Young Writers Society

SHANILIA

I set my book down carefully and watched the servant work for a moment. Did I know this servant? My father had once been able to greet every one of our servants by name. Why couldn't I do that? Oh right, because I was too busy plotting a way to burn every corset in the kingdom. Of course.

But I had to know this servant. He was a survivor after all. D. His name started with D. That's all I could scrounge up. Should I talk to him? Would that be princess like? Why did I just ask myself that? I had never cared to be all frilly and proper and princess-like.

Yes, I would talk to him. "Excuse me?" I asked quietly. Was I being shy? Impossible!

He turned to face me and placed a book he was holding back on the shelf. "Yes?"

Okay, so what did I say now? Hi, I'm in desperate need of somebody to talk to because I'm dreadfully lonely. Half of the kingdom probably wants my head on a silver platter and I can't find my brother. So I decided to talk to you today. "I... I just want somebody to talk to I guess. If you're not too busy...dusting books." Did I sound like a snob? I hoped not, I had tried my whole life to get away from that kind of life. Was I retreating back to it? Please say something I begged him silently.

-Hat-

He had been angry with Zahra for a moment, after all he was just trying to help. Then again, she was making a basket just for something to do. Wasn't he carrying round a cart of scrap metal for the same reason? His sense of empathy quietened him for the length of their journey.

'You weren't kidding,' Hat said when they arrived a the palace. It had taken more damage than his shop, if his shop were fifty times bigger. He bowed his head and lowered himself to his knees.

'What are you doing?' Zahra asked.

'We should mourn the dead before we go through here, or they might rise up to haunt us,' he said. The girls shrugged at eachother and waited. Once he felt their patience had worn thin he stood up and started to climb over the rubble, dragging the rattling cart over it awkwardly.

'Let's go this way,' Kima directed them into the dark.

Would now be a good time to try it? Hat thought. He didn't want to scare them, but they really needed a light. He raised one hand, making a small ball of light appear in his palm and sent it forward in front of them. Good think he had, as right before them was a rift that anyone could have tripped over.

The girls went first, but he was held back by a sudden jolt when the wheel of the cart got trapped. He pulled and tugged, making the rattle of the cart echo around the closed space.

'Hat, just leave it,' Zahra said. 'Hat!' The sound of a metal bowl falling out echoed so loud splinters of rock fell around them.

He stopped suddenly and looked around. The ball of light split into two and followed his gaze to light up whichever area he looked. He yanked the cart one last time and sighed at its reluctancy. With a farewell to it, they advanced on further.

'Where did she go?' He looked around. Kima had disappeared completely.

Kima

I am so impatient. I ended up running off ahead, farther into the darkness. That strange light was gone, so now it was almost pitch black. I could create a very dense and dull light from my energy. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as the ball of energy became larger and larger in front of me, it was getting too big. The tips of my fingers and toes became cold, as well as my lips. My entire body numbed as I allowed the energy to grow, I needed to be able to see where i was going, but this was still hardly helping. I finally released the energy and watched it fly out in front of me, I fell to the ground, darkness began to cave in around me. I pushed it to far, i knew it. Now i was going to faint.

We got to the palace. the palace, the thing was in ruins. why they wanted to be there i had no idea but alas we were there. it was almost pitch dark when we stopped. after a moment of silence "for the dead" Hat did the craziest thing i had ever...rememberd seeing, he shot light out of his hands. its scared the crap out of me at first but we were lucky he did because we were about to trip over a rift in the ground we hadent seen. Kima and i jumped over first. Hat was coming with his cart when it got stuck. this distressed him, i didnt understand. God forbid the cart get left behind. a bowl hit the ground.
"Hat just leave it...Hat!" i said. fianlly he turned away. Then we noticed.
"where did she go?" hat asked as if she had disappeared into thin air. he looked around.
"she ran that way" i pointed ahead where we were about to be heading. "she looked fidgity when we were standing here then she just ran" I totally blanked out for a second and when i fianlly came to hat was giving me the weirdest look.
"what?...What!" i ran to where he had left the cart and grabbed the bowl that fell. i looked at my self in the reflection.
"oh my..." i looked like Kima, everything down to my eyes. I started shaking. Fear, i dont show fear, I am Zahra, i am 15 my parents are dead and i dont show fear. i thought to myself.
I looked at hat, "Hat, ignoring this odd predicament, lets go find Kima." i started jogging in the direction Kima ran. if i were Kima where would i go?

Daniel

Daniel smiled and set down the rag.

“My lady,” he said, bowing at the waist, and straightening. “It would be my pleasure to speak with you.” He carefully perched himself, spine still erect, on a slightly lower seat than the princess’. He smiled politely and waited for her to speak.

It was customary for those with elevated status to speak first, and Daniel was just a servant. Who was he to route tradition? The thought made his smile widen slightly. Rude, maybe. But it would be fun. However, he held his tongue, as any good servant would do.

SHANILIA

I grinned and chuckled to myself. This servant was being much too proper and traditional. "You needn't be so proper around me." Did I just say needn't? Well that wasn't prim and proper at all. "I've been trying to escape it my whole life. And do slouch if you're able." I winked and propped my chin in my hands. Idiot. You're sounding like a princess, stop it!

Sterling twittered loudly and took off, landing neatly ontop of one of the bookcases. I sighed and looked back at the servant. "What's your name anyways?" There, much better.

"Daniel," he answered.

I smiled warmly and clapped my hands like I used to when I was a little girl. "Oh, and please, call me Illia. So much less formal than my lady." I giggled and settled into the sofa.

-Hat-

As they carried on walking, taking several sneaking glances at 'Kima-Zahra.' Ignoring this odd predicament? Easier for her.

They continued walking, one light up ahead, the other following wherever Hat looked. He spun the bowl around his finger as they went, until they came to a place with three different ways to go. One looked like a hall, the other, a caved-in doorway, and the third seemed like it the rubble just happened to fall and crash in an arch-shape.

He created a third light and sent one down each path. The third was a clear dead end.

'We've got a fifty percent chance of getting it wrong.' Hat said.

'What if you go one way and I go the other.'

'Then one of us has a fifty percent chance of getting it wrong, and you don't have a...' He paused and looked at the bowl, then propped it up against a rock and directed one of the lights inside it. A dim reflection followed the ground down one way. 'If I go too far away it will fade, so memorise your path, or you might fall and hurt yourself or cause another cave in or...' He shook his head violently. 'Go that way.'

She seemed reluctant to take orders, which made him feel guilty, but the fear of how Kima would find her way around in the dark was enough to override it. Logically, this option had less negative outcomes than the other.

He started off down the second path with the remaining two lights.

(Sorry I haven't been able to post; I haven't been on in a while.)

Olivia

She was sitting in her favorite perch in the forest, looking out over the land as she contemplated what had happened over the last few days. Firstly, the nobles at the castle had caught her climbing trees and playing with some of the villagers, and forbidden her to ever step foot outside the castle again.

Well, she thought, smiling wryly, that part of their plan didn't work out, did it?

Next, she was to have many stuffy, boring daily lessons in the castle's schoolrooms. She sighed impatiently and twirled a strand of wavy strawberry blonde hair around one finger.

And finally, when she wasn't having her lessons or finishing her schoolwork or sneaking out of the castle, she was to help in the kitchens and serve the nobles their food. She wouldn't mind, normally; it was the Chef who irritated her with his self-important and arrogant manner to her and the servants.

She jumped down from the low-lying branch she had been sitting on and walked out of the forest back to the castle. After all, it would soon be time for dinner, if it wasn't already, and she needed to be there to serve the prissy, stuck-up nobles.

But first...

She snuck past the impatient nobles in the dining hall, up the winding staircase, past the two locked doors and found the heavy oak doors to the library. She quietly opened them and slipped inside the room. Ah, how wonderful it was to see the books practically shining on their shelves and a quietly crackling fire--if it didn't burn the books, Olivia wouldn't mind it--along with some comfy sofas and--

She caught her breath. There was a girl lying down, comfortably settled in the nearest sofa, and one of the servants...hmm, didn't his name begin with a D? The servant was also sitting down, but not in a sofa, and it was obvious that he was waiting for the girl to speak.

Olivia lingered by the doors, unsure of whether or not to interrupt.

Daniel

Daniel smiled and allowed his shoulders to slump somewhat.

“Very well my – I mean, Illia.” He winked at her, but then frowned. “It seems… improper to just…” He struggled to find the right words. In truth, Daniel was very eager to speak with the princess, but it seemed odd. Out of place, even. He shrugged ruefully, and shook the feeling off.

Meanwhile, Illia was frowning slightly.

“Improper to what?” She asked.

“Nothing.” He shrugged again, and his frown was replaced by his constant grin. “It’s just not every day I’m asked to speak with royalty.” His grin widened.

SHANILIA

I giggled. "Don't think of me as royalty. Think of me as..." I stared at the bookcase for a moment, trying to find the right words. "As a person. I never really wanted to be a princess anyways." I wasn't a princess anymore though was I? My mother and father were both dead... My pulse quickened. Did this make me queen? "Oh good Lord no..." I murmered.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, frowning slightly.

"If my brother doesn't show up... does that make me...?" I trailed off. I didn't really want to be queen. The whole kingdom probably wanted my head on a silver platter! That and I really wasn't ready to take on the responsability of being a queen. Sure, I could start my plans on changing things for the others, but I doubted anybody would be thrilled to see me perched on a throne. I rested my forehead in my hands. "I don't want to be a queen!"

Olivia

"And you won't have to."

Olivia stepped forward out of the shadows, startling the princess and the servant. She bowed her head slightly in deference to the princess and nodded towards the servant.

The princess frowned slightly as she looked at the complete stranger in front of her. "Excuse me, have we met before?"

Olivia shook her head. "No, Miss...Illia." Suddenly she looked worried. "Is it all right if I call you that, m'lady?"

Illia threw her hands up in mock exasperation. "Now you're doing it too!" Turning to the servant, she asked, "Did I not just tell you to call me Illia and not 'my lady', Daniel?"

The servant nodded, grinning. Olivia looked at the princess and saw that she was grinning, too, and said quietly, "I'm Olivia. It's a pleasure to meet you two. Now, going back to what you were saying earlier, Illia...."

"I really don't want to be the queen," Illia cried out, almost pleading with Olivia and Daniel. "Isn't there something we can do about my brother, or about the villagers and nobles so that they won't--" She broke off suddenly, blushing. Somehow it didn't seem polite to say "so that they won't want my head on a silver platter".

Olivia remained silent for a long moment. Then she spoke again. "There is one thing we can do about your situation, Illia."

"What's that?" Illia and Daniel asked at the same time.

SHANILIA

"I'm Olivia. It's a pleasure to meet you two. Now, going back to what you were saying earlier, Illia...."

"I really don't want to be the queen," I whined. Okay, so being proper wasn't something I wanted to do...but was I acting like too much of a child now? . "Isn't there something we can do about my brother, or about the villagers and nobles so that they won't--" I broke off. There was just something about saying "kill me," that made me shudder.

There was a long silence before Olivia spoke again. "There is one thing we can do about your situation, Illia."

"What's that?" Daniel and I asked in unison. I glanced quickly at him, then back at Olivia.

I cleared my throat. "What exactly do you have in mind?" If it involved me doing anything bizarre for Olivia, I was out. Sure I wanted horribly not to be queen, but if she wanted something absolutely inane in return... like taking my place as queen or for me to murder somebody... I would much rather go back into hiding.

Olivia

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Illia asked cautiously, as if afraid to find out.

Olivia shrugged. "It's simple, really. We all band together and escape the darned castle and the lands surrounding it."

Illia heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh. I was expecting something...well...."

"But how will we escape?" Daniel asked, frowning. "I'm a servant, so I could just sneak away during one of my tasks. But I don't know about Illia. And you, Olivia. Aren't you the daughter of one of the nobles?"

Olivia nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

The three fell into another long silence, which was broken thoughtfully by the princess this time. "Well, there is one way...."

Daniel

“Well, there is one way…” Said Illia. Daniel frowned at her. He did not like the direction the conversation had taken. If things had gotten so bad that the Princess had to resort to a secretive escape… But who was he kidding? Many people would love to see her and her brother’s heads mounted on spikes. But… her brother… the Prince…

“We could find the Prince,” he blurted out before his common sense kicked in. He lowered his eyes, abashed.

“Huh?” said Olivia, obviously taken off balance by his sudden interruption.

“Never mind,” Daniel muttered. “What were you saying, my – er, sorry, Illia?”

-Hat-

He hadn't been walking for long when he heard Zahra scream. He skipped back carefully around any holes, rocks, cracks, pebbles, anything that looked remotely suspicious, and found Zahra standing in the tunnel he had sent her down.

Kima was lying on the floor. He knelt down to touch her neck. She was icy cold, but still had a pulse.

'I saw another light,' Zahra said, 'but then it went dim and she fell.'

'I wonder...' Hat said. He put his hand out to touch her chest, then flinched and felt his face flush purple. Zahra was looking down at him with an expression that cross somewhere between accusation and disbelief. 'No, I mean,' he struggled. Now she thought him to be a pervert, which just made him feel more awkward. With awkwardness comes social rejection, which he was good at handling, but none the less... He shook his head. 'If using her powers makes her weak, then she must get her energy from somewhere.'

He made a ball of light between his hands and pushed it inwards to make a small needle. He then carefully put one hand on the bottom of her ribcage. He took the needle, while it was still glowing, and pushed it in.

'What are you doing!' Zahra snapped. Kima twitched away slightly, but her eyes flickered. He didn't a second and third time, and the fourth made several needles at once. Slowly it worked, and on the last needle Kima shot up and pushed his hand away.