Chapter 1

In this chapter, Alicia and Eesso make plans for mutiny. Alicia also weaves a web of lies to her most trusted friend, Raelynn.

  Chapter 1

     It was a near moonless night-an oddity considering that there were seven moons orbiting around the planet Zivmundis.  The faint glow from the smallest of the seven moons, Ynalo, was the sole source of light guiding Alicia through the ink-black night.  The lack of light mattered little to the girl, for she traveled this path daily--even though her parents had ordered her never to leave the castle. 

      The girl walked at a brisk pace, barely seeing the small, cylindrical shaped homes of commoners she passed by.  She turned off onto a side street and began passing the dwellings of low-class Glenavonians.  These homes had lopsided foundations, many had gaping holes in their walls and roofs, and a few homes at the end of the alleyway had no roof at all.  Alicia’s rhythmic pitter-pattering footsteps on the cobblestone street were now an irregular pitter-crunch-patter-splash disharmony, for she was stepping in puddles and trash nearly every other step she made.

      As the amounts of litter and number of puddles increased down the alleyway, so did the smell.  The girl was nearing her destination.  She followed her nose to the end of the alleyway, the smelliest spot, and began tapping her foot along the littered ground, feeling for the metal lid somewhere underneath the trash.  On the third foot tap, a dull clang resonated.  Alicia carefully dusted off the trash covering the round metallic lid, being extra careful not to cut herself on any shards of glass from the many broken bottles littering the alleyway.  She grabbed hold of the slimy handle and hauled the lid off to the side, uncovering a hole with a ladder leading down to a tunnel. 

 

     A pungent smell, wafting up from the newly uncovered hole, nearly made the girl nauseous.  She muttered a curse and said, “I’m never making this a meeting place again.  Every time I come here, I feel as if I’m going to retch.”  As soon as she said this, she knew this was a blatant lie.  She would never change the meeting spot; it was the safest place she knew of and she wasn’t about to sacrifice clandestinity for comfort.  Not when she was this close to reaching her goal. 

 

     She pushed away the bad feeling as best as she could and then, holding onto her last breath of fresh night air, Alicia descended into the acrid depths of Glenavon's sewer.

      The darkness below ground was just as complete as the darkness above ground, making the rat infested tunnel perilous for anyone who didn't know it well--but Alicia knew the tunnel oh so well.   For many months now, she had been coming everyday to the sewer tunnels; she was only absent when her presence was required for royal visits and occasions.

      All it had taken to get her curiosity piqued were a few overheard words from the castle’s spymaster.  One small mention about the city’s Rogue and Alicia began paying numerous, undercover, visits to the spymaster who was constantly receiving information from his many, many spies.

      After learning much about the Rogue and the society he controlled, Alicia and her long time plebeian friend, Eesso, integrated themselves into the community of thieves.  In the beginning, they made friends with other teenagers and learned the lingo before they upped their social statuses and associated themselves as close as they could to the Rogue and his circle of dedicated thieves.  Now that Alicia was nearly 18 and Eesso was a tall, robust man of 20, they commanded some authority in the society of thieves.  And being the cunning princess she was, Alicia hoped it would be enough authority to start a mutiny.

      "Psssst.  Alicia, is that you?" a voice whispered.

      "Eesso?" Alicia asked, peering through the darkness for her friend.

      "Alicia! You're here!" squealed Eesso, just like a little boy who hadn't seen his mother in a while.

      Eesso took Alicia's hand in his large hand and pulled her down the tunnel toward their normal meeting place.  They turned off into a tunnel that dead ended and walked all the way to the end before speaking of anything important.  One could never be too careful when talking about touchy subjects such as mutiny.

      Eesso looked at Alicia with hopeful eyes and asked, "News?"

      "No,” she answered with a slight grimace.  She had practically staked out at the spymaster’s chambers hoping to glean more information, but apparently the Rogue was no longer a topic of interest to him, for she had heard nothing about the Rogue.  It seemed as if the spymaster had moved on to the fruitful subject of crops--a topic that Alicia didn’t see being part of the line of work of a spymaster.

 

     Alicia returned a hopeful look to her friend and asked, “What about you, Eesso?  Do you have any news?"

      He grinned down at Alicia in outright glee.  "I checked the Rogue's vaults like you told me to and they were practically empty!"

      "How much gold and silver was left?" she asked, unable to celebrate until this question was asked. 

     Eesso held up his hands close together and said, "This much."

     "Great!" Alicia exclaimed with shinning eyes.  "This is just what we need, Eesso!  With this leverage, we can count on a mutiny!"

     A split second later, her excitement was back under control, and with calculating eyes she asked, "Will you be down here for most of today, Eesso?"

      He nodded solemnly. 

      "Good.  Make sure you casually mention to everyone that the Rogue has spent our treasure recklessly and has left us with practically nothing.  Once people hear about this, they'll be demanding a new Rogue. And we need to make sure it is you."

    

     She looked Eesso straight in the eyes and said, "Now, what I need you to do is to tell the people that get angry that there will be a meeting tonight at two bells in the morning.  We can't have them planning anything until I’m there.   This is extremely important; if we get this right, you’ll be Rogue and if we get this wrong, we’ll get a Rogue just as bad as before.  Do you understand?"

       "I understand," Eesso replied looking at Alicia as a loyal dog would look at his owner: waiting to take orders.

      No matter how much bigger or older Eesso grew, he never outgrew his complete obedience to other people, especially those with whom he had close friendships.   He never went against what others wanted, even if it put him in harm's way.  After knowing Eesso for so long, Alicia had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't completely right in the head and didn't know any better.

     Alicia hugged Eesso and said, "I'll be back around ten tonight.  And make sure you don't forget to mention the empty vault thing casually, ok?" 

     Eesso nodded obediently and returned the hug.

  

     By the time Alicia made it back to the castle, it was four bells in the morning.  She walked down the hallway, past the spymaster’s quarters, which to her surprise were dark.  Maybe the man actually did sleep.  She climbed the stairs to the upper floor of the castle and opened the first door on her right.  She felt around for the edge of her bed and then collapsed on top of it, not even bothering to take of her sewer clothes.

   

      “Alicia?  Darling, are you still in bed?”

    

     The stone door to Alicia’s bedchamber opened and the woman who had just called entered the princess’ chamber.

    

     There were tapestries all around the room; in fact, they were so plentiful that barely any of the ancient mosaic depicting the first coronation in Glenavon was left uncovered.  On the wall across from the four poster bed, where the princess was currently slumbering, was the largest tapestry, which grandly showed off the birth of Alicia in bright colors and with magnificent detail.  All around the bedchamber were the tapestries illustrating the subsequent events of Alicia’s life, but only up to age ten, for there was no more wall space in her bedchamber.

    

     “Dear me,” muttered Alicia’s maid, Raelynn, when her eyes took in the sight of Alicia sprawled out on top of her blankets in plebeian clothes. 

   

      Raelynn, who was in the last stages of pregnancy, hobbled over to Alicia and shook her awake.  “Alicia, you have exactly 4 minutes until breakfast starts!  Your parents are going to be furious if you are late again!”

    

     “Peasant brains!” Alicia muttered, scrambling out of bed.

   

      “My goodness, Alicia!  You need to be more careful.  You can’t fall asleep with those clothes on.  What would your parents say if they saw or heard you were wearing them?” Raelynn berated in a low whisper, visibly panicked.

 

     “I know, that was an idiot thing for me to do,” Alicia replied, feeling raw skin underneath the scratchy commoners’ clothes.

    

     “You bet it was.”  Raelynn steered Alicia into the next room where the rest of the tapestries of Alicia from age 10 and up hung.  The maid went over to the wardrobe and grabbed a light blue dress off a rack and shoved it at Alicia.  Then she continued her lecture, “I have half a mind to take the clothes away.  I only gave them to you so you could have a break from the predetermined and structured life you live here, not so you could get yourself in trouble.”

    

     “I know.  I’m truly sorry, Raelynn.  I could’ve gotten you in trouble too.  I vow that I won’t do it again,” Alicia apologized with pleading eyes.  She didn’t like to see her best friend so upset, especially now that her baby was due soon.

    

     “Was that a real vow?” Raelynn asked, on the edge of accepting Alicia’s promise.

     Alicia nodded.

      

     Raelynn’s face brightened and she started helping Alicia dress for the royal breakfast.

    

     “So did you see Eesso last night?” she asked Alicia slyly.

    

     “How’d you guess?” Alicia responded laughingly.    

    

     Of course, Alicia had told Raelynn all about Eesso.  Not a whole lot of truthful things, but things that any infatuated girl would say.  She did this because her and Raelynn’s idea of a break from royal life were not the same.  Raelynn’s idea was mingling with plebeian boys, while to Alicia it meant doing something a little more entertaining, for instance joining the society of thieves.

    

     “Do you like him?” she pressured, as she started braiding Alicia’s strawberry-golden hair.

    

     “Yeah!” Alicia said, taking on the role of a love-sick girl, knowing full well Raelynn would change the subject immediately.  Alicia knew that Raelynn worried about her dislike of royal life and knew that Raelynn didn’t want to encourage her.

   

      “Well, that’s nice,” Raelynn commented.  “Say, will anyone important be at the breakfast this morning, or will it be your parents and other Glenavonians?”   

    

     “That is a very good question,” said Alicia.  “I hope it’s just locals, because they’ll be furious if I’m late and make a bad impression with people who are from other kingdoms.”

    

     Raelynn smoothed down the back of Alicia’s dress and walked around the girl, doing a full inspection.  She pulled a few of Alicia’s golden tendrils free from the long braid, took the girl into her arms, and said, “I hope so to, darling.  Now, hurry!  You are already five minutes late!”

Author's Note

Let me know if you see any grammar errors please. Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Sor]

I really liked it! I didn't see any mistakes... so I think. Although, it was a little difficult to understand the whole "Rogue" thing. Maybe more description in the next chapter or something.