Title: Chronicles of the Moon: Life of the Late Queen Serenity
By: AJ Martinez
Email: Goodnight_Spoon@hotmail.com
Rated: TV PG; D, V, L?
Started: 4:07 PM; May 11th 2002
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is copyrighted as follows: Naoko Takeuchi, Toei
Animation, Kodansha Ltd., DiC, CWI, Pioneer, Mixx, and quite a few other people.
Any characters that you do not recognize are my inventions, and I would prefer
that you not use them, except in and under special conditions.
This chapter is dedicated to my mom, who woke me up this morning by stroking my
arm and smiling at me (it's sweet now, but it was scary then), and to my cousin
Daniella, who, after trying for almost two years, will finally be becoming a
mommy.
~~
The ride back to the palace was over entirely too quickly. Serenity's heart
hammered in her chest as they neared the main gates, and the gelding slowed to a
trot.
The guards recognized her from the description given to them by their
companions, and, earlier that night, her husband. So lost in her thought was
she, that when the guards waved her by without requesting identification,
Serenity never thought to question.
After leaving the gelding with a stable boy, the princess slipped into the
palace through the stable entrance and kept to the shadows as she made her way
to the third floor of the palace, where the royals' chambers were. Light poured
through every window, and she knew that at any moment a servant would be coming
see if she had awakened yet and if she would be making an appearance for
breakfast in the main hall.
As she reached her chambers, Serenity paused, hand hovering above the door
handle. Once she walked in, her fate was sealed. The raid was over. They had no
more use for her now, and, although Mea had not as much, Serenity guessed that
this would be the last time that she saw him.
~~
"Where were you?" Mea asked, his voice deceptively calm.
They still stood in the courtyard, and, until now, the silence had hung, heavy
and humid around them, undisturbed by the cool September breeze.
"I was fighting, just like the rest of you," Beryl replied shortly, and Mea let
out a short bark of a laugh at her story.
"Were you?" he shook his head. "You must take me for a fool. Had you, Nicolas
and that white-haired companion of yours all fought with us, there wouldn't have
been so many casualties on our side." Now his eyes hardened. "Show me your
needle."
Beryl hesitated, then produced it from a fold in her cloaks. It had been used,
Mea could tell, but instead of discarding it, she had saved it.
"A trophy?" he asked. "I see no blood on you to indicate a struggle, or even
that you remained for the battle at all. My guess is that you used that on
Nicolas and then were off before the guards arrived, that you didn't evacuate
the cathedral supports my theory."
At his words, a smile danced across Beryl's lips. "And you would have figured
it out sooner, if it weren't for that little bitch--"
The sound that Mea made was half growl and half roar. "You will not speak of
her in that way!"
"--Clouding your mind," Beryl went on, as if uninterrupted. "She'll never have
the guile of the most naive peasant-woman, and you know it. You've let your doom
in through the back door--"
"Stop!"
"--Though it will not leave that way!"
"You're insane," Mea spat. "You have twenty minutes to gather your belongings
and leave the cathedral--and the Cause--forever. If you ever return, I *will*
kill you." Beryl snorted, and Mea shook his head sadly. "We could've been great
together."
Now Beryl laughed in earnest, the sound coming out terrible, like nothing Mea
had ever heard before. "I plan on being great all by myself."
~~~
A lock of hair tickled Raphael's forehead, but he didn't bother to shake it
aside as he braced his feet and prepared for the next attack.
The Crown-Prince was away from the palace today, sparring with Joshua, who was
Captain of the Guard back in Constance, and his cousin as well. The two had
played with one another as children, planning on joining the army together when
they got older. Back then, the possibility of Raphael one day becoming king had
never occurred to either of them. But when their royal grandfather and eldest
uncle, who was rightfully next in line to the throne, had died of the Plague,
along with many others, Raphael's father had suddenly become king, and Raphael
the Crown-Prince.
Even with all the responsibilities suddenly heaped upon him, Raphael had
continued his training, and Joshua had enlisted in the king's guard on his
fourteenth birthday, becoming captain within ten years. Although his duties kept
him mostly busy and unavailable, Raphael had tried to keep a close relationship
with Joshua, and his cousin had come along with the prince to the High Kingdom
of the Moon to meet his betrothed.
Raphael looked across the courtyard to Joshua, who was studying him with a wary
look about him. The captain knew nothing of Serenity's indiscretions, would
never have dared guess. For all his shortcomings, Raphael was a gentleman, a
man's man, and he would neither belittle or disgrace his wife, never speak bad
about her to anyone, no matter their relationship to himself. He respected her
too much.
Raphael had taken his white-blond hair out of its formal ponytail, and it blew
wildly around his head like a halo, reaching as far as his lower back at some
points and waving ever so slightly. He had removed his shirt, despite the chilly
weather, and his hair stuck to the sweat on his back, irritating his skin. He
held a long sword in his right hand, and had it raised, waiting for Joshua's
attack, although his cousin made no move to offer one, his own chest heaving.
They had been sparring for over two hours now, although Raphael was nowhere near
finished. Ever since the realization that Serenity had not returned last night,
the urge had come over him to pound something--anything--until there was nothing
left but splinters. Joshua had seemed the obvious choice.
Annoyed by the wait, Raphael made a quick gesture with his sword. "Have at me,
will you." he smiled slightly, breath huffing from his parted lips. "Or are you
afraid?"
Joshua was not afraid. But he *was* concerned, although he knew that Raphael
would not care to hear it. He had only once ever seen his cousin like this
once, when he was twenty and Raphael nineteen. They had been racing across the
rough terrain of Constance, egging each other on, and in an attempt to "win",
Raphael had run his steed over untried ground and hit a pothole. He had pitched
over its head, and the horse, already exhausted, had broken it's front leg badly
enough that, by the time it was returned to the stables and treated, had never
run correctly again. Wracked with guilt and self-loathing, Raphael had stalked
off into the mountains to be by himself, and, when Joshua had followed, Raphael
had instigated a spar that had lasted for hours.
When Raphael waited, apparently expecting an answer to his taunt, Joshua
obliged.
"Afraid?" he laughed, the sound more like a pant.
"I think not, cousin. But I have my duties, and you have yours. We've already
sparred away the early hours of the day..."
"Who cares?" Raphael challenged. "What is really that important?"
He shoved his sword into its sheath.
"No matter what we do, no matter how hard we plan, things will always muck
themselves up."
Realizing that he had said too much, Raphael ran a hand roughly through his
hair, combing it with his fingers in an absent-minded way and turning the
movement into a pull at his chin that reminded Joshua of their grandfather, when
he had been alive.
Grateful for the break, Joshua walked over to where he had laid his canteen and
took a long pull, then tossed it to Raphael's turned back.
"Think fast," he called, almost too late.
The Prince caught it just in time, took a sip, and then poured the rest over
his head.
A silence sat heavily upon them, and Joshua grew uncomfortable.
"What's going on in that feverish head of yours?" he asked belligerently.
Raphael hesitated, seeming about to say something, then closed his mouth. When
he opened it again, his conversational tone sounded forced.
"How about I help you train the guards today?"
It was not a good idea, and Joshua knew it. Things were more than under control
with both Captain of the Guard Leon and himself working the men, but he knew
better than to let Raphael return to the palace with that catch in his voice.
"I don't care," Joshua replied, deliberately trying to drop Raphael's
formalities. Now he smiled. "Just don get in the way."
~~
"...The barracks are modeled after the third floor of the palace. Can you tell
me why that is, Princess?"
The usage of the title broke her from her reverie, and Serenity blushed crimson
when she realized that she had not been listening to her tutor's lecture.
"Princess?" He prodded.
"I'm sorry, I could not," Serenity replied, her voice just above a whisper.
The reply took the tutor aback--the princess was usually a great student,
always paying attention, rarely without the correct answer to whatever it was
that he had asked.
He caught himself, and replied hurriedly. "It's so that the guards do not get
lost," he explained. "Should they ever need to hurry to the chambers of anyone
staying on the third floor, they will already know their way around. The
barracks copy the third floor down to the smallest detail..."
Serenity tuned him out. In her mind, she was not sitting in the royal library,
completing her lessons; she was back at the cathedral with Mea, and he was
ordering a stable boy to see her out.
~~
The night shift had been called out over an hour ago, but still Serenity
remained awake. She lay in her huge bed amid all of her expensive things, all of
her priceless antiques and heirlooms, and still she thought of her time as Luna.
Thinking of the Cause had become too painful, so the princess focused on other
things. The healer--Felicity--had paid her a visit today, at her royal mother's
insistence, no doubt. After examining Serenity, the healer had conferred with
the queen, and several times Serenity could feel their eyes on her back as they
talked in hushed tones. When they were finished speaking, both queen and healer
sported matching frowns, although the former's had disappeared nearly as quickly
as it had surfaced.
Her thoughts had led her to a more troublesome one--the willchide. Serenity had
only taken it a few times in the last few weeks. Ever since Raphael had replaced
it with regular tea, he had made a habit of staying with her while she drank it,
although most times not a word was spoken.
Disturbed by the direction that her thoughts had taken, Serenity rolled onto
her side, now facing her bedside table and the door. A string hung out of the
drawer, and Serenity stared at it a moment before recognizing its source.
*Forgotten me, had you?*
The voice shocked fear through Serenity. She remembered the day of the
raid--yesterday, although it seemed a million years ago--and how the Crystal had
forced itself into her consciousness.
*I need you,* the Crystal went on, oblivious to the princess's thoughts. *I
need to bond with someone, or I will never get any more powerful.* Now its voice
took on a sly edge that Serenity mistrusted.
*I'm not greedy; I'll share. In return for the usage of your body.*
Serenity did not answer. Instead, she slammed the drawer all the way closed.
Alerted by her movement, Artemis hopped up onto the bed, stretching as he
walked stiffly across the coverlet. When he reached his mistress, the white
kitten bat at her hair affectionately.
"Hey, pretty boy," Serenity murmured, still upset by the Crystal's proposition.
Caught unaware, her thoughts slid to the raid the night before.
*Some were left behind,* she realized. *There were ten of us: Mea, Beryl,
Kunzite, David, Nicolas, myself and four others. Beryl escaped, as did Mea and
myself. But what of David? He might yet have survived. And Kunzite surely
survived; had he not, the scandal would have reached my ears by now.*
Luna sashayed over to the princess and flopped down lazily, yawning.
*Beryl claims that Nicolas is dead, but that still leaves the others. What
could have happened to them?* Now Serenity sat up in bed, the implications
crashing down on her. Her studies of the Moon's politics lead her to suspect
that, rather than dead, the last five raiders were held captive somewhere, the
arena being the natural assumption, as it was situated only three city blocks
from the barracks, making it easier for guards rotate from one place to another
to watch their POWs.
Hope surged through her, and Serenity gathered her kittens to her breast in
excitement. Now that she had this information, she was once again useful to the
Cause.
*And Mea,* part of her said. *Don't forget Mea.*
*Useful,* the Crystal snorted, from its spot in the drawer. *There's a laugh.*
It paused, then, *They're no morons, girl. No doubt they've been watching the
arena all day.*
Serenity felt her hopes--and heart--sink, and turned on her side, depressed.
Sleep would be more merciful.
As slumber's tendrils grasped for her, tutor's words crawled across her mind:
"...The barracks are modeled after the third floor of the palace. Can you tell
me why that is, Princess? ...It's so that the guards do not get lost.
"Should they ever need to hurry to the chambers of anyone staying on the third
floor, they will already know their way around. The barracks copy the third
floor down to the smallest detail..."
*The smallest detail,* Serenity thought, *the smallest detail...* Suddenly her
mind froze, and her eyes opened slowly.
*The smallest detail!* she sat up in bed quickly, the movement nearly shaking
the kittens onto the floor. She remembered her tenth birthday. It was the day
that her governess had stopped sleeping in her room, and Serenity had been given
new chambers, larger than her old ones. That night her mother had come into her
room, and after a cup of tea and small talk, had shown her a small door, built
so perfectly into the wall as to be invisible if one did not already know of its
existence. She had been warned that this should be shown to no one except her
own eldest child, the next heir, after she had married and moved into the royal
chambers. She was not to even hint of its presence to anyone else; not her
cousins, friends, or even her future husband.
"...The barracks copy the third floor down to the smallest
detail..."
The words resounded in her head again, and Serenity looked to her kittens and
grinned. She was back in the game.
~~
Mea strode over to where a young man stood, barely out of his teens. The youth
tugged on his forelock in respect, and the gesture irritated Mea. It was the
gesture of a slave to a master, and Mea hated it more than anything except that
holier-than-thou sense of entitlement that made the rich and royal think
themselves above others, too high to perform simple tasks. Too high and mighty
to be bothered to pay a servant honest wages, they enslaved those less fortunate
than themselves. Mea had it on good account that one in every five female slaves
from the ages of thirteen to twenty were breeders, bred to other slaves and
often raped, their sole lot in life akin to that of a queen bee.
When he had started the Cause, there had only been a few members. But as its
ranks had swelled, Mea had stepped up and taken charge. Without a name, and
unwilling to create one for himself, he had been dubbed "Lordship" out of
respect, and at first he had rejected the name, disgusted by it. But as the
years had pass he grew more tolerant, and even answered to it.
But this was too much. These gestures... They were all wrong, and they
embarrassed him.
Mea focused his attention on the youth, and then, realizing that the boy was
waiting for him to speak first, obliged him.
"Any news?"
"No, Lordship."
Mea frowned. Sixteen days had passed since the raid, and every one of those
days he had round-the-clock spies watching the arena for any activity. But,
aside from the comings and goings of slavers and their wares, there had been
none. As far as they knew, their comrades were still in the arena, although they
had obviously kept mum about the cathedral.
*But for how long?* Mea wondered, waving the youth away and walking toward the
stables. *How long will it take before they crack and sing to their captors
about this place?* He paused, a disturbing thought kept into his mind: *How long
would it be before *I* would crack?*
Mea knew that he had to get the families--indeed, all of the people--out of the
cathedral as soon as possible, but therein was the problem: it was *not*
possible, at least not now. They couldn't just up and leave, not even at night.
It would be suspicious, even to the most dim-witted guard. Besides, where were
they to go, assuming they could without attracting unwanted attention? They had
only a small amount of money.
*The jewels,* his mind reminded him. *Don't forget the jewels. You could
relocate and then some with just a few of them.*
But Mea was loath to spend the jewels. Who knew if they were unique or not, and
if they were, they could be identified and then the Cause would really be over.
Mea pictured his life, wasting away in a cell, going to his grave accused of
stealing the Princess's jewels. He wished that this had occurred to him when
they had been offered.
Striding through the stables, Mea reached the Appaloosa's stall and stroked his
velvety nose, lost in thought.
There was a sudden ruckus in the courtyard, and then as quickly as it had
started, it died down. A moment later a tall man walked into the stables and
over to where Mea stood. He tugged his forelock, then waited patiently.
"What is it?" Mea asked.
"There's a girl in the courtyard, Lordship, who claims that she knows you.
She's demanding an audience."
The formalities bothered Mea, and a lump of anticipation had been forming in
his belly the moment that the man mentioned a girl in the courtyard. He would
only think of one that would behave in such a reckless way.
"Bring her to me," Mea whispered.
~~
The man was returning. He was nodding, and Serenity shook herself free of two
guards' grasps. The other man, whom she also presumed to be a guard, stopped a
few feet away from her, and Serenity hurried over to him.
"This way," the guard said, and Serenity felt her hopes soar.
She followed him across the courtyard and into the stables, and stood still
while he cast his gaze around. It finally settled on a figure, who stood near
the Appaloosa's stall, one hand on the door for balance. It took her a moment to
recognize Mea, and then her legs would not obey her, and she remained where she
stood behind the guard.
Mea made a dismissive gesture, and the guard turned, almost colliding with
Serenity, and trotted away.
"Well," Mea said, when Serenity made no move toward him. "Come here. I trust
you have something to say and are not here for the express purpose of wasting my
time."
Serenity mustered her courage, then strode purposefully over to him, producing
two sets of blueprints from the folds of her cloak as she approached. Unrolling
them both, she held them up for him to examine.
Mea stared at the blueprints, for a moment not fully understanding what he was
looking at. He could tell that one was supposed to be Serenity's chambers
because they had her signet symbol at the top, and he recognized the others as
blueprints to the barracks. Parts of the barrack blueprints had been circled
with lilac ink, and he focused on that part, then frowned. They were strikingly
similar. There was also a sketch, obviously drawn by Serenity, on each
blueprint. Confused, Mea finally met Serenity's eyes.
"What are these?" he asked. Then, "I know what they are. But what point are you
trying to make?"
Now Serenity's smile turned into an outright grin. "See that?" She asked, and
Mea nodded when she tapped the strange sketch. "That's a tunnel in my chambers.
A secret tunnel, only for escape in the direst of situations. It leads into the
walls, underground and into the tunnels, which lead to an escape route of some
sort. "
"So?"
"So the barracks are modeled after the third floor of the palace!" Serenity
cried. Mea's frown deepened. "What are you getting at?"
"What I'm getting at," Serenity said, "Is a way to rescue the other raiders."
She cleared her throat. "I don't think that they're still in the arena. I think
that the guards used underground tunnels and transported them from the arena
into the barracks, and then, while you had people watching the arena, carted
them off to the palace dungeons."
Mea sighed. Damn. She was back in the game.
~~
Weeell? Whatcha think? AIM me!
Can't think of much to say...please read my other fics, especially my new one,
titled, "Hey, Cinderella". It should be out this week, as well, and I really
like it.
Ciao.
AJ
By: AJ Martinez
Email: Goodnight_Spoon@hotmail.com
Rated: TV PG; D, V, L?
Started: 4:07 PM; May 11th 2002
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is copyrighted as follows: Naoko Takeuchi, Toei
Animation, Kodansha Ltd., DiC, CWI, Pioneer, Mixx, and quite a few other people.
Any characters that you do not recognize are my inventions, and I would prefer
that you not use them, except in and under special conditions.
This chapter is dedicated to my mom, who woke me up this morning by stroking my
arm and smiling at me (it's sweet now, but it was scary then), and to my cousin
Daniella, who, after trying for almost two years, will finally be becoming a
mommy.
~~
The ride back to the palace was over entirely too quickly. Serenity's heart
hammered in her chest as they neared the main gates, and the gelding slowed to a
trot.
The guards recognized her from the description given to them by their
companions, and, earlier that night, her husband. So lost in her thought was
she, that when the guards waved her by without requesting identification,
Serenity never thought to question.
After leaving the gelding with a stable boy, the princess slipped into the
palace through the stable entrance and kept to the shadows as she made her way
to the third floor of the palace, where the royals' chambers were. Light poured
through every window, and she knew that at any moment a servant would be coming
see if she had awakened yet and if she would be making an appearance for
breakfast in the main hall.
As she reached her chambers, Serenity paused, hand hovering above the door
handle. Once she walked in, her fate was sealed. The raid was over. They had no
more use for her now, and, although Mea had not as much, Serenity guessed that
this would be the last time that she saw him.
~~
"Where were you?" Mea asked, his voice deceptively calm.
They still stood in the courtyard, and, until now, the silence had hung, heavy
and humid around them, undisturbed by the cool September breeze.
"I was fighting, just like the rest of you," Beryl replied shortly, and Mea let
out a short bark of a laugh at her story.
"Were you?" he shook his head. "You must take me for a fool. Had you, Nicolas
and that white-haired companion of yours all fought with us, there wouldn't have
been so many casualties on our side." Now his eyes hardened. "Show me your
needle."
Beryl hesitated, then produced it from a fold in her cloaks. It had been used,
Mea could tell, but instead of discarding it, she had saved it.
"A trophy?" he asked. "I see no blood on you to indicate a struggle, or even
that you remained for the battle at all. My guess is that you used that on
Nicolas and then were off before the guards arrived, that you didn't evacuate
the cathedral supports my theory."
At his words, a smile danced across Beryl's lips. "And you would have figured
it out sooner, if it weren't for that little bitch--"
The sound that Mea made was half growl and half roar. "You will not speak of
her in that way!"
"--Clouding your mind," Beryl went on, as if uninterrupted. "She'll never have
the guile of the most naive peasant-woman, and you know it. You've let your doom
in through the back door--"
"Stop!"
"--Though it will not leave that way!"
"You're insane," Mea spat. "You have twenty minutes to gather your belongings
and leave the cathedral--and the Cause--forever. If you ever return, I *will*
kill you." Beryl snorted, and Mea shook his head sadly. "We could've been great
together."
Now Beryl laughed in earnest, the sound coming out terrible, like nothing Mea
had ever heard before. "I plan on being great all by myself."
~~~
A lock of hair tickled Raphael's forehead, but he didn't bother to shake it
aside as he braced his feet and prepared for the next attack.
The Crown-Prince was away from the palace today, sparring with Joshua, who was
Captain of the Guard back in Constance, and his cousin as well. The two had
played with one another as children, planning on joining the army together when
they got older. Back then, the possibility of Raphael one day becoming king had
never occurred to either of them. But when their royal grandfather and eldest
uncle, who was rightfully next in line to the throne, had died of the Plague,
along with many others, Raphael's father had suddenly become king, and Raphael
the Crown-Prince.
Even with all the responsibilities suddenly heaped upon him, Raphael had
continued his training, and Joshua had enlisted in the king's guard on his
fourteenth birthday, becoming captain within ten years. Although his duties kept
him mostly busy and unavailable, Raphael had tried to keep a close relationship
with Joshua, and his cousin had come along with the prince to the High Kingdom
of the Moon to meet his betrothed.
Raphael looked across the courtyard to Joshua, who was studying him with a wary
look about him. The captain knew nothing of Serenity's indiscretions, would
never have dared guess. For all his shortcomings, Raphael was a gentleman, a
man's man, and he would neither belittle or disgrace his wife, never speak bad
about her to anyone, no matter their relationship to himself. He respected her
too much.
Raphael had taken his white-blond hair out of its formal ponytail, and it blew
wildly around his head like a halo, reaching as far as his lower back at some
points and waving ever so slightly. He had removed his shirt, despite the chilly
weather, and his hair stuck to the sweat on his back, irritating his skin. He
held a long sword in his right hand, and had it raised, waiting for Joshua's
attack, although his cousin made no move to offer one, his own chest heaving.
They had been sparring for over two hours now, although Raphael was nowhere near
finished. Ever since the realization that Serenity had not returned last night,
the urge had come over him to pound something--anything--until there was nothing
left but splinters. Joshua had seemed the obvious choice.
Annoyed by the wait, Raphael made a quick gesture with his sword. "Have at me,
will you." he smiled slightly, breath huffing from his parted lips. "Or are you
afraid?"
Joshua was not afraid. But he *was* concerned, although he knew that Raphael
would not care to hear it. He had only once ever seen his cousin like this
once, when he was twenty and Raphael nineteen. They had been racing across the
rough terrain of Constance, egging each other on, and in an attempt to "win",
Raphael had run his steed over untried ground and hit a pothole. He had pitched
over its head, and the horse, already exhausted, had broken it's front leg badly
enough that, by the time it was returned to the stables and treated, had never
run correctly again. Wracked with guilt and self-loathing, Raphael had stalked
off into the mountains to be by himself, and, when Joshua had followed, Raphael
had instigated a spar that had lasted for hours.
When Raphael waited, apparently expecting an answer to his taunt, Joshua
obliged.
"Afraid?" he laughed, the sound more like a pant.
"I think not, cousin. But I have my duties, and you have yours. We've already
sparred away the early hours of the day..."
"Who cares?" Raphael challenged. "What is really that important?"
He shoved his sword into its sheath.
"No matter what we do, no matter how hard we plan, things will always muck
themselves up."
Realizing that he had said too much, Raphael ran a hand roughly through his
hair, combing it with his fingers in an absent-minded way and turning the
movement into a pull at his chin that reminded Joshua of their grandfather, when
he had been alive.
Grateful for the break, Joshua walked over to where he had laid his canteen and
took a long pull, then tossed it to Raphael's turned back.
"Think fast," he called, almost too late.
The Prince caught it just in time, took a sip, and then poured the rest over
his head.
A silence sat heavily upon them, and Joshua grew uncomfortable.
"What's going on in that feverish head of yours?" he asked belligerently.
Raphael hesitated, seeming about to say something, then closed his mouth. When
he opened it again, his conversational tone sounded forced.
"How about I help you train the guards today?"
It was not a good idea, and Joshua knew it. Things were more than under control
with both Captain of the Guard Leon and himself working the men, but he knew
better than to let Raphael return to the palace with that catch in his voice.
"I don't care," Joshua replied, deliberately trying to drop Raphael's
formalities. Now he smiled. "Just don get in the way."
~~
"...The barracks are modeled after the third floor of the palace. Can you tell
me why that is, Princess?"
The usage of the title broke her from her reverie, and Serenity blushed crimson
when she realized that she had not been listening to her tutor's lecture.
"Princess?" He prodded.
"I'm sorry, I could not," Serenity replied, her voice just above a whisper.
The reply took the tutor aback--the princess was usually a great student,
always paying attention, rarely without the correct answer to whatever it was
that he had asked.
He caught himself, and replied hurriedly. "It's so that the guards do not get
lost," he explained. "Should they ever need to hurry to the chambers of anyone
staying on the third floor, they will already know their way around. The
barracks copy the third floor down to the smallest detail..."
Serenity tuned him out. In her mind, she was not sitting in the royal library,
completing her lessons; she was back at the cathedral with Mea, and he was
ordering a stable boy to see her out.
~~
The night shift had been called out over an hour ago, but still Serenity
remained awake. She lay in her huge bed amid all of her expensive things, all of
her priceless antiques and heirlooms, and still she thought of her time as Luna.
Thinking of the Cause had become too painful, so the princess focused on other
things. The healer--Felicity--had paid her a visit today, at her royal mother's
insistence, no doubt. After examining Serenity, the healer had conferred with
the queen, and several times Serenity could feel their eyes on her back as they
talked in hushed tones. When they were finished speaking, both queen and healer
sported matching frowns, although the former's had disappeared nearly as quickly
as it had surfaced.
Her thoughts had led her to a more troublesome one--the willchide. Serenity had
only taken it a few times in the last few weeks. Ever since Raphael had replaced
it with regular tea, he had made a habit of staying with her while she drank it,
although most times not a word was spoken.
Disturbed by the direction that her thoughts had taken, Serenity rolled onto
her side, now facing her bedside table and the door. A string hung out of the
drawer, and Serenity stared at it a moment before recognizing its source.
*Forgotten me, had you?*
The voice shocked fear through Serenity. She remembered the day of the
raid--yesterday, although it seemed a million years ago--and how the Crystal had
forced itself into her consciousness.
*I need you,* the Crystal went on, oblivious to the princess's thoughts. *I
need to bond with someone, or I will never get any more powerful.* Now its voice
took on a sly edge that Serenity mistrusted.
*I'm not greedy; I'll share. In return for the usage of your body.*
Serenity did not answer. Instead, she slammed the drawer all the way closed.
Alerted by her movement, Artemis hopped up onto the bed, stretching as he
walked stiffly across the coverlet. When he reached his mistress, the white
kitten bat at her hair affectionately.
"Hey, pretty boy," Serenity murmured, still upset by the Crystal's proposition.
Caught unaware, her thoughts slid to the raid the night before.
*Some were left behind,* she realized. *There were ten of us: Mea, Beryl,
Kunzite, David, Nicolas, myself and four others. Beryl escaped, as did Mea and
myself. But what of David? He might yet have survived. And Kunzite surely
survived; had he not, the scandal would have reached my ears by now.*
Luna sashayed over to the princess and flopped down lazily, yawning.
*Beryl claims that Nicolas is dead, but that still leaves the others. What
could have happened to them?* Now Serenity sat up in bed, the implications
crashing down on her. Her studies of the Moon's politics lead her to suspect
that, rather than dead, the last five raiders were held captive somewhere, the
arena being the natural assumption, as it was situated only three city blocks
from the barracks, making it easier for guards rotate from one place to another
to watch their POWs.
Hope surged through her, and Serenity gathered her kittens to her breast in
excitement. Now that she had this information, she was once again useful to the
Cause.
*And Mea,* part of her said. *Don't forget Mea.*
*Useful,* the Crystal snorted, from its spot in the drawer. *There's a laugh.*
It paused, then, *They're no morons, girl. No doubt they've been watching the
arena all day.*
Serenity felt her hopes--and heart--sink, and turned on her side, depressed.
Sleep would be more merciful.
As slumber's tendrils grasped for her, tutor's words crawled across her mind:
"...The barracks are modeled after the third floor of the palace. Can you tell
me why that is, Princess? ...It's so that the guards do not get lost.
"Should they ever need to hurry to the chambers of anyone staying on the third
floor, they will already know their way around. The barracks copy the third
floor down to the smallest detail..."
*The smallest detail,* Serenity thought, *the smallest detail...* Suddenly her
mind froze, and her eyes opened slowly.
*The smallest detail!* she sat up in bed quickly, the movement nearly shaking
the kittens onto the floor. She remembered her tenth birthday. It was the day
that her governess had stopped sleeping in her room, and Serenity had been given
new chambers, larger than her old ones. That night her mother had come into her
room, and after a cup of tea and small talk, had shown her a small door, built
so perfectly into the wall as to be invisible if one did not already know of its
existence. She had been warned that this should be shown to no one except her
own eldest child, the next heir, after she had married and moved into the royal
chambers. She was not to even hint of its presence to anyone else; not her
cousins, friends, or even her future husband.
"...The barracks copy the third floor down to the smallest
detail..."
The words resounded in her head again, and Serenity looked to her kittens and
grinned. She was back in the game.
~~
Mea strode over to where a young man stood, barely out of his teens. The youth
tugged on his forelock in respect, and the gesture irritated Mea. It was the
gesture of a slave to a master, and Mea hated it more than anything except that
holier-than-thou sense of entitlement that made the rich and royal think
themselves above others, too high to perform simple tasks. Too high and mighty
to be bothered to pay a servant honest wages, they enslaved those less fortunate
than themselves. Mea had it on good account that one in every five female slaves
from the ages of thirteen to twenty were breeders, bred to other slaves and
often raped, their sole lot in life akin to that of a queen bee.
When he had started the Cause, there had only been a few members. But as its
ranks had swelled, Mea had stepped up and taken charge. Without a name, and
unwilling to create one for himself, he had been dubbed "Lordship" out of
respect, and at first he had rejected the name, disgusted by it. But as the
years had pass he grew more tolerant, and even answered to it.
But this was too much. These gestures... They were all wrong, and they
embarrassed him.
Mea focused his attention on the youth, and then, realizing that the boy was
waiting for him to speak first, obliged him.
"Any news?"
"No, Lordship."
Mea frowned. Sixteen days had passed since the raid, and every one of those
days he had round-the-clock spies watching the arena for any activity. But,
aside from the comings and goings of slavers and their wares, there had been
none. As far as they knew, their comrades were still in the arena, although they
had obviously kept mum about the cathedral.
*But for how long?* Mea wondered, waving the youth away and walking toward the
stables. *How long will it take before they crack and sing to their captors
about this place?* He paused, a disturbing thought kept into his mind: *How long
would it be before *I* would crack?*
Mea knew that he had to get the families--indeed, all of the people--out of the
cathedral as soon as possible, but therein was the problem: it was *not*
possible, at least not now. They couldn't just up and leave, not even at night.
It would be suspicious, even to the most dim-witted guard. Besides, where were
they to go, assuming they could without attracting unwanted attention? They had
only a small amount of money.
*The jewels,* his mind reminded him. *Don't forget the jewels. You could
relocate and then some with just a few of them.*
But Mea was loath to spend the jewels. Who knew if they were unique or not, and
if they were, they could be identified and then the Cause would really be over.
Mea pictured his life, wasting away in a cell, going to his grave accused of
stealing the Princess's jewels. He wished that this had occurred to him when
they had been offered.
Striding through the stables, Mea reached the Appaloosa's stall and stroked his
velvety nose, lost in thought.
There was a sudden ruckus in the courtyard, and then as quickly as it had
started, it died down. A moment later a tall man walked into the stables and
over to where Mea stood. He tugged his forelock, then waited patiently.
"What is it?" Mea asked.
"There's a girl in the courtyard, Lordship, who claims that she knows you.
She's demanding an audience."
The formalities bothered Mea, and a lump of anticipation had been forming in
his belly the moment that the man mentioned a girl in the courtyard. He would
only think of one that would behave in such a reckless way.
"Bring her to me," Mea whispered.
~~
The man was returning. He was nodding, and Serenity shook herself free of two
guards' grasps. The other man, whom she also presumed to be a guard, stopped a
few feet away from her, and Serenity hurried over to him.
"This way," the guard said, and Serenity felt her hopes soar.
She followed him across the courtyard and into the stables, and stood still
while he cast his gaze around. It finally settled on a figure, who stood near
the Appaloosa's stall, one hand on the door for balance. It took her a moment to
recognize Mea, and then her legs would not obey her, and she remained where she
stood behind the guard.
Mea made a dismissive gesture, and the guard turned, almost colliding with
Serenity, and trotted away.
"Well," Mea said, when Serenity made no move toward him. "Come here. I trust
you have something to say and are not here for the express purpose of wasting my
time."
Serenity mustered her courage, then strode purposefully over to him, producing
two sets of blueprints from the folds of her cloak as she approached. Unrolling
them both, she held them up for him to examine.
Mea stared at the blueprints, for a moment not fully understanding what he was
looking at. He could tell that one was supposed to be Serenity's chambers
because they had her signet symbol at the top, and he recognized the others as
blueprints to the barracks. Parts of the barrack blueprints had been circled
with lilac ink, and he focused on that part, then frowned. They were strikingly
similar. There was also a sketch, obviously drawn by Serenity, on each
blueprint. Confused, Mea finally met Serenity's eyes.
"What are these?" he asked. Then, "I know what they are. But what point are you
trying to make?"
Now Serenity's smile turned into an outright grin. "See that?" She asked, and
Mea nodded when she tapped the strange sketch. "That's a tunnel in my chambers.
A secret tunnel, only for escape in the direst of situations. It leads into the
walls, underground and into the tunnels, which lead to an escape route of some
sort. "
"So?"
"So the barracks are modeled after the third floor of the palace!" Serenity
cried. Mea's frown deepened. "What are you getting at?"
"What I'm getting at," Serenity said, "Is a way to rescue the other raiders."
She cleared her throat. "I don't think that they're still in the arena. I think
that the guards used underground tunnels and transported them from the arena
into the barracks, and then, while you had people watching the arena, carted
them off to the palace dungeons."
Mea sighed. Damn. She was back in the game.
~~
Weeell? Whatcha think? AIM me!
Can't think of much to say...please read my other fics, especially my new one,
titled, "Hey, Cinderella". It should be out this week, as well, and I really
like it.
Ciao.
AJ