Slave To The Merciful Queen.

Prophesy The Second: With No Companion shall She Overcome

Her slaves are not allowed to enter relationships, they are to remain celibate for as long as they live. The punishment for engaging in any such activities that could lead to procreation is to have your procreation organs cut off, not yours fear not! I mean the slaves involved.

Rilikia starts with the kitchen which is always very dirty. She starts by washing the plates and she immediately knows it is hopeless to think she can ever get to play today, from the looks of it it will take her the whole day to get this place squeaky clean. 

' I think we should just run away you know to someplace very far away. Perhaps there's some land that the Queen hasn't discovered yet. We could go there and build a city. What do you think? ' Rilikia has the habit of talking to her dog as if it were the same creature as her and that it could understand her. Leo is a smart dog though, we have to give him credit for that. In fact, he is the only dog that can tell the scent of the queen and would warn Rilikia whenever she was around. 

' Do you think there's a way out of this palace? It is just so big it seems to go on forever. I want to see the world outside the palace. ' She continues talking to Leo who responds with a bark.

' You want to see outside the palace too, don't you? It's fine, I'm sure there's a way out, someday we'll see the stars and moons and the three suns and all the other beings in the sky. ' There is a smile on Rilikia's face as she says this, she still has hope that the princess who has been destined to overthrow Queen Shiar would do so and set everyone free. Yes, it is part of the prophecy that Queen Shiar is afraid of and it is a hushed secret in the palace. Everybody knows that such a prophecy exists even though no one ever talks about it. 

' What do you want to do when you finally get out of here? I'll tell you what I want to do, I want to run through an open field filled with pretty little insects and fays and drink golden honey. I want to... ' Just then Tyler walks in, he is a fellow slave but thinks he is better than everyone else.

' Have you become mad? Who are you discussing with? Can you just do your work in peace? ' Tyler starts to rant, he likes to talk down at the children slave. 

' I am not mad, I'm not sure about you though. ' Rilikia has a feisty spirit, she never lets anyone talk down on her.

' What? Who do you think you are talking to? ' Tyler hates Rilikia and he has always been looking for a way to get her executed but has not found anything substantial, maybe today would be the day.

' A slave. ' Rilikia replies him with a smile on her lips.

' How dare you? I am no or... ' Tyler stops himself just in time, admitting that he is not a slave will be synonymous with committing treason. 

' You are not a slave? ' Rilikia is laughing and Tyler is fuming in anger.

' I am a slave to the merciful Queen. ' You want to ask why he had to say that? it is simple if one is asked if you are a slave you have to admit it immediately with that clause.

' Tyler what is taking you so long? ' They both hear Toshi's distant voice and Tyler is forced to leave Rilikia alone.

' Leo, don't you think it's cruel that my parents had to pay their debt by enslaving me? It is not my fault that they couldn't pay their debts. Why do I have to pay for their debt for the rest of my life? ' Rilikia resumes her conversation with her dog. This is what Queen Shiar has made her believe. She had told Rilikia that her parents had been unable to pay the loan she borrowed them; apparently, her parents had used her as collateral and so when they could no longer pay they had given her their baby. Of course, as you will later know if you stick for a little while longer, this is far from the truth. 

' Leo? ' Rilikia calls her dog when she notices he is no longer with her. She walks out of the kitchen to see Leo running somewhere as if following a scent that is faint but important. Or perhaps he is just chasing a rat? 

' Leo, Leo. ' But her usually obedient dog is not listening to her and she has no choice but to follow it. If she let Leo be he may be found dead later on, this palace was unpredictable someone might turn Leo into dinner.

' Leo. ' She has finally caught up with her dog but her dog ignores her still. 

' Leo wait. ' She tries in vain to slow down her dog but Leo keeps her sprinting.

Leo leads them to a room she has never been to before, there are many such rooms in this palace because like I've told you it goes on and on, it is a really big place. 

' Why are we here? ' Rilikia asks Leo, the room is bare there is nothing here except dust and cobwebs. 

' Leo? ' Leo is now barking and this confuses Rilikia all the more. She looks around the room once more and then she notices the Queen's raven. 

'Mr Raven? 'Hardly anything scares Rilikia.

The evil thing doesn't say a word, it isn't like it should but everyone thinks he can talk but perhaps only the Queen understands him; it is believed she takes counsel from the bird.

" It's just Mr Raven Leo, you know the Queen's closest servant. " Rilikia tells Leo who looks furious for some reason.

" Hello sir, will you tell the Queen we want a day off? We'll like to play to our heart's content, it'll be the wisest counsel you've given her. " Rilikia tells the green-eyed raven, it does seem like he can understand her but certainly he will never advise the queen to give her a day off. 

Rilikia starts laughing at her own absurd request, a day off? She was sure her workload was going to increase after this.

" Leo, let's go. " Rilikia tells her dog that hasn't stopped barking.

" Leo? Come on let's be gone. We don't want the queen seeing us having a meeting with her spouse. ' Some say that the raven must be the Queen's husband because he follows her everywhere even to bed.

" Leo? " He barks more aggressively and Rilikia turns her attention back to the queen's raven who in its place is a man, a man who is wounded and has the deepest green eyes ever. He had long white hair and he looked helpless and completely broken.

" Mr raven? " Rilikia is shocked by this discovery, she looks around once more to check for the raven but it is the man with long hair that is indeed in its place.

" Mr raven is that you? " She asks in a whisper.

" Aaa " When he opens his mouth she notices there is no tongue in his mouth, she takes a step back shocked.

" Mr Raven? " If it is possible for her voice to be less than a whisper that is how she sounds now. I am shocked too, is Mr raven really a human being?

" Are you in a lot of pain? Should I get help? " Rilikia asks to which the raven turned man nods no. He looks like he is in a lot of pain and all of this do not make sense to Rilikia, it doesn't make sense to me either.

" Rilikia? What are you doing here? My good God! You will be the death of your poor self. " Toshi is shocked on entering the room Rilikia is in, not because of the raven but because she had ordered the little girl to be in the servant's quarters. To be fair, Rilikia has not left the servant's quarters but this part of the quarters is not for anyone to enter except on permission by the queen and head servant.

" Toshi quick get some water for this pitiful sir. " Rilikia orders.

" What are you talking about? There is no one here. " Toshi is baffled, it seems to her that Rilikia is mad.

" You cannot see him? He's right there take a look. " Rilikia points at the man groaning in pain on the floor. He looks as if he is telling her to shut up.

" You don't want anyone to know about you? " Rilikia is trying to decode the raven's attempt at sign language.

" Rilikia we must leave now. Sorry for the disturbance O merciful one. " Toshi grabs a confused Rilikia firmly by the hand out of the forbidden room. 

" What has gotten over you? Ehn? Are you trying to get yourself killed? " As far as Toshi knows persons who had entered such rooms without the Queen's permission had ended up missing, nobody knew what happened to such people including myself.

" The palace is a strange place, don't you think so Toshi? " At the moment Rilikia is more confused than scared of her life.

" Where are the both of you coming from? " It is the Queen's voice and Toshi is frozen on the spot, surely Rilikia was going to get beheaded.

" Can you not answer? Toshi? " The queen's attention is on the head servant.

" Please have mercy thou queen, I saw the little girl in... " Do not dare think that Toshi is a pretentious person. She is no such thing but she has learnt from other people's experience that lying to the queen is useless, she sees everything and when she asks you a question she is just testing your honesty.

" Say no more. I can smell the forbidden fragrance from off the little girl. Rilikia is it? " The queen's attention is on the little girl, no matter how hard she had tried, she was never satisfied with the level of the girl's fear. It wasn't like Rilikia wasn't scared of the queen, she was and at the moment she was so much afraid she was thinking of the slave that had his limbs cut off but unlike the other slaves she did not live her life in fear.

" My Queen... " Toshi starts in an attempt to plead mercy for Rilikia.

" Say no more. Rilikia? Follow me, will you? " And as Rilikia takes a step forward that's the last she remembers until she wakes up three days later in her room. 

" What happened? " She asks herself as what occurred three days ago is hazy. She remembered the queen telling her to follow her but she had no memory of what occurred that led up to that, not even what had transpired as regards the queen's raven. 

" Leo? " He gives a low growl at the mention of his name, he had been sitting at her feet and waiting for her to wake up.

" Oh my goodness what day is it? You must be hungry! " Rilikia jumps out of bed with a start. One will think that as she had not had food for three days she will be weak but such is not the case for this little girl. 

She stands up from bed and Leo ever obedient stands up too. She makes her way out of her room and into the corridor, for some weird reason the whole place is quiet, too quiet. She continues down to the kitchen, perhaps there will be some leftovers for herself and Leo. When she reaches the kitchen she starts to find the quietness strangely disturbing.