Chapter Seven-The Princess Trainer
Chancellor Montor had a special squad of guards formed up and spoke to them in the Council Chamber. "You are to be known as the Princess Escort to impose the new Princess Draft. Your job is to search the city and the farms outside it and bring me three girls who look rather like Princess Chrysta used to. I don't want beggars, but I don't want daughters of the nobility either. I'm looking for the daughters of farmers, merchants, shopkeepers, teachers and so on...those who occupy the gap between nobility and pauperdom. I want them brought in with the minimum of force, they are no use if injured. And this is a secret operation, if people find out we'll have half the girls fleeing the city. Also the right aged girl is important. Do your duty."
A servant came into the Grand Council Chamber and bowed. "Lady Eldren is here."
Dracia Eldren was a very sharp featured woman. Her long greying hair was pulled back into a severe coif. Narrowed black eyes studied the potential Princess stand-ins. Darcia was well schooled in the ways of etiquette. She was a seasoned Mistress. Her name was well known about the different Kingdoms/Queendoms. She was the woman you contacted when you wanted your daughter to become the well cultured and well taught pillar of nobility. She was the woman who schooled young princesses on the fine art of being noble. Dracia was as strict as they come. Years of practice allowed her to use a switch upon her subject without leaving any marks. Only a sharp stinging pain as a reminder of their failures.
She lived for her work. If you wanted to infiltrate a kingdom with a doppelganger...you needed the help of a professional. One who knew all the ends and outs of Princess behaviour.
"I came as fast as I could, Lord Chancellor, as soon as I received your sealed letter. I know you will be paying me well but I will be worth every penny."
In the evening the guards returned with three green eyed brunettes. One girl wore the apron of her father's inkeeping trade, the other two were farmer's daughters. They were taken to a wing of the castle that was far from the Queen. The Chancellor smiled nervously. "You
are to strip, you can do it in private, and dress in clothing that is far more fitting of your new status in life."The bewildered girls exchanged their clothing for the clothes which Princess Chrysta had worn in life. Silken robes, and jewels that they could never hope to wear in their normal lives.
Darcia fingered the switch at her side as she studied these potentials. These potentials were of poor condition. Some of them were farmer's daughters. Pathetic. She had her work cut out for her. At all times there would need to be at least three princess replacements in training. They would have to learn together. Eat together and train together. Every movement would have to be perfect. And she only tolerated perfection.
When she spoke it was in a cut-glass accent. "I am Lady Dracia Eldren, your Princess Trainer. You may already have heard the rumours of what has happened to Princess Chrysta. She has died, and your only purpose in life is to take her place. And my job is to turn you into perfect princesses. I teach the daughters of the nobility how to behave. I can see I will have my work cut out. When I've finished with you the Princess shall live again through you."
A girl nervously scratched at a bit of dry skin and Lady Eldren drew the switch and in one fluid movement smacked it across the girl's knuckles. "No scratching! It's not ladylike to scratch, no matter how much it itches. Guards, show her and the others what happens if I catch any scratching taking place." The guards forced the girl's arms behind her into a leather arm sheath and placed fingerless mittens on her hands. She started to swear at them and a cloth was stuffed into her mouth and tied tightly.
"There will be no swearing, no scratching and no attempts to escape. My job is to teach you how to survive-because once you are introduced to the Queen, if you make one false move or say one wrong word, you will be killed. Hold your backs straight, all of you. Stop slouching. Today and tomorrow you will be taught the basics. Basic posture and speech. On day three and after that it gets more interesting, as you will be taught all the little things about the Princess, such as what political ideas she held and how to express them. In two weeks from now one of you will be summoned to the Queen's side. Your names no longer have meaning. From now on you are Chrysta One, Chrysta Two and Chrysta Three. Any attempt to resist will be severely punished."
Over the next two weeks Lady Eldren, with several trusted guards beside her, taught the girls how to be Princesses well enough, she hoped, to fool the Queen. Often the girls felt the painful blows of her switch on their hands and bodies. More then once they found themselves bound and tightly gagged as a punishment for some small failing-for scratching an itch, speaking their own names, or crying. And slowly under Lady Eldren's intense training they began to act like girls of the nobility.
All of this was done in a secret Princess Training School that was in a part of the castle that was far away from the Queen. The beds were the kind that a princess would sleep in and the food was very good but the constant training, and the beating with Lady Eldren's switch and the other punishments for failure that sometimes went along with it, was hellish.
At last Lady Eldren smiled at them.
"Chrysta One, you will be the first to take on the identity of Princess Chrysta. You may say goodbye to the other girls."
Before being forced to take on the role, Chrysta One had been Amy, a farmer's daughter. Now she kissed the other girls goodbye and was escorted, walking straight backed all the while, to the Queen. Chancellor Montor bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we found your daughter was being held secretly as a prisoner within the castle itself, by the followers of Grand Duke Lariton. I present to you, Princess Chrysta."
The Queen grabbed Amy, hugged her and planted warm kisses on her cheeks and forehead. Amy forced herself to leave the kisses alone as she had been taught, and smiled at the Queen. "Yocasta, I'm so pleased to be back with you again."
Over the next few days Amy began to let herself go in little ways when she thought nobody was watching her. She let herself slump in her chair. If she got an itch, she scratched it, and she began to keep a secret diary in which she said, amongst other things, how much she longed to be back at home with her family. Unknown to her, it was secretly being read by members of the Court who decided that she was about to reveal her true identity and so she had to die.
One night when she got into her bed, her guards were ordered away from their posts to report to the Chancellor on how well they were doing, and other guards with knives entered her room as she lay sleeping and quietly killed her with a few swift knife thrusts. The sheets were changed and the body was wrapped in them and taken to the Princess Training School where it was shown to the other Potential Princesses who were roused from their beds to see it.
"This girl thought she could be herself and paid the price. She went against my teaching. That is what happens to those who disobey. Guards, escort Chrysta Two up to her bedroom. And cremate the body in the Royal Oven. Pour the ashes into the River Nine. Find me two new girls. Chrysta Two, if you fail me, this will be your fate."
Chancellor Montor had a special squad of guards formed up and spoke to them in the Council Chamber. "You are to be known as the Princess Escort to impose the new Princess Draft. Your job is to search the city and the farms outside it and bring me three girls who look rather like Princess Chrysta used to. I don't want beggars, but I don't want daughters of the nobility either. I'm looking for the daughters of farmers, merchants, shopkeepers, teachers and so on...those who occupy the gap between nobility and pauperdom. I want them brought in with the minimum of force, they are no use if injured. And this is a secret operation, if people find out we'll have half the girls fleeing the city. Also the right aged girl is important. Do your duty."
A servant came into the Grand Council Chamber and bowed. "Lady Eldren is here."
Dracia Eldren was a very sharp featured woman. Her long greying hair was pulled back into a severe coif. Narrowed black eyes studied the potential Princess stand-ins. Darcia was well schooled in the ways of etiquette. She was a seasoned Mistress. Her name was well known about the different Kingdoms/Queendoms. She was the woman you contacted when you wanted your daughter to become the well cultured and well taught pillar of nobility. She was the woman who schooled young princesses on the fine art of being noble. Dracia was as strict as they come. Years of practice allowed her to use a switch upon her subject without leaving any marks. Only a sharp stinging pain as a reminder of their failures.
She lived for her work. If you wanted to infiltrate a kingdom with a doppelganger...you needed the help of a professional. One who knew all the ends and outs of Princess behaviour.
"I came as fast as I could, Lord Chancellor, as soon as I received your sealed letter. I know you will be paying me well but I will be worth every penny."
In the evening the guards returned with three green eyed brunettes. One girl wore the apron of her father's inkeeping trade, the other two were farmer's daughters. They were taken to a wing of the castle that was far from the Queen. The Chancellor smiled nervously. "You
are to strip, you can do it in private, and dress in clothing that is far more fitting of your new status in life."The bewildered girls exchanged their clothing for the clothes which Princess Chrysta had worn in life. Silken robes, and jewels that they could never hope to wear in their normal lives.
Darcia fingered the switch at her side as she studied these potentials. These potentials were of poor condition. Some of them were farmer's daughters. Pathetic. She had her work cut out for her. At all times there would need to be at least three princess replacements in training. They would have to learn together. Eat together and train together. Every movement would have to be perfect. And she only tolerated perfection.
When she spoke it was in a cut-glass accent. "I am Lady Dracia Eldren, your Princess Trainer. You may already have heard the rumours of what has happened to Princess Chrysta. She has died, and your only purpose in life is to take her place. And my job is to turn you into perfect princesses. I teach the daughters of the nobility how to behave. I can see I will have my work cut out. When I've finished with you the Princess shall live again through you."
A girl nervously scratched at a bit of dry skin and Lady Eldren drew the switch and in one fluid movement smacked it across the girl's knuckles. "No scratching! It's not ladylike to scratch, no matter how much it itches. Guards, show her and the others what happens if I catch any scratching taking place." The guards forced the girl's arms behind her into a leather arm sheath and placed fingerless mittens on her hands. She started to swear at them and a cloth was stuffed into her mouth and tied tightly.
"There will be no swearing, no scratching and no attempts to escape. My job is to teach you how to survive-because once you are introduced to the Queen, if you make one false move or say one wrong word, you will be killed. Hold your backs straight, all of you. Stop slouching. Today and tomorrow you will be taught the basics. Basic posture and speech. On day three and after that it gets more interesting, as you will be taught all the little things about the Princess, such as what political ideas she held and how to express them. In two weeks from now one of you will be summoned to the Queen's side. Your names no longer have meaning. From now on you are Chrysta One, Chrysta Two and Chrysta Three. Any attempt to resist will be severely punished."
Over the next two weeks Lady Eldren, with several trusted guards beside her, taught the girls how to be Princesses well enough, she hoped, to fool the Queen. Often the girls felt the painful blows of her switch on their hands and bodies. More then once they found themselves bound and tightly gagged as a punishment for some small failing-for scratching an itch, speaking their own names, or crying. And slowly under Lady Eldren's intense training they began to act like girls of the nobility.
All of this was done in a secret Princess Training School that was in a part of the castle that was far away from the Queen. The beds were the kind that a princess would sleep in and the food was very good but the constant training, and the beating with Lady Eldren's switch and the other punishments for failure that sometimes went along with it, was hellish.
At last Lady Eldren smiled at them.
"Chrysta One, you will be the first to take on the identity of Princess Chrysta. You may say goodbye to the other girls."
Before being forced to take on the role, Chrysta One had been Amy, a farmer's daughter. Now she kissed the other girls goodbye and was escorted, walking straight backed all the while, to the Queen. Chancellor Montor bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we found your daughter was being held secretly as a prisoner within the castle itself, by the followers of Grand Duke Lariton. I present to you, Princess Chrysta."
The Queen grabbed Amy, hugged her and planted warm kisses on her cheeks and forehead. Amy forced herself to leave the kisses alone as she had been taught, and smiled at the Queen. "Yocasta, I'm so pleased to be back with you again."
Over the next few days Amy began to let herself go in little ways when she thought nobody was watching her. She let herself slump in her chair. If she got an itch, she scratched it, and she began to keep a secret diary in which she said, amongst other things, how much she longed to be back at home with her family. Unknown to her, it was secretly being read by members of the Court who decided that she was about to reveal her true identity and so she had to die.
One night when she got into her bed, her guards were ordered away from their posts to report to the Chancellor on how well they were doing, and other guards with knives entered her room as she lay sleeping and quietly killed her with a few swift knife thrusts. The sheets were changed and the body was wrapped in them and taken to the Princess Training School where it was shown to the other Potential Princesses who were roused from their beds to see it.
"This girl thought she could be herself and paid the price. She went against my teaching. That is what happens to those who disobey. Guards, escort Chrysta Two up to her bedroom. And cremate the body in the Royal Oven. Pour the ashes into the River Nine. Find me two new girls. Chrysta Two, if you fail me, this will be your fate."
