Rebecca knocked on her mother’s bedroom door softly. “Mother? May I come in?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Rebecca opened the door and walked into the room. Her mother was lying in bed reading the Book of Claraxis. Rebecca glanced at the turquoise-covered book and then turned her attention to her mother. It was ironic, really, Rebecca had come to talk to her mother about the Priests of Claraxis, and here she found her reading the Book of Claraxis! Rebecca pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, her expression serious.
“Mother, I went into the city the other day,” she began, “and I saw something truly disturbing.”
The queen put the book down and looked at her teenaged daughter. “Yes?”
Rebecca let out a deep breath and continued. “The Priests say that there is no poverty in Guldtosia,” she said. “And that the Mediators are here for our protection. But I know that they are lying, Mother! I saw the truth with my own eyes! The centre of the city is a complete slum – there is illness and hunger everywhere, and the Mediators arrest any Nobles that try to help the poor! I had to save Mary’s brother from a Mediator, or he would have been unjustly imprisoned.”
The Queen looked at her daughter. “Come now, child,” she said. “The Priests would not lie to us.”
Rebecca hid her sudden suspicion from her mother. She had never called Rebecca ‘child’ before; it just wasn’t like her. “I must leave,” she said. “I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
Rebecca walked back to her room, and when she got there, she locked the door, threw herself onto her bed and started to cry. “I have to talk to somebody,” she thought. “Maybe I’ll go and talk to Samuel…”
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“Master Samuel?”
Samuel looked up from his books. “Yes, Treverton?” he asked.
The old man looked nervous. “There is somebody here to see you, milord,” he said. “I think it’s the Princess, though she hides her face under a hood.”
Samuel was up and out of the door in under a second.
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Samuel brought the distraught princess into the parlour and sat her down into a chair. Tearstains on her face told him that she had been crying, for a long time too. “Are you all right?” he asked. She looked at him, tears brimming her eyes again.
“I don’t think my mother is who she claims to be,” she said shakily. “She called me ‘child’, and she has never called me that!”
Samuel frowned.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Damn it, I’m being a fool. She’s distressed, and
I’m accusing her of lying!”
She looked at him for a moment, and then her royal background became apparent. “You dare to accuse your Princess of lying?” she demanded, and then fell silent. “…Sorry.”
He pulled up a chair and sat next to her. “It’s OK,” he said. “What were you and your mother talking about?”
“The Priests of Claraxis,” Rebecca said. “They’ve always told my family that there is no poverty or illness in Guldtosia – but after what I saw, I know otherwise. But my mother wouldn’t believe me.”
“She does care,” Samuel thought. “Why do you think she didn’t believe you?”
“Because she is under the control of the False One.” Alex walked out of the shadows of the room. “I am sorry to have followed you, Rebecca, but you are not safe. The Priests will come after you soon, they feel you are a threat to them.”
Rebecca looked at her teacher in confusion, but it was Samuel who spoke up. “Who are you, and how did you get into this house?” he demanded.
“My name is Alexandria Athena Gaiason, the Princess’s swordplay teacher.”
Samuel narrowed his eyes. “Your name sounds very familiar,” he said. “It means ‘Son of Gaia’, doesn’t it?”
“Very good,” Alex said, smiling. “It does indeed.” She turned her attention back to Rebecca. “We must get you and your friends away from here,” she said. “The Mediators will be coming to arrest you on charges of treason against your kingdom.”
Rebecca’s jaw dropped. “What? Why?”
“Because you befriended somebody that might interfere with the False One’s plans for you and your kingdom,” Alex said. “Now hurry, you’ll have to get yourself a weapon and get out of the city. I’ll meet you in the Scorpion Forest in an hour. Mary is already waiting for you outside. I must go back to the castle and distract the Mediators there until you are safe.”
She turned and leapt out of the window, and Rebecca’s expression hardened. “I need a sword,” she said.