Bring Food from home
The two of you decided to go to the ball, deciding to play it safe, and being sure to take every precaution you could to protect the kingdom. Though you both had agreed to pretend things were normal among the family until the day of the ball, you couldn’t help but feel worried about the passing of time, as you spent it taking care of your royal duties for the following days.
You spent all day preparing some food for the king yourself, imitating the menu, yet ensuring that every ounce of food was checked and tested by yourself before it was brought to the king. Assuming the queen was out to get her partner, you had figured that she was going to poison the very food he would eat, therefore this was the best way for you to keep the king safe.
After mimicking almost everything that would have been served, you had packed it all up, before bringing it to your father that morning. In a quick exchange, the two of you shared a quick moment together before everyone had to go set up for the ball.
Not long after when the ball had begun, you had the job of simply sitting on a throne and looking pretty. Barely able to focus on the event going on around you, the hustle of the party was the least of your worries, as you kept your eyes out on any suspicious behaviour in the area.
After a while the party had taken a turn, beginning the dinner phase of the party, everyone began to calm down, grabbing seats, and awaiting plates and plates of an extensively planned banquet. You watch as the people began to ravenously dig into the endless table full of food surrounding them. With confidence, you watched the king take out his own personal dish of the meal, spooning it up hungrily as he sat on his throne, his back to the crowd for privacy.
You watch the queen as she mouthed words to herself.
“This is why I do this... “ were the only words you understood, muttered silently beneath her breath. Your eyes darted around as a sinking feeling began to grow in your chest; before you could even spend time concentrating on it, you notice an odd jolt, ringing through the king’s body as he quickly shook, striking a rigid pose.
You watch the queen smiling from the distance as the crowd began to take notice of what’s going on. With a dull thud the king fell over, foaming at the mouth and convulsing as his body was filled with the poison from a dart. You look around to see a shadowy figure in the distance disappearing, though you dared not leave the king’s side, as you watched the life slip away from him.
The queen then began to wail and cry, her hysterical screaming rang out through the palace walls, and you watched along with your sibling as the moments unfolded before you almost in slow motion. The prince had a cold stare on his face, almost remorseful as he held his eyes down at the ground, looking almost completely past the dying body of his step father.
You glared at him with an angered scowl, though he never met your own eyes, as they almost began to drip with sadness. As the children, you and him were carted off to bed earlier than usual, which was the perfect opportunity to confront the prince about what he had done. To no avail, his silence had carried on throughout the night, all the way until you fell asleep.
With a loud bang, you suddenly wake up, realizing that you and your sibling were now locked away in a cage with thick metal bars barely tall enough for the two of you to stand in.
“What is this? What’s going on?” your sibling lay on the ground, dirt kicked up onto his face as you struggled to free yourself from the metal prison. “Hey! Somebody! Let me out!” Your high pitched voice rang out uselessly through the darkness. The noise woke the prince in a confused coughing fit, in response to your aggressive scrabbling in the cage.
“Hey.. Calm down.” you were startled, it was the first time you heard your sibling’s voice in so long, and now his timing had only upset you even further, as you noticed his moving around.
“What did you do?” you ask him angrily, your back hunched under the low bars of the cage. You stood above your sibling face-to-face as you spat rudely in his direction. “You got us into this didn’t you..”
“I had no choice.” he said. “I’m in this cage too remember?! She betrayed me too you know.” he said as he rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, and continued to slump on the limited cage flooring.
“What?” you said, tilting your head in confusion. “You mean..?” your tone quickly turned from hostile to curious and concerned.
“Yeah she said I’d be getting in on this too, but well..” the two of you sat in silence for a moment, just thinking to each other. In the silence there was nothing for the two of you to do but wait until someone comes to get you. Much more time passes as you and your sibling waste away in the small cage, hidden in a place unbeknownst to the two of you.
Written by Driftingdragon on 13 March 2020
The end (for now)