Queen's Disaster

## Chapter One

I hauled the bag of stones over my shoulder, walking outside to dump them into the freshly mowed grass. It was a final hurrah at the fact that I was leaving my grandma's house tomorrow.

I'd be returning to the castle tomorrow, and boy, was I looking forward to it. My entire life, I'd hated staying at my grandma's. I hated both now. My kingdom was now free of my father, and the weight was too much for my shoulders. Lost in thought, I didn't hear a yell behind me.

"Don't drop those, missy!" I spun around, startled out of my thoughts. Mistake.

I heard the sound of rocks tumbling beneath me and knew that wasn't a good sign. I was one hour away from leaving. I didn't expect to get caught. Slowly, I blindly reached behind me in attempt to grab the sack. I couldn't finish the action, however, because my grandma was nearing dangerously close, and I had no idea how far she'd go.

Her lawn was, really, fine. She couldn't get too worked up about it, and what could she prove? Then I realized, of course she'd have security cameras. Even tucked away in the woods, where she'd run in a desperation to get away from royalty- that's a different story - she must have even larger reasons to have secure cameras hidden.

"You will clean this up," She said, and I could feel her temper coming on, "with your bare hands. If it's not done by the time you must leave..." I didn't ask for the rest of that sentence.

*One hour?* I repeated in my head. Maybe this wasn't the smartest idea, after all. Slowly, I bent down, hanging my head for extra effect, but she didn't seem to notice, since I heard the door slam behind me. It shocked me a little, and I jumped. Of course, that's not a very smart thing to do when you're on your knees, so of course I scraped my hands.

I clutched the bleeding wound. Ugh. Slowly, I started picking up rocks. Once I fell into pace, it was fine. Then I remembered that my life might be on the line here and started going a little faster, just to be safe.

By the time I'd finished, I had a feeling I only had seconds to spare. I knocked on the door, and my hands protested as the blood dripped out of the cuts that were not going to heal very easily. I'd injured myself more than once, and the bottom half of my dress was ridiculously torn. I knew Gram wouldn't care how presentable I was as long as her house was perfect for the carriages.

According to her, I wasn't perfect, and I never would be, because it's impossible to change what you already are. Yeah, her quotes were just so inspiring. I walked inside, tucking my hands deep into the fabric I was holding to avoid getting blood on her carpet, and slowly took off my shoes.

Then I walked through her house, trying to find her. Eventually, I did, and showed her the rocks. I'd been careful to seal it tightly. It wasn't a big bag, or sack, or whatever you wanted to call it, once you tucked it. More like a paper bag.

She nodded. Not in approval, just that this time she'd spare my life sort of way. I sighed, preparing for the lecture:

"Now, how many times have I told you not to get yourself into trouble? What would your parents think? Now, none of us are perfect, but many of us are close. You are less than zero. You are not perfect, and you never will be, because it's impossible to change who you already are. You'll always be bad. You should look at your brothers." She shook her head in disapproval at me, then slapped my arm, ordering me to get out and get something for my hands.

Before she did, though, she took the sack, so I just put my hands in my pocket. I got cornered by Owen and Andrew. Andrew was the only one nice to me. He tried to pull my fingers out, so I reluctantly showed him the damage.

"I sort of.. spilled rocks all over Gramma's yard."

Next, he took a look at my arm, rolling up my sleeves so he could get a better view. After examining that thoroughly for bruises, he asked, "What did she do?" He seemed confused.

"This time," I said, sighing, "She only made me clean it up. The rocks pierced my hands. Don't worry, she didn't do that."

Owen tugged at Andrew's sleeve, but when he didn't come, he ran off by himself. "You know, once, when I was really little, I dumped fruit punch all over her new dress." He chuckled, recalling the thought. "She was so mad. But guess who she blamed it on? You. You were sitting diagonal from me, remember?"

I nodded, laughing at the thought. It took a while for him to decide to continue, but he finally did. "Yeah. And she said you made me laugh. You sat there, looking at her in disbelief, and your face cracked me up. And so Gram points at you and goes, 'you did it again!' and I laughed for a full minute."

Suddenly, he turned serious, so I did too. "It's so sad, though, how she found a way to blame you when we were up in the mountains. I remember you packed us plenty of water each, but Gram drank one like, every two seconds, and when she finished she said you didn't pack enough." He laughed a little. "And then, we showed her how full ours were, since we hadn't taken a sip yet, and her eyes widened." He stopped. "So, did you fill ours more?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I did. To get back at her for something- I forget now."

"You have a lot of things that you forgot. But they still happened." Andrew smiled, brushing the hair out of my eyes. I hugged him tightly. "You're the best brother ever." I whispered.

We'd always had the special bond, being the two oldest. Sometimes we both got picked on by the other brothers, but I got picked on by everyone. Still, Andrew had helped me through a lot. I mean, a lot. I was very excited. But I didn't let myself get lost in my thoughts again. Shaking myself back to reality, I stepped out of my Gram's way as she passed.

Once the carriage arrived, she waved to everyone but me. Well, that was mostly because I was under the seats, my only company being the smell of feet. I had to admit, it wasn't so bad apart from that, since they always cleaned their escorts. I was slightly surprised, though. I thought maybe Gramma would convince them not to clean the bottom just so that I could be in the worst possible spot.

I closed my eyes, but didn't get to rest before a stomping shook the ground and I crawled out from underneath. Andrew, of course, was there to help me up. He didn't do another gesture, though. I knew why. We'd talked about it before.

When we got to the castle, I felt the smooth walls again. They felt nice, but I couldn't feel them too much. Before we left Gram's, I'd made sure to bandage up my hands. Since they covered most of my hand, I couldn't feel too much. Even so, it felt good against the bandaging.

Another Council meeting was today, so I got ready and all dressed up. When I stepped into the meeting room, people barely acknowledged me, but some said friendly greetings to my brother. The closest I'd got to that was a cold 'welcome back' that I'm pretty sure was sarcastic.

While the other members and voters were busy ignoring me, I was looking around the table. My eye caught on a special lace and I immediately knew who it was. There was no denying the fact.

My Gram was here with us.

## Chapter Two

How was that even possible? I asked myself over and over, but to no amount. She must've followed us. I had no way of knowing, jammed under the seats. I hadn't heard any signs, and I could've sworn I'd heard a door close. Or, rather, her signature slam. It didn't matter who she was with. I guess she couldn't help it, closing doors forcefully.

That was sort of funny.

I made a mental plan to ask Andrew about it after the meeting. When I did, I didn't know there was no way I'd be able to say that.

"I say we send Miss Kaylee to the dragon's cave." My Gram announced, about halfway through our discussion about enabling new forces and defenses. One of the leaders asked her to explain further, and she happily did so.

"If we send this girl there and let her fight, then surely this dragon will know that we are fighters."

"What if she died?" One asked, and just by hearing her words and watching her eyes and lips move, I knew she might be worried.

"So what?"

"Well, she's our only princess."

My Gram didn't seem to care, so the Council carried it out. The next thing I knew, I was standing on rock, just above the cave that would surely mean my doom. I couldn't help it. I started to cry. My vision became blurry as it clouded up with tears. I could barely see, but that didn't mean I couldn't hear.

My Gram had sent my other brothers to throw stones into the cave. Andrew tried to comfort me by telling me the beast might already be dead, but I didn't think he was right. Apparently he didn't, either, because he gave me the biggest hug.

After my siblings were given the signal to start throwing, a pair of yellow eyes poked out of the cave. They ran away screaming. I tugged on my belt, which resulted in me getting my sword out. The dragon saw me struggling and his attention snapped toward me, as well as his head. Frightened, I backed away.

I fell into someone's arms. My brother's? Andrew! He slipped the sword out of my hand and looked toward the giant creature. That was like him. Never afraid when he should be. "Give me that back!" I yelled at him through the wind which tossed my hair about.

"No!" He yelled back. "I can handle this! Get out of here!"

"Gram will kill me if you get harmed anyway!" I yelled back at him. He lowered the sword. I had a good point, and we both knew it. Andrew inched away, but the dragon wasn't sparing much time. "Meet me at our tree. I'll be there."

I managed not to fall into the cave, which would surely kill me, as I tried to get a hit in. I growled, deep in my throat. I couldn't lose this battle, not when the one person that cared about me, that was willing to defend me and sacrifice his life for me, was somewhere out there, waiting for me.

If I didn't hurry, there'd be search parties everywhere by nightfall. Resisting the urge to flee the area unharmed, I continued fighting. Suddenly, the beast fell backward. I couldn't spot any wounds or darts in any of its areas. It collapsed, no wounds visible.

Like earlier, when I'd spotted Gram, it was impossible. This entire thing was, the fact that I was standing here, a supposed dragon laying beneath me, supposedly defeated.

My head blinked for a moment before I realized I had to get out of here. Taking a final blow at the monster, which worked when it wasn't moving, I chopped off its head and then ran out of there, all the way to our special spot. Me and Andrew.

When I got there, he was hanging from a branch, his back toward me. I was pretty sure it was him, but just in case, I said softly, "Andrew?"

He turned around, and I noticed he must've been watching the sunset. I helped him down from the branch and he pulled me into a warm embrace. I couldn't help but smile. "You're alive!" He exclaimed. "Just... how? I mean, I would've waited for you for a thousand years."

I beamed, and he must've thought I knew that was true, because he beamed right back. Hand in hand, we walked back, and I couldn't imagine the pleasure that I couldn't stop spreading across my face when I saw my Gram's expression. Then I remembered.

If this was her first attempt, she must've known I would survive. That was impossible, too. I cleared my mind of that because the real question was...

If this was her first attempt, what could she possibly have in store next?

## Chapter Three

My grandma's mouth dropped open. Apparently, she hadn't expected me to actually be strong and independent on my own for once.

"I slayed it." I said proudly. As usual, she found a way to scold me.

"What have you done? Then it can't report to the others that a strange, ugly little girl saved it!"

I didn't bother to protest. Andrew had my back, as well as the other Council members. "They'll find out later." My brother explained to my grandma, like she didn't understand the meaning of anything. He continued, "plus, they'll be more scared if he's dead. I think she did well."

Gram couldn't snap at him to shut up, or even slap me. It was too risky in front of these other people. Sighing, she nodded. She didn't expect a lot more people.

They complained and said things against her. I watched her pale white face, and I realized - I couldn't stay here. I didn't have a mom, or even a dad, and my grandma abused me. It wasn't major, mostly just slaps, but this time she'd gone too far. She wanted me killed! But why?

"Listen, I've got to get out of here," I said to Andrew later, after we'd fleed the meeting and hid out of sight to discuss my departure.

"Why?"

"Gram's hunting me, I can just feel it." I put a nervous expression on my face, hoping I'd win my brother over. After all, he could make the trip most of the way.

"If I get to go with you, fine." He said. "Start packing."

```

We were ready in no time. As soon as we stepped outside, we studied our obstacles. We'd talked over the plan back inside. We stealthily set it to action, climbing into the tree. We threw a smoke bomb, but didn't leave.

The guards growled as it cleared, then set off in one direction. We took off down the left, in the direction of the King's Market, KM for short.

"So, where are you going to find work in there?" Andrew asked, but he knew the answer.

"Probably just sewing. I love doing that sort of things, and I'm pretty good at dresses."

"Nice." He nodded, smiling. He didn't understand the art of the entire thing, or even what it meant. I sighed, knowing he'd probably never understand, and continued smiling brightly. "Okay... which way?" I said to nobody in particular, staring at my map.

"Right." Andy said automatically, and I peered up for a split second, then looked back down. He was right. My eyes detected the direction we were supposed to go.

By nightfall, I was tired, and my legs were sore, but we didn't give up. We'd stopped talking a while ago, to save our breath for the long trek of walking. I was starting to get used to the hike until three scavengers hopped off their horses right in front of us.

I kicked dust into the air as I halted immediately. I had an urge to stroke the horse's fluffy mane, but resisted as I saw one of the scavengers smile, revealing yellowed teeth and a toothy grin.

"What's your business?" My brother said confidently. "This lady is trying to get through."

"To where?" Another inquired, smiling in the same way. It sort of creeped me out, but I ignored it.

"The King's Market." I finished, trying to ignore the skeptical looks I got. What? Did I not look *rich* enough to find work there? Sighing, I returned a nervous look with my brother. Finally, once the scavengers were done looking at me, they offered me a ride.

"Oh, no thank you, we can go on our own." I said, not bothering to use a proud tone.

"No, it's fine. Hop on." One of the scavengers said, showing me horribly taken-care of teeth.

"No, thank you," I said, more strongly this time. Andrew squeezed my arm. "We're good by ourselves." I returned the squeeze, though I doubt he felt a thing.

"You will go with us." Another said, shoving me aside. "Take care of this one." One of them nodded toward another. I noticed he had a big belt as he pulled a gun out of it. It didn't take me long to realize what he was doing.

I jumped in front of my brother. "NO!" I screamed at them, resisting their strong grasp.

"Go." Andrew whispered in my ear. "Go, okay? Find work. I'll- I'll be fine. Run. Anywhere. Climb. You're good at that. Promise me you'll never lose hope, sis. Promise me that you'll believe. Anything is possible when you do it."

Finally, the scavenger managed to pull me out of the way and the other wasted no time.

The bullet seemed to travel in slow motion. I tracked it with my eyes, an impressive trick of mine, until it dug into the one person that had ever showed me compassion's flesh. Just like that, my brother was dead. The one that took care of me when I was sick. Shared jokes, and made them. Made me laugh. The blood of the only one I've ever really loved in my life hit the dirt, as well as my feet as I fleed.

I must listen to his words for as long as I lived. And believe, me, I would.

## Chapter Four

After a week more of traveling, I got closer and closer to the Market, until finally, I reached the amazing gates. A speaker asked me what my business was. I answered, passed a few scans and tests, and finally stepped into the KM.

My eyes widened. It seemed to stretch for a thousand miles. I began my walk, trying very hard to find my way.

"Excuse me." I tapped someone's shoulder. They were wearing casual clothes, not like mine, but casual. They had handsome brown hair, and his eyes were an ocean blue. I noted that when he whirled around. "Do you have directions to get to the... sewing district here?" I looked around.

He chuckled. "Well, of course." Seeing my confused expression, his turned the same way. "Don't you know who I am? Davis. Prince Davis? Next to throne? I just must marry first." He looked at me warily.

"Is something wrong?" About five muscular men came out of the shadows. This prince had bodyguards? Well, I understood that part, but perhaps five was a little too much. "Oh, no," Davis answered, smiling. "No. This farm girl here needs directions to the sewing district."

"We can definitely help her find her way. We'll take her immediately." One of them volunteered.

"Oh, no, I wish to be her escort. She's a beautiful girl, and obviously must get some rest first. Grill's inn is just around the corner. We'll be fine." Davis assured his bodyguards one last time, shooed them away, and led me down the streets.

"There's not many people out at the break of dawn." Davis told me as we set off. "That's why sometimes my guards let me walk off on my own. During sometime in the afternoon, though, I must have them by my side at all times, unless I'm with Father. No exceptions."

My heart panged to hear someone say "Father" after I'd never been able to call my father that for years and years. I never got the chance to speak to his grave, either, but that part was fine. I had him in my heart, as well as Andrew and Mom.

"Something wrong?" He asked, stopping. I thought it was because of the question, but after he stopped, he led me inside before I could answer. The building looked tall and large from the outside, but seemed rather small from the lobby. Perhaps if you went up to the rooms, they'd be wider.

After scones and tea, Davis's friend, Grill, showed me my room and Davis promised that he'd meet me there tomorrow to check in on me. I hoped the journey wasn't much longer. My knees buckled onto the bed and before my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.