CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I have been standing in the middle of nowhere, a world without form, and void. A thick darkness covered everywhere and I could hear different aggressive voices strongly hovering around the space.

"She belongs to me!" one of the voices kept reprimanding severely, as strong as thunder.

"She doesn’t belong to you. She is mine" another retorted, adopting the same strong tone.

"You lie! She has always been mine," the voice from earlier claimed, sounding more aggressive than it had been.

Suddenly it felt as if the strong voices were now hovering around my ear, churning my head violently as if about to explode.

"Nooo…!" I was screaming deeply when I woke up. I saw myself in a strange room.

Where am I? I quickly sat upright on the small bed on which I had been lying, unable to dampen down the fright which overwhelmed me.

As my glances shifted, I saw someone seated beside the bedside, smiling receptively as she stared at me. The face resembles that of Irene, featuring her smile and ocean blue eyes, or is it not her?

"Irene," I swiftly called in shock, trying not to mix up reality with my imagination. "Is this really you?" I asked hesitantly.

As my heart couldn’t contain the joy that entered inside me, I enveloped her in a really tight hug. "I know that you’ll never leave me behind in this cruel world." I said as tears of joy escaped my eyes.

"Are you okay, your majesty?" A voice dissimilar to that of Irene’s spoke. Noticing the usual coldness, I flinched away from the body I was holding.

Now I clearly saw the face sitting before me, then realized it wasn't Irene but a strange young lady staring at me, confused.

"Who are you?" I didn’t hesitate to ask her, feeling very skeptical. I haven’t seen her face ever before in my life.

The young lady quickly cleared off the confused look on her face. She smiled. "My name is Victoria, your Majesty," she said kindly, her smile looking friendly.

"Victoria? Ahh!" I restated, then shrieked out. I could feel my head hurting a little.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" the young lady rushed to hold me, looking very concerned.

She addresses me with "your Majesty." It sounds very strange! No one has ever addressed me with such absolute status.

"Don’t worry, I am fine." I replied, pretending to be fine but definitely not.

It’s actually not about my head throbbing severely. How can I be alright when I find myself in a strange place being guarded by a strange lady?

Roving my eyes around, I discovered the room is relatively small, well-lit with different lamp stands, and has a round window like that of a cabin; or perhaps, it’s a cabin because I can hear the close sound of water outside.

Wait! I am on a ship. The realization dawned on me at once. If I am actually on a ship, where could it be sailing to?

Hold on a bit! The soldiers of Baldamon succeeded in abducting me? And are now taking me to their kingdom to face their king? As the thoughts crossed my mind, an unsettling shiver coerced my body, but then again, the kingdom of Baldamon is towards the north, and certainly not amongst the kingdoms after the ocean.

Who then has abducted me?

"You should have more rest, your Majesty," the young lady entreated.

Ignoring her words, I asked her sternly. "Where am I? And what am I doing here?"

"Don’t worry yourself so much, your Majesty," the Victoria lady said, smiling more kindly. "You are in safer hands now." She continued.

"I brought your meal," she informed me after a short silence survived. Standing up on her feet, she ambled over to the extreme corner of the room, bringing closer a tray of food.

Looking into the bowls on the tray, I saw the assortment of food she brought; a bowl of baked fish, grilled chicken, rice, and forest potatoes. She didn’t forget to serve them with an eating spoon and a table knife.

Grabbing the knife out of the tray, I threatened her with it. "What’s your mission?"

"Please put the knife down, your Majesty," Victoria said, not looking different from anyone scared stiff.

"What’s your mission? Answer me!" I brought the knife closer to her, almost scaring the life out of her.

"His highness requested me to watch over you. You had passed out," she stuttered breathlessly.

His Highness. Although I have so many doubts in me right now, I know that she’s talking about the young King Luther.

"Please, keep the knife down," Victoria pleaded.

"Where is the king?"

"The king?" she asked, looking hazy for some odd reasons.

I stared at her silently for a while before dropping the knife back onto the tray. I formed steps towards the door in a bid to find the king.

"Your majesty, please wait." I heard Victoria call. Turning around, I saw her taking up a silky ash-colored blanket towards me.

"It’s sternly cold outside," she told me, making sure the blanket was properly sheltering my body. When she finished, I felt the urge to apologize to her for actions earlier but just couldn’t.

Disregarding the feeling, I left the room.