PART SEVEN:
Play with me pretty please:
The queen giggled joyously like a child, as princess Reinah rubbed her protruding belly and pretended to talk to the unborn child. What astonished and tickled her even more was that the baby seemed to be responding to whatever it was Reinah was saying by kicking her in successive rhythms. If only she could get the baby to kick Reinah instead, then maybe that child would understand the effect she was having on her yet unborn sibling. She knew she would be called crazy if she ever voiced it, but the baby ususally did a very nauseating jump every time Reinah walked into the room. She could not wait for them to finally get together to kick and talk as much as they both wanted, without the wall of her stomach standing in the way of course.
She missed Debeh, and wondered how things were faring for her in her hometown. Though she never lacked in service and attendance of the best servants, Debeh had come to feel like a friend and family to her. Ashea the new arrival was now her personal maid. She had come highly recommended by Methus the housekeeper, which was quite strange in itself because Methus shunned any emotional attachment to his staff. And though the new maid was still in a trial period, she was working as hard as she could to fill a void that only Debeh instinctively knew what to do with. Since her husband the king had recommended more rest than usual, the queen was glad that her interaction with the servants was now limited. She hoped to sleep more until Debeh came back and then indulged her in some very inspiring tales.
After the queen had laughed herself into mild exhaustion and a contented sleep, the princess started to walk out of the room. She barely made it to the door when the fetus kicked one more time in protest....
A bloodless coup d'etat:
The five pairs of eyes looked on as the sixth one scanned their faces while demonstrating how to make a dangerous potion look and taste like real human food. She was now in charge of them, as they longingly and helplessly hung to every word that she spoke. Amazing how just one encounter can turn the tables on a mere recruit's life and turn her into a recruiter and a leader herself. After that fateful night with whatever or whoever it was that came to her bed, she developed a very dark and vexed chasm. A baseless fissure cracked inside of her, with eerie and stealth capabilities. Cabilities that made even the provincial witch shudder in perceived threat. Something else strange about that night, was that although it felt like a crescendo of satisfaction. It left a gaping and insatiable hole of great depths. Depths so deep and gloom, the abyss left her gasping for air. Much like saying something was sweet and bitter at the same time, or short and long, or better still, small and big. The contradiction of expectations was tiring, even to a seared conscience like hers.
The morning after her encounter, she found her way back towards the hut where she had lived and trained to steal, kill and destroy. Her intent was to check up on the other girls out of curiosity, before she herself embarked on an unplanned journey. However angry, rejected and frustrated she was feeling, she had at least formed a bond with them when they lived with the witch. Unfortunatley or fortunately, she happened upon a sacrificial ceremony involving a notably feared high priestess. When that one (the priestess ie) attempted to reprimand and attack her for walking in on a sacred event, she lifted her by the throat with one hand and slammed her against a tree. That single display of rage and physical strength, sent all the other participants on their knees and postrate before her. The same display however, led the sisterhood to make her an offer even she could not refuse. Their captive Bronid was an offering of peace and acknowledgement of the shift of power and leadership. It seemed their master and lord had chosen someone else to rule them. The steaming bowl of nonsense fed to the victim, would seal the deal and create an eternal convenant of addiction and confusion.
Any ounce of emotion or empathy she may have doubtedly posessed before, had completely dried out now. Her desire was solely to use everyone and everything to her advantage. She had now, what felt like an innate desire to destroy anything that could be a source of peace or joy for others. Their pain and disadvantage, would feed her perfidious and atrocious nature. It helped that she had cut through the red tape of high priestess, selection, initiation and status. She could not wait to see Ethia's reaction, when she slapped her across the face for abandoning her in a secluded and dilapilidated hut. An action the queen mother executed, without the intention of returning for her.
She the high priestess, got what she wanted. But what she wanted got her wanting more of what she originally wanted! Along with the conferement of leadership, came a new name 'Shiny shoes'. Her feet though nicely covered, would always bring lies, falsehood, torment and destruction. And when she walked away, she would have left a spate of destruction in her wake.
The Devil's deal (activating the fine-print):
Bronid got up from the bed at around 2am and looked back to see that his body was still lying next to his wife. The ritualists had reprimanded him for raising an alarm the first week he got home, by leaving the bed empty. There was to be neither a stark nor an obvious change of routine. They had proceeded to draw his soul in further, by equiping him to travel without his physical body. When he walked out of his house and into the woods to their meeting place, he found 'Shiny shoes' talking with four other persons. As he got closer, the four figures turned their back towards him and walked away leaving both of them alone.
"I think it is time I let you know, what will be required in the next stage of this relationship." 'Shiny shoes' blurted out, face sullen and eyes averted. Never one for beating around the bush with her statements nor her speeches, the young woman's words hung in the air like a metal crane waiting to scoop her companion of the ground. "I mean, I have fulfilled every one of your fantasies. Therefore, I think it is only fair that you should meet me half way." "Meet you halfway?" Bronid's expression was incredulous. "And I thought I had covered a lot of ground with you. Even at the detriment of my marriage?" His face was a picture of panic and confusion as to why this conversation was taking place and even more disturbed about where it might be going. "Well not really," 'Shiny shoes' retorted in a huff. "I have made you happy, but still I remain un-fulfilled." Bronid stared at her, while struggling with the mixed feeling of a deflated ego and a desperately gnawing sense of foreboding.
"The sisterhood has done so much to make life easy and good for you," 'Shiny shoes' continued. "In return, they want a gift that matters and shows your appreciation and loyalty. New and precious life so to speak." "New and precious life?" Bronid repeated in an astonished and shaky voice. "What does that mean?" He continued, almost sounding like he really dreaded an answer. "It means you will have to give them someone near and dear to your heart, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving Bronid." How did he miss this cold, calculating and contemputous character, thought Bronid before he blacked out.
For better or for worse?:
Debeh's convulsive reaction to the ominous presence in her room, when the senior healer and his son walked in had mysteriously awoken her from a comatose state. Everyone was ecstatic at the miraculous turn of events. The kind old healer happily took the credit, as it all happened when he walked into her room with his son. No one knew or mentioned the fact that Reinah the princess was also present in the room that day. Now that the near-death phase was over for Debeh, the process of complete recovery was immediately set in motion. The hunt for the babaric assailant however, went up a notch.
One more chance:
"Are you aware that this job has to be finished once and for all?" Scolded Xitus as the subordinate monitor fumbled with images from past events. "We cannot afford to let her slip through out claws again. Your initial fool, must have thought he was playing baseball and not attempting to take a life. Yes I know he is my son, but the imbecility of his humanity leaves me wanting. Now we have a lingering mess and a whole lot more at stake. What with the recent and daunting sightings threatening to shut us down, something has got to work around here!" Xitus' pores were secreting smoking sparks. "But what if HE......?" The subordinate started to state and ask the obvious. "There will be no buts this time. If HE does interrupt our plan, we will deal with it. But till then, just do it!"
The exasperated and subordinate monitor shuffled the images four more times, until he got to a sleeping Ethia. "Now here is the moment you have been waiting for," he sneered at her effigy as he tapped on it. "Knock yourself out and her too while you are it."
Only the good die young:
Ethia watched her maid carry the food tray out the door. The servants' routine, was to pick-up, then drop-of the tray with used dishes in the hallway. Then they would go back to the queen mother's room and bolt the door from the outside. Ethia's door was to remain locked, ever since the incident in the queen's quarters. She had since then broken a clay bowl on a maids head, attempted to bite of the ear of another male servant and had ran up a tree twice while chanting about stolen inheritances.
She slipped out of her room, while the maid was dropping of the tray of used dishes. And as the oblivious worker locked the door, Ethia grinned wryly behind her and headed inconspicuously to the other side of the palace.
Ethia's timing was perfect. Why not? The monitors were determined not to waver this time around. When she walked into Debeh's room, the aura of serenity almost overwhelmed her sense of hate and wickedness. As she got closer to where the beloved maid lay, Ethia noticed that she was smiling and there was a knowing glint in her eyes. That demeanor further unnerved and tormented the queen mother. She felt her resolve shaking, even as she placed the cloth over the patient's nose and clamped down.
There was no struggle from the victim. Ethia was looking into Debeh's smiling eyes, when the asphyxiation took effect and she breathed her last.
Clouds under my feet:
Debeh held the baby in her arms and cuddled it for a little while. Then she put it in the ethereal hands that were out stretched before her and knelt down. "Thank you Lord. I know she is the safest with you. Whatever happens I know you will be faithful with my baby. Thank you for the time I had with her, thank You for the honor of being this useful."
The two beautiful, huge and winged creatures arrived just in time. Then they held Debeh's hands on both sides, as all three of them walked into the bright and enveloping light....