5

Two weeks later

The queen had not returned to the cell to bother Jack Noir. He had spent the time working on healing and planning his next move.

The queen during that time had received a few letters from the king but he didn't give her any hints on when he'd return. It just made her feel even more alone and realize maybe the king didn't really want to come back to her or the city after all.

"But why not?" she asked herself as she crumpled up another letter. "Why doesn't he want to be with me?"

The queen looked out the window at the sky, at Skaia. Maybe she should go down to him if he wasn't going to come to her? Yeah, why not? It wasn't like she wouldn't be able to take care of herself if she did.

She was just as powerful as he was, especially since the players had entered the "game".

"I'm going." she stood up and head out of the throne room, taking a small detour to the throne room to get her ring. She hadn't wanted to use her ring since it had gotten upgrades from the players sprites but now she felt it was the right time to do so. She grabbed the ring from where she'd had it hidden and then turned and took off down the hall of the castle.

"Time for me to get involved."

But when she reached the door to leave the castle, her way was barred by two large burly guards. She glared at them. "Let me pass," she ordered.

"I'm sorry, your highness," one of the guards replied. "But the king requested that we not allow you to leave the palace."

"But I'm the queen!" she exclaimed, offended. "You can't keep me prisoner in my own palace!"

They shook their heads rather sadly. "I'm sorry," the guard said again. "Orders are orders."

"I have just as much authority as my husband!" she argued. "and I command you to step aside and let me pass!"

The two guards once again shook their heads. "I'm sorry."

"If you don't let me pass willingly, I'll make you." she took out the ring and was about to put it on her finger but one of the guards grabbed her hand before she could and pulled it away from her. "Release me!" she screamed.

"I'm sorry, your highness," the guard said relieving her of the ring.

"No, give that back!"

"Please, your majesty, just go back inside," the guard begged. It was apparent he didn't want to argue with her about it. "I don't want to hurt you to obey your husbands orders."

The queen wasn't ready to give up yet. She planted herself firmly in front of them and put out her hand. "I command you to return my ring and let me pass," she ordered with as much authority as she could muster.

The guards looked at each other without a word, as if they were trying to decide whether to obey the queen's order and risk getting in trouble with the king or obey the kings order and risk getting in trouble with the queen. Neither outcome was very appealing.

"Move!"

They didn't.

"I said move!"

Still they made no attempt to do so.

"Son't you understand English?" she snapped, looking ready to lunge at them and rip off their heads. "I want you to give me back my ring and get out of my way this minute!" A hand rested on her shoulder and she turned with a hiss, to find the Dignitary standing behind her. "What do you want?!" she demanded angrily.

"I think it's best you leave it alone for now," he said emotionless.

"I won't let it go! I want to leave."

"You can't." it was a blunt statement of the truth which only made her even more angry.

SLAP!

She struck him, her long fingernails cutting through his carapace and drawing blood. "Don't you order me around, you have no authority."

He looked at her with no reaction. "You can't leave," he said again. "It you leave it will end badly for you."

"Who are you to tell me how it will end?" she snapped. "You're nothing! Nothing but a pathetic little servant."

"If you believed that I wouldn't be here anymore."

The queen glared at him then back at the guards. Talking to him was getting her nowhere. "Give me my ring," she ordered again, putting out her hand. The Dignitary wasn't going to help her leave, that was apparent. If she could get her ring she could leave herself, whether those guards allowed her to or not.

"I'm sorry, your highness but we can't do that."

"Give me back my ring!" she screamed beginning to feel as if she was losing all of her power. "Put it in my hand or I will tear off your heads!"

Fortunately for everyone the dignitary stepped in then and gave the queen a good whack on the back of the head, apologizing as he did so. She was knocked out cold and fell into his arms, unconscious. The guards looked down at him worriedly. He'd just struck the queen!

"Don't worry about me," he told them as if reading their thoughts. "I'm sure his majesty will be understanding once he finds out why I did it."

The two guards still looked unsure. The slimmer dersite picked the matriarch up in his arms. "I'll take her back to her room." he said and put out his hand. "I would also like the ring. In the queen's current mental state she can't be trusted with it."

"Don't worry," he added when he saw the looks on their faces. "I will put it in a safe place."

The guard hesitated a moment longer then slowly placed the queen's ring in the Dignitary's hand. He thanked him and walked off, carrying the unconscious queen.

0000

Jack Noir woke up from another nightmare, returning to the world of darkness that was his cell. He was so used to it by now, that opening his eyes to it brought him comfort instead of rage. It was far better than the world inside his head which seemed to be only full of chaos.

Noir sat up and winced, his hand still giving him problems. He raised it up to his face and squinted in the low light, trying to get an idea on how well it was healing. Hopefully better than his ankles were.

He reached down and gingerly touched them. They still hurt but the swelling seemed to have gone down a bit. Good. Maybe soon he'd be able to walk again.

"Then I'll beat that wench's skull into pulp." he muttered to himself. "and I won't be a weak invalid anymore."

Just then he heard footsteps coming down the hall and looked toward the door with a sort of dread. Nobody had come to see him in the past two weeks so the sound was surprising. Whoever they were, were they going to pay him a visit this time or just walk on by?

He grabbed up the pipe from the floor and held it defensively, just in case. If anyone came in to take him away or attack him their brains would be splattered all over the cell's interior.

"Come and get me," he whispered. "I'm ready."

Well the footsteps did stop in front of his cell door which made him tense up. But the door didn't open. It remained closed as if whoever was in the hall was deciding whether they were going to grace him with their presence or move on.

Finally he heard a key being inserted into the lock and the door slowly slid open. Jack gripped the pipe, ready to spring into action but, before he could react, he was suddenly blinded by a bright light. Since he hadn't been exposed to light in weeks it hurt his eyes severely and he cried out, dropping the pipe to protect his eyes.

"Hitting me wouldn't have been a good idea anyway, Noir."

That voice was very familiar, in a different way from the queen's. He lowered his hand, squinting in the light. Before him stood the Draconian Dignitary.

He frowned at him. "About time you got down here."

"I apologize," the Dignitary responded, tossing a cigarette to the floor. "But I've been busy."

"You got that right, you traitor," he growled at him. "It's your fault I'm here to begin with."

"You can't blame me for this," the other Dersite told him, calmly. "This is your doing, not mine. You should have known better."

"Don't give me that reverse psychology," he snarled. "It's your fault all of this happened, you should have kept your big mouth shut and, don't think now you can let me free and think I'll be forgiving. "

The Dignitary shook his head as if his former superior had said something stupid. "I have no intention of releasing you." was his response.

"What?!"

He sighed, lighting another cigarette. "You said so yourself. I am a traitor, why would I want to release you when doing so would seal my own doom?"

"Because you work for me!"

"Not anymore."

Jack snarled, taken aback by his statement. "Then why did you come down here? To rub it in?"

He shrugged, taking a drag. "Not exactly, Jack. Just wanting to inform you that, due to your actions, I've been given your job and it's responsibilities."

Now Noir smirked. "Enjoying doing paperwork for the queen?" he sneered.

"I got it done pretty easily," he blew out a puff of smoke.

"Sure, just go ahead and brag out it."

The Dignitary locked eyes with him. "You're not getting out of here, Jack."

Now how did this guy know? "And what makes you say that?"

He finished the cigarette. "Because the queen is going to kill you."

Jack burst into laughter. "You're lying," he shot back. "The old hag told me she wasn't going to. She has too much fun torturing me."

"That was then," his consort replied. "Now I believe she thinks differently." he grabbed the doorknob. "If I were you I'd think of a way to either appease her or get out of this place before she comes down to finish you off." then he closed the door before Jack could give him a response.

00000

The Queen awakened to discover someone had taken her to her bedroom. She sat up, looking around herself. Who had carried her there?

The she remembered. "The Dignitary." she gritted her teeth and got out of bed, rushing to the door and opening it to find it being guarded. "Get out of my way!" she shouted at them really in no mood to have a repeat from earlier that day. "Or I'll rip your heads off!"

"I'm sorry your highness but orders are orders." There it was again, the same old excuse.

"Who gave you the order to keep me in my room?!"

No reply.

"Answer me!"

"Your highness."

She looked past the guards and saw the Draconian Dignitary standing in the hall, conveniently out of reach. "You!" she exclaimed, glaring out at him. "You're behind this outrage, aren't you?"

"It's for your own good," he told her calmly. "And it's only for a little while. they guards will let you out once you've calmed down."

"They shall let me out now!" the queen snarled. "Otherwise things will get very bad for you and them."

He walked over to the doorway and stood just out of hitting range. "My queen, forgive me for this, but I do believe it would be better if you waited a little while. Please calm down because this sort of behavior is below someone with your upbringing."

The queen looked like she was about to start screaming at him but she reigned herself in. Freaking out wasn't getting her anywhere. "Fine, I'll calm down," she said. "but I'm not doing it because you told me to."

"Of course not, your highness."

"Get out of my face!"

The Dignitary did so but the guards remained at her door. If she wanted them to leave she was going to have to do something about her temper, at least for a little while. Once she got out someone was going to be in real pain and she already knew who she was going to take it out on.