rotting bodies that the rats and maggots are digging into. "Just find Haruki and get out of here before I project vomit everywhere." I disappointedly whisper, "still nothing" as I travel further down the hall. "Haruki? Haruki, answer me! It's your sister, Mizuki." He has to answer because he has to be down here. What am I going to do if he's really not here-do that queen's weird request of striking fear into the hearts of common people?
"Mi-Mizuki?" a parched, feeble voice mutters. "Are you…? Mi…zu…Mizuki?" The same voice of the boy in my dream-yes! I follow the voice to the penultimate cell, and bend down to see examine the boy with his unkempt face pressed against the cold bars. "Is that you?"
"Yes, yes! Haruki, I-I can't believe it's you!" I exclaim, almost dropping the torch. "After all these years, you're actually here!"
"Mi…zuki?"
"Yes! I'm here, I'm here! And I'm not going to let anything tear us apart again!" I stick the key in the keyhole and turn until the door swings open with a loud creak. "Can you walk? I need to get you outta here fast." I bend down and throw his arm over my shoulder. "We're leaving now, okay? We're gonna get back home, and talk about a lot of stuff." He doesn't say a word-he simply sighs. Poor kid, he's probably hungry, tired, thirsty, and everything in between. "Haruki?"
"This place…inhabited…monsters of-darkness. Those without hearts-darkness," mutters Haruki incoherently. "Stop."
"Why, what's the matter?"
"This was not your order, disobient girl," hisses the familiar voice. "You're not to help prisoners who tried to assassinate me." The queen blocks the exit with four guards behind her. All their eyes are amber-colored; purple aura collects around their eyes like a severe eye infection.
Don't forget the les reviews!
