Friends or Monarch

I sat on the flimsy, crumbling, rotting steps of my -if you could call it that- cottage and waited for the messenger boy. My favorite part of the day is when I got to communicate cheerfully with Karlos and his beautiful horse, Pippa. For a few minutes, I would distract myself from the empty void-like lifestyle that had consumed me for my entire knowledge of existence. The tattered, worn, copper-colored dress-ish cloth outfit I wore came to my anklebones, keeping out some of the icy winds. I shivered, pulling my dark shawl tighter, attempting to conserve what little body warmth I maintained. My eyes wandered out to the clear road, locking them on two thick stone markings. Droplets pricked at the corners of my deathly dry eyes, but I swallowed them down when the clip-clop of hooves reached my ears. I stood up and stepped onto the freezing sidewalk with my bare feet.

“…so you must make sure to keep them cold, Mrs. H. Healthy eating, those recipes are,” said Karlos finished and handed the lady next door a package along with multiple letters.

"Karlos Gearglebooth, call me Hia," she waved her hand dismissively. "And thank you for your services."

He tipped his hat down lower to infer accommodation and shifted his saddlebag. Climbing on Pippa, he lightly hit her copper brown sides and urged her to go onwards toward the next stop to drop off letters, packages, and make a few new friends. “Ah, Lecia!” a grin spread across his face as Pippa trotted forward.

“What have you brought today?” I walked forward eagerly.

“Oh, just the usual,” Karlos flipped open his saddlebag and pulled out multiple messages. Some had mourning-black sealing wax, others displayed red. One, however, had red wax with a crown that suggested royalty stamped onto the edge of the papyrus. I took the letters and frowned. Then I beamed and looked at Karlos.

“Would you like to help me go through this?” I asked politely.

Grinning, he nodded. “I thought you’d never ask. Stay right here, Pippa,” he commanded his steed, who bent down to munch on some succulent green grass.

“Please put the ones with black in this pile,” I made a stack with some of the letters. I gestured to another with red wax. “And the others go on that pile.” Karlos sat down on one of the creaky time-worn steps and immediately started sorting the letters and small packages that were hidden inside of them. A few of them were junk mail- ones that were supposed to be sent to other people or just advertisements for local and faraway business He paused when he got to the one with a crown and handed it to me.

“I found this, Lecia,” he said. “It has the mark of the royal family.”

“Hm. Why would royalty send me, a peasant, a letter?” I acknowledged it aloud.

Karlos shrugged. “Why don’t you open it?” he said, scrutinizing out in the distance. “I have to go soon,” he said unenthusiastically as if he dreaded the thought of leaving me alone, for Mother and Father were at their work, my sister at a workhouse because she preformed magic when I fell headfirst on the ground, healing me. The sun had made its way over to the hillside and overwhelmed the plain with golden light, the sight that had characterized the village.

I tore apart the red wax sealing and unfolded the letter’s contents. Being one of a handful that could read, I made out some sentences that shocked me.

“So? What does it say?” Karlos asked eagerly.

“Dear Lecia Buglow of Glowhill,

I have heard of your village and what you can do, so you were the only fit person to pile my troubles on. I have news that may heavy your heart or enlighten it. To tell you this, you must visit the palace as soon as you get this letter. Please come soon, for life will crumble if your arrival is but a tale. Many lives hang in balance, on this urgent matter. I need you, Lecia of Glowhill.

From,

The Princess of Eldon,” I finished reading as Karlos’s mouth hung wide open.

“The princess of Eldon wants a peasant to help I? And from Glowhill? No offense, Lecia,” he backtracked. “But seriously?”

“I said it was urgent, so it must be,” I contradicted. My eyes locked onto a black mare next to Pippa named Blackberry because I loved to taste the fruit that I was nicknamed after. “I must go to the palace immediately,” I made up my mind. I walked over to the remarkably and completely dependable and dutiful mare and pressed the frozen, morningtide frost, crunching beneath my uncovered toes as I swung over the side of Blackberry.

“What?!” Karlos remained there confounded for a minute, bewildered about why the princess would require me there so promptly. “I-I-I-I…” he stammered.

“Tell Mother and Father that I have left temporarily and will be back shortly. If I do not show up in 24 hours or more, then tell them the truth of this morning, if you have to at all. Try to create as many excuses as possible to tell them,” I ordered my only friend that didn't care a single, little, tiny fraction about my reputation- not like I had any- at all. I tossed my long, brown hair behind my shoulder. It fell to my thighs because I had not trimmed it since I was three. I grabbed the bag that I had left on the table while I was awaiting Karlos.

“I-I-I…” Karlos was flabbergasted. He couldn’t do a thing, for he was paralyzed by the shock of my sudden and extremely important- one that could either build or shatter my soul. The princess did say that it was so urgent that she couldn't send it in a letter -even though there were absurd, nutso, useless laws for not opening a letter that wasn't addressed for you- decision. So there was no stopping me as I, Lecia Buglow, galloped on Blackberry towards the princess of Eldon, for good or an evil source of her -I hoped not- dangerous predicament.