Chapter 7

I spring back into action. I reach forward to grasp Her Majesty's dress.

"Stop!" The Queen yelped, grabbing her bodice towards her. I held my hands up in a surrender pose.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Your Majesty." I stumble over my words. "But your bleeding." I say nodding at her stomach. She looks from me down to her stomach, flattening her hand onto the gown only to lift it back up with her palm spattered with red. She strangles a cry before looking back at me. She looks into my eyes. Like she's looking into my soul.

"Alice, can you fetch a nightdress or a large shirt or something, please?" I don't look at her, I only hear her scuttle away over to the wardrobe. She came back with a shirt of mine. I slipped the shirt over Her Majesty's head and handed the rest over for her to pull down. She slid her arms into the sleeves and tried to slide the shirt down her body. "Do you want to pull, erm, your?" I gesture to her bodice. She nodded slowly. She grasped the bodice under the shirt and began to drag it down. She gasped again.

"My crinoline. It-it will get in the way." She gestured to her skirt.

I look to Alice for help. She just rolls her eyes. "Oh, let me." Alice says standing and comes around to the side of Her Majesty. "Have you got any scissors?" Alice asks peering into my bag. I reach around her to find my large medical scissors. They look almost comical in Alice's tiny hand. "Perfect."

I assist in folding back the bodice of the gown as Alice reaches within to sever the fabric columns of the crinoline. Once she had cut the frame in a few locations, Alice grasped the bottom hem of the gown and crinoline before pulling until it was clean away, leaving the Queen in just her chemise, bloomers and the shirt of mine. Alice then covered her with a blanket too.

I took a moment to pause and assess the situation.

"Is it OK if I?" I gestured towards her stomach. Her Majesty hesitated before giving a quick nod. She helped in lifting the chemise and shirt to reveal another bit of flesh that was also angry and marked from her tight clothing. But what is also revealed is some very nasty blisters and deep puncture wounds that were still bleeding. I hiss in response.

"Alice, could you fetch some hot water from Mrs Stanley next door please? Tell her we'll get her some bread and jam from market later on." She nods and heads off. I look up at Her Majesty. "I don't want to touch your wounds without sterilising my instruments first."

There is a very pregnant pause before she responds.

"You look too young to be a doctor." She stated. He voice light and airy. Utterly melodic. I smile, looking back at her.

"I'm not, well not yet. I hope to be." I sigh. "My father is a doctor and I have been fascinated in the practice since I could remember." I say, deciding which instruments I am to use.

"I see." Another long pause in which she looks around at the sparse room. "Why would- Alice, is it? Why would she need to go to you neighbour to collect hot water?" She asked.

"Oh." Was my clever response. "Erm, well, we don't have the means for a stove or open fire so we have to go to our neighbours. They're both quite elderly couples so we collect their food in exchange." I reply, inspecting her wounds more closely.

"You do not have a fire?" She asked. I look up at her questioning face. I shake my head.

"No, never have done. We don't have the facilities. Also my mother is blind and my father worried it would be an accident waiting to happen." I explain.

"Oh." She replied.

Alice slithers back into the room with a bowl of boiling water in hand. She places it next to my instruments.

"Mrs Stanley was more than happy to help her darling Edward." Alice cheekily says as she joins Her Majesty on her other side.

I smile, bemused by the old woman. Shaking my head, I set about cleaning my tools and gauze in the boiling water.

"You should see her when she's around him!" Alice exclaims to Her Majesty. "She pinches her cheeks and stains her lips. I swear if her husband was in the ground already, she'd have jumped at the chance!" Alice laughs. Her Majesty smiles slightly and looks at me but I pretend to not be paying attention. Once everything is cleansed and dry, I set about sorting out the puncture wounds first. I grasp the clamp with the needle in position.

"Wait!" Alice exclaims as she jumps up and runs back over the the wardrobe. But instead of going inside it, she reaches behind it to come back with a nearly empty bottle of vodka. God knows how long that's been stored back there. After taking a small sip herself, she holds it up to Her Majesty. The Queen looks quite bewildered and doesn't move. I clear my throat.

"Your Majesty, this is probably going to hurt quite a bit..." I trail off, nodding to the bottle. She sighs before reluctantly taking the bottle, sniffing at it and repelling quite quickly. She huffs before putting the bottle to her lips. As she tilts the bottle, Alice reaches out and tilts it higher. The Queen sputters and coughs but holds it down.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" I ask, worried. She nods in affirmation. She finally catches her breath.

"Yes." She croaks. Coughing a little bit more. "And please, call me Bella."

I'm shocked. That seems quite a personal name to call the monarch. "Are-Are you sure?" I question, maybe the alcohol has hit her quite quickly.

A hint of a smile crosses her face. "I am sure."

I nod.

"Alice?" I ask. And she complies knowingly. Grabbing the bottle of vodka, she splashes a dash in each of the wounds and across the blisters. The Que-Bella gasped and writhed in pain but didn't let out a single noise as I got to work on sewing her up.