Chapter 12 - A long journey.
2399 Words
Emily
I found the creator waiting for me by the back door.
“Where is Cook?” I frowned.
“I have called her, but we do not have a lot of time. We should not have asked her to join us. We have a lot of ground to cover in a short time and, as it is, you took too long to prepare.” He looked concerned.
“Here I am. My darling Emily, I am staying.” Cook rushed outside.
“But I don’t want you to.” I took her hands in mine.
“Shush now, you heard the gentleman. He is trying to keep you safe and there is not a lot of time. I will try and stall them for as long as I can.” She looked at the creator and he nodded. “But you have to go. You are no longer safe here.”
“I don’t understand.” I felt tears burning the back of my eyes.
“Emily! Go!” Cook sounded angry and the creator grabbed my hand, pulled me away from the door, making me follow him.
“I don’t understand! You said I had a year to decide. Why have you come to get me now?” I protested, but still keeping my voice as low as possible.
“As I said, your life is in danger. I am not going to let some old selfish Queen have you killed when I can protect you.” He sounded angry.
“What? What are you talking about?” I shook my head.
“The Queen had her son, your prince, locked up last night. She was going to have you locked up early in the morning. The charge is witchery. Saying you put a spell on her son and seduced him. Finding you guilty and then sending you to be hung a day or so later.” He waved his arms through the air. His sentences were short, as if he was fighting the urge to strangle someone.
“How do you know this?” I frowned as we rushed down the hill.
“I am the creator … I am everywhere.” He waved his arms through the air again and I sighed.
“Then why did you not stop her?” I mean really?! If he was so all powerful!
“That is what I need you for, Emily. I need the moon goddess for my creations to pray to. I need you to guide them, decide on their destinies. The way things are now, people like the Queen are making things up as they wish.” He sighed.
“But I am a mere commoner. How could you want me to be a goddess? Shouldn’t it be a Princess? Surely there is one pure of heart and beautiful.” None of this made any sense to me.
“Yes, there was, but the King did not keep his word. I do not wish to rehash this with you. We need to pick up our pace. We need to get away from the castle. Far enough as fast as possible. Talking is not helping.” He pushed me out in front of him.
“Okay.” I sighed. We picked up the pace and I stopped asking questions. I looked back at the castle once. “Julius, I am so sorry,” I whispered.
Third Person
Cook was busy preparing the dough for the day’s bread, when the guards could be heard bashing through the servant’s rooms. She decided to ignore the noise and carried on working. They reached the kitchen just as she pushed the bread into the oven.
“Where is she, kitchen wench!” A guard shouted at her. She looked at him from head to toe.
“Who?” She spat beside his foot, wiping the flour off her hands with her apron. She hated behaving like that. It was unheard of in a kitchen, but if it meant giving Emily more time, she would do everything she could.
“The prince’s wh@re!” He sneered.
“Look, I will tell you the same thing I told those young girls who like gossiping so much. I don’t think the prince needs to pay for favours. Secondly, I have never heard of a wh@re in this castle!” Cook raised an eyebrow.
“You are asking for the dungeons old woman!!” The guard lost his temper. “You will join her if you don’t tell us!”
“You still haven’t told me who you are looking for!” She said through gritted teeth.
“We are looking for a girl called Emily. The one that always helps you in the kitchen!” He gritted his teeth right back at her.
“Oh, that girl. No, she left. Ran away.” Cook waved her dishcloth in the air. A bunch of flour puffed out of it right into the faces of the guards. She had to almost bite right through her tongue not to laugh at their white faces. The one guard had enough of her antics, grabbed hold of her arms, and held them behind her.
“When? Where?!!” He shouted.
“I don’t know! You are hurting me! And the Queen’s bread is burning! Do you want to be the one to tell her why she is receiving burnt bread!!!” He let her go, and she grabbed the bread stick, pulling it out of the oven. It was a perfect golden brown, just like she baked every day.
“If you don’t talk right now, you will be joining the rats in the dungeons!” The first guard shouted.
“Well, then, take me to the dungeons, cause I know nuffin'. I woke up this morning, went to the kitchen to work, and she wasn’t there. It’s not my job to go look for her. I’m not her mother!” Seeing that they were not going to get any information out of her, they left the kitchen. She was busy preparing breakfast, and they did not want the Queen’s breakfast to be late because of them. That would be even worse for them. Cook smiled when she heard their metal armour clanging down the passage, away from the kitchen.
“You lied! You do know where she is!” A voice suddenly appeared from the servant’s passage. It was a well-dressed young girl. She was new to the staff and Cook had only seen her walking around with the Queen.
“Why would I lie?” Cook frowned.
“Because you are trying to protect her!” The girl walked about the kitchen.
“I didn’t lie!” Cook carried on peeling the potatoes.
“I will tell on you. The Queen will have you hung for this!” The girl sneered.
“Oh brother, you as well … Then, please. Let the guards arrest me and hang me. There is no evidence that I was involved with anything. If there suddenly appears evidence it means that I had no chance, to begin with. So run to your Queen, who, by the way, had her son locked up. What makes you think she will protect you?” Cook turned away from the young girl, walking over to Emily’s old hideaway, and grabbed a couple of potatoes to peel. The girl angrily turned around and left. Cook took a deep breath, thinking to herself that she hoped Emily and the stranger got away far enough.
Julius
“Where did you have her hidden?!” I heard my mother shouting at the top of her lungs. Her shrill voice echoed something fierce inside the dungeons.
“Who are you talking about, mother? I have been here where you had me locked up. No food, no water, no her either.” I was sitting in the back of the cell, darkness covering the top part of my body. Only my legs were visible.
“Stand up so I can see you!” She shouted again.
“Why?” I sighed.
“I am your mother. I deserve that respect.” She huffed.
“No, I have no mother. My mother would not have locked her son up in the dungeons, stolen his crown, and plotted to have him marry someone he doesn’t love.” I kept my voice as calm as possible and fought the urge to jump up and grab her.
“Get up I say!” Her voice echoed through the dark passages and I didn’t move.
“No. I am a prisoner here. I no longer have to do as you command. I will defend myself at trial, that is if I receive a fair trial.” I could hear in her voice that she was fuming, but I no longer cared. I always thought that my mother was unfair to some of the staff, but never had I seen her being so cruel. I heard some of the stories, but when I entered a room, the staff would go quiet and leave quickly. If I mentioned it to my father, he would just make it out to be nothing or that she must have had a bad night or a headache. My mother suffered from severe headaches, which I, as I grew older, figured out was code for ‘I don’t want to do this’ or ‘I don’t like this, or this person’ or anything she did not feel like dealing with or looking at.
“Julius, I will only ask you one more time, get up, and tell me where she is hiding?” She gritted her teeth while glaring at me.
“What? What do you mean where is Emily?” I jumped up, grabbing the cell bars, almost spitting on her when I asked the question.
“She is nowhere to be found in the castle, and I am convinced that you arranged for her to be hidden from me! Where is she?” My mother looked a little shocked at my reaction.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you!” What? Where would she be? If she was at her father’s funeral, that would surely be the first place they would have looked. Did Cook leave with her? Two guards came running down the stairs, their armour clanging.
“Your Majesty, the old woman won’t talk. Says she knows nothing.” So, Cook stayed behind. Maybe she didn’t know where Emily went to either. I started worrying that she might have been taken by the merchant from the other day, or some other horrible creature!
“You need to let me out!!” I shouted, pushing and pulling at the cell gate.
“Excuse me? I don’t have to do anything of the sort. You will just go off running after her if I let you out. I need you to stay here, even if it means staying in the dungeons until King Angus arrives.” My mother rubbed her hands over the skirt of her dress as she always did when she was nervous.
“What?” I frowned.
“You heard me.” She turned away from me to walk back up the stairs. Stopping in front of the guard keeping watch. “How dare you leave your Prince without food and water? Get it for him immediately!” She shouted, before leaving. Where could Emily be? All of this was my fault! What if she was in danger or in the hands of a man that … I kicked a plate that was left behind in the cell. I didn’t even want to think about what might be happening to her.
“Highness, highness.” I heard a whisper.
“Cook?” My eyes scanned the darkness.
“Yes, highness. I need to tell you that Emily is safe. I don’t have time to say much more.” Cook whispered.
“Cook? Where is she? Who is she with?” The silence was almost deafening. “Cook?”
“Who are you talking to?” The guard asked suspiciously, returning with food and water.
“No one. Do you see anyone here? How could I be talking to anyone if there was nobody here?” I tried my best to confuse the guard and distract his attention.
“Yes, no, yes highness, your food.” He quickly locked the cell door behind him and returned to his seat. Not in the mood to eat, I looked at the food. Cook made it and it did smell nice. I took a piece of bread. Deciding to make a plan to get out of there and find my Emily. I was just fooling myself, thinking I wasn’t in the mood to eat. I wouldn’t be able to try the sturdiness of the cell door while the guard was there. Walking over to the window, I tried the bars to see how sturdy they were. Our dungeons were built to hold criminals in and not let them get out. I would have to use a clever manoeuvre to get the guard to let me out.
Emily
It felt as if we had been walking forever. The scenery didn’t change.
“Is it this dry everywhere? It looks just like it does in our kingdom.” I looked around astonished.
“It is still part of the kingdom, Emily. Keep up. We still need to get out of here, so the Queen cannot find you.” We walked on, only stopping for short pauses to drink water. I did not own anything, which meant that neither of us had anything other than our water sacks to carry. Night fell, and the creator found a covered spot for us to rest. We couldn’t make a fire or cook food for fear of being seen, and we didn’t have anything with us.
“Don’t worry child. I am taking you to a place where it is plentiful. It is not long now. We should be there by midday tomorrow. Sleep now. I will watch over you.” His voice was actually soothing as I lay down.
“Don’t you need to sleep?” I frowned as the creator laughed.
“Emily, my darling child. I have so much to teach you. Now sleep.”
- Writer
