Regius (28 page)

"It's been a privilege,
Solenum. I am honored you see me as one of your friends." He was so
formal.

"I'm going to miss your
genius. Be good and take care of yourself." I was trying to steady
my breathing, mentally preparing myself for the leap. Turning away
from the camera, I fixed my eyes on the black pit below. I'd
believed there had been no way out of here. Or at least, no way
towards the end I wanted. I hadn't answered Xania's questions, and
although that led him to believe he hadn't broken me, in a way, he
had. Sitting on this island for the last couple of hours had me
thinking that maybe I would never see Cali or Galax again.
Panicking had seemed unnecessary. I'd been ready to accept my fate
and had worked on coming to terms with the idea that I would never
go home. While excitement was building up inside of me now that
Robinia showed me a way out, I didn't want to hope too strongly
either. Things could still go wrong. I was afraid. I didn’t want to
jump off this piece of rock. But, it couldn't hurt to believe and
it's not like I had anything to lose.

"I've always wanted to
fly." Robinia murmured.

I closed my
eyes.

"Maybe someday you will." I
answered him before letting gravity do its job, my body falling
forward once I gave it permission. I didn't scream, but I did feel
scared. The wind was cold and quick along my face and body, my
breathing echoing as I fell downwards.

It was a while before I
could get used to the sensation of falling and the nervous
butterflies in my stomach slowly faded. Opening my eyes carefully,
I tried to take in my surroundings best I could, but with the wind,
they teared up pretty quick and so whatever I could capture in the
dark was slightly blurry. On the sides, I was able to catch
glimpses of what I assumed to be walls. They were brown with an
earth type texture and small details sprung to my eye, such as tiny
roots sticking out of the sides, becoming longer as I fell deeper
underground. There were no sounds except the wind and my own breath
and while there was nothing to see ahead of me, I kept my hands
forward, bracing myself for some kind of impact. Though it never
seemed to come.

A soft long exhale that I
hadn't breathed caught my attention, my eyes darting in every which
way to figure out where it had come from. My heartbeat picked up as
I heard movement along the walls, and when I looked, I thought I
could see something move.

My eyes widened in fear as
a cloud of white smoke appeared below. And as I wondered what it
was, I tried to tilt my body up so my feet would connect with it
first. The closer I came, the more powerful my fear and I screamed
when I fell into the white.

The breath was knocked out
of me as my body was suddenly stopped in its motion and although I
didn't fall onto anything, the sudden halt led my stomach to make a
nasty somersault. Placing a palm over my mouth, I managed to keep
in whatever small amount of food I'd been allowed to eat during my
stay in the dungeon.

I tried to see where I was
and my mind was trying to figure out how I was floating. While the
ivory cloud had scared me before, now that I was hanging in the
middle of it, I felt a slightly eerie quiet, but not dangerous kind
of calm. As the white flashed a bright azure, I managed to let go
of the fear as curiosity overtook, leading me to frown at the
images that shot on and off before me.

I don't know how, I don't
know why and I had no clue as to what, but whatever I was currently
floating in was showing me things I couldn't make out at first.
They were like photographs, moving from left to right, snapping on
and off, most likely telling a story as the things inside the
picture were animated in a static kind of fashion. It was all in
grey tones, but when a figure appeared, I saw she was a Regius as
her heart shone blue. I'd never seen her before. She had short,
curly cerulean hair, large eyes that were hooded, as if she were
always in deep concentration. While her mouth and face were softly
shaped, her body was tall and sharp in its features; elegant, but
you could see the authority in her.

Squinting, I could see that
she was running away, and what had me surprised is that she was
running from the dogs in the dungeon.

"What is this?" I
whispered, reaching out with one hand to touch the image lightly
with the tip of my finger. I retracted my arm and moved my body
away as the image suddenly flashed, ending the scene where the
woman was running and instead, skipping ahead as I could see her in
the exhaustion room now. She looked frightened, the way I had felt
when I'd been there, but the difference from me was she didn't look
lost, because the moment the ground had found its way into the wall
she got up onto her feet, looking down into the black pit of
nothingness with determination rather than panic. She was clearly
aware she had to jump down. Who was she?

"Why are you showing me
this?" I asked the cloud, wondering if it was even something with a
voice and an opinion. The air around me became colder and started
flowing harshly. Crossing my arms before my face, I squeezed my
eyes shut and let out a high pitched scream as whatever had kept me
floating, let go. My heart skipped a beat at the sudden motion,
falling sensations returning to the pit of my stomach as I tried to
steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to see the ivory
cloud.

"What?!" Instead of falling
into the cloud as I expected, I was moving away from it. Was I
falling upwards? How was that even possible?! I actually couldn't
even be sure if I was falling. Maybe I'd been launched upwards?
That would make more sense considering gravity. But it's not like
I'd felt something push or shoot me up into the air.

The cloud became smaller
and smaller, until everything around me seemed to stop. Coughing as
the breath was knocked out of me once more, I tried curling up in a
ball so I could hug my stomach. I felt faint, and I knew that if
one of these sudden stops happened one more time, then I wouldn't
be able to keep the food down.

"Stop this!" I shouted, the
frustration I'd been able to keep hidden away this entire time
finally bursting out. Glaring at the air around me, I tried to
convey to whatever it was that was making this happen, I was
unhappy. I waited for a response, needing some kind of sign that
told me there was actually something that lived inside of this
place. But before I could tell it to show its presence, gravity
seemed to turn back on, and unlike before, this time I was sure I
was falling as I was going back in the direction of the ivory
cloud.

"Help!" I shouted, eyes
wide as I realized whatever had been helping me on my way before,
was no longer here. Was I to return to the dungeon?! Knowing that
this time I wouldn't be able to avoid a deadly impact, I braced my
arms before me, wondering what would it be like to die.

Before I could search for
the answer, something caught a hold of my ankle, my breathing
hitching as I was suddenly hanging upside down. Tilting my head in
a way so I could look at whatever was making sure I wouldn't fall
back down into the ivory cloud, and thus, the dungeon next, I tried
to control all the emotions that were flowing through me. Was
that...

"A tree root?" My voice was
dumbfounded as I stared at the thin, but strong, branch that had
twirled itself around my leg. The other end disappeared into the
side of the wall. I wasn't close to it though, the root had somehow
stuck itself out to the middle and then caught me along the
way.

Dirt crumbled from it and
along my body, making me blink my eyes as some sand landed there
while it twirled itself more firmly around my leg. I'd have been
scared, but I suppose that at this point everything was so surreal,
I couldn't really wrap my head around anything anymore.

It wasn't hard like wood,
it was soft actually, and it tightened around my ankle in a
rhythmic manner, kind of like a heartbeat. I couldn't tell whether
it was the branches, or my own. Distracted by other noises, I took
my eyes off it and looked around, seeing other roots appear slowly.
Gulping, I managed to swallow the scream as they started crawling
their way around, the strain on my ankle lessening now as the
others were helping the one carry my weight.

"Audio Nola."

Many voices spoke at once,
all of them sounding contorted and static. I wanted to wiggle free.
They had to stop touching me!

"Solenum!"

I nodded frantically. "Yes,
yes, alright, I'm listening!"

"Calycanthus
exspecto."
I blinked in surprise as I
recognized Pallium.
"Immortalis Silva
subsisto."

"Cali waits and in the
forest we must stay?" I stuttered out. I hiccupped and squeaked
when the roots started to move me upwards.

"Sic. Nola Succurro. Audio
Nola."

"Nola will help and
listen." I repeated. "Who are you?"

"Immortalis Silva."
For the strangest reason, that answer made me
feel less afraid. And because the fright was gone, I managed to get
used to the feel of them around me, allowing me to
relax.

It was still very dark, but
the slight change from black to blue had excitement build up inside
of me. It wasn't a sapphire blue or an azure. Nor an ocean, navy,
prussian or slate. It was the midnight blue that came from the sky
during the night. Sighing, I closed my eyes and managed to produce
a smile as I lay within the roots. They were making everything
better.

* * * *

Looking into the large
mirror, Maya let the tip of her index finger slide down from the
top of her forehead, along the bridge of her nose and down onto the
top curve of her lips, finishing the trace at her chin. Her short
forehead, slitted eyes, thin nose and heart shaped lips were
features well known in the Meek bloodline. Treasured, even. While
maybe not the most beautiful, the gene pool Maya descended from was
supposed to be enticing enough to keep a man interested in the long
run. Meek blood aged well, and while curves weren’t always
appreciated, the hip width supposedly ensured less difficulty when
giving birth. Maya wasn’t so sure; pregnancy scared her.

Brushing her long, cerulean
hair softly, she tilted her head and focused her gaze behind her, a
soft sigh escaping her lips as she stared at the water fountain
through the mirror. Moraine and Xala were sitting by the edge of
it, helping one another paint blue markings on their skins.
Although it wasn’t fact, it was said the more markings a Regius
carried, the purer their blood was. Many of the harem girls painted
extra on themselves in hope of pleasing Xania. Maya didn’t. She
liked that her skin was marking free with the exception of the
soles of her feet.

Looking over to the other
side of the mirror, she saw some of the others girls watering the
plants that were placed in their foyer. They didn’t have separate
bedrooms, instead Xania invited one girl into his quarters when he
wished to spend time with someone. It was an honor the women
regularly fought over and why many disliked Maya. She spent nearly
every night at Xania’s side, sharing his food and his
bed.

Sometimes she wondered if
he loved her, but she was never sure. She liked to believe that he
did and she'd even asked him once, but he'd logically explained
that a ruler couldn't waste time on emotional and personal feelings
and that he had to set them aside to keep his mind clear. Maya
understood, or pretended too. Of course she never voiced these
thoughts to Xania. She much preferred to be a doormat.

Sighing at her reflection,
she smoothed down the soft silk layers of her dress, standing so
she may look carefully at her attire, wishing to make sure she
looked perfect. Xania visited the foyer every afternoon and would
then pick one of the girls to eat lunch with him. If everything
went as it had gone these last couple of years, she'd be the one he
chose.

Sweeping her long hair off
her shoulder so it could flow gently down her back, she wrinkled
her nose at her dress. It was perfect, yes, but unfortunately all
the girls had to wear the same clothes. Maya didn't like it. It
made her feel as if she blended in with the others while she wished
to stand out.

"What are you so worried
about? Everyone, including yourself, knows that he will want you."
Moraine sneered at her from across the foyer.

Shrugging her shoulder
delicately, Maya purposely ignored Moraine, Xala and the others,
stepping away from the vanity so she could go and settle herself on
the pillows that lay in the corner of the harem’s space. Everything
here was comfortable, from the pillows on the floor, to the
fountain's warm water, and the curtains decorating the walls and
ceilings. Shades of blues, patterned the room, yet the color didn't
make the space seem colder. Even with all the luxury, Maya never
truly had considered these quarters her home.

The harem had been part of
the Regius hierarchy since the beginning. Maya liked to think of it
as the box where the King collected a certain type of women who
would have the privilege of being educated in the Royal manner.
Each of the girls were given a set of rules and standards which
they had to execute and oblige. No man was to enter these quarters
with the exception of the ruler and the escort. When they were
present, the girls weren't to speak unless spoken to, and then only
in whispered tones. If Maya wished to communicate with one of the
other girls while a man was here, they did so in sign
language.