Scriveners contest 2008 entry: Unity

[Pecten Kalderon]

UNITY

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Bored, dwelling away in thoughts, the guardian almost missed the woman walking out of the main reception room. Her noisy, marching way of walking made him come to senses and sit straight up. It wasn’t the empress. It was the woman who had entered the royal quarters just about ten minutes ago. She had an upset look on her face. In her hand she clutched a piece of parchment. She didn’t even see him, she walked straight towards the exit.
A grin appeared on his face. That dumb girl, this must have been the third time she had tried to reason with the empress, her supposed friend! He wanted to shout something sarcastic to her, but couldn’t think of something funny that fast. The door closed and he lost interest. Thinking of his next dinner, he dozed away.

+++

When Mitchell’s girlfriend entered the room he already knew how the conversation had been. Her face was red and her eyes teary. She threw a piece of parchment in his lap and crashed down on the couch.
‘I only got this stupid letter from a servant. She didn’t even talk to me.’ She had an almost childishly angry expression on her face.
‘Oh, poor girl, so the bitch misbehaved again? Let me see that letter.’ He folded it open. It looked official and expensive.

Dear Reanna,

During our last conversation you have been very rude to me. You have behaved in an unacceptable way. Yet I saw some honest grief in your eyes and therefore I shall answer your questions
The past is the past. Which friendship and sharing might have been there does not matter anymore. You have to forget it.
I will forgive your behaviour once again, seeing and understanding the circumstances. From now on you always have to listen to me and obey me.
I am your ruler.
You should bow as deep as you can.
You may not fail me again.

Lydia

He couldn’t surpress a smile. This was so very pathetic. The fact that Reanna was disturbed by the letter, was a bit cute.
But this had to stop.
“Well, now, what a nonsense, right? You should go back to her to talk some sense into her.”
Reanna looked at the floor and did not answer.
“You are not trying to tell me you have a problem with that I hope.”
“No, well…” Reanna looked him in the eyes for a second, then she looked back to the ground. “You know, she ís in charge. And she has become so different.”
“Yeah, but still it is Lydia, right? It is the same Lydia who we know as being a normal, stupid, friendly person, right? The rest is theater.”
“I am sorry.”, Reanna shook her head. “I know you’re right, only she has become quite intimidating. I do not see much of her former self. She has become something else, she even seems-”
“Oh, come on!” Mitchell jumped up from the couch. “Do you know what has to be done? You should go there and tell that bitch the truth! I can’t believe the crap she has come up with. She should be pulled out of her ruler-fantasy and get back to herself. Just tell her to stop this stupid act!”
Mitchell stood before her, she had to look up to see him in the eyes. Thoughtful she answered.
“Ok, if you think that is the best, I’ll do it. I will try to get her back to her senses and won’t let me be sent away with a letter again. Just give me a moment.”
“Thank the Lord, Reanna, do not let that bitch scare you away again. Be a little careful for yourself, but not for her.” He smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the mouth. She managed to smile back. It was a sad smile, which made him feel odd. Was he pushing her too much?
When she finally walked out of the room he began to feel sick.

+++

Reanna was left in again after a discussion with the guard. He had at first said Lydia was too busy, while Reanna was sure she was not. Finally, he gave in asked the empress herself, who gave permission. The guardian set the door open. “Keep it short, you have already said what you wanted to say. Don’t make unneccesary problems.”
She told him she wouldn’t and entered the big hall leading to the reception room.
A cold voice met her. “Reanna, there you are. Again.” Lydia had entered the hall. Apparently this wasn’t going to be a long conversation.
She made her head clear to say everything she wanted to say.
“Lydia, I’m here in all honesty and peace.”
Lydia looked at her with an annoyed look on her face. “Really? So what are you going to talk about? I hope it’s not about our previous coversations? I assume you received my letter?”
“Yes I did actually. Can we sit down maybe?”
“I do not think that is neccesary, our conversation won’t take long.”
“Allright then.”
“I was serious in that letter, you know.” Lydia said a bit distantly.
Reanna felt the warm feelings for Lydia leaving her body again. It was just like the last time. This was not Lydia, this was some coldhearted brat keeping up a stupid act!
“That letter was crap! Mitchell read it too. He also found it ridiculous. We used to be your friends and now some worthless pieces of shit?! Is that normal?”
“You’re starting to get on this ice here. I won’t be mild with you because you’re my friend, you know!” Lydia got some flush on her pale face. “You’re trying to sabotage me. You’re rude. You can’t behave like that anymore. I ask you to leave the room now. Right now please.”
“You lost weight, you know. You look worse than ever. I’m concerned about you.”
Lydia stared angrily at her.
“Oh, Lydia, I’m sorry, but look at us. This isn’t how we are, is it? I do not want to fight you, I just want to get the old you back. The yóu you.”
“I have never been different.”
They stood for seconds. Then Lydia broke the silence.
“Reanna, I think you deserve more. Here, come with me to a room where you can rest for a while. I will get back to you in a few minutes.” Reanna felt a bit uncomfortable, but her curiosity won. Now that she had confronted her, she could as well listen to what she had to say.


+++


While the morning sun enlightened the buildings, the square got filled with people, all trying to get to the front row. An important speech from Lydia was about to begin. Mitchell had just arrived and struggled to get to the middle. The people were all mumbling, talking and every now and then reaching out their necks to see if something was happening already. The grand balcony was empty except for some flags in the colours of the Eleglian Empire. Eleglia had been a Tilean kingdom for ages, but since Lydia declared herself empress, it had become an empire. Whether this would be accepted by all neighbours, he doubted.
The central square in front of the palace had turned into a place of gossip, guessing and excitement. Someone knocked him on the shoulder. It was Negin, an friend from his village. “Hey, how are you? Where’s Reanna?”
“Reanna went to Lydia again, yesterday evening. She probably has to wait until after the speech before she can get a decent conversation. After this I will go to the palace see how she is progressing.”
“I hope she won’t get in trouble. She went there so many times already.”
Mitchell looked at his friend. “What do you mean?! They won’t throw her in jail for trying to rescue a friendship, right?”
“I do not think so, but I do not know.” He quickly changed subject. “I’m curious about this speech. It might be about some murderers they still have to execute. That would be some fun.”
“Yeah, that would be fun.” He wished he had some alcoholic drink in his hand to release the tension.

The crowd became noisier. People looked up. The doors to the grand balcony opened. First waiters came onto the balcony, followed by the personal guard. The crowd cheered and applauded as Lydia, fully dressed in royal purple, appeared. Mitchell and Negin were pushed from all sides by people trying to get closer. She walked to the edge and raised her hand. The noise gradually faded out.

Lydia placed both hands on the egde and leaned a bit forward.
“Eleglia! Citizens of noble heritage! Today I bring you an important message.” She looked around. The crowd listened.
“Our Empire has always been a great one and, as you know, therefore vulnerable. There are rumours about Miragliano threatening our borders. Our respected neighbour kingdome Galeira will be allied to withstand the threat with our combined forces.” She paused. This was news the crowd had expected and hoped for, so a wave of consensus went over the square.
“To save our Empire it’s important to stand as one. We will have to set our internal differences aside. We will have to be a harmonious society. One person can infect the harmony and peace we live in. Such a person can’t live on in our society.” Lydia was raising her voice.
A man, wearing dark clothes appeared on the balcony. He was carrying something heavy. He lifted the thing higher and dragged it onto the edge of the balcony.
It was a human body. The crowd fell more silent.
Limp, lifeless it hung head down and arms slowly moving from the impact with which it was dumped on the edge. Mitchells eyes widened.
It looked like Reanna.
His breath stopped, sweat breaking out. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
Lydia went on with her speech.
“This person tried to undermine our great Empire! One person can break the chain in which we must unite! One person can infect us all! Watch out for ill behaving citizens and keep our nation clean and honest! We must work together, cooperate with neighbours and stand strong against the Northern threat! For Eleglia!”
The applause started a bit insecure, but soon bursted out in cheering and shouting. The people seemed relieved something would be done, although they didn’t excactly know what. Something good.

Negin hadn’t been able to get his eyes off the body hanging over the edge of the balcony. It looked like it was about to fall. It looked like a woman. He turned his head to towards Mitchell. He wasn’t next to him anymore.
By now, Mitchell was almost at the entrance of the palace, fighting his way through the tumultous crowd, feeling like he was losing his mind.

+++

“This figure was shouting he would kill you. We could barely get him under control.”
Lydia looked up.
Although it would have been logical, she was shocked to straight look up to Mitchell, who’s eyes were almost as piercing as they were blank.
“Filthy whore! I’ll mess you up!” He tried to jump towards her, but the guards were holding him tight and smacked him hard in the face.
“What should we do with him?”
She felt confused. She didn’t dare to look at him again. He would never understand her reasons for what she had done.
“Well, lock him up. Er..well, and torture him or something. He’ll be trialed later.”
The guardians dragged him out.
“BITCH!” He shouted it so loud it almost hurt her ears. He got beaten again.
Lydia placed her hands over her ears and concentrated on the paper in front of her. She had to prepare herself. Tomorrow there would be a dinner with Achille, the spokesman and prince of Galeira.

+++

Music played, the room was heated to a summer temperature and delicious scents tumbled over one another. Fire, food, incense. Roast, chocolate and herbs.
As cold and miserable as yesterday had been, so good did Lydia feel today. She sat at the head of the dinnertable, with at her direct right Achille. The rest of the twelve chairs on the table were seated by -at her direct left- her first counselor and prime minister, then the two most important majors, their wifes, and the generals of both Galeira and Eleglia, who also both brought their wifes. The compagny was sophisticated yet warm. This afternoon she had had a conversation with all the men. In the morning she and Achille talked alone.
Achille had struck her as being heartwarming, intelligent and witty. They had discussed some very serious subjects, yet the last hour had been a laid back conversation about the good and bad things coming with the duty of ruling a nation. They had laughed out loud even, beyond the polite smiling one would usually do. She hadn’t felt this good since the day she became ruler, two months ago.
Being a second cousin, she always had had a fairly normal life. She could never had guessed the whole royal family, parents and three children, could die from one infectuous disease. Only an imprisoned brother and she being left, she was immediately ordered to take on the duty of her bloodline.

While chitchatting about all the differences between Galeira and Eleglia, something in the corner of her eye distracted her. She looked down at her soup and felt a shock as if someone squeezed her heart.
Something crawled in it.
She jumped up.
A leech! it looked like a leech slowly reaching for the edge of her plate.
“Lydia? Are you allright?, Achille asked in an uncertain tone. She looked up at him. He seemed honestly concerned.
“Empress, what is it?” By the second voice she turned her head to her prime minister who had an ‘You’re not going to make a scene in front of these important guests, are you?’-look on his face.
“There is a beast in my soup!” she looked down at her plate in disgust.
It was just soup. The beast was gone.
The people had turned into white, staring pilars, with all different expressions.
“Excuse me please” she turned around and walked off the table leaving the silent people behind.

Lydia lay down on a couch in a small room. She hadn’t turned any lights on to make sure no one, not even a maid, would walk in. They all sure thought she went to the bathroom.
She had to get her senses back. She knew there probably had been no beast in her soup. It was just fear. The fear someone would try to kill her. By putting poison in her food. Beasts, deadly plants or mushrooms. She had hoped this fear wouldn’t turn up today.
The fear had made her eat less and less over the past months. If no guests were around she would order food to her room and send the maid out. Then she would tear a piece of bread to shreads to be as sure as possible that it was just bread. Bread was one of the least scary things.

Now, what went wrong? Her problem seemed top be her distrust.The people suddenly had seemed like creatures who were all plotting against her. They looked so dishonest. As if they knew. Or as if they would just like it. They would like to see her fall. As if they were plotting her assasination. Maybe if she went back they would await her and bring her to the main square and execute her.
“Don’t be an idiot.” She murmuled in the darkness. She opened her eyes. Common sense. She was having the greatest dinner with a warm compagny. Of course it was exiting and of course they were a bit concerned. Now she had to get herself together and look perfectly sane, then this incident would soon be forgotten.

Lydia walked back into the room with a grace suiting an empress.
“I’m sorry if I have concerned you. I felt unwell for a moment. I’m fine again.”
Although the stares were still a little staring, the expressions were relieved and kind. Furthermore she was glad the soup was gone.
“Now, bring in the gingerbread and wine!”

+++

The room filled up with damp from the hot water. Lydia sat quiet in the bath, with her head a little bowed and her eyes closed. A maid silently cleaned her with a sponce. The scents and hot, rosy feeling lead her off into thoughts.
There was much to be glad about. The negogiating with Achille went great. They had set a definitive plan to sign with the following meeting. How they would assimilate some tiny little land owners around them. How they would co-operate, letting their properties grow and stay on friendly terms with the kingdoms and the Great Nations, the Empire and Brettonia. Achille already had contact with these nations. She was glad Achille did those things, it would break her nerves to talk to such great nations.

She would have felt great if she hadn’t felt this ill and tired. Her eating habits were out of control. Her duties were many and intensive.
The last weeks nightmares had started to haunt her. Not that she hadn’t expected nightmares, having this complex position. She had expected nightmares about so many things, but they were all about Mitchell.
She would stare into his cell to see him being tortured beyond recognition. Or he would manage to escape, attacking her and scraping her skin off her bones with his bare hands.
She would wake up feeling scared or guilty. It confused her and it irritated her. Why him?! As if there weren’t worse things to think about.
In waking hours she had thought many times of the moment she ordered her guards to kill her former friend Reanna. The look on her face, vunerable and shocked. The blood, how easy she died without any defense. She died crying.
I had disturbed Lydia was that it didn’t make her feel bad. Maybe she hadn’t been that attatched to Reanna after all. She knew she did have feelings of compassion.

So why couldn’t she accept she maybe felt bad about what she had done to Mitchell. The thought made her angry. Reanna had been a horrible pain, the people had needed a sign, it was no shame to kill Reanna. Mitchell had a poor taste of girlfriends and made his own fate by trying to murder her. She had had it with these thoughts already.
She opened her eyes and got up, carefully stepping out of the tub. The stood naked in front of a mirror. She didn’t like what she saw.
“Towel, please.”
The maid wrapped a soft towel around her.
“I’m fine now, you can leave.”

+++

“So, there we are again! Let’s head to the main reception, shall we?” Achille picked Lydia’s hand and kissed it.
She frowned at his impudent behaviour. He acted like he came her every day. This was nothing like the first time he visited her. She remained polite.
“Welcome Achille. The meeting and signing will indeed be in the main reception.”
She walked ahead of Achille and his General, towards the room where all great decisions of Eleglia had been made. This was going to be her first and it made her nervous.

Inside the reception room, her prime minister, counselor and her General were waiting. Achille immediately walked forward.
“My best General Nuren, how great to see you. Ah and prime counselor Dolerus, honoured to talk to you again on this great day!” He spread his arms and smiled.
“The pleasure is all mine.”, the counselor replied in a tone as if he was trying to lick honey off Achille’s butt.
The conversation was phoney. Why were they acting so idiotic? She slowly breathed in and out before she spoke.
“I am pleased to have you all here on this important day. It will be a step into the future of our great nations. A new, Southern Force.” She looked around. They were smiling and nodding.
“Let’s bring in some tea and wine then, shall we?, Achille said, as if he was leading the personal.
“Wine is coming, Achille. Shall we all sit down on the table?” Her voice was as sharp as she intended it to be.
Wine and tea were brought in. Everyone choose wine though, even Lydia. Although she tended to avoid it because blurry minds could be tricked easily. She felt like she needed it now to keep her nerves under control.
Achille picked up his glass and stood up.
“Lydia. Empress Lydia. All other noble people on this table. Isn’t it a great day?” He grinned and looked around.
“I think we should all drink on this day which will bring great change to our nations. We will become the next great force on this continent. To a great Nation and a great future!” He raised his glass. All men stood up and raised their glasses too.
A Nation…? They weren’t going to fuse, as far as she knew. Clouds of isolation seemed to fill the space around her. She did raise her glass. She did get up, yet on the background she felt a familiar panic-attack coming up. It all didn’t feel right.
The people turned in pilars again. Dark grey pilars. One of them, the prime councelor, bowed and pulled something out of a bag.
The contract.
She sank down in her chair.
“I think the honourable lady should sign first”, the Galeiran general said, looking around with a strange smile.
“Yes, you are right.”, the first couselor said. The rest nodded and smiled. Only the prime minister was distracted, refilling his own glass. The contract was put in front of her.

It wasn’t the same contract. She saw it immediately. It said things she couldn’t believe.
Surrendering it would be!
She stood up. She had to get out. “Gentlemen, if you will excuse me for a moment.” She was walking towards the door.
“Well, Lydia, where are you going?” Achille got up too.
“I’m going for…a sanitary pause.”
“I think that’s not true, dear.” His face seemed almost evil now. She walked a bit faster, but Achille strode towards her and grabbed her arm. As if someone ever. Was he insane?!
“Guards, arrest this man!”
To her shock the guards did nothing. One of them couldn’t surpress a smile.
It suddenly made things clear.
They were all in. They might even all have been of Galeiran heritage. As if she would notice.

Achille, still having one hand around her upper arm, clutched the other arm around her frail body.
“Come back to the table, Lydia. Sign the contract. We all agree I should be the next leader. Leading a nation is a too heavy duty on your little shoulders.” He forced her back to the table, into her chair.
“You should sign,” the first couselor said, grinning sadistically. “You wouldn’t like anything nasty to happen to you, would you?”
The prime minister was refilling his glass yet again with a distant look on his face. The rest was expectantly staring at her. A maid on the back of the room, stared at the scene in disbelief.
Achille stood behind her chair, holding his hand firm on her shoulders as if he was about to break them. The first counselor handed her a pencil.
“Come on, Lydia. Sign that paper. Sell your soul to the devil and safe you life!” Achille was breathing heavily. He started to sound like an impatient maniac.
“You wouldn’t like being fed to the prisoners, would you? I know a particular person who’d love to see you.” The first counselor said, enjoying his part.
Black pilars towered around her.
It all seemed useless.
Mitchell doomed up in her mind again. What would he do to her?

It made her pick up the pencil and sign the paper.

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