The Incredible Queen Luna (Reading Sample)

Chapter 2

Leona found the last journey of her life quite peaceful. Before the two gardeners drove the truck away from the castle, they fixed the carpet with ropes in the truck’s bed.

The path leading to the main road from the garden had plenty of rocks and potholes, but she didn’t get bumped up and down like a bag of discarded garbage.

When the car drove out of the thick woods and back to the main road, Leona vaguely heard ecstatic cheering coming from the city below the hill—the castle was located on the hillside in the north of the capital.

“They are cheering. The coronation must have been on,” she heard one of those two gardeners, the shorter one, say in the truck’s cab. She remembered his name was Caleb. Before tonight, she met them a few times in the garden. She knew they were both hard-working, good people.

“Yeah,” the taller gardener who was driving the truck answered. His name was Jeremy. And he wasn’t much of a talker. “It’s Princess Leona who brought peace to our kingdom. She will be a great Queen. It’s a shame that we can’t witness her ascend the throne.”

“But to think it differently,” the first gardener, Caleb, commented in a cheerful voice. “We are paying respect to the Princess in our way.” He turned his head from the driver’s cab to look at the carpet roll, then asked, “Who do you think it was? What a pity! She died right before the Princess gets her crown.”

The driver shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t actually care about it. “You’ve heard what the Beta said. She was the Queen’s maid. I bet she wasn’t someone important. Or else, he would have given her a proper funeral.” His tone was indifferent.

“But he said she had made as much contribution to the country as the Queen,” the first gardener Caleb disagreed. He insisted, “She must be someone.”

“Then we’d better find her a good place to rest,” the driver replied. He wasn’t interested in any sort of gossip. And that was the end of their conversation.

Leona lay still on the truck’s bed and felt the truck’s movement. After hitting a big bump at the turning to the main road, the car started heading downwards smoothly. There weren’t any other cars on the road. Leona felt her feet being pulled towards the cab of the truck under gravity, and the thick smell of the lush woods getting thinner and thinner.

After about 20 minutes, the truck went back to the urban area. It was horrifyingly quiet. All the stores were closed and the streets were empty. People were all watching the coronation on TV, waiting to see their princess ascend the throne. Leona couldn’t help but wonder how Austin had explained her disappearance to those elderlies of the Kingdom’s Committee.

The coronation can’t be canceled at the last minute. That’s why Austin chose to kill her right before it started. He probably had pretended to be panicked about not finding her. And those committee members would just persuade him, “You must take the place of her to carry on the ceremony.”

Austin would say, “No, I can’t. I am not a wolf. I can’t rule the kingdom.”

Those elderlies would insist, “You are just taking the place of her for the moment until we get her back.”

Only she would never be back. That’s how Austin became the kingdom’s king eternally.

Leona had always known Austin was a tactful person. She just never thought his ultimate target would be her.

The car drove straight across the city and headed towards the suburb in the east. There, a short section of the ancient city wall rested upon the exuberant meadow. Beside it, a turquoise small river happily ran through. People liked to go there for a picnic all the time.

Leona felt that the driver drove the truck past the wall and stopped behind it. At first, Leona thought he was going to take a leak, but the other gardener’s voice denied her assumption.

“What are you doing? We can’t bury her here,” she heard the gardener protest in surprise. “This isn’t the place for dead people.”

The driver had opened the car door. “Yes, it is,” he answered. His tone was cold and decisive, “Beta said we couldn’t let anyone know she came from the castle, which means she is a Jane Doe. We can’t bury her in the cemetery without a name. It will raise questions. This is the best place for her to rest: great view and tons of flowers. Girls love to come here for dates. She will enjoy her time.”

He jumped out of the cab and walked to the truck’s bed. Two big shovels that still had fresh dirt on them were placed beside the carpet roll. He picked up them both and passed one to his partner.

“Come on,” he said. “We need to get this down before the coronation is over. Soon, this place will be packed with people.”

The other gardener jumped out of the car also. He seemed to be convinced by the driver. He took the shovel in his hand and started to pick the location.

Leona heard them argue.

“How about beside the monument? It was built for our lost soldiers. I guess she could be counted as a soldier too. It could be used as her tombstone,” the shorter one suggested.

The driver disapproved. “Too close to the river,” he said. “When the water rises in rain season, her body might be exposed and cause troubles.”

“Then how about under the wall?” The shorter one asked. “Kids like to dig beside the wall, but we can transplant some flowers above her tomb. I am sure she would love it.”

“That will do,” the driver said. And they started to dig under the wall with the shovels.

The soil there was dry, very hard to loosen. It took them almost an hour to dig out a hole big enough to bury a grownup. When they finally finished it, they were both out of breath.

“Damn, that was hard. Hope it’s deep enough,” the shorter gardener said while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

The driver got sweat too, but he didn't make any comments about it.

After leaning the shovel against the wall, he headed back to the truck to pick up the carpet.

When he reached the truck’s bed, he suddenly went very stiff.

The other gardener noticed that. He walked up to the driver and placed his hand on the driver’s shoulder.

“What happened? Why did you—” His voice abruptly stuck when he saw the truck’s bed.

The supposed-to-be loaded truck was now completely empty, without the shovels and without the carpet. The dead maid had mysteriously disappeared and they didn’t even hear a sound of it.

“Damn,” the gardener couldn’t help but curse. He turned his head to his companion and asked, “Where the hell is her body?”