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_Depression -> Dragon (2/22/2010 9:16:40)
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WARNING: CONTAINS REFERENCES TO SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN A NON-EXPLICIT MANNER
"You can't be serious," Tay said incredulously, her piercing blue eyes following her sister's pacing form. As she listened to the light pattering of her feet on the bare, cold floor of their bedroom, the last room in the servant's hallway, she closed her eyes and shook her head. "Rea, tell me the truth. Come on, you didn't-"
"I did!" Rea shouted, spinning to her sister, her face flushed and brown eyes wide in fear and worry. "It's not my fault! I-I was scheduled to be there, a-and..."
Tay sighed and sat back on the bed she shared with her sister. "And that's when you saw her?"
Trembling lightly as she sat in a chair across from the bed, Rea nodded. She pulled her rough shawl closer to her - the cold winter air was especially chilling in light of recent accounts - and looked down at the polished wood floor.
"Has she ever been in there before?" Tay was more confused and curious than she was worried, wanting to wrap her mind around it all before anything possibly happened.
Rea shook her head. "And I've never seen that other girl before, either."
Now Tay was even more confused. "Wait, you said they were having sex?" she asked, in a state of disbelief.
"W-well, not really," Rea admitted, blushing lightly as she reconsidered the original phrasing of the events to her sister. "The princess, she was naked. But the other girl, only her socks were off. Otherwise, she was dressed..."
Falling silent as she always did whenever she had to think, Tay closed her eyes and tried to understand what had been taking place. Her mind, as it always did, worked from the most obvious conclusion to the most incomprehensible. Maybe the princess was just getting a new outfit? No, too mundane. Was the other girl there to bathe her? Still, that was too boring of an answer. Could the princess have a lesbian lover that her parents, the King and Queen, don't know about?
Now that's an idea, Tay thought, smirking lightly. It was a happy thought, someone else sharing her lifestyle choice - and someone in a position of power, no less.
Grumbling, Rea tossed her well worn slipper at her sister. "You're just thinking she might be a lesbian like you, aren't you?" She took Tay's light blush as a 'Yes', and nearly exploded, managing to keep her voice down as she attacked her verbally. "I'm not exactly in a good spot here, Tay. The princess knows it was me. She saw me - that other girl too - they can both come down here to the servants' quarters and find me."
Tay sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right... So what can you do about it?"
"I don't know," Rea said, her voice back to the soft and scared tone it had held before her restrained outburst. "Maybe she won't-"
Before Rea could finish her thought, the door to the bedroom was smashed inward, a soldier clad in his heavy, leather armor with the royal crest emblazoned across the chest, standing in the newly opened doorway. He took a short moment to look around the room before walking in, his eyes falling first on Rea before settling on Tay. "Two girls in one room? That is against castle law."
"We received special pardon from the princess," Tay responded, calmly, pointing to the framed document on the bare wall behind her bed. "We're sisters."
"And neither of you have married yet?" the guard asked, a bit taken aback. He saw Rea shake her head. "Pity. Which one of you is Rea?" His head snapped in Rea's direction - she had jumped lightly when he called her name. "Come with me."
Tay stood and stepped in between the soldier and her sister. "On what grounds, sir?" She stared the guard eye-to-eye. There was no way she would let her sister be taken away without reason.
Smirking, the guard grabbed Tay's wrist and spun her around, giving her a push on the small of her back and reaching forward to take Rea. "I'm not authorized to disclose that, slave girl," he said with a hint of derision in his voice. With one, fluid motion, he tugged Rea out of her seat and pulled her up against him, holding her tightly and winking to Tay. "You have a good day now. I know I will."
Tay knew full well that the guards - especially the ones in higher ranks, who had let time and pride corrupt them - often used female prisoners for their own pleasure while they waited for their sentencing, and she was not prepared to let her sister receive the same fate as so many other girls. "You take your hands off my sister, or I'll tell anyone who will listen about the princess having a lesbian lover!" she said, stepping forward and trying to keep her face blank as the guard faulted. "Yeah, that's right, I know about that. So let her go!" As she finished she snatched Rea's wrist and tried to pull her away from the man's strong grip.
The guard easily knocked Tay's hand away, and followed up with a punch so strong that he knocked her out. "Let's go," he said, dragging Rea out of the room. He normally never faced any resistance to an arrest. It almost made him not want to violate the young woman he was going to throw in jail. Almost, but not quite. Now he would just enjoy it that much more.
* * * *
When Tay woke, there was no light coming through her window. It was nighttime - she couldn't be sure if it was the same day or the early morning after - and she started to her feet. Her head pounding, her back aching from the fall she took, she raced down a series of hallways to lead her to the royal wing of the castle. Here, only a select few people were freely allowed in and out. The general staff of the castle - and especially Tay, whose job entailed cleaning up the kitchens in between meals - stayed far away from this wing, in which wealthy men and women could take anyone of lesser rank and buy them from a passing guard for three lunetta, sometimes less. Three lunetta was all Tay made in a week. A noble man made the same money in the time it took him to open his greedy, fat mouth.
Lost in her mind's wondering what would happen if she were to be found out, Tay never heard the heavy, clanking footsteps of the royal guardsman. It was only when he laid his hand lightly on her shoulder that she reacted - and reacted sharply, breaking out into a panicked sprint and glancing over her shoulder. She could lose him, he was too slow in his armor. But almost before she could finish thinking those words, she collided with something in front of her and was sent sprawling to the ground. She hit the polished marble silently; the person she had knocked to the floor with her did not.
"Majesty!" the guardsman shouted, throwing off his helmet as he rushed past Tay and knelt at the aging king's side. "Are you all right, my lord?"
Tay's eyes fell on the king, passed over his crimson cape and silver sash, finally resting on the golden ring encrusted with jewels in the shape of his royal crest. As she stared at the ring, her world went black. The king's response to the guardsman, the sound of more soldiers rushing toward the scene dulled in her ears; the smell of blood from where she had hit her head faded away; finally, her eyes lost focus, not because she was dying physically, but because she was dying mentally. She had failed to protect her sister. Rea was undoubtedly being used like a doll by the prison guards by now, at least five hours after the time she was arrested. She cried.
Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted off of the ground, and the world rushed back to her. "Get her up," the king ordered, his voice calm but carrying the authority of one used to using it. Tay felt her heart drop. She would surely be sentenced to death for hurting a member of the royal family. "Wait, stop, she's coming around," he said, raising a hand. The guards stopped, helping Tay keep her balance as she swayed lightly. With a slight limp, the king walked up to her. "Are you hurt? You were bleeding, and you haven't made a sound since you hit the floor..."
Tay was stunned. Where were the chains to tie her hands and drag her to the dungeon? The angry screams from an elderly king? The devious grins of the guards who no doubt wanted her body. She thought she might be dead, but a moment later, when the king touched his hand to her forehead and her face flushed, she realized she was not dead or dreaming. "S-sir," she said, her voice so soft she herself could barely hear it.
"Yes? Yes, come on, speak louder." There was a relieved tone in the king's voice that surprised not only Tay, but the guards around her as well.
"Sir," one guard said, a bit meekly. "We can bring her to the infirmary. You're going to be late for-"
The king held up a hand to the guard, silencing him. "There's time enough to eat later. Right now this girl is trying to speak to me, and you are only distracting me from hearing her."
Thoroughly embarrassed, the guard dropped his head and stepped back, silent. Tay found her voice and spoke a little louder, "P-please, Your Majesty, m-my sister..." Her voice trailed off as she found herself debating just how to tell the king 'My sister is probably being raped by the guards who arrested her earlier today for seeing your daughter naked in her bedroom with another girl.' She felt the silence press on her; the king wanted an answer. "She... s-she's in prison."
"What for?" the king asked, surprise showing on his face as if he could not fathom anyone related to this shy girl being a criminal.
"F-for..." Again, Tay fell silent. But this time, the king wasted no time waiting for an answer. He sent two of the lightly-armored guards to find her sister and remove her from prison, and bring her - along with Tay - to the throne room, where he would meet with them after he ate.
Tay sighed with relief. She thought the worst of the problem was over.
It wasn't.
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