"You are playing on dangerous waters Miss Izzie."
his tone was patronizing but the message he carried was clear. Elizabeth Marrie Stevenson spun round and took three measured steps forward. The leaves crunched under her feet on the forest floor.
"I plan with the precision of a fox, the cunning of a leopard, the shrewdness of an owl. Rest assure no harm may befall you."
The chamberlain adjusted the reins on his horse and rode away. He would not be seen for the next 4 days and in the circumstances he would reappear, the situation would be entirely different.
"But mama ,I am just like you," the child whimpered, on the verge of tears ."Don't send me away," she tottered forward and burrowed her face in Izzie's lap. The sobs quickly turned into hysteria.
"I will act normal, I promise," her four years old mind could not comprehend what she had done wrong.
Two days ago they had presented her in front of the king. she was amazed at the complaints of her behaviour, the courtiers and her mother had made to her father. Still she thought, as she fingered the unfamiliar badge on the lapel of her coat 'Asylum patient no.24,' that if it was her mother saying all this then she may have done something wrong, unknowingly so. She loved her mother with a love that a sheep may have for the butcher.
"I will act normal, I promise," her four years old mind could not comprehend what she had done wrong.
Two days ago they had presented her in front of the king. she was amazed at the complaints of her behaviour, the courtiers and her mother had made to her father. Still she thought, as she fingered the unfamiliar badge on the lapel of her coat 'Asylum patient no.24,' that if it was her mother saying all this then she may have done something wrong, unknowingly so. She loved her mother with a love that a sheep may have for the butcher.
Anabella Clarke Stevenson was the only child of the king of Spain and the potential heir to the throne. It was widely believed that the queen, the king's second wife, despised the young princess and lived in eternal fear of the day she would ascend the throne. The only people unaware of the castle politics were the king and perhaps the little girl herself.
"An Asylum is no place for a child!" The king had protested on hearing the Queen's suggestion.
"The castle is no place for a mentally unfit princess , imagine what the consequences would be for your country," the Queen had retorted.
This did it. Everybody knew the king was a man of principles. His chief concern was that he be able to carry out his duties properly and that nothing should harm the country's prospects. He gave in.
This did it. Everybody knew the king was a man of principles. His chief concern was that he be able to carry out his duties properly and that nothing should harm the country's prospects. He gave in.
Anabella looked up. The chamberlain had entered through the double doors with three guards at his heels. She was led through the castle, two small suitcases in both hands. As she looked at the tapestries, the plush carpeting, the french windows through which the afternoon sun beat down, she wondered when she would walk these corridors again. Her mind was yet too simple to conceive the notion that she might never be returning again.
She entered the courtyard, past the king who stood motionless, a man caught between loyalty and love, and the queen who carried her son Patrius on her hip, her chin arched upwards.
She entered the courtyard, past the king who stood motionless, a man caught between loyalty and love, and the queen who carried her son Patrius on her hip, her chin arched upwards.
And then everything happened at once. The princess's body went rigid .The guard slackened his grip on her wrist in surprise. She turned a full circle and her eyes zeroed in on the queen. Her jaws hardened and her face became a taut mask and she began,
"Never will the oppressors be the successors,
nor shall they live in peace.
Tit for tat,
revenge will be taken,
they shall be amongst the severely diseased."
According to old legends the night before Patrius was to be sworn in as the king, he and his mother, the aging Queen Elizabeth, took a trip to the capital. On their way back their carriage slipped on ice and skidded off the side of the mountain. Patrius died and never became the king. The queen became paralyzed from the neck down. Three decades later the 'Prophecy' had come true. Coincidently this was the day princess Anabella Clarke Stevenson died in the dungeons of the chamberlain's private facility for the mentally unstable. She was driven to insanity by the sheer loneliness that surrounded her.
"Never will the oppressors be the successors,
nor shall they live in peace.
Tit for tat,
revenge will be taken,
they shall be amongst the severely diseased."
According to old legends the night before Patrius was to be sworn in as the king, he and his mother, the aging Queen Elizabeth, took a trip to the capital. On their way back their carriage slipped on ice and skidded off the side of the mountain. Patrius died and never became the king. The queen became paralyzed from the neck down. Three decades later the 'Prophecy' had come true. Coincidently this was the day princess Anabella Clarke Stevenson died in the dungeons of the chamberlain's private facility for the mentally unstable. She was driven to insanity by the sheer loneliness that surrounded her.
