I don't own any of these characters… They belong to Gail Carson Levine… Only the story is mine!
Char stood still for a moment; contemplating what he had just figured out. He was deep in thought when one of the scullery maids came up to him.
"S-S-Sir? Are you all right, sir? Would you like me to bring you anything? You look awfully faint," she stammered in a thick Ayorthian accent. She must have come over into Kyrria to look for work since Ayorthia had gone through political and economical crises.
He looked at her like she had sprouted horns. Did she not know? Of course she didn't, he himself didn't know until just a moment ago. He bit his lip and looked at her again. She looked up earnestly at him, she was shaking-he figured it was because she had never been so close to a royal. "Oh, no thank you miss, I was just on my way," he told her, his own voice shaking too. A thought struck him, "I'm going to take this cup," he declared.
"S-S-Sir, if you would just a-a-allow me to wash it for you…" she offered, her voice still shaking.
"No," he replied firmly. Then he saw her face, as she looked a bit frightened of his rigidity; he didn't mean to scare her, so he replied for a second time with a softer answer. "Actually miss, I wasn't intending to drink from it, but thank you for asking. I'm sorry if I frightened you, I think I've just found out something well…I must be on my way now. Good day miss," he gave her a weak and plastered on smile as he hurried through the scullery door with the cup in his hand, careful not to spill any liquid, or dissolve anymore poison in it.
The scullery maid looked at him as he rushed out with starry eyes until her senior yelled at her, " Get back to work! Have you no sense! Good lord, do you Ayorthians not work at all?" The scullery maid gave her senior an evil look once she turned her back as she got back to work.
Char bounded up to his father's chambers with the cup in his hand. When he got there, there were two guards guarding the door. "He must be in a meeting with the Ayorthians…" he thought to himself. Char sighed; he knew that he'd have to wait. His father wouldn't stop a meeting with the Ayorthians just to talk to him about a hunch he had about Ella's whereabouts. She was always free to come and go as she pleased… and now might not be an exception after all… The guards were looking at him as if they were waiting for him to talk. He looked back at them and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before any words came out. Char didn't want these guards to know anything before he consulted his father. And by the looks of things, that was going to be in a long time.
Char turned around and walked briskly towards Mandy's cottage. If his father wasn't going to be available now, Mandy would have to be.
Ella awoke once again to find herself amongst many, many pillows. Though her arms were no longer bound, she still felt sore and tender around her wrists. But other than that, and feeling extremely fatigued, most likely a side effect of more poison, she felt fine.
She tried to get up, but only succeeded in squirming around the masses of pillows. It was as if she were in a sea of pillows, but as Ella looked around her, she that that wasn't entirely untrue. Pillows covered the area of the room's floor, Ella in the center. The walls were a yellow tint with the slightest bit of a border running along the sides. And then… there was a door… a rather large, wooden door with a wrought iron handle and hinges. It was the only piece that looked out of place in the room, and yet it was the only feature of the room that really reminded her that it was a room at all. Otherwise, she would have been mistaken that she was still dreaming…
It was so incredibly odd… Why was she in a place with hundreds of pillows? There didn't seem like there was a logical explanation until she finally remembered the events that had taken place over the last few days.
In fact, it had almost been a week, but he memories of that times flashed before Ella's eyes nonetheless vividly. She remembered feeling sick at the banquet… and being brought in a carriage… and struggling to free herself… and that was about all she remembered, but Ella was a smart girl. She soon put two and two together to realize she had been kidnapped.
Ella found herself flailing around in the pillows, trying to reach the door, the one way into the outside world, for there were no windows in the room. With great difficulty and effort, Ella finally got to the door. She reached up to try and test the handle, but it was too high! The door's threshold only began at where the pillows came up to it, which was more than two feet off the floor.
Despite that obstacle, Ella was determined to get out, or at least try the door handle. So she began stacking pillows below the door. One after another, she put pillows with tassels on pillows with buttons, or pillows with pockets on top of pillows with embroidery. Then, when she thought she was high enough, she tried to climb on, except she found out that there were one too many silk pillows in the stack and she slipped and fell onto the squishy carpet of fluffy pillows. Still determined, Ella tried a couple more times, stacking what she thought were sturdy pillows, but each time ended in her on her back, floating on the sea of pillows.
Her failed attempts made Ella extremely frustrated and in the end, she resorted to banging on the door with her fists, screaming for help.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind her, "What? Not comfortable enough? Royalty is never pleased, is it? Or maybe it's just you." It was sardonic and mocking and put a slight chill in Ella as she turned around to see who it was.
A/N: Wow, thank you to all of you who've stuck by me while I've been writing this!!! I'm incredibly grateful, because I've been having the utmost difficulty at finding where this story should go….. But last night, angst came to me in the form of not being able to get a magazine…. (darn you mom!!!) and it inspired a new chapter to flow from my fingertips…. So, here you've got another chapter, I hope you liked it, and PLEASE, PLEASE review…. They mean so much to me…. (addiction!!!! -) And if you've any suggestions, just tell me them in the form of a review and I'll be sure to read it and try to put it in my story! Savvy? And by the way, I've got some other stories that are good, so if you feel like taking a gander at them, please DO!!! And review them too! I'd love to see what you guys think of my other stories too… -
Cheers!
Tati Bloom aka Elf Girl 4
PS: I love Orlando Bloom!
A Very Wonderful and Marvelous and Fantastic Thanks To…. Wait a bloody second…. I've just been looking at my story and I've seen that I haven't been replying to any of the reviewers like I usually do now…. Hm… that's odd…. Well, I promise to reply to all of you from now on…. I guess I didn't start replying until after I started this story….. Oh well, rest assured, I will reply to all your wonderful reviews now! So…. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE REVIEWED OVER THE LAST 3 CHAPTERS!!!! YOU'VE MADE IT WORTH MY WHILE TO CONTINUE WRITING THIS!!!! -
AND BELIEVE ME…. A NEW CHAPTER WILL BE COMING A LOT SOONER!!! -