Chapter Fourty One: The Witch Maiden

Aurora had stormed back off to her castle, taking a longer way around to avoid running into her parents by avoiding the main hall where usually at the time of day, her parents were meeting with the towns folk to discuss issues within the kingdom, something Aurora was not supremely fond of spending her time doing. " The audacity of that damn human" Aurora argued to herself. Aurora, though meeting very few humans in her time, was never fond of them. They were far to outspoken and demanded far too much for what little they contributed to their own salvation.

" I will never understand what someone like Penny sees within the likes of people such as that" Aurora had always held witches far above any other creature or species in all the world's combined. In her opinion, they were smarter, faster, and far more stronger than any of their counterparts. Sure, The Lycans had their strength and deep rooted bonds to their culture, but what did that matter if they could not defend themselves? Even the Vampires were superior to them.

As Aurora arrived at her room, she was greeted by a girl, who was slightly younger than her, having darker hair, and having her face pointed down the floor as she was exiting the room. " Hold on" Aurora stopped the young girl.

" Did you clean my room, properly this time? " The Princess asked, to which the young girl responded " Yes, it is completely spotless" the girl answered, frightened that if she was found incompetent, she would suffer the wrath of the Princess.

Aurora entered the room and motioned for the girl to follow her, and the girl did as she asked. " Let me ask you something" Aurora turned to the girl, who was growing more and more anxious by the second.

" What do you think of humans? " Aurora asked, this puzzling the young girl slightly as she had not expected this. " I..I have never met a human" the girl answered softly so as to not upset the Princess.

" Well let me enlighten you then. They are selfish, they are greedy, they are the essence of complacency. They are everything that we witches shall never be" Aurora spouted her rhetoric for several minutes as the girl listened on intently, hoping she could leave as soon as the Princess had finished.

" But I digress, the fact that one of them resides within my kingdom is an outrage" Aurora scoffed at the thought of Ember again.

" If you dislike them so much, then why not have them removed? " The girl suggested, not being entirely too sure as to whether this entire conversation was rhetorical or not.

" Because she is friends with someone whom I need. Someone would greatly benefit this kingdom. Someone whose power is beyond anything you can imagine" Aurora explained, shaking her head at the innocent girl.

" And they will not separate easily. Thus, I can do nothing for the time being. But, that won't last for long. Eventually, the human will screw up. As all humans do. And when this girl realizes what she has aligned herself with, she will come to me" Aurora was confident in her assessment though the young girl did not seem to keen on that idea.

" Would it possible for me to be excused? " The girl asked which Aurora allowed, giving the girl the chance to leave the room.

Once away from the room, and far enough away where she knew that she could not be heard, the girl breathed a sigh of relief. " God I hate her so much" The girl sighed as she made her way to down the maidens chambers, where most of the help for the castle lived. Once inside, the girl was greeted by a friendly old lady who was dressed in food stained clothes an even more disgusting apron.

" Raven! Come here Girl" The woman demanded which Raven walked over to see what the issue could be.

" Did you hear about the alliance? " The woman cackled to herself, not being able to believe the news she possessed. " No, Miss Golls, what happened? " Raven inquired, as news from the kingdom rarely traveled down to handmaidens and cooks unless a maiden occasionally would hear something they were not suppose too. And if that were the case, they dare not share the information as they could face punishment.

" Supposedly, there is going to be an alliance talk with the King and the Vampires. If all things go well, they will be marrying off their kid with Aurora and peace will be known to the Underworld" Miss Golls scoffed. " It'll never happen. Them vampires cannot be trusted I tell ya " Miss Golls pointed her knife at Raven as she spoke, not realizing the danger she posed with the blade.

" I had not heard that. But if it brings peace, them I would suppose that is something to strive for" Raven answered, having no reason or interest in the politics of this Kingdom.

" Well I'm letting you know because if it does happen, there are going to be quite a few changes made around here. Might have to start serving up humans" The chef joked distasteful which Raven tried to ignore but remembered Aurora mentioning a human being in the kingdom now. Perhaps this was something to do with the alliance? Raven tried to not speculate but it did give credence to the idea that this alliance could be happening sooner that most would like.

Aurora was not the only Witch who shared a sense of superiority within the Kingdom. In fact, most witches believed themselves to be above both the Lycans and the Vampires. This was something that Raven had never truly believed but would go along with as it kept her alive and away from a jail cell.

" Oh and also, I need you to go into town. I need some fresh veggies as the King has a big announcement tonight and he wants a ten course feast to celebrate it " Miss Golls hands Raven a listen and shoo's her away from the Kitchen, sending Raven on a journey into town.

" Why in the hell am I doing this? Raven asked herself as she did not actually work in the kitchen therefore this was not her place nor errand to run. And then she remembered the reason. After her parents had died, leaving her an orphan on the streets, Miss Golls took her in and sweet talked the royal family into given Raven a job, a debt that Raven would still need to repay someday despite how many years it had been.

Raven, despite her reluctance, made her way into the town and down to the markets so that she could fetch the items from Miss Golls long list.

As Raven ran from market to market to acquire the items, she couldn't help thinking to herself what it would be like to run into the human. " I wonder what they are like? " Raven questioned. From an early age she had heard about humans and what they were like, their greed and selfishness. Mainly from the royal family which seemed less than impartial about them or about anyone other than themselves and witches. On some level, Raven could not simply believe that humans could be so vile, that they deserved a hatred that was bestowed upon them by the kingdom.

Though, considering there would be no actual way to get to Earth as far as raven knew, she would more than likely never get the answer unless she did bump into the human. After she had finished gathering all of the necessary items listed, Raven began making her way back to the castle,making her way down the long main street and noticing two girls leaving one of the houses in front of her.

" I don't know that going for a walk is such a good idea " Ember complained to Penny who was just relieved that her mouth was no longer burning. " I am not scared of the Princess. We have the right to be here and being cooped up in the house isn't doing us any good either" Penny shrugged as they passed by Raven who was walking in the opposite direction.

At first, Raven was surprised to hear that these two girls had an issue with the Princess and would discuss it so openly. This was usually not advised as the Princess was well known for her temper. Something about them seemed different though. Judging from their demeanor and even the way they dressed, Raven could tell that they were not originally from the Kingdom. This made Raven stop in her tracks and turn back the two girls who were continuing to make their way further into town.

" Hey! You two! Excuse me! " Raven called out to the girls who turned to see Raven approaching them.

" Yes, can we help you? " Ember asked confidently, the confrontation with Aurora still had her blood pumping and adrenaline was coursing through her veins.

" Yes I was wondering..are you two from here? " Raven asked politely, struggling to support the 6 full baskets of food on her arms.

" No, we just moved here" Penny answered, inspecting the girl up and down and perceiving her as not a threat.

" Why do you ask? " Penny followed up, as they had never seen this girl before and could not be too careful on who they gave their information too.

" I work in the castle..I'm a chamber maiden..kind of. I was asking because Aurora came home a while ago and was very upset. She seemed very upset with a human" Raven explained as Penny looked to Ember. " Oh you freaking called it" Penny remarked as Ember took a step forward, bringing herself closer to Raven. " Well, if the Princess has a problem with us. She can come talk to us directly" Ember barked, as Penny took Embers shoulder in her hand and pulled her back. " I'm sorry. I thank you for letting us know. We will be careful" Penny thanked Raven who nodded.

" I was wondering..which one of you..is a human? " Raven asked, trying to be as polite as she could be given the hostility that was being shown by the blonde girl.

" I am" Ember took another step forward and was pulled back again by Penny.

" I really do not mean any offense. I was just wondering. I've never met a human before and have heard nothing but bad things about them. But outside of being angry, I can see that those rumors are wrong" Raven smiled, staring Ember directly in her eyes which for some strange reason, seemed to calm Ember down.

" I am sorry and do not wish to be a bother or take up any more of your time. I just wanted to warn you that the Princess is planning something to separate you two " Raven was happy to have the chance to try and stop the Princess from destroyed anymore people than she had done in the past.

" And we thank you for it. We had a suspicion that she might try something eventually so we will be ready. My name is Penny and this Ember " Penny introduced them, having a good feeling about the chamber maiden who now introduced herself. " My name is Raven. Chamber maiden to the Princess and apparently vegetable fetcher extrodinare " Raven giggled as she backed away from the girls " I hope to see you both again" Raven shouted to the two as she made her way back to the castle, leaving Ember confused and Penny shocked.

" What's wrong? " Ember asked, noticing that something was off with Penny but not being able to place what it was.

" That was my mom.."