“Aimee,” called Mrs. Branson, “start serving dinner. The king is bringing his new bride.”
Aimee walked in from the setting up the dining room.
“Alright,” Aimee replied.
“I hate having to prepare the wedding feast. The King has had over 7 wives in less than two years. It’s absurd.” Aimee groaned.
“Keep your nose out of the King’s business,” Mrs. Branson retorted.
She is always snapping at me for poking around in the King’s marriages, but it truly is eerie that he has had so many wives. They were all so young, older than my fifteen years but less than twenty-four. I was usually their chambermaid and most of the wives were quite snotty. The last wife only lasted two weeks before he was out getting a new one.
The situation I find alarming is that they tend to just disappear without a trace and nobody seems to notice, or at least they’re too scared to confront the king about their disappearances. The next wife seems to disappear faster than the last.
I snapped out of the trance that I had gotten into and got to work.
I finished setting up when the King and his new bride walked in. The new bride was lovely, even more beautiful than the rest. She has pale clear skin and long blond hair. The King, a silent reserved man in his late forties , looked old and withered compared to her. She looked at most twenty years old.
“I want to present to you my new bride, Alisson. This is Aimee, your chambermaid, “ the King said.
“Hello, a pleasure to meet you,” Alisson said.
“The pleasure is mine, my lady,” I replied.
She was pretty and nice, unlike the earlier wives. I liked her already. After the King and Alisson were finished with their dinner, I cleaned up and went to go help Alisson get ready for bed. The next morning, I woke her up got her ready and walked her down to breakfast. She would spend the rest of the day reading or going for walks in the garden. It was the same thing everyday. We had set up a routine.
After a week, dinner had been served and cleaned up and I was on my way to help Alisson. As I opened the door, I noticed that the room was dark and eerily quiet. She wasn’t there. It was so unusual. This was so unlike her. Right away my thoughts go to it’s time. She’s gone. But I wouldn’t let her go that easily. I had to find her before she disappeared like the rest of the wives.
I go to Mrs. Branson. She is the eyes of the castle. Nothing happens without her knowing.
“Mrs. Branson, I need your help it’s an emergency!” I cried
“What is it? What’s happened?” She demanded.
“Alisson is missing just like the other wives. I know that you know where the King takes them and what happens to them. Please tell me!” I begged
“Oh dear, already! Alright, a couple of times I’ve seen that he takes them through a secret door leading to a hidden part of the cellar that is only accessible through that door and the woman never come back up. The door is hidden behind the large crown tapestry in the King’s corridor.” She confessed.
“Thank you, will you be coming with me to save Alisson?” I asked
“ No, I will not suffer the same fate as those woman,” she replied.
I understood her fears because I have the exact same ones, but I will be brave and I will save Alisson. I walked to King’s corridor, which was deserted, and saw the tapestry. I pulled it aside and saw the door. I opened it. There was stairs. An never ending flight of stairs.
I descend the stairs, petrified. The staircase was made of stone and they were slick and wet. The darkness swallowed my surroundings. I could only see the next stair in front of me. All I could do was to keep descending and anticipate what I would find once I arrived to the cellar.
I descended the last stair and the scene I saw was flabbergasting. I saw Alisson crying, chained to the wall. I flooded with relief, I ran to her. Cough. Cough.That was odd. Alisson hadn’t coughed. I looked around and saw seven other woman. The King’s other wives. They were alive! The cellar looked as if it were a dungeon with all the woman chained to the wall. The woman were dirty and bony as if they hadn’t been fed or give a shower.
“You’re all alive!” I exclaimed.
“Yes,” Alisson said, “please release us so we can escape. The King can arrive at any minute!”
I hadn’t thought of the King. I had just been worried about Alisson. Earlier when I had scanned the room I saw a key mounted on the wall. It must be the key that unlocks the chains. I ran and tried the key on Alisson’s chain. It worked! I released the woman and we all took off running to up the stairs. We arrived to the corridor and I led the way to the kitchen. The king would never search there if he went looking for them.
Once we arrived I had decided to go to the authorities. All the ladies agreed and also decided to testify against him. I knew that going to the police wouldn’t work so I went to the Parliament Courthouse, the highest court and judge and the only people who could imprison the king. We arrived and the woman told their stories. Parliamnt decided the King would be removed from power and be charged with treason for kidnapping not one but eight queens.