The Agrista (Between the Lines Book 1) (5 page)

BOOK: The Agrista (Between the Lines Book 1)
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  The sudden clamor of ringing metal and broken glass nearly made Marie jump as her heart caught in her throat. She looked down to see liquid spilling across the floor, fortunately in the opposite direction. As Johanna knelt down to clean up the mess, she gently placed a hand on Alex’s front paw and whispered two obscure words, prompting him to move a step forward.

    “Johanna, you imbecile!” hissed Queen Cailene.

  Alex began moving forward again. Marie fought back her squeals of delight, casting an appreciative glance at the young serving girl. If they made it out of this alive, she would find a way to repay her. She had no idea what Johanna had said to Alex, but whatever it was, it had snapped him back into reality.

  “Gustav! Fetch us more drinks!” Cailene bellowed. “Johanna seems to be incapable today.”

  A small creature emerged from the shadows of the throne and placed himself before the Queen and her son with a customary bow. Gustav, apparently. Had he been here the whole time? Marie watched him in fascination as he left the room, trying to figure out exactly what he was. He looked like a little troll, making her wonder if their existence was more than just a myth. After today, anything seemed possible.

  Gustav was short and stout, no more than three feet tall. His skin was dry, scaly and green, much like a turtle’s. His head was perfectly round and almost entirely bald, if not for a few random flyaway gray hairs. He had a flattened, elongated snout with protruding black whiskers, and round, black, beady eyes that reminded Marie of a little field mouse.

  She’d gotten so caught up in watching Gustav, she hadn’t even realized that Alex had only gotten a few steps further before coming to a complete stop again. She looked around to see what had stopped him this time, quickly realizing that the prince now stood a mere few inches from them.

  “Let me help you, Johanna.” The prince knelt a little too close to the serving girl. By the look on her face, his presence obviously made her extremely uncomfortable.

  “That’s very kind of you, Prince Marcel, but a man of your status shouldn’t be doing servants’ work. It’s beneath you.” She forced a smile as she inched away from him, only to have him move even closer.

  “What’s this?” Marcel grabbed her hand, holding it up to his face. “You’ve cut yourself on the glass,” he squeezed the fresh cut on her finger, forcing blood to trickle out. “When you’re done cleaning this up, come to my chambers. I’ll bandage you up.” Marcel threaded his fingers through her curly ponytail, causing her to quiver as a look of terror washed over her face.

  Without preamble or permission, Marcel placed his hand on Johanna’s knee, slowly inching it up her thigh as he delicately slid her dress higher. She sat unmoving, unable to react. A serving girl had no place denying a prince anything he wanted, even if what he wanted was her.

  It was killing Marie that she couldn’t intervene. She was more than willing to give away their position to help the poor girl, but what good would come of it? The three of them would probably end up as faces in the creepy skin tapestry so boldly displayed in the last room.

  Marie watched helplessly as Marcel continued to put his disgusting hands all over Johanna. He probably thought no one could see him, and continued to do as he pleased. Marie wasn’t sure he’d stop even if he did know he had an audience. It might only sate his prurience.

  Marie hated people like Marcel. She was a pushover when it came to a lot of things, but one thing she could not and would not stand for was bullying
.
Marcel was no different than any other bully, and he needed to be put in his place. It took every bit of restraint she could muster up to stop herself from kicking him in the face, which just so happened to be right by her foot.

  Minutes later, Gustav returned with fresh drinks. His attention was immediately drawn to Johanna’s distress. He cleared his throat to announce his presence, but Marcel seemed unconcerned by another pair of eyes. He hastily set the tray down on a steel table between the two thrones and turned to the Queen.

  “Will there be anything else, my Queen?” Gustav bowed before Cailene. With a wave of her hand, she dismissed him. “I shall help Johanna then.” He bowed once more before rushing to Johanna’s side. “I’ll finish cleaning this up, dear. Go have Agatha bandage you up before you bleed all over everything, and send someone to help me with this glass, would you? We wouldn’t want the prince here cutting himself.” Gustav turned to Marcel, flashing an insincere smile.

  Johanna gave Gustav a grateful look as she fled the room. Prince Marcel brushed himself off and somberly made his way back to the throne, directing a nasty scowl at Gustav as he slithered past. It was obvious that the prince was used to getting his own way, and gave little credence to obstacles.

  “Let it go, Marcel,” Cailene warned. “You know I don’t like you messing with the help. They either disappear or become useless, and then I have to dispose of them.” She demurely nodded to the previous room. “Your cheap thrills only create more work for
me
,” she sighed.

  “Those cheap thrills are part of our deal,” he purred.

  “I haven’t forgotten. I just don’t understand what you see in those disgusting creatures.”

  Another servant returned with a pail for the glass, and he and Gustav made quick work of the mess. Once the servants were gone and the prince was no longer nearby, Alex began moving toward the door again. When they were finally out of the throne room, Marie let out a soft exhale of relief. She wanted to get far away from these people as quickly she could.

  When they entered the next room, Marie fully understood why the castle looked like a maze from the outside. It was a maze! They were surrounded by several spiral staircases encircled in several dozen corridors that were lined with several hundred doors. She desperately hoped that Alex knew where he was going, or they’d be lost in here forever, and that sounded an awful lot like hell.

  Marie gaped at the multitude of pathways, overwhelmed by all the choices and perturbed that Alex wasn’t moving yet. What was he waiting for? Was he just as lost as she felt? Even though they were no longer in the same room as that vile woman and her twisted son, she had no
desire to linger.

  She began to grow worried that something had stopped him from moving again. She prayed that wasn’t the case, because she had absolutely no idea what Johanna had done to help him before. In the end, something
else
sent her into a state of panic: fear of the unknown.

  Alex slammed his foot on the floor three times. Before Marie had a chance to ask him what he was doing, the floor beneath them gave way and they began plummeting down a large, metallic shaft.

  Alex immediately shifted into his human form and appeared behind her. He fastened his arm around her waist, holding her snug to his body. He then clamped his free hand over her mouth, muffling her scream of surprise.

  Alex tightened his grip on Marie, pleading with her to be quiet as they flew down the shaft at increasing speed. She eventually stopped screaming, realizing it would do more harm than good, but she felt anything but calm. Aside from being flush against his naked form, one crucial question plagued her thoughts: What was waiting for them at the bottom?

  After falling for what felt like an eternity, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, preceded by the overpowering stench of fecal matter and decay.

  Alex and Marie shot out of the bottom of the shaft, straight into a massive pool of raw sewage. Fortunately, Alex was strong and fast enough to keep them afloat so it didn’t go over their heads. Unfortunately, from the neck down, they were swimming in excrement.

  “Oh my god!” Marie fought the urge to vomit. No need to make matters worse. “Get me out of here, NOW!” She thrashed wildly.

  Alex grabbed her shoulders from behind, pushing her forward until she reached the bars of a metal ladder. She reached out to grab the rung, but he clamped his fingers around her wrist and jerked her hand back.

  “Get on my back.” He positioned himself in front of her.

  “I can climb a ladder by myself,” she snapped. “
You
landed us in a septic tank! I’m a little weary of following your direction right now!” Marie said as she shoved Alex out of the way.

  She firmly planted her hand on the first bar of the ladder and tightly grasped it. She screamed the second her fingers closed around the rung, ripping her hand from the simmering steel. The bar was so hot that it had melted away several layers of flesh from her palms and fingertips.

  “Oh my god! We’re going to die in here!”

  Alex positioned himself in front of Marie again with his back facing her. He delicately reached behind himself and grabbed her legs, lifting her up so they were resting on his hips. She didn’t put up a fight this time. She wanted to bury her face into the crook of his neck, but resisted, since it too was covered in waste. He grabbed hold of the ladder and climbed it effortlessly.

  “How are you able to do that without burning yourself?” she asked, having calmed down a bit.

  “My skin is different than yours,” Alex replied vaguely. “When we get to the top, stay on my back, or you’ll burn your feet too.” This time, she wasn’t going to protest.

  Marie didn’t understand how he could climb the ladder with such ease. When she grabbed it, it was like touching fire. How could he touch it without feeling anything? It was beyond her comprehension.
A lot
of things in this world were beyond her comprehension.

  Once Alex reached the top of the ladder, he climbed up onto a steel platform. They came face to face with a large steel door, barely stifling the stream of muffled voices on the others side.

  “I told you we didn’t need to watch for ‘em!” a voice shouted. Marie tightened her grip on Alex, hoping they hadn’t been discovered.

  “Yeah, yeah. You were right. We smelled ‘em before we spotted ‘em,” a second voice spoke, followed by a roar of laughter.

  “Are they talking about us?”

  “Yes. They’re expecting us.” Alex opened the door and crossed the threshold, letting Marie down off his back with the utmost care.

  The room wasn’t very big, especially considering it contained nearly fifty servants or so. Marie hoped for their sake that the two adjoining rooms were much bigger, especially since the people present were probably just a minuscule portion of the palace servants.

  “Come with me, dear.” A short, rotund woman approached Marie with four young girls in tow. It reminded Marie of a mother duck with her ducklings trailing along behind her in the water. “Name’s Agatha. This is Chrystina, Kirsten, Anya, and Anne,” all four girls curtsied one by one as she introduced them.

  “I’m Marie,” she reached out to shake Agatha’s hand and dropped it halfway, remembering her disgusting state.

  “Everyone knows who you are, dear,” Agatha smiled. “I’m sure you want to get cleaned up as soon as possible. Come with me.”

  Agatha flounced toward the adjoining room on the right, and the four young girls followed behind her in a fluid line. The last thing Marie saw before entering the room was Alex heading into the left adjoining room.

  “Where’s Alex going?”

  “The showers.” Agatha swiftly closed the door behind them.

  “Showers?” Marie’s face lit up. “Isn’t that where I should be going too?” The four young girls looked appalled by her question.

  “Oh
no
, Miss!” Chrystina gasped.

  “Definitely
not
, Miss!” Kirsten shook her head.

  “The water’s
so
cold, Miss!” Anya grimaced.

  “So cold it
burns
, Miss!” Anne finished emphatically, hugging herself.

  “You don’t want to go there, Miss,” all four girls responded in unison. Marie couldn’t help but smile at their melodic synchronization.

  Before Marie got a chance to ask them why she couldn’t use the showers, Agatha shooed them out the door.

  “We’ve been expecting you. We prepared a bath for you in here.” Agatha cast Marie and irritated glance and pointed to a large wooden washtub filled with questionable, murky water.

  “Why can’t I use the showers?”

  “It’s this, or remain covered in…”

  “A bath it is!”

  “You’ll find soap, a scrubbing brush, and a towel in there.” Agatha pointed to a cupboard in the far right corner of the room.  “Put your things in here,” she impatiently thrust a burlap sack toward Marie. “There’s clean clothes for you in the cupboard as well.” Agatha curtsied and left the room abruptly.

  Marie grabbed the soap and scrubbing brush from the cupboard, being extremely careful not to touch anything else. She stripped down and gingerly stuffed her things into the sack, eyeing the water unfavorably.

  Shivers racked her body as she dipped her toe in the washtub. The water was freezing cold and didn’t exactly look fresh, but Marie would take whatever she could get. She was in no position to be picky.

  She quickly, but thoroughly, cleaned herself, thinking of how much she missed warm showers, among a few other luxuries like shampoo and rooms without flesh décor. She dried herself off and unfolded the clothes they’d left for her, examining them. She groaned when she discovered that they’d given her a simple black dress and a vintage leather bodice.

BOOK: The Agrista (Between the Lines Book 1)
10.53Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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