Chapter Two
The Consequence
“Get in here now!” Leilanai slammed the door behind them. “Sit down.”
Ellima scowled as she was pushed down onto a seat.
“Explain yourself.” Leilanai sat across from her daughter, her head buried in her hands.
Ellima stayed silent and gazed quizzically at the papers on her mothers desk.
“What are those?”
Leilanai looked up and quickly tipped the letters into her drawer.
“You have not answered my question.”
“What is there to explain?”
“Explain why my youngest daughter is in tears at this very moment, recovering from her ordeal.”
“Must be all that waving and blowing kisses. Perhaps her head has exploded from the excitement.”
“SILENCE!” Leilanai slammed her hands down on the desktop. “All you have done is insult this family! What has Ivy ever done to you?”
Ellima turned away from her.
“You cannot say, can you? My daughter has done nothing but been an asset to this country. She will become a fine Princess. A fine queen. But you?” she shook her head. “You’ll be lucky to become a servant.”
Ellima glared at her mother. She stared into her hard, cold eyes, rife with fury. No love in there.
“I am at the end of my tether. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Ellima felt her eyes well with tears.
“What do you mean?”
“Your father and I have decided that you would benefit from some, ‘hands on’ experience in the field of royalty.”
“You’re sending me to another school?”
“No.” Leilanai pressed the tips of her fingers together. “You are… to be married.”
Ellima closed her eyes and opened them again. This couldn’t be happening. No, she was dreaming, she had to be.
“What do you mean?” she whispered.
“Suitors have been prepared. They will arrive tomorrow.”
“No. No. You haven’t. This is a trick, a joke?”
“This is real, Ellima. We cannot have you tarnishing this family’s reputation. The Greenwood family has ruled Aimia for over seven centuries. We are not about to end that reign because of you. I will have order. ”
“NO! I’m not getting married.” Ellima jumped off her seat and tried desperately to open the door. “Let me out.”
Leilanai took out her wand and flicked it towards the door. Latches appeared on the door, locks turned and levers shut. The door was completely sealed.
“Order will be kept in this kingdom and if you must suffer for it… This is for the good of our land.”
Ellima shook her head and kicked the door.
“You can’t do this! I swear to you I will never be married!”
“You will stay here until Ivy’s coronation ball is over." Leilanai left the room by a side door, which after she had closed, disappeared immediately.
Ellima ran at the door, pounding with all her might.
“I’m not getting married. Let me out!”
Nobody answered. She gave up and sunk to the floor. Rage consumed her. Boiling away inside her like a volcano near eruption. Why couldn’t she be like all the heroes in her books? Knock down the doors with one single kick, make her parents send the suitors away and be a hero. But nothing ever worked that way in real life. In real life, she would be stuck in the parlour and married off to an arrogant prince. The truth was, princesses weren’t always strong or brave.
She got up and stared out the window. She could just about see the dance hall from the parlour. There was Ivy, dancing happily in her vivid pink dress, waltzing across the marble floor with a prince. The waltzing music echoed loudly from the hall as hundreds of princes and princesses, old and young, danced in formation. Each pair wore tiny masks held up with slender piece of wood, similar to those worn at masquerades and the theatre. Ivy quickly waltzed past the glass wall, spotting Ellima in the distance. She threw her head back and laughed, smiling at the boy she was dancing with. Ellima shuddered and turned away from the window. Now Ivy had a boyfriend and Ellima was going to be forced to marry any old prince or lord. It was not fair at all! Ivy would be able to fall in love, do what she wanted, while Ellima was cooped up in a castle with an old man she didn’t even love.
Ellima quickly spun around and picked up a heavy paperweight off her mothers desk. She stood back a few feet from the window and covered her face with one hand as she threw it at the glass. There was a crash as it fell with a clatter onto the stonework outside. Ellima turned back around and gathered up anything she thought would be useful. A silver letter opener (in the shape of a knife) and a silk scarf that was draped over the table. She smashed the window a little more with another ornament, so that there was no glass left at all. Ellima didn’t fancy being cut with glass so soon. With that finished, she pushed the desk up to the wall, as the window was quite small and high up. Ellima clambered onto it and stuck her head out the window. It was freezing outside. Too cold for March. Thankfully, she was in luck as her mother’s parlour was parallel to the wash room. If she could just get out onto the window ledge and step across…. Then she could go and find Ario.
She repressed all her rage and anger and let the cool wind calm her down. Ellima wriggled over the broken glass, skimming past the jagged shards that were poking out at her. Then with a heave, she pulled herself onto the window sill.
“OUCH!”
Her leg throbbed at once, made even worse by the cold air. She looked down and to her relief she discovered it was just a graze. Having a piece of broken glass in her leg wasn’t at the top of her agenda. It was a good thing she had worn the dungarees and not a stupid gown.
“Wow..” she whispered, looking down at the countryside. She was only on the third floor up but it still felt wonderful. Huge trees surrounded the palace, leaving only a small space to the rest of city. The sky was a luscious red as the sun set on the horizon. This was a lot better than the four walls of that stupid room, she thought, smiling at the horizon.
Tearing her eyes away from the beautiful view, she focused on the job in hand. The washroom was a good two metres and a half away. How on earth was she going to get over that distance? She would have to jump, that was for sure.
Ellima clung onto the bricks and braced herself. One, two, THREE! She leapt off the sill and soared through the air for a few seconds. She grabbed at the stone edge, but the brick fell apart in her hands! She slid down the stonework, clasping at everything, anything! But she continued to fall. “Help!” she thought, her arms whirling. CRUNCH! She grabbed a ledge just in time. Her legs were dangling six feet from the ground.
Ellima swung herself up onto the ledge and dusted herself down. Now, where was the washroom? She was sure it was on the third floor, but she certainly wasn’t there now. Maybe it would be better to climb down and head to the gardens. But what if she was spotted? Then her parents would lock her back in that awful room or even somewhere worse. However, there was nowhere else to go. The only rooms behind her were meeting rooms and guest rooms, all locked. Perhaps she would have to risk being caught.
Ellima lowered herself down again and let go of the ledge. She landed on her feet, surprisingly and looked around. Luckily, the guards hadn’t patrolled this part of the palace yet, so she still had time to get to the gardens. Ellima ducked as a maid dashed by, and dropped to her hands and knees so she wouldn’t be spotted. The ground was still damp from this morning shower but at least it wasn’t raining now. She had spoken too soon. At once, the clouds above broke open and mighty buckets of ice cold water were tipped unto the unsuspecting citizens. Ellima crawled around the edge of the palace, covering her eyes from the mud, water and leaves that were everywhere. She continued through the rain, moving slowly past each window. Her hair, clothes and skin were drenched in water and caked in mud by the time she had reached the other side of the east wing. The gardens were separate to the main castle, so she would have to make a run for it. Hopefully, the heavy rain would aid her escape as she could barely see a thing through it herself.
Ellima ran across the open grass, the rain pushing against her, like prison bars of water in all directions. What if she was seen? She sped up, but the wind and rain blew and fell harder. Ellima dropped to her knees again and tried to crawl. She was so cold and wet, it was hard to carry on. Perhaps she should just give up… “No!’ she thought, if they found her they would throw her in a cell and lock her up. And she would still have to marry someone. An stuck-up prince, a rotten old lord or a king from a distant land. She was never going to allow them to do that. Maybe if she hid out in the gardens for a few days they might be too distraught to marry her off.
Somehow she forgot the cold, the rain and the fear of marriage and carried on.
“I’m not getting married. I’m not getting married.” she whispered to herself as she trudged on through the muck. The gardens were pretty close now, she was going to make it! Ellima pulled herself up and ran through the dense rain. It was refreshing now, rather than a freezing cocoon of water and dirt. The rain washed off the mud, freeing her rigid joints. At last, she reached the garden wall. Ellima sheltered under the thick ivy and searched her pockets. She didn’t have the key! She groaned and kicked the locked door.
“No, no, no!”
Ellima sighed and sat down for a moment. What should she do? Run away? They’d catch her before she even reached the gates. She could always hide somewhere but there were so many servants and guards she be found in minutes. She didn’t have many friends or contacts, so how was she supposed to face up to her parents? It was hopeless. ‘Hold on,’ she thought "Ario must still be around here."
She whistled loudly, looking around for a flutter of wings. Ellima whistled again, whispering ‘Ario’. But there was no answer.
Suddenly, Ellima felt something hop onto her back, something small, something with talons.
“ARIO!” The tiny robin was perched on her shoulder looking content and not at all dazed by the terrible weather.
“Ario! You’ve got to help me. I need to get out. Do you understand?”
He chirped back excitedly and leapt off her shoulder, hovering just above her head.
“You want me to follow you?” Ellima stood up and watched the little bird fly away from her. She dashed after him, brushing past the plants and low branches. Ario flew on, changing direction every so often; they seemed to be heading towards the very old gardens that not even Ellima had explored. He flew ahead of her, going so fast she couldn’t even see him anymore.
“Wait, Ario!”
Ellima turned and ran down the left path. Where had he gone? The gardens were like a maze. Hedges all around, twisting paths and everywhere looked the same.
“Ario?” Ellima whistled again and again but she still couldn’t find him.
Then she heard it. The horrible crashing noise of a cage and a piercing squawk. It was Ario. Ellima followed the noise down a pathway and gasped when she saw what had happened. Her mother had trapped Ario in a tiny, iron cage, laughing as she passed it to the heavily armed guards behind her. The witch! Ellima quickly ran back and pressed herself against a nearby hedge.
“See to it that she doesn’t escape again after you have found her. Now, get to work. I need to go and find my darling Ivy.”
Ellima heard her mother’s clomping footsteps go off in the other direction. She waited for the thumping clatter of the guards but it didn’t come. Maybe they had gone away… She slowly edged towards the end of the hedge. Ellima took a deep breath and peeked around the hedge.
“Aaaagh!” The guards hadn’t gone, but were standing right behind her.
Ellima didn’t waste anytime in getting away. She leapt into a sprint, breathing hard as she dodged past the flower beds and trees.
“Halt, princess!’
Ellima turned over a wheelbarrow of pots and threw them at the guards. Their steady march didn’t falter. Ellima bit her lip and dropped the pots, running on.
“Leave me alone!”
(End of Part One)
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