Exiled Chapter 1

“Exiled! I demand her to be exiled!” the Queen shrieked, practically spitting in my face. The Queen stood tall as her guards held me down to the ground on my knees, making me look inferior in any way possible. She showed no mercy or care in her eyes or body language. What a shame it was that such a beautiful face could have a heart as rotten as dead flesh. This is the response I, Rose Pierce; was getting from the Queen and her court by refusing to sit by her or attend her precious meetings. Why? I was tired of watching people be exiled for not doing her bidding.

However, my silence was seen as defiance and rebellion, or so she says. My silence was obviously not defiance in any way, but her excuse was to cover up the fact that she resented not being worshipped like she thought she deserved. The Queen sat on her throne with a smirk plastered onto her face as the guards walked me out of the kingdom through Main Street. I was watched by hundreds. Some stayed silent and turned their heads; whereas, others threw things such as empty cans, rotted fruit, and stones.

A familiar face ran up to me looking desperate. “You must apologize to the Queen.” She spoke quickly. This girl was Ellie, a quieter subject of the Queen who had always been close to me. This time, though, she was asking the impossible out of me. “You won’t have to leave if you apologize. The Queen is just upset that such a loyal subject has abandoned her and showed her such malice.”

I looked at Ellie long and hard, not believing my ears. “Excuse me?” I asked, still processing her words. “I will never apologize. I’d rather leave,” I growled. Her officious nature seemed to show up out of nowhere. Never before had she tried to force such a thing on me. I looked away in disgust. “The Royal Baby is judgmental, cruel, and arrogant,” I said as Ellie gasped. “Don’t lose your face,” I grumbled as I walked away, farther and farther away from my home.

She mumbled something, but I didn’t hear it nor did I wish to. I wouldn’t allow myself to look back on what and who I was losing. I came across a group of No-Faces, ones who believed everything the Queen spoke to a dramatic extent. No-Faces were the people who were barely recognizable because their faces were similar to a blank slate. Somehow the Queen removed their features that made them different than anyone else and somehow, that showed their loyalty. They wanted me gone the most, and they made sure to express it. A new No-Face adherent of the Queen was barely recognizable. Valerie. She joined in on the chants. “Out with the witch! Out with the witch!” they yelled at the top of their lungs. I shuddered at their faces since they were devoid of anything original or individual.

The guards eventually let me walk forward again. I swear they stopped to let me swallow the baleful cries against me. At last, the drawbridge came into sight. Letting out a small breath, I managed to calm myself. I had never been outside the confines of the kingdom so I took it all that I could see in. Green sparkled everywhere: the trees, the grass, and the flowers. Suddenly, I was brutally pushed off of the drawbridge by the guards who left me stumble and trip over my own feet. Once I was off their only exit and enter, they closed off all connections I had.

I sat down on the ground, debating my options which seemed to be severely limited. Out of nowhere, a head popped out of the moat that surrounded the kingdom. “Hey Rose. What did I miss?” the boy asked with a smile. If he wasn’t in consumed in sickly green moat water, I might have found it reassuring and endearing. “I’m here to keep you company wherever you may find yourself.”

I was speechless, confused, and unable to respond. “Why are you here, Bishop?” I asked him. He was known as the head guard of the Queen. When he was an average guard, we often spent time together; however, due to his recent promotion, our time together had depleted. I remembered watching the two from afar as the Queen helplessly flirted and threw herself mercilessly at him. It made me sick just to recall those times.

Bishop climbed out of moat and answered. “I insulted that witch and escaped her grasp just in time by using the sewers below. Besides, I couldn’t let her throw you out with no means of protection.” His response should have made me feel appeased, but instead it made me feel uneasy.

We didn’t have time for any more discussion on the matter, though because voices rang out behind the drawbridge. “Guard Bishop is missing! Find him at once!” the Queen’s voice yelled out. It was like a zap of electricity in a way that struck fear into the quickly beating hearts.

Bishop cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. “We should hide,” he said as though there was any other option. I nodded in agreement. We took off to the trees which seemed to be our only possible hiding spot. First, Bishop helped me up to the first branch. He followed closely behind. Just in time, we reached a section that was leafy enough to keep us well hidden. A myriad of guards arrived on the scene, most being No-Faces. I only knew two of them, and one wasn’t even a guard herself. The two sat beneath our hiding spot oblivious to us right over their heads. Bishop gave me a wink before throwing a small twig down on the male’s head.

He looked up at us and smirked. “I’ll be back later this evening,” he mouthed to us before standing up. Rowan was a normal guard who still had his face, unlike the majority of the population. He married young to Macie, a cute girl I had known for a long time. “May I have your attention please? After some quick deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that there is no possible way guard Bishop could have escaped. Therefore, he must still be in the kingdom!” The guards nodded in agreement and followed his word. Soon, all the guards were back in the kingdom away from us.

The eternity we spent waiting for the two to come back for us was long and uneventful. We hadn’t bothered moving very far from our tree just in case the guards tried searching outside the walls once more. Thankfully, they never came back. Just after night fell, we saw shadows on the tops of the wall. They both landed with a splash in the mucky moat water. Their entrance was neither sneaky nor impressive, but it would have to do.

“I have a map,” Rowan sang out cheerfully. “It would be best to wait for sunrise to move anywhere, though. It’s nearly impossible to read this thing in the dark.” Although the statement wasn’t exactly uplifting, it was much better than abstruse directions from random travelers we would possibly come across.

A thought crossed my mind. “What if another search party is sent out before we can get moving?” I asked, turning my gaze to the massive drawbridge that was only yards away. For a moment, I yearned for the safety of the kingdom.

“They won’t,” he said with confidence. “Tomorrow is the Queen’s birthday. They will all be busy with her countless orders.” That seemed to put everyone at ease. Still, the danger was still there, even if it was significantly lessened.

In the morning, we readied ourselves for the trek that was ahead. The map Rowan had stolen was archaic and yet seemed to hold together alright. We each traced the multiple paths with our fingers, ending up in unnamed areas that couldn’t be identified. After deliberating, we decided to hang a left on the path through the woods. It was our best bet for staying hidden and allowed us to stay close to the wall in case we found ourselves lost. Again, my curiosity got the best of me. “Why are they searching for us so desperately?” I asked my three companions after we began to follow the path we had just chosen.

“You don’t know?” Rowan asked as if there was some sort of huge secret I was missing out on.

Bishop interrupted rather quickly. “It is probably because I’m so high up in the court.” His statement was firm and left no room for questions. I do believe he tried shooting Rowan a look while I wasn’t paying attention. After bandying glances with the two of them, I gave up and let it alone since I would not get an explanation. Eventually, we saw the sun as the trees cleared away from our sides. A shack sat to the left of our path. It had to be the only man-made things for miles. The wood was rotting and possessed gaps between some of the boards. It was poorly made and had horrible upkeep if any at all. All four of us could surely stand inside without being too cramped.

Bishop was the first to approach it. Upon further inspection, we saw that a lock was keeping the shack shut even though it was rusted and old. He pulled on it carelessly at first and then later with more and more force. The lock, however, would not give up the shack’s contents. Rowan tried his hand at yanking the lock as well, but the result was the same. The two glared and gave up.

“Let’s just move on,” Macie suggested. “Nothing inside a shack like that could be important.” Her point was simple enough to satisfy everyone, except for me. If it wasn’t important, why would it be locked? I walked away with everyone else, but I looked back at the shack incessantly until it was finally out of sight.