Chapter Two-Death of a Princess
Then the Queen strolled into the Great Hall and smiled at her daughter.
"Yocasta, where is my jester? I feel in need of amusement."
"Your jester is amusing the guards, they deserve a laugh once in a while. It is said that the court of King Mendar has plenty of jesters and I intend that you will enjoy their company, and be a Queen in your own right, as his wife."
Chrysta frowned. "Surely you're not serious? The man is over fifty years old and I'm only twenty. And there are dark rumours of the way he treats women, and that the death of his last two wives were not accidents, but murder."
"I am serious. The State Wedding has been arranged and will happen in three days time."
"Where is my jester? I don't care if he's keeping the guards happy, I need him NOW!" Chrysta's voice rose to a scream.
"Your jester is in my torture room undergoing the punishment for High Treason! Don't think I don't know all about your secret love affair with a man far beneath you in rank, a man who was not even a noble."
"How could you, mother?"
Chrysta ran as fast as she could from the room and down flight after flight of twisting stairs until she reached the torture room, just in time to see the dead body of Thaddeus, it's limbs smashed and broken, naked and covered in cuts and blood, as the torturers threw it into the castle moat. She broke down in tears, grabbed a dagger from a selection of torture tools and ran at the Royal Torturers screaming at them. At the sight of the Princess they backed away and she flung herself out of the window, stabbing herself through the heart as she fell. The castle guards hurried to the scene but by the time they pulled her out she was dead. As her body was cleaned and taken to her bedroom the Court officials began to argue over who would tell the Queen of the dreadful news.
The Lord Chancellor and the General of the Guards, the two most important and trusted royal ministers, strode up to the Queen dressed all in their formal black mourning wear. "Your Majesty," said the General,"your daughter has been pulled from the moat, dead."
"Dead of exhaustion, I assume that's what you mean. Lead the way to where she is."
The Queen came to where the body of her daughter lay on her bed. Her daughter's face had lost all it's colour by now. The Queen gently opened her daughter's glassy eyes, prodded the wound in her chest and said "I told her that there were fish in the moat that bit people. Let her sleep until tomorrow and then I want to see her."
When she had gone the Captain of the Guards said quietly "What do we do now? She's in denial."
"Get the body embalmed and buried in the Royal Tombs as quickly as possible," said the Chancellor. I will think of something. I don't want to end my life in the Queen's torture chamber."
Then the Queen strolled into the Great Hall and smiled at her daughter.
"Yocasta, where is my jester? I feel in need of amusement."
"Your jester is amusing the guards, they deserve a laugh once in a while. It is said that the court of King Mendar has plenty of jesters and I intend that you will enjoy their company, and be a Queen in your own right, as his wife."
Chrysta frowned. "Surely you're not serious? The man is over fifty years old and I'm only twenty. And there are dark rumours of the way he treats women, and that the death of his last two wives were not accidents, but murder."
"I am serious. The State Wedding has been arranged and will happen in three days time."
"Where is my jester? I don't care if he's keeping the guards happy, I need him NOW!" Chrysta's voice rose to a scream.
"Your jester is in my torture room undergoing the punishment for High Treason! Don't think I don't know all about your secret love affair with a man far beneath you in rank, a man who was not even a noble."
"How could you, mother?"
Chrysta ran as fast as she could from the room and down flight after flight of twisting stairs until she reached the torture room, just in time to see the dead body of Thaddeus, it's limbs smashed and broken, naked and covered in cuts and blood, as the torturers threw it into the castle moat. She broke down in tears, grabbed a dagger from a selection of torture tools and ran at the Royal Torturers screaming at them. At the sight of the Princess they backed away and she flung herself out of the window, stabbing herself through the heart as she fell. The castle guards hurried to the scene but by the time they pulled her out she was dead. As her body was cleaned and taken to her bedroom the Court officials began to argue over who would tell the Queen of the dreadful news.
The Lord Chancellor and the General of the Guards, the two most important and trusted royal ministers, strode up to the Queen dressed all in their formal black mourning wear. "Your Majesty," said the General,"your daughter has been pulled from the moat, dead."
"Dead of exhaustion, I assume that's what you mean. Lead the way to where she is."
The Queen came to where the body of her daughter lay on her bed. Her daughter's face had lost all it's colour by now. The Queen gently opened her daughter's glassy eyes, prodded the wound in her chest and said "I told her that there were fish in the moat that bit people. Let her sleep until tomorrow and then I want to see her."
When she had gone the Captain of the Guards said quietly "What do we do now? She's in denial."
"Get the body embalmed and buried in the Royal Tombs as quickly as possible," said the Chancellor. I will think of something. I don't want to end my life in the Queen's torture chamber."
