Ellie, Mary, Henry (2)
The next day, Uncle Howden did not simply vanish in an instant.
Even after Ellie had told her mother, he went on walking about the palace as if nothing were wrong.
Not that she entirely minded.
Even if it seemed Uncle Howden was poisoning her father—he was still her uncle. She loved her father, yes, but she loved her uncle too. She wasn't sure. A complicated tangle of feelings.
Still, at least Mother locked the door.
When Ellie told her, her mother chose to lock the door every night. A physician kept watch during the day, after all.
If she just locks it at night, Uncle can't sneak in.
Ellie felt a wave of relief. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to lose her father as well. If Father died too, and her stepmother brought in a new stepfather—would that make her an orphan or not?
Something from her private lessons floated up in her mind. A story about Theseus's ship.
Then would that make me Theseus's orphan?
Ellie drifted off to sleep mid-accidental foray into essentialist philosophy.
And so Ellie, who had been sleeping so soundly, woke in the dead of night.
She didn't know why. Maybe because she'd gone to bed early, or maybe because her heart was still uneasy. She tried to reassure herself.
The door is locked anyway. Uncle can't get into Father's room.
Just as she thought she should go back to sleep, a word flashed through her mind.
Secret passage!
She had learned about the many secret passages of the royal palace from her father. A member of the royal family had to know them all, he'd said. And Uncle was royalty too. Even with the door locked, he could have reached Father's chamber through a secret passage. Could have gone in and poisoned him again—
I have to protect him.
The secret passages were secret, of course—she wasn't allowed to tell anyone. Not even Mother. Mother wasn't of royal blood. And she couldn't bring the guards either.
Ellie cracked her door open with a soft creak and slipped quietly out of her bedroom, then crept down the corridor. A dark hallway. Torches burned here and there, but it was still quite dim. Not that she was about to lose her way. She had lived here for over a decade.
Pushing through the darkness, past the familiar corridors, Ellie arrived at the study.
I'm supposed to press this one.
When she pressed and pushed a single book, there came a click-clack and a thud, and the study opened to either side, revealing a small passage. Ellie squeezed herself into it. An adult would have had to crawl, but for little Ellie it was no issue. She advanced slowly, trailing her hand along the wall.
It's a lot darker than before.
Even the corridor with its scattered torches had been brighter than this. Here, she could see almost nothing at all. How long did she walk that twisting path—climbing at an angle, descending again? Far ahead, a light appeared. Father's chamber.
Which brick was I supposed to press here?
The second? The third? Ah. This one. When she pressed the second brick, the wall slid open with barely a sound—and closed just as quietly. And so Ellie stepped into her father's room.
Thankfully, Father was sleeping peacefully. Still, just to be sure, she approached to check on him—
"Wah!"
The floor was slippery; she fell. What? Why is the floor this slippery? Ellie examined the spot she'd stepped on.
There's something on it. Is it blood?
Blood. This is blood. Why is there blood on the floor? More precisely, it wasn't just smeared. Something had been drawn in blood. Centered on the bed, a hexagram of blood. And at each point of the star sat a skull.
What is all this…
What on earth was happening in Father's bedchamber? Her heart hammered wildly. She had to get out of here. Now. The secret passage. Find the secret passage.
Ellie headed back toward the brick she'd pressed earlier. Was it the second? The third? Which one was it? Which one? This one. No. Then this one. What? Why won't either of them work? Open. Tap. Open, damn it. Open! Tap-tap. It worked a minute ago. Open. Open.
She pounded madly—bang-bang-bang-bang!—but it wouldn't open. Was it the brick below? Above? What the hell—
Someone laid a hand on Ellie's shoulder.
She jerked around as if having a seizure and looked back. It was Father.
"Father?"
"Ellie. Hide. Right now."
With those words, he pointed to the wardrobe. Ellie didn't even think—she scrambled inside. At that exact moment, the chamber door opened.
"Oh my, darling? Why are you collapsed over there?"
Through the crack in the wardrobe, Ellie could see the room. The one who'd entered was Mary.
"You can't sleep in a place like this."
Father lay crumpled before the wall Ellie had been pounding on. He must have used the last of his strength telling her to hide.
"I told you not to leave the bed."
Mary grabbed Father with one hand and dragged him across the floor, then tossed him onto the bed with a thud. Father was tall and broad-shouldered. And she could do that with one hand? Was she even human?
After settling Father on the bed, Mary began to chant something. Not the kingdom's tongue, nor the empire's—words Ellie couldn't understand.
"Ugh, uhh, aaargh!"
The moment the chant began, Father screamed. His body twisted and contorted; his joints began to bend—
Crack. Snap!
Ellie turned her eyes away. She couldn't bear to watch. Eyes closed, head turned, the sounds kept pouring in.
"Nngh, aaaaargh!"
Crunch, crack, snap-snap! Father's agonized cries, and sounds that no human body should make. And Mary, still chanting those unintelligible, spine-chilling words. It was a nightmare. Clamping her hands over her ears wasn't enough; she wanted to tear them off.
"Uh, uhh, aaaah."
Was that her own whimper, or Father's? Trembling in the wardrobe, Ellie shuddered.
A long time passed. Ellie realized that no sound came from outside anymore. So she cracked her eyes open—
She's gone.
Only Father, collapsed, remained in the room. I have to run. I have to get out of here. Should I go back through the secret passage? It wouldn't open earlier. I don't know. Ellie simply went to the chamber door. Mary had come in, so the locked door should be open now.
With a creak, the door opened, just as she'd hoped. Ellie sprinted down the corridor toward her own room.
But where did Ma-Mary go?
I can't get caught. I don't know what she'd do to me. Faster. I have to run faster. Why is this corridor so long? Just that corner. Once I round that—if I just turn here—
Thud. Rounding the corner, Ellie collided with someone and went sprawling.
"Hyaah!"
She could barely even scream. Trembling, she lifted her head—and saw
"Ellie? What are you doing out here?"
Uncle. Tears welled up.
"Uncle, Uncle!"
"Heh heh, what's gotten into the child all of a sudden? Tell me. What on earth happened?"
He felt so reassuring. That general's build, the sword at his hip. Even the fierce face missing one eye—she loved every bit of it.
"There, there. Don't cry. What's wrong? Tell me slowly."
Mary chanting evil spells. Father in agony. Ellie opened her mouth, ready to tell him everything she'd seen in Father's chamber. Or rather—she tried.
"…"
"Ellie? I asked you what happened. What did you see?"
Uncle. Uncle lost his left eye to the pirates. Why is he wearing the eyepatch on the right side now? And this thing talking to me—who am I looking at right now?
"I… thought I saw a monster. But it was just a nightmare. I'm going back to bed."
Ellie opened her door and went into her room. Outside, Uncle kept calling for her, but she didn't answer. She just lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
The next day, soldiers were searching for the missing uncle.
Mary formally married Father and was crowned queen.
"Congratulations."
"Yes. My daughter. At last I am truly your mother."
Ellie offered her congratulations, hiding her terror as best she could. Mary answered with a radiant smile.
Mary began to rule as regent in place of the ailing king. After Uncle's disappearance, she was first in the line of succession. Once she took the regency, Mary swallowed the country whole with startling speed. How thoroughly?
"Execute them."
She began killing the royal family one by one, starting with Ellie's cousins—and no one said a word. Ministers who should have protested or rebelled said nothing at all. As if bewitched, they supported the queen without end. Like loyal dogs, everyone in the palace followed her.
Ellie could have fled the palace. Run to her birth mother's family, perhaps. She turned that thought over countless times a day. Even when Mary started beating her. Even when the maids saw it and began to shun her. Even when, every night, her missing uncle hung upside down outside her window.
Even as the secret passages were sealed one by one and the queen steadily increased the watchers set on her—she could still have fled. She was the only one who knew every secret passage in the entire palace.
But Ellie did not run.
If I leave, then Father—every day, trapped in that bedchamber, he would open his eyes to nothing but Mary, that wicked witch. How terrified he must be.
Ellie stayed in the palace and spent every day at Father's side. Even with a princess's many duties, she carved out the time somehow. So that when Father occasionally opened his eyes, he might see her instead of Mary. The secret passages vanished one after another. The ways to escape disappeared one by one. Ellie remained at her father's side.
And one year after Father's death, Ellie made a bold bid for freedom.
And instead of the prince charming fated to save her—she ran into some honorless, faithless pirate bastard.