Part Twenty-Two

It was dark and quiet as it always was.  Spending a lot of time alone there were moments where she thought she heard things, but unable to see much around her, she passed it off as a trick of the mind.  Still, a scurrying nearby, and she'd snap her fingers to bring forth a bit of flame to see by to find nothing there.  A wave of her hand, and the flame was out.  The flame used to be much brighter growing fainter as time passed.

Time.

Without sun or moon, it was difficult for her to count the passage of time.  How long has she'd been in this place?  If the stone walls could talk, they'd most likely be able to fill her in on all that she had missed since she'd been there. 

No windows.

No doors.

No signs of any kind of escape.

It was enough to drive any sane person mad.

There was a click in the distance which caught her attention.  Her head cocked slightly to the side when she heard a clack.  No, she told herself.  It's just another trick of the mind.  But the noises continued, a steady rhythm of... of footsteps.

And then they stopped.

Her eyes darted about the room searching for whatever had made that noise, but the shadows said nothing... at first.

A light from somewhere filled the room from its center, pooling outward.  The woman held her hands limply in fists at her chest as she searched for the light's source.  It stopped just before the walls, and it was then she relaxed letting her hands fall to her sides.  She eyed the remaining shadows, turning in a slow circle before stopping at one spot.

"What do you want this time?" she said to the darkness, her voice a little dry but strong.

The click-clack sounded on the stones as the woman stepped from the shadows.  Dressed in her royal finery, she stopped when she stood in the circle of light, a look of displeasure on her face.  "Come now, sister" said the Queen.  "Is that any way to talk to family?"

Part Twenty-One

Done with party preparations for the day, the Queen dismissed all of her servants so she could have some alone time to relax.  She retired to her chambers and told her ladies that she wished not to be disturbed.  Once alone she went to the window, closed her eyes, and took a big deep breath.  The chaos of the world would just fall away like fallen stone debris chiselled off an artist's sculpture.  With each breath, more and more faded away until nothing was left.

Except her two daughters.

She couldn't get them out of her mind.  Something felt off, and she couldn't put her finger on it, but when they couldn't be found...

The Queen opened her eyes and exhaled, her brow furrowed in irritation.  Yes.  That feeling when something was always afoot nibbled lightly at her gut, and it disturbed her.  It was possible that the girls had been in the library the entire time.  It was also possible that Naesa could have missed them in the corner they had been in.

But it was also possible something was going on.

She turned from the window and seated herself at her vanity.  "Knock, knock," she said and then the glass began to ripple like a stone being tossed into a pond.  When the ripples faded, she pulled up her sleeve and reached her hand toward the mirror - then inside the mirror - and pulled from it a copper doorknob.  "Nobody's home," she said, and the mirror became glass once more.  From the vanity, she moved to the closet and stared at the door.

There's no way, she thought.  No way at all.  But she had to be sure.

As if pushing a needle through fabric, she pushed the copper doorknob on top of the gold one already in the door and with little effort pushed until the copper one was the only one there was.  She then turned the knob and opened the door revealing a staircase where her closet used to be.  Crossing the doorway, the began to descend the stairs as the door slowly closed behind her.