Chapter 18: The Old Palace

  Altaya

  “Are you serious? The queen is putting us up in the Palace?” The excitement in Katrina’s voice brought a smile to Altaya’s face. They were walking down the darkened street toward the palace. Lantern posts provided only enough light to see the next post.

  Not that is mattered to her. Once again she found herself marveling at how bright the night sky seemed to her. It was like light bled from ever small source to fill in the darkness in between. Candles, lamps and even torches blazed in the night air. The smoke from the fires sat heavy in her nostrils. She looked down at the finely cobbled streets below her. Every stone was formed into a miniature shield shape. And with a start she realized she could even see the insects living between the thin cracks.

  Her eyes snapped up as they came to a stop in front of the gate leading to the palace district. Four guards in royal knight armor stood erect halberds held straight and unwavering. Altaya resisted the urge to pull the hood of the brown robe she was wearing down further to cover her face. Movement like that would only draw more attention to them. Ahead of them the queen stood, back straight and eyes ahead. With her two royal knights at her back. They were stopped at the gate briefly and Altaya couldn’t help but notice the looks two of the guards shot each other. But they didn’t stop them. Who would dare stop the queen?

  They made their way into large roundabout and perfectly manicured lawns that surrounded the palace. Walkways and covered pavilions marked the queens gardens to the right. Altaya had always like those gardens but the queen continued on straight up the stone stairs to the heavy wooden doors at the main entrance. The polished slate that served as the floor of the main entrance practically glimmered. The torches lit their way as they followed the queen to a side door and up several winding flights of stairs to the third floor of one of the towers.

  The ten passed down a long hallway and went up another set of stairs. They kept going, down hallway through rooms until even Altaya didn’t recognize this part of the palace. She knew the palace was old. That the newer additions had been built onto and over the older. But she’d never been to this part of the building. Even when her and Julien used to play.

  She caught the confused expression on her child hood friends face as he turned to his mother.

  “Where are we going?” He asked. The queen spoke quietly so that Altaya had moved closer to Julien’s side to hear.

  “I’m reactivated an older guest wing down here,” The queen huffed before continuing.

  “It should give you the privacy you guys will need so that the main servants won’t really interact with you.” Maybe some worry was showing on her face because when the queen looked over she hurried to explain more.

  “We agree on the need to keep your existence as quiet as possible. But you’ll have everything you need here. Baths, a kitchen, even a library I don’t think anyone been in for at least 30 years are here for you to explore.” The queen paused while she used the torch in her hand to light one of the long dead torches still held in the sconces. It was covered by thick webs but lit easily enough. She lit two more before moving down the hallway. Altaya glanced behind her to see the wide eyed faces of her comrades. Carlouse looked more pensive than in awe. He seemed to be studying an old tapestry that was stretched along the wall. It depicted men on horses slaying some type of massive beast. Altaya had no ideas what the piece was about but Carlouse looked impressed by whatever it depicted.

  The two knights with the queen seemed to know where the lady was leading them because they moved ahead and began lighting torches along the wall. Here the stone of the palace was rougher, less refined. There was a scent like old mop water, and the air felt heavier here.”

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  “In recent years me and my guards have been attempting to map out these old forgotten regions but most of the maps the archives should hold, are just gone. And no one knows where or how deep the palace extends underground.

  “Wait we’re underground?” Julien was only a split second faster in asking than she had been.”

  The queen nodded, “ oh yes. Much of the old palace was underground there only used to be a squat castle where the palace now stands. Julien’s great grandfather wanted something to reflect the stable nature of his realm. So he commissioned the palace as you know it now. Before that the kingdom was on constant defense from the many monsters that used to roam the kingdoms wilds.”

  The queens voice took on a lecturing tone as she went in to describe the many additions that had been built by previous rulers underground. They were told that many had been lost or abandoned. She talked of entire ballrooms that sat untouched for decades down there. They went up

  on last set of stairs and opened a door into a nice parlor. All the furniture had been covered with white sheets. But even with almost everything covered she could see it was richly decorated. Seven doors led off of the main room and an area separated from the others but with a serving window made the kitchen obvious.

  Dust covered everything. Every surface, every door, everything. The guard knight went around the room pulling torches from their belts and placing them in scones before lighting them. Their movement swirled the dust up unit he air and made her and Katrina break into a coughing fit. She felt a hand pat her back and looked behind her to see Julien holding the bridge of his Nose to keep from sneezing.

  He smiled at her sheepishly before sweeping his hand across the room. “I guess we know what we are doing before we can go to bed.

  It was about this moment that she became awfully aware of how little she was wearing underneath the brown robe. She had forced herself not to think about it, chalking it up in her mind as necessary. Now that that wasn’t the case anymore the scratchy thick fabric seemed to grind against her skin in the most unpleasant way. She was also dimly aware that her cheeks were burning. For all the changes she had gone through she wasn’t immune to base instinct.

  “I will of course have some servant vetted to help you guys keep the place clean and a cook sent but consider this your home for right now,” the queen said holding a lace handkerchief over her nose. The dust clung to her blouse even though she hadn’t seen her touch anything. The knights took up positions by the door as the queen stepped forward. She clapped to get their attention.

  “Alright kiddos we have work to do.” Altaya tried her best to hide the groan she felt at those words.

  So they formed work. Towels and buckets of water were brought in along with feather dusters and cloth mops. They began by sweeping the room and then dusting it. This caused more than a few explosive sneezes. Every time she sneezed she got an impressed look from Aramin which managed to piss her off. They mopped until the floor shown and wiped tables and furniture down. After they were done Altaya would’ve loved to admire the old furniture. As the red velvet seat and blue plush recliner looked inviting.

  However she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She looked to the others and their eyes drooping was all the answer she needed. The queen excused herself shortly after that leaving. She hugged Julien fiercely, and Altaya had to admit the loving looks Julien received from his mother made her just a bit jealous. The queen left two gaurds outside the door and swept out promising to see them first thing in the morning.

  At this point she was about to collapse, a lot had happened in the past two days. She said her goodnights and picked a room at random. She didn’t even bother to get an outlay of the room, something her royal guard tutor would’ve spent an hour screaming at her for. She was just lucid enough to make out the bed with the fresh sheets they had put on them.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized she needed to change her clothes. To finally get dressed but in that moment she was too tired for more thought. She collapsed on the bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.