The mansion seemed somewhat busier today, maids scurrying around, guards on quicker rotations and me…
Tired.
I could practically feel the bags in my eyes, drooping down as they carried my solemn look. I slowly pulled open the door, sticking my head out to observe what was going on, but I got no answers.
Why did today suddenly have a change of pace? We weren’t leaving were we? No, that made no sense, not when Nora had said we’d still have a few more days here. So then what?
“Avante, time.”
“9:02 sir.”
I had only gotten about five hours of sleep, which was better than nothing but my sleep debt was really picking away at me and it was all because of that thing. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
“Ahhh we gotta get going soon, Lissandro, gather the guards available in ten minutes!”
“Yes madam!” I heard the footstomp of a guard, followed by a run when I saw Rumena come out of the corner, spotting my poking head.
“Axure, sorry, no breakfast today. The princess is busy.”
I wondered why the usual routine wasn’t functioning but it was clearly something to do with Nora.
“It’s alright, there will be a few guards left behind, we’re mostly gathering up the ones inside the city to accompany us,” she said as she lightly jogged past me, “The maids will still be around. See you later!”
The woman waved me off, only leaving me more deprived of answers.
But hold on. Hold the fuck on.
Nora, Rumena, guards, are all leaving the mansion?
Wait, if that’s so, does that mean Zidane is leaving too?
An opening.
But I can’t act in haste, I need to observe closely.
I stayed in my room, still poking my head out, watching carefully what transpired over the next few minutes. The mansion's noise slowly began to fade, and the maids had begun to take over for their cleaning duties. But none of the group were anywhere to be seen, no Zidane, no Nora, No one.
Have they really left?
I couldn’t say but my best bet was to go out and see through the window. Running down the hallways, while trying to keep my steps as silent as I could, I peered outside seeing a large extravagant carriage parked inside the gates. And not only that, but a relatively large number of guards were surrounding it, with a few other carriages positioned in front and behind. I quickly flew my eyes around to search for the princess, only to spot her talking to a suited man while Zidane stood next to her. Laura wasn’t anywhere to be seen, with Rumena also outside, ordering the guards around.
I tried to listen into the conversation, but all I could hear was the bustling commotion. Nora dismissed the suited man, while momentarily looking deep in thought. She whispered over to Zidane about something and headed-
Inside.
Oh back to my room. Back to my room I go.
With large strides, I slowly walked my way back to my room trying to suppress the noise that came from my feet and just when I had reached the door, the woman's voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Axure?”
Nora. Not again.
“Yes Your Majesty,” I said with a smile as I turned back, holding my hands together attempting to not make a fist.
“In fact, I was looking for you. What are you doing here?” She casually asked.
“Oh no, just looking around, everyone seemed busy.”
“Is that so?”
“So? What did you come to me for?”
“I have come to take you with me. I want you present.”
Fuck.
I wasn’t seated in the carriage with Nora, she was alone with Zidane so I had been placed in one of the smaller ones alongside Rumena and a rather peculiar man. Wearing a black top hat, a dark green suit beautifully corresponding with his maroon shirt and black trousers, he stroked his short beard as he stared out the window.
An aristocrat? Or businessman?
What business did he have here? What was even going on?
We traversed down the side roads, avoiding all the intersections with the canals and using what seemed to be the one and only road available in this city. And what seemed even more odd, was how we were going closer into the slums.
We approached a huge opening, encircled by towering hills of houses, huts and bridges, with one stage placed in the middle. Guards were already situated around it, with a crowd of hundreds surrounding them.
The guards opened a path leading to the raised floorboards that looked like it had just been constructed a moment ago and so Nora’s leading carriage made way to it. It wasn’t dead quiet, but all the conversations had been reduced to murmurs the moment we had entered, so much that I could hear the squeaks of the wheels. I watched Zidane exit the carriage first, opening the door for Nora to walk out afterward, when the guards surrounding the convoy walked into their designated positions scattered around the area. It was fascinating, with hundreds of people huddling up here, we also had hundreds of heads peeping out of their little windows and doors, viewing everything from the rooftops.
Rumena tapped my shoulder as she hung near the door, ducking her head below the frame and leaving. I don’t know why I had only just realised this but Rumena was tall and I was six foot myself. She was even taller than me. No wonder she could swing around that huge axe effortlessly.
Not knowing what to do, leaving the aristocrat, or whatever he was, inside the carriage, I followed Rumena to somewhere farther back. We actually went near the edge of the crowd, watching as if we were onlookers ourselves. In fact, that was what I would have rather been.
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I watched the black haired woman step onto the stage with her gold pieces dangling. Even though I was at a distance however, I had realised her look still remained unchanged.
Cold and unreadable.
Zidane stood right behind her, to the right with his sword resting beneath his hands. And the conversations that rustled throughout the crowds, slowly turned into quiet murmurs, until Nora’s commanding voice struck the whole area.
“Residents of Ballaad! I am Princess Nora Van Vollaria! I came before you today to show you a new way… to give all you people a chance for humanity to survive and escape these slums. To escape these living conditions and all live in unison.”
“Yeah rich coming from a princess!” A heckler exclaimed from the crowd with the guards being unable to locate the man. Nora lifted her arm, stopping the guards from pursuing.
“I understand, I traverse through these lands as much as I can. I learn the infrastructure, I learn the people, I learn your way of life! Everyone here, I may not be living like you, but I have done all within my effort to learn more. The people of the Lizard, the people of the cats, the red skinned Maysies, the humans who live within the slums, the titans of the south, the beastmen who have nowhere to run, I have spent my life learning about you all.”
Her voice seemed a lot louder than it should have. I wondered whether it was just her commanding voice or some sort of magic.
“But change cannot come unless the people themselves bring about change. This country cannot stay the same; the same systems, the same leaders, the same history. We as humanity, all of the different races we home within Vollaria, need to live as one in unison. We shan't fear of a brimming war, we shan't be afraid of a future twisted to come! We shan’t raise our children knowing that our neighbouring empires are on the brink of war. This country has gone through hundreds of hardships, and was built on the back of my distant family. But the truth is, this country was built on BLOOD!”
She roared the last word, firmly standing on that belief. To which the crowd suddenly roared with noise, but not what I was expecting, no. For a woman who seemed like she cared for these people, the response she got was a rather hellish one. They booed, they cursed, threw their arms out with fists. I looked around, through the gaps, some stayed quiet, some looked shy, some looked away and some smiled like the beginning of a revolution had started. But it was clear to see which of the louder ones remained.
“I say to you people! Do not let the chains of history bind you! Those who believe in what they believe, are free to do so! However!” The roars of the crowd began to go quiet again.
“We cannot fall behind! I know how those function at the top, I know what this country wants, and I am here to say, that is wrong! We must free ourselves from the chains we bound ourselves to, the chains of history and move forward. We must build, develop and raise this country to a new future, one where the fear of war isn’t brimming on the borders, one where our children do not have to prepare for what they do not know! We must come to the truth! Whether you believe in Angelism or not! We must understand, this country was built on the bodies of others and history has never remained the same! We must abolish the religious values of this country and turn this into a secular state!”
That one did it. The crowd went mad.
That was all I could say, there was no point in analysing anyone and the only person I truly wanted to focus on, was Nora herself. There was a lot more to this political election than meets the eye, and it seemed that this was her first campaign in this city. And she was ready for some more.
However it seemed I had gravely underestimated something in this country. The extent to which people followed religion, in a sense it was like medieval England with people using religion as an excuse to do horrific things. I couldn’t tell whether that was real here or not, but it seemed Nora was heavily against it. But I seemed to want to question, why was religion so bad in this country?
But it wasn’t all against Nora however, because there were a minority that actually seemed to maybe not agree with her, but actually considered it. It just showed me however, how brainwashed people were in this world, where a woman of power actually tries to help those in more dire needs, rather than just appealing to the connected and powerful, and the public completely dismiss her because of religion.
The worst part was, that she didn’t even say she wanted to completely abolish it, although that was what she said to me, which also made me wonder a little. Nora was willing to lie to achieve her goals and become Queen. I’m sure she has a plan in place once it did happen, if it ever did, but how far would she go to achieve this goal? It was an interesting thought.
And one thing I had caught on, she didn’t once mention she wanted to destroy stargazers bridge. Perhaps it was of no importance and had nothing to do with the campaign, maybe a more personal thing.
But Nora, how are you really going to abolish the religion?
Rumena tapped my back behind the bustling crowds, slowly and steadily crawling off into the streets of the slums, with some arguing and some cursing. We walked toward the carriage as the guards guided the citizens a way out of the circular open, and slowly co-ordinating themselves to march around the convoy. They leapt on their horses with Zidane opening the door for Nora to enter.
But as she took her first step onto the stairs, she stopped and began to look around as if searching for something.
And that something had to be me.
Rumena pushed my back forcing me toward Nora’s direction, I just couldn’t understand what more this woman wanted. She walked into the carriage in front of me and so I followed her inside, with Zidane following right behind. I sat opposite her, with Zidane next to me folding his arms. She rested her hand on her lap, and looked outside with a much rather different look. There seemed to be some weight behind those eyes, a hint of-
“Axure, what did you think?” She asked.
“About your speech?”
“Yes, what did you think?”
“Well, I can certainly say that it wasn’t well received, but I can definitely say that there was a hint of a handful who may have agreed, but silently.”
“Hm.”
We listened to the wheels bouncing on the rocky floor for a short moment. Her expression rarely changed, but for once in a while, she showed me a slight opening. An expression. A solemn look.
“Now what do you think?” She asked, still looking out to the streets.
“I’m sorry Nora, I don’t know.”
“Is that so?”
I didn’t want to ask her any questions, I didn’t want to know nor did I care. For her religious conquest or whatever nonsense, would operate far away from me as soon as I found an opening in this mess. The more I knew, the more I was in danger and these people just seemed to know everything useless, and nothing to do with me.
“You know, once something happens in one country, the world moves, Axure.”
I listened as she continued her ramblings.
“When one thing in this world moves, so does another, and then another. Once there is an opening, another country will make their move. Everyone is on edge, everyone is waiting for an opening. I do not understand why the world cannot function without constant tension.”
“The world is never just black and white,” I responded.
She pulled open the window of the carriage, and reached out her arm and in mere seconds, a beautiful white bird came soaring down, gripping onto her fingers. The sight was something to behold, something of a painting made for a fantasy book. A princess and her bird. Sometimes I never sat and gave thought to how much this world was really fantasy.
“I wish I could be free. Free like these birds that soar over the skies, gliding through the clouds. Held down by nothing, limited to no land, free to have everything.”
I endured her useless rambling for this moment, not knowing if there was anything I could even say back anyway.
“My descendant… No, all of our descendants, centuries ago, were declared by the religion and Holy Grail to be the last prophet.”
That caught my curiosity a little bit.
“You’re a direct descendant of the prophet?”
“Yes.”
“And you still don’t believe in religion?”
“No. Never. Never.”
And from then on, the rest of the journey remained silent. Nothing more was said.