The Destiny of Amalah (17 page)

‘Empress is everything alright?’ Michael asked her one day.

‘As far as I know Michael – why?’

‘I mean are
you
alright Empress? You don’t seem to be yourself lately.’

‘Really,’ she said edgily.’

Michael caught the edge in her voice and chose his words very carefully: ‘Empress, you have been working incredibly hard for the last few months. So soon after losing your parents, you were thrown into your duties, not to mention looking after Ellora. Perhaps you should consider taking a break for a while or slowing things down, such pressure – I feel – is beginning to take its toll on you.’

‘Perhaps I don’t need to slow down Michael, perhaps people, the people who work for me ought to speed up. They have tasks assigned to them; they should do them – quickly. If they did, I would not get annoyed.’

‘Empress…’

‘Yes Michael,’ she said cutting him off. ‘Are you going to tell me how upset those who work for me are?’

‘Empress, some of the staff have been reduced to tears.’

‘Perhaps if they spent less time whining to you then they would have more time to do their work properly and if you…’

She stopped herself from finishing that sentence; she did not want to attack Michael, not now not ever. She looked at him again before she spoke. ‘Palace life is a busy life, those who cannot maintain the required level of work are free to leave.’

‘Empress their work was always to your liking in the past.’

‘That was the past.’

‘I am concerned. Concerned for you Empress, you say you are…’

‘Enough!’ she snapped at him. ‘I am a patient woman Michael but I will no longer have this conversation.’

‘I think that we should’ Michael said firmly. ‘I implore you…’

‘Michael you forget who is the sovereign in this situation,’ Amara said cutting him off. ‘When I say the conversation is over – the conversation is over. Now leave me.’

Michael looked at Amara with a mixture of defiance and determination. ‘I will leave you now Empress but know this – my only concern is for you and I will protect you – even if it is from yourself.’

‘How dare you,’ she shouted. ‘The only reason why I have not called the guard to throw you in a dungeon this very instant is because you were my fathers closest friend and you have been good to me and Ellora but do not push me Michael.’

Michael held her gaze and the two of them stared at each other for the longest time, neither of them wanting to back down. The tense and charged atmosphere was only broken when Ellora burst into the room.

‘Amara,’ she called, her voice diffusing the tension in the room. Ellora barely noticed what she had done, until she caught the tone in her sister’s voice.

‘Ellora what is it?’ Amara said annoyed, not breaking the stare with Michael.

‘I came to see you before I went to bed for the night. I have not seen you all day and I never saw you yesterday.’

‘I will come and see you in your bedroom Ellora, but for now please leave Michael and I alone for a few minutes.’

‘There is no need Empress,’ Michael said, still holding her gaze. ‘I am sure that which needs to be said can be said another day.’ Michael looked down at Ellora to see her gazing up at him and smiling; he smiled back at her and knelt down so that he was not towering over her. ‘Goodnight princess, I hope you have wonderfully sweet dreams.’

‘Thank you Michael, you are so kind,’ she said as she stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. He kissed her on the forehead and then stood up to face Amara; he held her stare before he spoke again.

‘I bid you goodnight Empress. May the night bring you peace,’ he said before bowing and turning on his heel and leaving Amara and Ellora in her study.

Amara did not reply, she simply watched Michael’s back as he left and Ellora looked at her sister curiously.

‘Amara, why did you not say goodnight to Michael?’

‘He doesn’t need me too,’ she replied quietly.

‘But it would have been nice to,’ Ellora said slightly chiding her sister.

‘Perhaps! Well I will say goodnight to you,’ Amara said moving her gaze from the door to Ellora before smiling faintly.

Amara moved towards her sister and when she was close she put her arm around her shoulders.

‘Come now princess Ellora,’ she said playfully, ‘it is time for you to go to bed.’

Ellora giggled and left the study with her sister and when she got to her room Amara put her to bed. When Amara had said goodnight to Ellora she made her way to the balcony on the first floor of the main palace and looked out into the gardens. She could see much of Amalah from where she was and she gazed out to the land before her, taking in the sky and the stars above and then she gazed at the moon and let her thoughts wander, but soon her thoughts came back to one person – Michael.

They had never fought before or had angry words and they had been friends for so long. She bad for the way she had spoken to him but she had also felt defensive and hurt when he had tried to confront her. Amara was confused and she so wanted to turn to Michael, but right now he was the one person she needed advice about. She didn’t know how to handle any conflict with him and the thought of losing him, scared her.

She smiled a sardonic smile at her dilemma. She could not bear to see him upset or angry at her any more than she could bear him upsetting or angering her. She looked up at the skies once again and remained there for hours just looking and thinking and when yawns began to creep up on her she took one last look upwards at the sky and the stars and then turned her back on them. She closed the double doors behind her and then made her way to her bedroom and hoped that tomorrow would be easier.

The day began again and once again Amara worked from sunrise to sunset. She had not seen Michael in that time and she wondered where he might be, but seconds later her questions were answered when he knocked and entered her study room and stood in front of her.

‘Good evening Empress,’ he began cautiously. ‘How are you faring this day?’

‘I am faring well thank you Michael. How do you fare?’

‘Well thank you.’

‘Yesterday was not a good day for us,’ Michael began.

‘I know.’

‘I hope we never have another day like yesterday.’

‘Nor I.’

‘Empress I care for you, not just as a friend of your father, nor as just an Empress. I care for
you.
I want you to know that. I care for you as a friend, for who you are and the woman you are becoming. All I ask is that you believe that and that you trust me.’

‘I trust you Michael,’ she said emotionally, the tears welling up in her eyes and at the same time smiling at him. ‘I trust you but when I feel vulnerable or under attack…’

‘I would
never
attack you,’ he said vehemently. He moved towards her and put his hand on her shoulder. ‘I will
never
do that,’ he said looking her in the eye.

‘Promises, promises,’ Amara whispered.

‘I do not make promises lightly Empress. I have made three in my lifetime and this is the fourth. I will never do anything to hurt you.’

She looked up at him, only this time it was a look of warmth. ‘Thank you,’ she said, placing her right hand on the left side of his chest.

He took hold of her hand and kissed it softly. ‘You took on the world all by yourself, but you are not alone,’ he said softly to her.

‘Somewhere deep down inside I know that I am not, but still, I feel that I am.

‘But you are not. I am here for you, by your side.’

‘And I am glad of it.’

The two of them remained standing close to each other, Michael holding onto Amara’s hand that was still touching his chest and when the moment had run its course the two of them separated. They made small talk before Michael left and went in search of Garrick and Häkan, and Amara went in search of Ellora and they talked until the early hours of the morning.

Days went by in the nations and the days turned into weeks and in that time Amara returned to being irritable once again, only this time she became worse. Soon her frayed temper was becoming legendary and the people who had worked there for so long began to leave the palace and those that had recently joined, were often unable to bear the brunt of her now unpredictable wrath.

The regular Council meetings were often tense and always ended with someone having a few strips torn off them publicly. Michael tried to reach her in those days but even he, her most favoured one could not. Ellora the most light-hearted of children had also noticed the change in her sister and became more concerned each day. Amara had usually reserved her irritability for the staff, but now, no one was spared; not Michael or the other four men, nor were the five boys when she was in their company and neither was Ellora.

Michael became extremely worried and he spoke with his four friends in turn and they all spoke with the Empress, whose temper had now become so foul that her ears had closed to any semblance of right or reason and so the words of the five men fell on deaf ears and she paid them no heed.

‘What now?’ Raynor asked at another meeting the five men had called. He was clearly exasperated and very worried.

‘We wait,’ Thaddeus answered.

‘For what?’ Garrick asked.

‘For whatever it is that troubles the Empress to be resolved,’ Häkan said.

‘Let us hope the wait is not long,’ Garrick said. ‘She maybe an Empress, but who can reign over an alienated nation?’

‘Then let us pray that whatever ales the Empress is dealt with swiftly,’ Michael said joining in the conversation.

The five men adjourned their meeting and went their separate ways, each of them contemplating the Empresses future. Ellora watched as her sister began to change before her very eyes. She knew she was losing her, she could see it and she despaired for days but then her despair turned to anger and her anger turned into resolve. She was not going to watch her sister lose herself and she was not going to lose another member of her family either.

Ellora dug deep into her mind and thought of what she could possibly do and when the answer finally came to her she stood up and raced out of her room and went in search of Rakan. Ellora wandered through the halls and the rooms in search him.

She went out into the gardens and to the big old oak tree where they all liked to sit in the summer but he was not there either. She called his name but there was no answer and so she ventured further into the gardens. She had been walking for over twenty minutes among the trees and the bushes when she heard a cracking sound, her ears pricked up immediately and she headed into the direction from where the noise had come. She walked slowly but surely towards the noise and called Rakan’s name. He appeared from behind one of the trees.

‘Ellora,’ he said smiling widely at her. ‘What brings you so far out into the gardens?’ he asked.

‘You do. I came in search of you.’

‘Oh!’

‘I need your help Rakan.’

‘With what?’

‘Amara.’

‘To do what?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly. ‘I really don’t know, I have some kind of idea what I want to say to her but I need you to be with me when I speak with her.’

‘Ellora, I don’t know if I can do anything for you or for her, what good will I be?’

‘I am losing her!’ she said desperately. ‘Day by day I see her slipping away from me, from herself. The others they only see the rage and the bad behaviour but they do not see her lose herself, like my mother was before...’

‘Ellora, what can you do?’ Rakan asked earnestly

‘I don’t know,’ she said, clearly frustrated. ‘Face her! Confront her! I have to do something, anything. But what I cannot do is watch as my sister slips away from me. I have lost my father and my mother. I will
not
lose Amara too – I cannot. Rakan, you just being there with me will help, I cannot face her alone, I do not think it would be wise of me to face Amara alone with her temperament of late.’

‘When do you want to see her?’

‘Now,’ she said with a determined look on her face.

‘If your sure,’ Rakan said, looking searchingly at Ellora.

The two walked to Amara’s study and stood outside staring at each other. Rakan gave Ellora another searching, to see if she still wanted to confront her sister.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she replied; ‘but I’ve got to do something.’

Ellora knocked on the door and Amara gave permission for them to enter. Rakan and Ellora entered the room and greeted Amara who greeted them both back.

‘How nice to see you both,’ Amara began. ‘But what brings you both here?’ she asked curiously.

‘You do,’ Ellora said quickly. ‘Amara I am worried about you, you have not been yourself of late.’

Amara was immediately on the defensive and the scowl on her face, told Ellora that she had been a little too blunt with her sister.

‘Everyone seems to have something to say about me,’ Amara began, the ire in her voice quite clear.