-The Tragic Tale of Elizabeth-
"The king killed her." Came the blunt response from Wufei. And quickly the room filled with chatter again. He could hear several 'Oh, be more specific then that, you fool' and a few 'Yes, yes he basically did.' from all around not to mention a few very sad voices chiming in 'Poor Elizabeth, she was a dear' just to add spice. Duo shook his head and tried to focus on one of these voices as they all started in, only to have Heero take care of the problem for him.
"SHUT UP EVERYONE!"
Again came that thick silence, though this time the prophet could feel the surge of excitement from the people in the room. It's like just the mention of her name stirs some new form of life into them. Just what the hell happened here?
After the silence had remain for several long seconds, Heero settled back down and picked up his glass. He took a slow sip from the red liquid in it, then set it aside and began, "He didn't actually kill her himself, she did that on her own, but he may as well have. He influenced her as much as one person can and not be charged with a crime…"
Wufei nodded slowly, then contributed, "Some things just aren't meant to be caught and caged."
Now Duo was confused as well and intrigued. He leaned over the table with his elbow resting on the hard wood and his hands cradling his chin, looking around and asking softly, "How did it start? May I hear the whole story?"
"It started, I suppose, with a farmer and his wife. That'd be the best place to begin if you ask me…" This came from behind him, and Duo wasn't surprised to find Jalyn had returned and was leaning against the wall with his arm crossed. He gave Duo and dry, quirky smile, then continued. "They lived on the outskirts of town, just at the base of the hill before the Miershade Forest. They weren't wealthy at all, kinda poor really and didn't have no kids… And then one day, they just did. No one knows when Elizabeth came, she was just there one day, the cutest little button of a girl, and the farmer said she was theirs. No one thought to say otherwise."
A few of the people up and down the table were nodding now, most looking as enraptured in the tale they'd undoubtedly heard many times as Duo felt. One of the older server women, a hearty looking female in a dirty white apron, continued it from there. "Oh ayuh, no one questioned Old Dennis when he came to town a few week later with his wife on one side of an overflowing cart of fruits and vegetables, and that beautiful little blonde baby trodding along on the other side. We all fussed over her, but we didn't ask… And you couldn't help the fussing part. Elizabeth was the sweetest little thing, and people just loved her right from the first minute they saw her. She was one of those little beings you saw and just knew they had to be a little bit of the sunshine itself, you know?"
Duo knew… Hadn't one of his first thoughts on the boy he'd seen in the hall been something like sunshine? It just furthered his beliefs that they had to be related in some way. One of the older cook stepped forward then, and another took his place stirring whatever was in the bubbling pot as he nodded and started in.
"Their farm had never been a big deal until after that little beam of light came into their lives. But from then on, they always had an badly over flowing wagon to bring when they came to market. And the food was different too, it was sweeter…" At this comment, most of the kitchen staff was nodding in agreement and had strange reminiscent expressions on their faces. Duo guessed that this was one of those stories where everyone, whether they'd been there when whatever event happened or not, would claim to remember it. Some things were just like that, normally either really bad scenes where the tale kept getting worse as it went from person to person, or things that were so nice that everyone -wished- they had been around to see it… And personally, he thought the queen's tale was going to end up being a little bit of both.
"O'course, it was only a matter of time before that kind of news and information spread." The plump woman in the none to clean apron had started up again. "They did pretty well before the king got involved, all things considered. What? About five, ten years?"
Heero nodded slowly, again he almost seemed to be hiding in his cup, using it as an excuse not to speak. And that made Duo wonder exactly what part this guard might have to play in all this. The brunette sighed and corrected the older woman, "They didn't first have to deal with the king until Elizabeth had been around for fourteen years, and by then they had one of the best farms in town, a new house, and were some of the more respected citizens of Fayllen."
Again came the soft sounds of agreement all around the table, and despite being a little caught up himself, he had to smile. Dinner had just become story time here. Jalyn chuckled from behind him and picked up after his cousin. "From what I've heard, the king just wanted to talk about their crops the first time he sent for them to come see him. He wanted to see if it were possible to buy… whatever it was that was making their plants grow so good, and spread it throughout his valley. He -had- good intentions anyway… Until they walked in and he saw little Elizabeth. By then she wasn't cute anymore, she was beautiful. She looked like-"
"Like an angel?" He hadn't meant to interrupt and didn't know he had until he heard the words tumble from his lips.
He was answered with several nods and sad smiles before the old cook spoke up in a soft thoughtful voice. "Ayuh, like an angel. She had these pretty little curls you just wanted to cup in your hand, and a face that was meant to stay perfect forever…"
"It is the right of the land for a king to choose whom he wants to marry, and no one can question that choice." Heero sounded bitter as he spoke this. Looking over him, Duo wouldn't guess that this boy was more then a year or two older them himself, but Heero spoke as if whatever had had happened was something he'd watched and clearly didn't like… They do speak like they all remember, and hell, Jalyn can't be older then fourteen himself.
He frowned and shook himself out of that line of thought long enough to state, "And he chose her… And something wasn't right with that?"
"There wasn't something right with that because Elizabeth had been in love with a boy from town for about a year when the king selected her." Heero muttered this out from around the rim of his glass, then sighed. "She fell in love with Jonathon Clark. He was the son of one of the tailors in town. The two of them had started courting with both parents consent, and everyone agreed that they were well matched and couldn't be happier together. But that didn't matter to the king."
"… She actually refused the first time the king asked. Laughed, as I recall, and stated that he may be a king but he wasn't her king." The woman was now twisting her apron between her old withered hands, and Duo was slightly amazed to see she looked ready to cry. "Elizabeth said a lot of funny things like that. Asking why girls had to have escorts, and why we celebrated All Hollow's eve… Things a girl should know, she just didn't understand. She was a free spirit, that girl was."
"But she had an eye for the gems and gold." Came Heero's flat reply. "When the king threatened to take away her 'parent's' farm, and that didn't work. He offered her a trunk full of jewels and brought what would be her crown right to her doorstep himself. She still seemed skeptical even then, but with the odds stacking up, she finally consented and most of the town sighed in relief. He wouldn't have given up, he was too determined... And they got married three months later at the Spring Festival."
"Things were kinda hectic right from the start. She was more a child then a woman, and as much as the king courted her and tried to get her to be a queen, she'd rather have skipped out the back doors to play in the gardens or with the dolls in her room." Duo had to twist in his chair to watch Jalyn as he spoke with a dry smirk twisting his lips upward. "He loved her, but she wasn't in love with him. It was a game to her. Eventually he gave up and went along with that for the most part. He bought her beautiful toys, and filled her rooms with them. He built the hedge maze that's out back, and put a pretty little cottage right in the center. And that looked like a life sized doll house, blue trimming and flowerbeds under each of the windows. It became her favorite place…"
"And ultimately where she betrayed him." Wufei sounded almost pleased to announce that fact.
The old maid scowled and him and whapped the back of his head with one wrinkled hand, earning herself a glare but also his silence as she explained. "She didn't betray him, not really, Elizabeth just couldn't lie to her heart either." She sighed and gave Duo a small absent smile that made him think of a young girl picking daises in a field and playing 'he loves me, he loves me not'. "She and Jonathon couldn't stop seeing each other just because the king had ordered it. They kept meeting in that little cottage whenever they could. They went on like that for about seven years, can you imagine? Seven years of them sneaking out at night, Elizabeth probably climbing down the vine boards from her room and running across the yard in her nightie, and Jonathon sneaking on of his father's horses to ride up the streets and creep into the gardens."
"But eventually they got caught. They wouldn't have, probably could have kept it up until the king died in ignorant bliss, except that Elizabeth started getting rounder right in front of the king's eyes." The more mischievous brunette behind Duo sound like he was almost laughing at the irony of it. "She caught pregnant, and the king was -furious-. He hadn't even gotten a chance, in all those years, to seduce the pretty little doll in his bed to lay with him, and now she was starting to get heavy with child!"
"Even that might not have been so bad, he could have possibly forgiven her and pretended the child was his own… But when he confronted her, Elizabeth, now about half the way through her time and glowing even more beautifully, answered in that innocent way she had that it was Jonathon's child and that she and him were going to raise it in the king's garden just like some normal little family. She was proud of her state, and didn't care if the whole world knew what she'd done."
Duo let out a low whistle and shook his head softly. "That could be considered treason in most of the kingdoms I've been too."
"It wouldn't normally be considered treason here too. But even with her openly admitting to cheating on him, he didn't have the heart to tell his court and sentence her to what would most likely be certain death…" The stoic male was staring blankly into his now empty glass, and when one of the staff stepped forward and took it from him, he didn't seem to notice. "And in the end, that might have been better then what he did do."
"She was already showing, but that didn't mean any of the town folk really knew about it yet." Jalyn shrugged and came around to plop into the seat beside the prophet and explain himself. "She didn't get to go outside of the castle grounds much after she married the king, so really, only the staff knew about her state. So the king brought everyone together and strictly forbid us to tell the townies. He said she'd have the baby here in the castle and we wouldn't tell anyone anything until after it was born and he could decide what to do with it and his wife."
"And then he locked her away…" Duo looked over to Heero at this dull comment, and noted the slightly dazed gleam in his eyes. This was one guard who had better not being working tonight, Heero was well on his way to being dead drunk. "He put her up there in those toy filled chambers and took away the key. She was told she was going to stay there until the baby was born, that he didn't want her running all over town and disgracing his good reign. And to prevent himself and his court from having to remember her betrayal, she wouldn't even have the whole castle, just her bedroom, her sitting room, and private bathing chambers… Four months. She stayed up there, pacing those three rooms and growing more and more sad by the day for four months. Her food was brought up too her by one carefully selected servant, and supplies as well, but otherwise she had no human contact, no fresh air, and only the sun light coming filtered through her painted windows. Despite the fact her food was picked to be healthiest and most helpful to her and the baby growing inside her, something about her died that first day she couldn't get out."
"For a week straight anyone going by could hear her shaking the door knob and begging, saying she had to go outside that she was drowning in those four walls… Two weeks and at any time of day or night you could hear her sobbing from somewhere behind those doors. And after a month in there, there was nothing but silence. That one servant later told everyone that when he'd go in there to deliver he food, she's be sitting at the window side, staring out into the yard and at the tree that was only thirty feet down like it was her only life line… It may as well have been a mile away. She was dying…"
"At first she just started looking thinner, and dark spots appeared under her eyes almost over night. Her skin lost that young luster that had originally attracted the king, and just started to look sickly. Her hair started looking and feeling like dead straw as it hung around her face. She had to be reminded to eat, to sleep, to bath herself or even move at all… And still, even with people telling him what was happening, the king didn't come back to see here until the day after the child was born…"
Here, one of the cooks interrupted Heero. "And the crops were dying too. All over town. All the fields he'd bargained to plant with seeds from Dennis' crops, they were withering and falling apart at a rapid rate."
The guard nodded and closed his eyes, murmuring a soft thanks to the girl that returned his glass to him full again. He took a leisurely sip from it and started speaking once more, "That's right… The crops started dying when she did. In fact, that's probably what finally got the king to go and check on her himself. People were complaining, there was talk of riots. Of course, there was enough food to last, but they didn't like what was happening. So he went to see Elizabeth."
"And that's when everything really went bad. He went storming into her room while her servant was trying once more to get her to eat. She would feed the baby that was now locked in there with her, but she wouldn't do a thing to sustain herself. The king grabbed the plate off her lap and threw it across the room and into a wall, demanding she tell him what was going on. Elizabeth turned a face that looked twenty years older up to him and grinned… According to the servant, she said- 'You took away my love, and my freedom, and with that leaves my life, I am simply taking back what was stolen from me out of your lands… Give me back my Jonathon, let us go free with our child, and peace will be bestowed again. You cannot keep me, Your Majesty, and you cannot save your lands otherwise.' The king snapped then… He struck her, and left her with the cold promise she would get her precious love and he wanted nothing more then to be free of her irritating presence."
"When the king came down the stairs, he looked like a mad man. He was huffing and red faced, his hair standing up on end… I was here when that happened. I was with my father, studying under him. I remember ducking behind him as the door slammed open and the ruler of our kingdom came in to start screaming orders. A troop of his finest were to go into town right away. They were to cease the son of one of the blacksmith under the charge of plotting against the king. He was to be brought back to the castle where the king would give him his sentence immediately…"
Violet eyes were huge as Heero droned on, and Duo could almost see the scene himself. He could hear the king's harsh yells and see the royal guards bewildered expressions… But of course they would do as he ordered, there was nothing else they could do.
"They caught him within less then an hour. By then most of the town was awake from the commotion… And as they dragged him through the gates, a good deal of them tagged along like a funeral procession. Jonathon never said a thing as he was flung before the steps of the castle and the king stared down at him. I saw his face from beside my father's leg, and when he glared up at the king, I think he knew exactly what this was about and what was going to happen to him."
"The king made his decision quickly. Jonathon was dragged around to the side of the house, and while Elizabeth watched from behind the window of her prison, the royal guard and the people of her town hung the man she loved from the tree she'd spent four months staring at."
It seemed the room went silent again, but Duo swore he could hear the screams and shout of the mob, the angry and senseless cries that most have accompanied their crime. Of course many would regret it later, he understood that, but when people got scared and didn't understand something, they got panicky… And when that happened nothing could stop the inevitable. It was like waiting against the tide. It was he who broke the silence with a tentative whisper, "What happened then?"
Wufei looked up at Duo and frowned, then answered in a sharp tone, "What do you -think- happened? She jumped."
"Everyone heard the glass shatter and ducked, but the next sound that came was that of her body striking the ground… And then the baby wailing from up in her room." It seemed to him that Heero's voice was shaky now, and that he could feel the tension in the room. "She was still alive when we approached her, but her neck… And she was staring at the tree, at Jonathon, with a smile on her face. I… I know how it sounds, but I swear, and anyone that saw her will too, that for just a little bit she looked like she did before. And she was truly happy. Then she died, and something went out of her and upwards."
"Something?"
He nodded, "It looked like gold… The same color as all the stuff the king gave her in the beginning. It was like liquid gold. It gathered over her body like a veil, and then it went up. It went into the window she had leapt from, and then it was just gone and it was over. The queen was dead, her lover was dead, and the king started to deteriorate that very day. … But the crops came back that very next morning. So, I guess she kept her promise. She got her love back, or at least the two of them were together. And in their own way they were free. And so the crops started to grow again and the people just accepted it as justice. They went on like it didn't happen. But they didn't forget."
And that's the end… Duo's head sank down a little as Heero trailed off. It was the tale of a thousand broken hearts, and he'd heard them before. This one was a little more tragic than some, and it was one he was practically caught in himself, but it-
His head lifted again quickly and he stared around the table with demanding eyes.
"What about the baby?"
"The king killed her." Came the blunt response from Wufei. And quickly the room filled with chatter again. He could hear several 'Oh, be more specific then that, you fool' and a few 'Yes, yes he basically did.' from all around not to mention a few very sad voices chiming in 'Poor Elizabeth, she was a dear' just to add spice. Duo shook his head and tried to focus on one of these voices as they all started in, only to have Heero take care of the problem for him.
"SHUT UP EVERYONE!"
Again came that thick silence, though this time the prophet could feel the surge of excitement from the people in the room. It's like just the mention of her name stirs some new form of life into them. Just what the hell happened here?
After the silence had remain for several long seconds, Heero settled back down and picked up his glass. He took a slow sip from the red liquid in it, then set it aside and began, "He didn't actually kill her himself, she did that on her own, but he may as well have. He influenced her as much as one person can and not be charged with a crime…"
Wufei nodded slowly, then contributed, "Some things just aren't meant to be caught and caged."
Now Duo was confused as well and intrigued. He leaned over the table with his elbow resting on the hard wood and his hands cradling his chin, looking around and asking softly, "How did it start? May I hear the whole story?"
"It started, I suppose, with a farmer and his wife. That'd be the best place to begin if you ask me…" This came from behind him, and Duo wasn't surprised to find Jalyn had returned and was leaning against the wall with his arm crossed. He gave Duo and dry, quirky smile, then continued. "They lived on the outskirts of town, just at the base of the hill before the Miershade Forest. They weren't wealthy at all, kinda poor really and didn't have no kids… And then one day, they just did. No one knows when Elizabeth came, she was just there one day, the cutest little button of a girl, and the farmer said she was theirs. No one thought to say otherwise."
A few of the people up and down the table were nodding now, most looking as enraptured in the tale they'd undoubtedly heard many times as Duo felt. One of the older server women, a hearty looking female in a dirty white apron, continued it from there. "Oh ayuh, no one questioned Old Dennis when he came to town a few week later with his wife on one side of an overflowing cart of fruits and vegetables, and that beautiful little blonde baby trodding along on the other side. We all fussed over her, but we didn't ask… And you couldn't help the fussing part. Elizabeth was the sweetest little thing, and people just loved her right from the first minute they saw her. She was one of those little beings you saw and just knew they had to be a little bit of the sunshine itself, you know?"
Duo knew… Hadn't one of his first thoughts on the boy he'd seen in the hall been something like sunshine? It just furthered his beliefs that they had to be related in some way. One of the older cook stepped forward then, and another took his place stirring whatever was in the bubbling pot as he nodded and started in.
"Their farm had never been a big deal until after that little beam of light came into their lives. But from then on, they always had an badly over flowing wagon to bring when they came to market. And the food was different too, it was sweeter…" At this comment, most of the kitchen staff was nodding in agreement and had strange reminiscent expressions on their faces. Duo guessed that this was one of those stories where everyone, whether they'd been there when whatever event happened or not, would claim to remember it. Some things were just like that, normally either really bad scenes where the tale kept getting worse as it went from person to person, or things that were so nice that everyone -wished- they had been around to see it… And personally, he thought the queen's tale was going to end up being a little bit of both.
"O'course, it was only a matter of time before that kind of news and information spread." The plump woman in the none to clean apron had started up again. "They did pretty well before the king got involved, all things considered. What? About five, ten years?"
Heero nodded slowly, again he almost seemed to be hiding in his cup, using it as an excuse not to speak. And that made Duo wonder exactly what part this guard might have to play in all this. The brunette sighed and corrected the older woman, "They didn't first have to deal with the king until Elizabeth had been around for fourteen years, and by then they had one of the best farms in town, a new house, and were some of the more respected citizens of Fayllen."
Again came the soft sounds of agreement all around the table, and despite being a little caught up himself, he had to smile. Dinner had just become story time here. Jalyn chuckled from behind him and picked up after his cousin. "From what I've heard, the king just wanted to talk about their crops the first time he sent for them to come see him. He wanted to see if it were possible to buy… whatever it was that was making their plants grow so good, and spread it throughout his valley. He -had- good intentions anyway… Until they walked in and he saw little Elizabeth. By then she wasn't cute anymore, she was beautiful. She looked like-"
"Like an angel?" He hadn't meant to interrupt and didn't know he had until he heard the words tumble from his lips.
He was answered with several nods and sad smiles before the old cook spoke up in a soft thoughtful voice. "Ayuh, like an angel. She had these pretty little curls you just wanted to cup in your hand, and a face that was meant to stay perfect forever…"
"It is the right of the land for a king to choose whom he wants to marry, and no one can question that choice." Heero sounded bitter as he spoke this. Looking over him, Duo wouldn't guess that this boy was more then a year or two older them himself, but Heero spoke as if whatever had had happened was something he'd watched and clearly didn't like… They do speak like they all remember, and hell, Jalyn can't be older then fourteen himself.
He frowned and shook himself out of that line of thought long enough to state, "And he chose her… And something wasn't right with that?"
"There wasn't something right with that because Elizabeth had been in love with a boy from town for about a year when the king selected her." Heero muttered this out from around the rim of his glass, then sighed. "She fell in love with Jonathon Clark. He was the son of one of the tailors in town. The two of them had started courting with both parents consent, and everyone agreed that they were well matched and couldn't be happier together. But that didn't matter to the king."
"… She actually refused the first time the king asked. Laughed, as I recall, and stated that he may be a king but he wasn't her king." The woman was now twisting her apron between her old withered hands, and Duo was slightly amazed to see she looked ready to cry. "Elizabeth said a lot of funny things like that. Asking why girls had to have escorts, and why we celebrated All Hollow's eve… Things a girl should know, she just didn't understand. She was a free spirit, that girl was."
"But she had an eye for the gems and gold." Came Heero's flat reply. "When the king threatened to take away her 'parent's' farm, and that didn't work. He offered her a trunk full of jewels and brought what would be her crown right to her doorstep himself. She still seemed skeptical even then, but with the odds stacking up, she finally consented and most of the town sighed in relief. He wouldn't have given up, he was too determined... And they got married three months later at the Spring Festival."
"Things were kinda hectic right from the start. She was more a child then a woman, and as much as the king courted her and tried to get her to be a queen, she'd rather have skipped out the back doors to play in the gardens or with the dolls in her room." Duo had to twist in his chair to watch Jalyn as he spoke with a dry smirk twisting his lips upward. "He loved her, but she wasn't in love with him. It was a game to her. Eventually he gave up and went along with that for the most part. He bought her beautiful toys, and filled her rooms with them. He built the hedge maze that's out back, and put a pretty little cottage right in the center. And that looked like a life sized doll house, blue trimming and flowerbeds under each of the windows. It became her favorite place…"
"And ultimately where she betrayed him." Wufei sounded almost pleased to announce that fact.
The old maid scowled and him and whapped the back of his head with one wrinkled hand, earning herself a glare but also his silence as she explained. "She didn't betray him, not really, Elizabeth just couldn't lie to her heart either." She sighed and gave Duo a small absent smile that made him think of a young girl picking daises in a field and playing 'he loves me, he loves me not'. "She and Jonathon couldn't stop seeing each other just because the king had ordered it. They kept meeting in that little cottage whenever they could. They went on like that for about seven years, can you imagine? Seven years of them sneaking out at night, Elizabeth probably climbing down the vine boards from her room and running across the yard in her nightie, and Jonathon sneaking on of his father's horses to ride up the streets and creep into the gardens."
"But eventually they got caught. They wouldn't have, probably could have kept it up until the king died in ignorant bliss, except that Elizabeth started getting rounder right in front of the king's eyes." The more mischievous brunette behind Duo sound like he was almost laughing at the irony of it. "She caught pregnant, and the king was -furious-. He hadn't even gotten a chance, in all those years, to seduce the pretty little doll in his bed to lay with him, and now she was starting to get heavy with child!"
"Even that might not have been so bad, he could have possibly forgiven her and pretended the child was his own… But when he confronted her, Elizabeth, now about half the way through her time and glowing even more beautifully, answered in that innocent way she had that it was Jonathon's child and that she and him were going to raise it in the king's garden just like some normal little family. She was proud of her state, and didn't care if the whole world knew what she'd done."
Duo let out a low whistle and shook his head softly. "That could be considered treason in most of the kingdoms I've been too."
"It wouldn't normally be considered treason here too. But even with her openly admitting to cheating on him, he didn't have the heart to tell his court and sentence her to what would most likely be certain death…" The stoic male was staring blankly into his now empty glass, and when one of the staff stepped forward and took it from him, he didn't seem to notice. "And in the end, that might have been better then what he did do."
"She was already showing, but that didn't mean any of the town folk really knew about it yet." Jalyn shrugged and came around to plop into the seat beside the prophet and explain himself. "She didn't get to go outside of the castle grounds much after she married the king, so really, only the staff knew about her state. So the king brought everyone together and strictly forbid us to tell the townies. He said she'd have the baby here in the castle and we wouldn't tell anyone anything until after it was born and he could decide what to do with it and his wife."
"And then he locked her away…" Duo looked over to Heero at this dull comment, and noted the slightly dazed gleam in his eyes. This was one guard who had better not being working tonight, Heero was well on his way to being dead drunk. "He put her up there in those toy filled chambers and took away the key. She was told she was going to stay there until the baby was born, that he didn't want her running all over town and disgracing his good reign. And to prevent himself and his court from having to remember her betrayal, she wouldn't even have the whole castle, just her bedroom, her sitting room, and private bathing chambers… Four months. She stayed up there, pacing those three rooms and growing more and more sad by the day for four months. Her food was brought up too her by one carefully selected servant, and supplies as well, but otherwise she had no human contact, no fresh air, and only the sun light coming filtered through her painted windows. Despite the fact her food was picked to be healthiest and most helpful to her and the baby growing inside her, something about her died that first day she couldn't get out."
"For a week straight anyone going by could hear her shaking the door knob and begging, saying she had to go outside that she was drowning in those four walls… Two weeks and at any time of day or night you could hear her sobbing from somewhere behind those doors. And after a month in there, there was nothing but silence. That one servant later told everyone that when he'd go in there to deliver he food, she's be sitting at the window side, staring out into the yard and at the tree that was only thirty feet down like it was her only life line… It may as well have been a mile away. She was dying…"
"At first she just started looking thinner, and dark spots appeared under her eyes almost over night. Her skin lost that young luster that had originally attracted the king, and just started to look sickly. Her hair started looking and feeling like dead straw as it hung around her face. She had to be reminded to eat, to sleep, to bath herself or even move at all… And still, even with people telling him what was happening, the king didn't come back to see here until the day after the child was born…"
Here, one of the cooks interrupted Heero. "And the crops were dying too. All over town. All the fields he'd bargained to plant with seeds from Dennis' crops, they were withering and falling apart at a rapid rate."
The guard nodded and closed his eyes, murmuring a soft thanks to the girl that returned his glass to him full again. He took a leisurely sip from it and started speaking once more, "That's right… The crops started dying when she did. In fact, that's probably what finally got the king to go and check on her himself. People were complaining, there was talk of riots. Of course, there was enough food to last, but they didn't like what was happening. So he went to see Elizabeth."
"And that's when everything really went bad. He went storming into her room while her servant was trying once more to get her to eat. She would feed the baby that was now locked in there with her, but she wouldn't do a thing to sustain herself. The king grabbed the plate off her lap and threw it across the room and into a wall, demanding she tell him what was going on. Elizabeth turned a face that looked twenty years older up to him and grinned… According to the servant, she said- 'You took away my love, and my freedom, and with that leaves my life, I am simply taking back what was stolen from me out of your lands… Give me back my Jonathon, let us go free with our child, and peace will be bestowed again. You cannot keep me, Your Majesty, and you cannot save your lands otherwise.' The king snapped then… He struck her, and left her with the cold promise she would get her precious love and he wanted nothing more then to be free of her irritating presence."
"When the king came down the stairs, he looked like a mad man. He was huffing and red faced, his hair standing up on end… I was here when that happened. I was with my father, studying under him. I remember ducking behind him as the door slammed open and the ruler of our kingdom came in to start screaming orders. A troop of his finest were to go into town right away. They were to cease the son of one of the blacksmith under the charge of plotting against the king. He was to be brought back to the castle where the king would give him his sentence immediately…"
Violet eyes were huge as Heero droned on, and Duo could almost see the scene himself. He could hear the king's harsh yells and see the royal guards bewildered expressions… But of course they would do as he ordered, there was nothing else they could do.
"They caught him within less then an hour. By then most of the town was awake from the commotion… And as they dragged him through the gates, a good deal of them tagged along like a funeral procession. Jonathon never said a thing as he was flung before the steps of the castle and the king stared down at him. I saw his face from beside my father's leg, and when he glared up at the king, I think he knew exactly what this was about and what was going to happen to him."
"The king made his decision quickly. Jonathon was dragged around to the side of the house, and while Elizabeth watched from behind the window of her prison, the royal guard and the people of her town hung the man she loved from the tree she'd spent four months staring at."
It seemed the room went silent again, but Duo swore he could hear the screams and shout of the mob, the angry and senseless cries that most have accompanied their crime. Of course many would regret it later, he understood that, but when people got scared and didn't understand something, they got panicky… And when that happened nothing could stop the inevitable. It was like waiting against the tide. It was he who broke the silence with a tentative whisper, "What happened then?"
Wufei looked up at Duo and frowned, then answered in a sharp tone, "What do you -think- happened? She jumped."
"Everyone heard the glass shatter and ducked, but the next sound that came was that of her body striking the ground… And then the baby wailing from up in her room." It seemed to him that Heero's voice was shaky now, and that he could feel the tension in the room. "She was still alive when we approached her, but her neck… And she was staring at the tree, at Jonathon, with a smile on her face. I… I know how it sounds, but I swear, and anyone that saw her will too, that for just a little bit she looked like she did before. And she was truly happy. Then she died, and something went out of her and upwards."
"Something?"
He nodded, "It looked like gold… The same color as all the stuff the king gave her in the beginning. It was like liquid gold. It gathered over her body like a veil, and then it went up. It went into the window she had leapt from, and then it was just gone and it was over. The queen was dead, her lover was dead, and the king started to deteriorate that very day. … But the crops came back that very next morning. So, I guess she kept her promise. She got her love back, or at least the two of them were together. And in their own way they were free. And so the crops started to grow again and the people just accepted it as justice. They went on like it didn't happen. But they didn't forget."
And that's the end… Duo's head sank down a little as Heero trailed off. It was the tale of a thousand broken hearts, and he'd heard them before. This one was a little more tragic than some, and it was one he was practically caught in himself, but it-
His head lifted again quickly and he stared around the table with demanding eyes.
"What about the baby?"