Shadow Queen

“Excuse me, sir!” Litomely ran up to a middle-aged man, notepad in hand. “Can I please ask you a few questions concerning the death of Master Sahtemin?” The man looked down at the scrawny 15-year-old boy and nodded.

“Alright, son,” he answered. Litomely smiled happily at the man, and took them to a fence on the side of the road where they could talk without distractions.

“Okay. Let’s see… what do you know about the Master’s death?”

“That’s a simple one. Everyone knows that the Master died two days after his last story was finished and released to the public. There are rumors that he’s been murdered, but I don’t really think so. He was pretty old, you know.”

“I thought the master only wrote about things that actually happened? Why do you call them stories then?”

“Well, once in a while, the Master writes stories. They’re really interesting, though a little strange.”

“Oh, can I see one?” The man took a bunch of papers from inside his coat.

“Here you go, son. It’s the last story he wrote; I finished reading it, so you can have it now.”

The boy looked up at the man, taking the papers. “Thank you so much!” He smiled, bid the man a farewell, and ran off to the newspaper office to start writing his article.

::~::~::

A young girl, about the age of 17, crouched quietly on the rooftop. The moon shone brightly tonight; it was the night the wolves would howl endlessly in the distance. She quickly pulled out a bundle of papers, rustling through them until she came to one titled, “The Shadow Queen.” Evelyn quickly scanned the contents of the page, and flipped to the next one, still reading.

Nine pages later, her eyes were fashioned into a glare. She angrily crawled back to the hole in the roof, dropping down silently. Sitting down on the bed, Evelyn scooted back until her back was to the wall, and dropped her head. There was no sound until morning.

The next morning, she entered her master’s workshop.

“No sleep again, Evvy?” The old Master Sahtemin asked her. Evelyn nodded silently, moving to her workspace. As soon as the master turned his back, however, she stood up and carefully replaced the papers she had taken earlier.

“Well,” Master Sahtemin began, “let’s get started then.”

There once was an extremely bright girl, far, far too bright for her age. But not only was she bright, she was clever too, so she hid her intelligence well. To her parents, she was the perfect daughter; to her peers, the perfect friend; and to her teachers, she was the perfect student. Naturally, it was no wonder to the entire town that she had married the Prince. He was a simple-minded fool, easily persuaded, easily controlled.

It was night again, and Evelyn was lying on her bed; she was almost asleep but not quite there yet. A soft meow and tapping of her window made Evelyn suddenly sit up. She quickly opened the window, and in stepped a small kitten. She picked up the kitten and closed the window, walking back to the bed. As soon as they were both comfortable, Evelyn started to talk.

“Oh, Kilyn, I can’t believe that stupid old man wrote that story! He even talked about you in there,” she fumed, but softly petting the cat as if everything was fine. “He called you some tool of mine, and wrote that I use you. I wouldn’t use you, Kilyn; you know that.”

On her 19th birthday, she found a stray panther cub. It was as dark as night and as playful as a child, but only with her. The cub would attack anyone else that tried to get near, but the Princess did nothing to stop it. No, she was quite happy with it favoring her above the rest, and used it to scare off anyone she found insufferable […]

“My dear, isn’t it time you let your pet go?” The Prince asked one day over supper.

“Why would I ever want to do that?” she inquired in return.

“Well, it seems to me that your pet has been scaring off all our servants. It would be best if we could keep them, you know how tedious and disgusting commoner work is,” he explained.

“I suppose,” She replied, “I could keep him away from the servants. Would that satisfy you?”

“Yes, very much,” he answered, smiling his trademark smile, the smile that she abhorred like no other. The Princess gave a false smile in return, and they continued to eat their evening meal.

“But you know, Kilyn, I think he did it on purpose. That stupid old geezer did it on purpose to bait me. He wants me to start something, so he can tell the world what I plan to do. He wants to stop me before I start,” Evelyn continued. Kilyn meowed in response, and laid its head back onto her lap.

“Hm… what should I do now, Kilyn?” She asked the cat. It slowly stood up, and walked over to the corner of her room, pouncing on a mouse it had been eyeing from the bed. Kilyn walked back towards the bed with a dead mouth in its mouth, laying it on the floor before climbing on the bed again.

“That’s a great idea, Kilyn. He’s old, so no one will care if he dies, and they’re all too stupid to find out how he died. Thanks Kilyn, you’re such a great friend.”

Soon, the Prince became the King, and the Princess became the Queen. This simple-minded man was trained for the job, yes, but there was so much more to being a King that textbooks couldn’t teach. So with a little help from her panther, the new Queen handpicked his board of advisors, and made sure that each of them knew who was really in charge.

It was a simple business and done rather quickly. Soon, they were living in peace…

That is, until a scandal occurred.

It was to be done quickly, before he could release the story, but she was too late.

“Evelyn, deliver this package to the presses for me; they’re expecting it,” he told her, handing Evelyn a small package. There was no way out; she would have to deliver her own death. Evelyn slowly accepted the package, trying to prolong the inevitable. Just like that inevitable scandal…

The Queen paced back and forth, a fire with the heat of a thousand suns burning in her eyes. He was supposed to be the puppet. He wasn’t supposed to have a will of his own. He was a tool, yet here he was embarrassing her. The Queen was too cold for her King. The Queen, the perfect girl, had been cheated on. She was the laughingstock of the entire country.

Up the hill, through the door, and there Evelyn was, at the presses. A young boy, about 15 years old, was running around with a pile of papers in his hand. The pile was so huge; it went well over his head. The boy took a sharp turn to avoid one of the other workers, and all of the newspapers in his hand spilled out in front of Evelyn. She knelt down and started to help him pick them all up.

“Thank you, miss.” He accepted the papers with a goofy smile, one that Evelyn just had to return. It came out as more of a grimace, however; she hated those kinds of smiles.

“It’s nothing. Could you give this to your master?” She asked, giving the boy her fate. He eagerly accepted it, nodding enthusiastically.

“Of course I can. Thank you!” The boy nodded his head in thanks, turning around to get the newspapers where they should be. Evelyn sighed and turned to leave.

“Today, we will be doing something different,” Master Sahtemin announced. He instructed Evelyn to sit across from him in a cross-legged position. “Now, what do you think about my latest story?” he asked.

“I don’t know; I haven’t read it,” she lied with ease.

“Nonsense, of course you’ve read it. Now what do you think?” He pushed onward; it was times like these when she wondered exactly why she was the old man’s disciple anyways. Surely there were better, wiser, more experienced people out there.

“It’s interesting.”

“Explain.”

“The idea of it all. She’s a genius, and she craves power, so she marries into power with her connections. But, she turns out having affections for the man and is devastated by the scandal, and then she’s stronger because of it.”

“Affections? I certainly don’t remember writing anything of the sort,” he denied.

“Oh, but you did. She complied with his will, though not all the way. He slowly broke her down, and she covered up the feelings of betrayal with anger. She made herself feel anger so she wouldn’t feel hurt.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Too bad, old man.”

“You shouldn’t talk to your elders in such a way.”

“Says who?”

“Says me of course, now stop it. Go home and sleep. You’re expected here at the break of dawn, wide awake.” Evelyn rolled her eyes, standing up and walking out the door as fast as she could.

It was the right time, oh what people would do for a time as right as this one. One wrong move and he would be dead with no witnesses. She would race back to the palace, tears flowing down her cheeks. There would be rumors, but only rumors, nothing more. If only she could…

But she could, and she would.

She wouldn’t feel a thing once he was gone. No, Evelyn wouldn’t feel a single thing. The thought stayed with her throughout the night.

The next morning she got up and raced to Master Sahtemin. Her mind was made up. That night, the stupid man would die.

She would never forget the look in his eyes as he fell, but the Queen didn’t let it affect her. She rode back to the palace as fast as the winds could carry her, and sent two dozen men to recover their dead King’s body. That night, she cried herself to sleep. Those were the last tears to ever fall from her eyes.

It was nighttime, and Evelyn was tired from their day. Master Sahtemin spent the whole time trying to convince her of her supposed love for him. Many disciples loved their masters, but she was not one of them. He had sent her home immediately after their day of “bonding,” with instructions to get a good night’s sleep.

It was clear to her that he knew, and Evelyn had no problems with it.

The master never had any security. He relied on the fear and awe people had of him for protection. It was clever too, she thought, but as his disciple, she had no fear. Evelyn hovered over his sleeping figure, clutching the shard of glass she had found a few days back. For a moment, it was as if time stood still.

Then he spoke.

“Go ahead child, do it, kill me,” he said, eyes still closed. Evelyn’s eyes widened in shock as she jumped back, her grip on the glass tightening. “Hurry up, or you’ll cut your own hand too much for people not to notice.”

Her voice was shaky when she answered.

“Quiet, old man. I’ll kill you on my own time.” She stepped forward until her foot was at the edge of the bed, and took a deep breath. She looked down just as he opened his eyes, and gasped at what she saw.

“You may loathe me child, but I’ve always loved you. Good luck with your journey,” he told her. He offered a small smile in parting. She struck. Blood quickly started to seep out of the huge laceration down his throat.

Evelyn glared down at her former master, and then dragged his body next to a window. There, she added more cuts to his body in strategic places, and as a final touch, broke the window from the outside with a rock. As she went back inside to collect the rock, she took one last look at the old man.

“No, Master Sahtemin, I don’t loathe you; I just hate your guts.”

“No,” she would answer to every potential suitor brave enough to ask the question. “I refuse to betray my husband,” would be her reason. Her people, however, had a different explanation.

::~::~::

Litomely gasped as he finished reading the story. He quickly searched through their archives. Sure enough, the girl that had so kindly helped him with the newspapers was Master Sahtemin’s disciple. But it couldn’t be; it just couldn’t be… this girl, the Shadow Queen… no...

He heard a sound behind him, and turned around, heart racing. It was only a cat, a small black kitten actually. He smiled kindly at it, scooping it up with two hands and letting it rest in his hold.

He looked up from the kitten, and immediately froze, the color draining from his face.

“Hello boy, it’s nice to see you again,” Evelyn said, walking closer and closer.

He stopped breathing.

“Now, about that story. You won’t tell anyone, will you?” She asked.

He violently shook his head “no.”

“That’s good… but the thing is, boy, I don’t believe you.”

He didn’t have time to scream.

Some said the reason the Shadow Queen wouldn’t take a King was because she was too smart to be betrayed again. Some said it was because she didn’t want another man dragging her down. Others say that she had planned for this all along.

But the real reason? She just hated those damn smiles.