Assignment One: The Prologue
The amused queen was sat, gazing down upon my father and I - a sneer, plastered mockingly upon her lips. Evidently, she thought of us two as playthings, what with the way she looked at us; she thought of us both as nothing more but toys at her disposal - things to merely entertain her. To think that this woman (a notorious sadist) was pampered with everything from a velvet outfit of grandeur, to a lavishly stunning castle, whilst my humble father and I had nothing but the rags on our backs... To think such things, was to realise the cruelty and unfairness of the world; it was to acknowledge harsh reality.
I swallowed. Taking in my surroundings and the woman sat before me, I quickly acknowledged this aforementioned harsh reality. And due to such, I was hindered unable to truly meet the royal dictator's piercing gaze - in fact, I couldn't even look at her face directly. If you asked me what colour her hair was later on, I would not know; if you asked me to describe her face later on, I would be left speechless. Later on, if you asked me if I remembered any aesthetic qualities about her, all I would reply with was that she was intimidating. She was intimidating in both the way she was posed, and in the way her perennial sneer was forever patronising us.
But, of course, I couldn't forget the ice in her voice whenever she spoke.
"And what brings you two, ah, delightful citizens to my castle today?" she questioned, coolly, once she had finished silently ridiculing us. In spite of how savage I knew this woman could be, she was articulate, and spoke like a true monarch; every word was perfectly constructed, every syllable mouthed, and every vowel elongated. At least her accent was worthy of a queen.
My father was the one to respond.
We, uh, have a request, your majesty," he murmured, voice small and quiet, lost in the huge stone room. My bumbling father obviously shared my fear of the woman; his hands were constantly wringing themselves, and whenever he wasn't speaking, his teeth sunk into his lips. Then again, he had more to fear than me; he was the one who had to make conversation with this woman. "Concerning... Money."
Before he'd even took his next breath, the queen let out a scoff. The amusement in her eyes ricocheted to an all-time high, and, if she wasn't keeping up appearances, something told me that she would've cackled right in our faces.
"Money, dear sir?" she grinned, arching a brow at us both, marvelling at how anybody would dare make such a request. "And why on earth do you think that you would deserve such a thing? Do you think that I would simply throw my hard-earned cash at your feet?"
My father was left speechless, as the queen smirked at him. Evidently, he didn't think this whole thing through. Did he honestly expect the queen to be so charitable? I tensed beside him, mentally cursing his naiveness.
Eyes alight with laughter, the queen lifted her finger, and motioned to the guards to close the door. Behind us, we heard it slam shut; the overwhelming sensation of claustrophobia kicked in, as soon as I realised we were quite possibly trapped, sealed in the room with this terrifying woman. The fear made my throat stick, and my palms began to sweat. The woman was insanely good at intimidation, what with how she wove it into the simplest of actions.
Like now, when she spoke once more; her voice rose the hairs on my arms. "You're a funny little man," she purred, softly, stroking her chin as she contemplated what to do with us, "to think that you had the cheek to come here and simply beg for my money, as if I were some sort of service at your disposal. Does it look like money grows on tre-"
"Please!" To my surprise, my father dared to interject, with a desperate sob. "My wife is starving; we haven't a penny to spare. You are the o-only one to help my family and I... Please, your highness, please."
Immediately the room got colder; as soon as my father's plead was over, a silence hung in the air. His words seem to echo in the emptiness of the room, and the queen seemed to be thinking. Gradually, the smirk on her lips drooped. Moments ago, I would've been pleased to not see her smirk - to not see her pull that disturbingly prideful look. However, now, I regret that wish, as the expression was soon replaced with a petrifying glare, which sunk into my bones.
"So you have the insolence to interrupt, too, my dear man?" she questioned, haughtily, as she raised her eyebrow at him. I felt the breaths my father was emitting, each more panicked than the rest, as his mistake slowly grdawned ."You think you have the right to talk when I am talking? You think you have the right to come here, and beg for my money, and expect to give nothing in return? I am the queen. I fought battles for the rightful rule over this land with my own blade and hand, and yet you have the audacity to barge in here in such a manner?"
But, after all her words were spent, that fear-inducing glare slowly dissolved, an uncharacteristically neutral appearance dominating her features. Somehow it was far more sinister than the other expressions. "Your daughter, however... She seems like a very sweet girl," the queen observed, her eyes finally resting on my directly; they surveyed me as if I were a piece of meat, sizing me up, and coming to rest on my hair. I shivered, tempted to step back and run away from her gaze (which I still did not meet directly) as soon as possible - but, somehow, I managed to stay put.
"A very sweet girl indeed... And her hair - oh, it's so golden and luscious," she murmured, the smirk making a return to her lips, as my father shifted uncomfortably in his place, "it's simply fit for a princess. Oh, what a wonder that such a darling was stuck with a rat like you." Sneering, she laughed at long last, shaking her head at my father in amusement.
"However..." Once more, the smirk died away; a serious expression masked her face instead, "that does inspire an idea in my head. One which we will both benefit from - how about we do a trade?" she queried, smile small, as she eyed my befuddled father up and down.
]"I..." Confused, he stared at her with disbelief. "I... Seriously? T-thank, your majesty. Please, what might your generous offer may be?" Earnestly, now, he stared up at her, shuffling forward. Obviously he expected her to make a genuinely fair preposition; once again, his naiveness didn't fail him. Ushering a sigh, I knew that whatever the queen was about to suggest, was going to be a purely horrific - something which will surely set us back further from where we started. Especially what with the observation concerning my hair, which led her on to her idea. Apparently, this disastrous proposal included me... Which was something I was none too pleased about.
When the queen first spoke, it sounded as if she was speaking garbled nonsense - but then, I soon realised she was launching into a (seemingly unnecessary) fairytale. Which too, was garbled nonsense, but to voice such an opinion would be to take my own head. So I sighed, and I swallowed, readying myself for the surely sickening tale which was about to be told.
]"Once upon a time, there was said to be a peasant girl, with a striking appearance. And yet, it wasn't her facial qualities which struck others - oh no. Instead it was her golden hair; it was voluptuous and blonde, and simply a wonder to gaze upon. Many men and women alike ogled it night and day, hypnotized by its every little strand of gold and wonder. However, little did many of the admirers know, that with this hair, came a great power - the power to weave straw into gold," the queen drawled on, staring at my hair, now, as she spoke, a grin spreading across her lips. "Which, of course, was a power that would ensure unimaginable riches - the kind which even a queen like I couldn't even fantasise about.
"But the power as such could only be unlocked under certain conditions, as rightfully analysed by a wise, aged sorceress," the queen continued, "for one, the girl would have to be bare, without a single thread upon her back, and she would have to sit naked beneath the full moon; for two, the girl had to be chained to a sewing machine, her shackles so tight her wrists became bruised; and, lastly, for three, the girl would have to draw blood, right before her work began.
"And so, every night, beneath the full moon, the girl set to work: she did carried out each of these conditions herself. Within a year, she rose to power, and became one of the richest in all of the land - a true empress. Others gazed with wonder, amazed at how such a lowly commoner could rise to such glory after merely a year of seemingly doing nothing; others, however, grew envious of her sudden fortune. Thus, though she had truly done nothing to harm anybody else, the world began to plot against her. People attempted to assassinate her, in the hopes to steal her riches; people attempted to use sorcery, in the hopes to gain whatever talent she once had; and, lastly, people tried to kidnap her, and use her as a slave for their own benefit.
"In the end, the world which opposed her, won. At the young age of 23, having her talent only managed to blossom for a year, the princess was murdered ruthlessly in an attack, by the hands of some drunken harlot. Of course, in the end, it turned out his crime was in vain. As soon as the woman's heart ceased to pump, all of her work was undone; the gold she had woven instantly turned to straw once more, and her legacy was over, and the woman who had ended it was pursued for the rest of her apparently short, abysmal life.
"But some say that, once eras upon eras have passed, someone else was destined to be bestowed with her magical powers. Someone with gold hair like hers - a commoner, to be exact. Of course, such a thing is simply a childish story, and nothing to speculate about, but imagine," the queen murmured, eyes boring into my goosebump-ridden flesh, "imagine the value of such an individual. Imagine how much money a golden-haired wonder a such would be worth."
The queen was crazy, truly crazy; I realised there and then, exactly what she was insinuating.
Me? Was she seriously implying that I was the possessor of such a great power? And that she was to trade me for money? Frowning to myself, I fingered locks of my hair, twirling them around the length of my index finger. Whilst it was, as she had complimented, a rather nice shade of blonde, it was nothing in comparison to the astounding locks, described in the fable - it wasn't even close! I was positive that the queen was simply unhinged. She was asking for something merely impossible to accomplish.
"So," the queen said, finally, seemingly minutes after the conclusion of her short story, "my proposal is this: if your darling daughter weaves me a satisfying amount of straw into gold, I will promise to pay you back 20% of everything she manufactures - which, I promise, will be a lot, if the amounts accord to that in the story. However, if she fails to do so," the queen smirked, an absolutely maniacal look in her eyes, "I will slaughter her, and send you her bloody remains to your front doorstep, and you will get absolutely no cash whatsoever. Of course, this is a very generous offer, my dear sir. And so, if you decline, I'm afraid you will have to pay dearly for your... Ungratefulness. Perhaps with your head."
That was when I realised, as I listened intently to her voice, and the way it filled with disturbing satisfaction, as she described all the horrendous punishments she had out for us. The queen wasn't actually expecting me to fulfil the role of the girl in the story. Instead, she anticipated my failure - she wanted me to crash and burn, simply for her amusement. It made me feel sick, right down to the bottoms of my stomach. She knew my task was impossible, and she knew there was no possible way I could possible go through with such a thing. My father obviously wouldn't say yes; he couldn't say yes; he-
He was pushing me; he was pushing me forward, and I stumbled clumsily towards the queen. Taken aback, I turned my back from the woman before me, and instead I stared at him. My eyes bloomed, widening to sizes they had never widened to before. What was he doing? Why did he push me? I stared at him, and I realised his hand was held out - to me, or to the queen, I hadn't a clue - and a tiresome, weary expression was plastered upon his face. He looked older than usual: the limp grey of his hair hung around his face, appearing somewhat greasy, and the grooves and wrinkles which ran over his face, making it appear like pale leather, seemed to deepen, as if he were aging before me. He looked grim; he looked as if he was doing something distasteful; he looked as if he was...
Selling his daughter? Giving her away? Trading her to ensure that his own head was safe? Breath hitching, I squeaked out a gasp, as he suddenly said, "Take her," without a moment of hesitation, "take her and let her spin the gold you so desire, your majesty."
I felt as if my heart had been punctured, and I was suddenly deflating before the world's eyes. My father... What was he doing? Was he seriously selling me out? Before I knew it, I was crying: but the tears didn't roll down my face, in big waves, as if my eyes were leaking a tsunami of utter hopelessness. Instead a lone tear - a hopeless stream - trickled down my face. I realised that was all I was capable of right now, as the feeling of betrayal settled into my brain.
"Father," I whispered, reaching out for him, but my limbs stopped, only managing to raise a few centimetres. His own hands were still outstretched, as if offering my up like a prize. And though my back was turned completely, not a single part of my vision focussed upon any of her, I could feel the queen radiating her sickening peals of joy, delighted to think that she'd brought misery down upon another family.
"Wise choice," she said, coolly, relaxing back as her red nails stroked her cheek in amusement, "wise choice, my good sir."
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Wow, it's been so long since I've made a proper in-game set like this... So sorry if it's a bit shabby, and I'm double sorry if the quality's a little off. :oops:
Anyway, I hope my writing was adequate in the end. I can't wait to see everybody else's entries - the ones already submitted were epic. :)
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