52 The Loophole

The Queen ordered everyone to retire to their rooms and stay there. When the entire castle and surrounding grounds were deadly quiet, she told Brightise to follow her.

"My punishment is death then?" Brightise asked conversationally as they walked side to side. She couldn't help it. She felt completely betrayed by the Queen's decision and she couldn't hide her anger anymore. "That sure sounds beneficial!"

The Queen snorted before she turned to look at Brightise with a smile.

"I left you a loophole," she said enigmatically.

"Loophole?"

"To escape the death that you speak of."

When Brightise kept looking at her in confusion, the Queen just sighed and said, "You'll see soon enough."

The two of them walked almost the entire length of the castle, until they reached a dark door right next to the kitchens. Behind the door was a staircase that led down.

"We are going to the dungeons?" Brightise asked critically.

"Yes, does that not suit your fancy? Did Your Majesty wish to be locked in a high tower instead?" the Queen asked with a raised eyebrow.

Brightise found that she liked the woman's snarkiness.

"No, I just thought it was a little predictable. Prisoners are always held in the dungeons."

"It doesn't matter where you are held, or whether it is easy to predict. No one is going to help you escape anyway."

Brightise frowned. "Then why did you make such a big show about the secrecy of the place?"

The Queen grimaced slightly before she said, "The downside of being a figure of authority is that you have to sound intimidating all the time."

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the Amazon lit a small candle she found in a nook in the wall. "There..." She handed Brightise the candle and then started walking down the narrow dark corridor.

A door was looming at the end of it.

"Is that it?" Brightise asked impatiently.

The Queen nodded. "It's not much, so try not to stay there long. You'll get bored before you know it."

"You're joking, right? I'm no thief. I don't know how to break and enter. Or exit. I will die in there."

The Queen stopped before the door and said slowly, "You might, but there is a good chance that you will not. See, I might have forbidden you to have any food or water, but I said nothing about fire." The Amazon pointed down at the candle in Brightise's hands. "You can keep that."

Brightise stared at the Queen in speechless surprise.

"You can use that candle to discover your special power and then use that to escape this room."

The Amazon took a small key out of a pocket in her pants and unlocked the door. The room behind it was a little bigger than the room Brightise had been given the night before, but it was completely dark. The only source of light was the candle she was holding. She suddenly felt very happy to have it.

As the Queen was about to turn around and leave, Brightise suddenly asked, "What if I discover my power and it's something completely useless? What if I can just make sparks fly or something?"

"Then you will either find another way out or die." The Queen said this completely nonchalantly, as if Brightise's life was not on the line. "This wouldn't be a proper punishment if there was no risk," she added.

Then she walked out of the room and pulled the door shut behind her.

Brightise heard the key turn in the lock.