Chapter 8 Consequences
Mael and King Salem were on their way to the room of Marianna. They wanted to confront her with the information they received. They still couldn´t get their heads around it that she was the daughter of their only true enemy. She was so nice, a little quiet and reserved, but nice nontheless. The paper showed however a different person. She seemed to have murdered her own mother and then escaped the palace. Supposedly one of the soldiers, Mariannas brother, had shot her and she was supposed to be dead right now. But the picture showed the same girl, they took in their family a few days ago. Now they knew why Marianna was so badly hurt when Rath found her. She was on the run from the soldier, which wanted to arrest her for murder. Mael couldn´t believe that he wasn´t more attentive to everything. He was the commander, he had to protect his king and he let a criminell in their home and their heart. He began to love this girl like a daughter.
" Do you believe she did it", King Salem broke the silence between them. He was not sure if he should believe everything he read. The girl seemed not to be the dangerous type.
Mael shrugged his shoulders. He know nothing at the moment. He hoped everything would clear up as soon as they spoke with Marianna. " I don´t know. But I know that she has been lying to us for awhile now".
" You noticed it, too", King Salem shook his head. It didn´t look good for the girl.
" Yeah.I said nothing, because I didn´t want to upset anyone. I thought she would tell us everything when she was ready" Mael wanted to smack himself. He should have pushed. What if they hadn´t found out about Marianna, what would have happened?
King Salem had to laugh despite the serious situation. They were more similar as they thought." Same here. But I don´t think she killed her mother".
" How do you know that?", Mael wanted to believe that, too. But he couldn´t.
" My heart tells me that." King Salem didn´t know why he tried to protect the girl. It was a feeling." And I listen to my heart".
Mael wanted to reply that he couldn´t do this when they arrived at the door to Mariannas room.
Both men were really nervous and scared. They didn´t know what to expect and what they would learn.
King Salem thought it was best to knock before entering, but Mael had other ideas. He opened the door forcefully. Marianna, who slept really deeply in her bed, woke up from the noise in her room. She jumped fast on her feet and was prepaired to kill anybody who dared to attack her. But after she realized who stood before her, she dropped her fighting stance.
" What is going on here", Marianna tried to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. She was still slightly sleepy. She took a look out of the window. Like she imagined it was still dark outside. What happened that the King and his second in command had to disturb her sleep.
King Salem took a step forward and lifted a piece of paper infront of her face" What can you say to us about that"
Marianna observed the paper. There was a big picture of her mother with a big headline above which read " Queen Leiana murdered from her own daughter" and to the right of the little article was a picture of Marianna. Tears gathered in her eyes as she thought about the worst hours of her life and everyone believed that she was a murderer. She knew that her cover was blown and by the look of it she was in so much trouble at the moment.
Mael, who was quiet the whole time, saw the tears and the sorrow behind those eyes. That were not tears of a girl who killed her mother, that were tears of a girl who lost her mother." We know that you didn´t lose your memories. Why don´t you tell us your side of the story?".
" Why. You wouldn´t believe my anyhow. Nobody would believe me", Marianna didn´t have the strength to fight anymore. No one on this whole planet was on her side. She was all alone and she would die that way." You formed your opinion right before you went rushing in this room".
King Salem let the paper fall onto the floor" Then try to convience us of the contrary. What have you got to lose?".
" What do you want to hear from me", Marianna was close to losing her cool. She didn´t notice that she was crying and screaming." That I killed my mother. That I´m a coldblood murderer. Or that I would kill again if I had the chance". At the last part the ground beneath their feet began to shake violently. Paintings fell from the walls and the lusters crashed on the floor.
King Salem and Mael had to hold onto the wall the keep standing. They didn´t know what triggered the quake. They looked at Marianna and noticed that her whole body shuddered, her eyes turned to a deep black and her hair flew like crazy around her head. Both faced each other in shock. They didn´t know that Marianna possesed such ability. She was much more powerful than everybody on this planet. Mael tried to take a step forward and calm the girl down. But at that moment everything stopped and Marianna dropped on her knees. She hid her face in her hands and cried. King Salem and Mael didn´t know what to do with that. Suddenly the door flew open and Rath entered the room.
" What happened?"
" Nothing. Go back to your bed. We have everything in control" Mael didn´t think Marianna would want any more people around her.
Rath lifted his right eyebrow. Yeah that was convincing." Really? Because I gotta say that I particular prefer to be awakend by my alarmclock and not from falling paintings".
" We talk tomorrow morning about everything", Mael wanted his son gone and that really fast. It was hard enough right now and Rath wouldn´t be a big help." I promise. But do as I say and go".
Rath was a little bit irritated. What was his fathers problem? Why did he want him to dissapear? Then he heard it. It was a noice that sounded like a sob. Immediately Rath pushed his father aside to see what the noise was about. Shocked he noticed the girl. She sat on her knees and cried violently in her hands.
" What have you done to her", Rath wasn´t sure why he was so angry. But nobody was allowed to hurt her. Not as long as she was under his protection.
" Nothing", Mael received a unbelievable look from his son." Trust me. We haven´t touched her in any way".
" Why is she crying then?", Rath was beyond mad now.He knelt infront of the crying girl. Then he saw a piece of paper lying beside him on the ground. He took it in his with rage shaking hands. A few seconds later he faced Marianna. He couldn´t believe what he read. She was the enemies daughter. She had killed her own mother.Why didn´t he notice something. He was usually more attentive to everything. That was propably his punishment for thinking with his heart and not his head. He was in love with the only girl he couldn´t have. He felt cheated and betrayed. " Did you know about that?".
King Salem understood the feelings of his nephew." We learned about it only a hour ago ourselves".
" That´s great. And when did you planning of telling us about it?. When she killed someone else?", Rath rose from his crouched position and faced his father and his uncle.
" We don´t know if she did that", Mael laid a hand on his sons shoulder and tried to calm him down a bit.
" I can believe you. You of all people try to protect a murderer. The man who said blast first, ask question later?", Rath was on the brink of doing something stupid. She was the enemy, end of story. What more did they want? Prove?
King Salem couldn´t listen to the fight any longer. Besides they had to deal with Marianna. She had stopped crying and now observed quietly the little display." We have a different situation here. We don´t want to protect a murderer as much as you do. But we need prove about that"
Rath lifted the paper and pushed it in King Salems face" What more do you need", he showed a line with his finger." Here it is", he pointed at Marianna." She killed her mother".
Marianna had enough of the false accusation. As fast as possible she jumped to her feet and stomped angrily to Rath." I did not kill my mother. I loved her and I would never hurt her. Do you understand me". She poked Rath´s chest with her finger.
" And how will you prove that", Rath took her finger of him. Then he crossed his arms infront of his chest.
Just as Marianna wanted to say that she couldn´t prove her innocence, a out of breath running Vilandra stepped in the room.
" I know who she is"
" Congratulation Vilandra", Rath clapped sarcastic." We know that, too".
" You know. Thank god", now Vilandra could finally rest for a few minutes. She wasn´t used to so much exercise. She wanted to announce the good news as soon as possible. It would all be better from now on.
" Yeah we know that she killed her mother", Rath couldn´t let it go.
Vilandra faced Rath and saw in his angry face." No. That´s not true".
" And how do you know that?", great, another supporter of Marianna. Why couldn´t they saw the truth. They had taken in a murderer and a traitor to her people.
" I had a fight with Ava this afternoon. She didn´t trust the girl", Vilandra made a little break, because Rath had to congratulate his obviously smart sister." I wanted to prove her wrong. Tonight I went in her dream and I saw what really happened".
King Salem embraced his daughter. She was like him." What have you seen?".
" Her father killed her mother. She saw it by accident. When she told the guards what happened her father accused her. Then she had to escape because her father gave order to kill her", Vilandra saw still the picture in her mind. The feeling of sadness and fury were still fresh.
" Is it true?", Mael glanced at Marianna. She nodded sadly. If Vilandra didn´t have saved her life, she would be very angry with her for invading her privacy.
" Then we talk about everything tomorrow. Now try to get some more sleep tonight", King Salem was tired. Now that their weren´t in immdiate danger they could rest.
Rath glared on last time at Marianna and left the room with pounding steps. Vilandra squeezed her arm and smiled encouragly before she left, too. Mael embraced her for a moment and then he followed the kids outside. Only King Salem remained.
" Try to sleep. You have a hard day tomorrow" he stroked softly her left cheek." Don´t worry. Everything will be better from now on. You are save here".
With that the King made his way to his bedroom. Marianna stood still on the same spot she was early. After the door closed behind King Salem she crawled back in her bed and pulled her blanket over her face. She didn´t want to face everyone tomorrow. It would be the same like the scene earlier.But why now. She was almost ready with her plan against her father. Couldn´t they have waited a couple of days longer. Maybe she should take off. There was nothing holding her back anyhow. But then she thought about the friendly faces of Mael, Vilandra and King Salem. She had to face her problems head on. Besides if she tried to escape she had to be on the run for the rest of her life and everybody would think she was guilty. No she would listen and then she could still decide what to do. With that thought she closed her eyes.