The Ruined Kingdom

Chapter 1

I walked down the hall humming quietly to myself. My father had summoned me to appear before him but I was doing her best not to think about it. The consequences of not appearing before the king when summoned were severe. No one had ever dared refused until now. My father, King William, and I had huge fight which was the reason I would not go to him now. He wanted to make war on and invade the neighboring country of Gorisa. They were a peaceful nation and had no standing army. If my father invaded them they would be utterly defenseless. That was why I was speaking out about it now. Usually my father would have respected my opinion and done as I asked if I felt strongly enough about it, but theses weren’t usual times.
I continued down the hall, looking to anyone who saw me as if I didn’t have a care in the world. The truth was I was terrified. I hummed the song I was thinking of a little louder. It wasn’t strictly lady like to hum but I had problems following all the rules of etiquette to begin with and they pretty much went out the window when I was nervous.
The song was one my mother had written before her death. That was the reason for father’s unusual behavior. A few months ago my mother had fallen ill. The court doctors had done everything they could to save her but she still passed away in the end. The necklace I now wore was one my mother had given to me on her death bed. It was a thin gold chain with a bright green stone hanging on it.
I turned the corner at the end of the hall and opened the door to my private chambers. At the moment there were 3 maids inside waiting to serve me when I came back to my chambers.
“Out,” I said. Every one of them left with a quiet “Yes Lady Clarissa” and I was alone. I went to the dressers where my less extravagant clothes were kept. I pulled out a pair of pants and one of the shirts that was the livery of the stable workers. I had a friend named Anthony who worked in the stables. I would constantly sneak out to the stables to talk with him and knew that in the matter of war he was completely against it. Anthony, or Tony as I called him, hated all types of violence. The only time he had ever hit anyone was when a fellow stable worker had tried to beat a disobedient horse.
I grabbed the bag I used when I went on secret adventures into the woods and began to pack it. I put in extra clothes and everything I might need. My father had shown such stubbornness in his insistence on war that I felt I had to go and warn the king of Gorisa. I was going to bring Tony with me. Next I grabbed a baggie jacket, which would hide the fact that I was a girl, and a felt cap under which I shoved my long blonde curls.
After one last look in the mirror I decided no one would recognize me. I snuck out of my chambers and hurried towards the kitchen. When I had succeeded in stealing enough food I then started towards the stables. As I was about to go around a corner I saw my friend and servant Samantha at the end of the hallway and was struck with an idea.
“Samantha!” I whispered. Samantha turned to see who had called her. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was and she hurried over.
“My lady! What are you doing!?” Samantha exclaimed shocked to see me here.
“Quiet,” I warned, “I don’t have time to explain now but I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything my lady.”
“Good,” I breathed in relief, “You know I do not support my father’s war. I am going to try and warn the king of Gorisa but if for some reason I fail I need you to go to him and warn him in place.”
“But my lady…”
“You promised Samantha.”
“I know my lady but the danger to you…”
“I know what I am asking of you is a lot but you must do this for me. I do not ask this for myself but for the sake of peace and life that might be spared,” I said to her.
“As you wish my lady.”
“Thank you,” I whispered and pulled Samantha into a hug. I quickly let go and hurried down to the stables. I snuck in through the back and found Tony cleaning out one of the stalls.
“Tony,” I whispered. He whirled around and smiled when he saw my face.
“Cassie,” he said, “What are you doing here?”
“Tony we have to go. I tried to reason with my father but he is set on this war. We need to go to Gorisa and warn them of my father.”
He nodded as if he had seen this coming the whole time. “I will saddle us a horse and we can go.”
He walked out of the stall leaving me alone. I stood there for a few minutes until Tony returned leading my black stallion lightining. Tony helped me up into the saddle then got up in front of me. I slid my arms around his waist and held on. Tony trotted the horse out of the stable and until we got through the outer gate of the place. Once we got to the city streets we had to walk the horse because of all the people.
We got safely out of the city walls and then started to gallop. Once we reached a grove of trees We stopped and got off the horse.
“Do you think they noticed we were gone yet?” I asked. Tony was about to answer when a voice called from the brush behind us.
“Did you really think you could get away with this Clarissa?” I turned and looked at the awfully familiar voice behind us. It was my father with about 20 armed guards. “I knew you were headstrong but I didn’t think you would actually be foolish enough to try something like this,” he said.
“I have enough of my mother in me to know that this war is wrong,” I responded his face contorting with rage, “And enough of you in me to be brave enough to do something about it.” I may not like my father right now but there was no way of denying that he was one of the bravest men in our kingdom of Westpanthia. He walked towards me looking menacing but I did not cringe away. Though not many people knew it I had inherited my father’s bravery.
He backhanded me across the face but I let my body go with the momentum so I wouldn’t tear a muscle in my neck. “How dare you insult me in front of my men?! This battle will be remembered for all of our nation’s future! And I will be the one leading us in it!”
“Yes you will be remembered. But not as a hero. You will be the man remembered for killing innocent men and women and destroying a country that never wronged you,” I retorted. I knew that I shouldn’t have but I couldn’t help myself.
His face went purple with rage Then cooled into an evil smile as if he had thought of something. “I know of how your friend Anthony here hates violence. So to pay for your insolence you will watch while he fights on the front lines of our army.” My mind only registered this with utter disbelief. This was worse than anything he could have done to me. I saw the look that was on Tony’s face was one of anger, sadness, disbelief, and fear. My heart dropped into my stomach and I realized that my real father would never have done something like this to me. Whatever monster this was that took his place, no matter how much it looked and sounded like him it was not him.
Eventually he ended up tying my hands together and putting me on my horse. Tony’s hands were also tied but he was forced to walk. The soldier in front of me took my reins so I couldn’t try to escape.When he was grabbing the reins I saw his face. It was Solomon captain of the guard. He looked sad to be doing this and his face begged for understanding from me. When I was little he would show me around the castle and teach me songs. He was like a second father to me. He was also loyal to the point where into was almost impossible for him to disobey an order.
As his hand went near mine I grabbed his finger and quickly squeezed it showing him that I understood. He looked up at me with relief and gratitude. I let go and he on his horse. We started out at a walk so Tony could keep up. It was taking longer than before because of this pace. After about 30 minutes we made it to the outer wall of the city.
“Take your hat off Clarissa. I want all the people to see that the king shows favoritism to no one. Not even his daughter.” I did what he said and shook my head so my hair cascaded around my shoulders.
As we went through the city everyone was quiet and stared. I held my back straight and proud. I wouldn’t let the people see my weakness. Even though they didn’t make it public I knew many of the people were not happy with the upcoming war .It was for this reason that I spoke out.
“Everyone see now that the king shows no one favor. Not even his daughter,” I called out. My father looked smug as if he thought I was trying to suck up to him. Just wait till he heard the rest of what I had to say. “The reason I am being taken prisoner is because I opposed my father in the matter of war, a war that will only cause suffering and grief. Because I spoke out for what I believed I am now being taken prisoner. Is that really the kind of leadership you want? If the king will do this to his own daughter do you really want him as king?”
My father now looked furious. He hurried us through the rest of the city and into the castle. He left Tony in a locked room that was to be guarded. Then we proceeded down to the dungeons.
The dungeons were full of horrible men. All had committed some type of horrible crime and were awaiting execution. The hollered and called us vile names as we walked by but we just proceeded further into the dungeons. Finally we stopped at one of the torture cells. My father walked in and I was shoved in after him. As soon as I was in the door my father whirled around hit me across the face with his full fist.
I fell to the ground clutching my face. I let out a small gasp of pain and lifted my hand away to see blood. One of the rings on his hand had cut a gash on my check. “If you ever embarrass me like that again Clarissa your punishment will be much worse.” He then stormed out of the room. The one guard that had followed him into the room was Solomon. As he left he bent down to help me to my feet. When I grabbed his hand he slid something up my sleeve then followed my father out.
The door to my cell slammed closed and was locked with a final sounding THUNK. In the little bit of light I got from the small opening the door I took out what Solomon had given me and stared at it in surprise. In my hand was long dagger.