12 Forbidden Books

Crestienne Filia

Quietly, I slip out of my chambers and into the halls of the palace. This is the petitioners' hall. This is where people all over Scire have come to ask the king for favors or petitions. My people just line up for my father's throne room. Some of them feel their heels aching that they had to sit on the floor. Some even argue on who came first on the lines. All I can say is that this place is filled with clamors all around that I cannot even hear myself. With the amount of people that is here, I believe I can blend in with them.

Except, no.

I see one of my brothers headed this way. He's the oldest. Crown Prince Anwealda. He's due to inherit the throne and a no-nonsense brother. With his unsmiling face, curled up eyebrows, and postured look, I don't think he's a person that you can cross. It also appears that he is busy with his squires and pageboys. Other courtiers also surround him as they discuss more laws and boring stuff.

What can I do? I take my hat off and bow down as low as possible so that he would not notice me. As he passes by, I let out a wry smile and began heading off.

I pass another hall – the noble's quarters. It is a hall way where various nobles reside. It is not a peaceful "pass through a bedroom hallway" scenery. Papers are flying everywhere. Literally. The halls our filled with clamor due to the heavy amounts of reports the nobles get. This is just like the taxing ministry, but worse.

Anyway, I can just thank the papers as I walk away from the halls.

Finally, I passed through all of that. This is my safe haven now – the garden. Nobody likes to come to the garden due to the busyness of life. The flowers bloom like it was meant to bloom eternally. Each petal is perfectly shaped into a heart. I see so many colors unimaginable to a person's eye. We import all of our plants from Cassida, the nature kingdom. Not even our technology could imitate the perfection of these plants. I pass through it with ease, and there I see my way out – the water gate. A boatman is always stationed at the water gate, but this is my boatman. He is always part of my conspiracy to escape the palace.

I unlock the rusty portcullis of the water gate and pull it up. As I sit on this tiny boat, I pull down the portcullis. Phew! It's over.

"Come on, row," I command.

And with that, the boatman rows me through the River Lorelei. While rowing across the river, I take my hat off, knowing no one will recognize me, the princess, outside the riches of the palace. We were sailing through the setting sun of Scire. While the sun takes its beautiful rest, the flickering streetlights soon turn on and the cars drive a little slower due to the impending darkness.

Minutes later, I can feel that we are getting nearer. I see lovers holding hands as they walk on a lane of lights and flowers. We are getting nearer to our stomping ground – Parcum Vitae, the park of life. The river is one of the few ways to get to the park. Other ways include walking or a bike ride. Either way, there are no physical roads good enough for a vehicle to pass through the park.

Then, the boatman stops at an open landing pier. I stand from the boat and hand the gracious boatman the payment he deserves. With that, he doffs his hat off and sails back to the palace.

I am the princess of Scire, yet still, I cannot help but stand in awe in the beauty of this park. Trees of Acacia stand firm as they form a path for lovers to walk around. A diamond fountain at the center of the park springs water from the River Lorelei itself. The waters are of colors of rainbow for the river is said to run all over Medeis.

In this park, artists perform some of their skills in technology. Some exhibit their skills in making miniature robots do crazy acts that make children laugh. Some use their talents in technology to create illusions of duplication, disappearance, and many more. Some even perform jests like that of what we see in the palace. I could not help but smile as I walk to find our secret place.

Lo and behold, I found the lane of streetlights. Starting from the first streetlight I saw, I count. I count up to eight. We always meet at the eighth streetlight. Beside the eighth streetlight, a bench for lovers is built. In front of this bench is a silver fountain that changes its colors according to the time. For sunset, it is orange.

It is sunset, and yet, Romain is still not here. I don't worry. He is his father's squire. I believe he still has his duties. What do I do? I put my backpack to one side and take out a book. It is called The Legends of the Four Rulers. Romain said this is part of his father's sacred archives. They say this tells us the origin of Medeis, this world, as we know it. Quite different from a Scirese ideals of "starting the world in flames" theory of the beginning, but hey. A little fiction can't hurt anyone.

Suddenly, the fountain changes color – Cobalt, the color of night. And, lo, he is here. He walks so charmingly in his clothes of chemise shirt and breeches. No one could mistake who he is due to his copper brass hair. I look into his hand, and there he is! He is carrying more books.

He sits beside me with a guilty smile. He knows he's late, but I truly understand.

"Thank you for the book," I say as I hand him the book I'm currently reading. "These books are truly a treat."

He hands me more of his books. "I hope her highness is pleased with what she's reading."

"It's rather beautiful," I say as I open one of his books. "I wish it was real, and not this world of rules, palace, papers, and seals that we live in. I wish I could just walk out of here and cast incantations like that of an – "

And suddenly, he puts his hand to his mouth. Wait, what? What does he mean? I stop from speaking, and yet he acts oddly. He looks around as if I had spoken wrong. I don't understand.

"Lottie, please, speak not about it."

Wait, I don't understand. My smile dies down as he says those words. I thought he thinks the same way as me. What is this? Am I not allowed to speak from what I have learned from the book. Anyway, I'm a princess. I have to be regal about this.

With a calm face, I turn to him. "Romain, did I speak wrongly?"

All he could do is give a forced smile. He simply shakes his head.

"No, my princess," he says as he gently takes my hand. "It's just that these dreams must not be spoken out loud. I fear that his majesty will not agree with the stories of my books."

"But, Romain, it's just a book. It can't be that harmful. It's just my fantasies, my unspoken dreams. 'Tis only a dream in my mind that I can play every day. 'Tis not harmful."

I look into his eyes, and I could feel that he is hiding something. He knows something about this. I just can't understand why he would not tell me. He has this paranoid look that somehow gets me worried.

"Lottie, there are things that shouldn't be said out loud," he says carefully. "Things like your dreams are private thoughts." He still remains ambiguous. I can't understand him. All he could do is keep holding on to my hands with his shaky palms. "You will understand in time."

"But when is the right time!" I say as I round on him. "You have always said that!" I had enough of this "right time" speech. I break away from him. "'Tis time, Romain. Tell me what I do not know."

Suddenly, I see him shaken. Right. I have not acted my part of being a princess. I have shown my side of rebellion once more. I sit up straight once more and lower my voice.

"Tell me why these books are forbidden. Tell me why I have to be discreet about this, because if I know, I will slowly influence the king into letting it be free. These books are beautiful, Romain. 'Tis just fiction. It can't harm anyone."

He is silent. I look away from him with several thoughts running in my head. These are just books. Why would it be forbidden to talk about this when copies of this exist?

Suddenly, he taps me on the shoulder. "Lottie, you will know," Romain says kindly. I turn back to him and I see him pulling more books out of his satchel. He gives me three more books, with the top one being striking in my eyes. "The first one you see right now is a story of a girl that tested a Ruler's patience. Just remember. Take care when you read these books."

"It's forbidden too, aren't they?" I ask frankly.

With a slight smile, he gives another ambiguous answer. "Just be careful."

"Then just say that it is forbidden! Is it that hard for you to say?" I take my things away and rise from my seat. "I have to go, Romain. His majesty is waiting. I shall return your books when I finish them, and after that, we shall have no talks or readings if you will not tell me anything."

I take the books and leave. I cannot look back. Still, I believe I have been a bit too hard on him. I can be rebellious, yes, but he is my friend. I could never hurt him. All I could do is hold on to the fact that things will be alright. Nothing has been broken. I will still see him at court with a smile on his face. I will still see him on his coats that of a scholar as he scurries behind his father.

In any case, I don't even know how I am to go home right now. The boatman won't be here until the moon is high. I could not call for one of my father's coaches. They'll just know that I left. What could I do? I'll just walk. I'll walk until I get to Chemia. The moon is still rising. It's not that late anyway.

Anyway, I'm the princess of this kingdom. I have the entire kingdom memorized in my head. I could walk from Parcum Vitae up to the palace within half of an hour. One thing I am sure of is that there are a lot of easy paths that lead to the palace. I will be back in my golden gowns and intricate plaits before the king finds out that I left.

I walk through a forest of Acacia trees all around. I think this is the hidden passage towards the palace. As I walk, I see three men looking at me as if I am the prey, and they, the predators. All I could do is just pull my hat down and keep walking. Walking turns to striding turns to jogging turns to running. I feel my heart race as I see those men. Something tells me that they are not supposed to be here.

As I run, I take a false step and land on my knees. I hear a loud thump that even those men could hear that I fell.

"The lady is in trouble," one of them says from a distance. "Come on, men! Help her!"