The Queen of the Ruby Castle

Queen Emilia Rosso looked at herself in her scarlet hand mirror yet again. Although she was young, eighteen and looked as fresh faced as any teenager, and considered very beautiful by all of her subjects, she was always dissatisfied with what she saw. Emilia looked at the strawberry-blonde hair she inherited from her father and always saw fault in how dark it was. She looked at the two blood-red eyes she’d gotten from her mother and wished that they could be an even deeper shade of red. Emilia looked at her pale skin and always wished it could be darker. Emilia, as she did every morning, slammed the mirror down in frustration, jumped out of bed and stomped to her dressing room where her tailor waited nervously.

“Morning, your excellency,” The tall, raven-haired woman spoke.

“And to you, Marilia,” Emilia spoke back.

“Today is a big day, Ma’am so I hope you don’t mind but I have picked a few outfits for you to choose from,”

Emilia sighed and rolled her eyes. “That’s fine. Just promise that these are the finest among my closet,”

“I can assure you my queen,” Marilia bowed.

Emilia began to disrobe. Her thoughts turned immediately to the problem at hand. It had only been a month since the passing of her father and the disappearance of her mother and now she was the Queen of the Ruby Castle of the Velvet Mountain. Aside from the stress of the mystery surrounding the fates of her parents, Emilia didn’t believe the other kingdoms would take her seriously as the new queen. Why would they? She didn’t even take herself seriously.

“Something on your mind, my’ lady?” Marilia asked helping Emilia get dressed.

“As perceptive as ever, Marilia. I was just wondering about my parents,”

“I’m sorry, my queen. The two of them were great rulers. It is unfortunate that they aren’t here now,”

“Agreed. I’m not cut out for this. Not yet,”

“You’ll do swimmingly, my lady,”

“You don’t know that. How could you know?” Emilia feels the tears she’s held back this entire time spill from her eyes.

“Because you’re still here,” Marilia answers firmly.

“But I-“

“You’ll learn that you aren’t alone in this. Your kingdom will stand behind you and we’ll help you along the way. It’s not like what happened to the Colorless Kingdom,”

Emilia dries her eyes. “You’re right there. Talk about a disaster for the ages. The whole royal family lost in a single night. No one knows what happened, not even the people of that kingdom. The gray castle now stands, a shell of it’s former self,”

“It was nice of the other seven kingdoms to take in the citizens of that kingdom.” Marilia says, staring off into a far off memory.

“Although….” Emilia starts “Have you heard the story about the young prince and princess circulating in the other Kingdoms. They say that the two may be out there alive and well.”

“Tales of the young,” Marilia says. “There is no evidence that anyone survived the tragedy of Slate Castle. Besides, if they had lived, they’d certainly have reclaimed their kingdom by now,”

“I don’t know about that, Marilia. I can tell you that the pressure of ruling the kingdom takes its toll. I can see why they’d stay away. Not to mention that they wouldn’t be returning to much. The Slate castle is in ruins and their parents are gone,” Emilia trails off.

“In any event, you have more important things to worry about than the fates of people of the past. Your meeting with the ruler of the Prussian Island will aid many people,”

“I never thought that I would be sitting in a meeting with the Blue King without mother or father by my side,” Emilia’s voice starts to shake.

Marilia steps forward and grabs Emilia by the shoulders. “They would be so proud of how beautiful, how strong, and how independent you have become, my’ lady,” she says.

“Thank you, Marilia. You’ve always been a great source of comfort to my parents and I,”

“Gladly,” Marilia replies. “I best be off then,” 

“Thanks for your assistance. Will you please find Haydn for me? I think it’s time he and I begin our Journey to the Prussian Island,”

“Of course,” Marilia says before hurrying out of the door.

Emilia turns too look out of the window in her blood red dress and scarlet jewels looking at the crimson colored birds fly in the sunset sky.

The queen turns as a fire burns fiercely behind her.

“Did you call for me, my queen?” A voice calls from inside of the flame.

“Haydn!” Emilia jumps with a start.

“Weren’t you looking for me, my queen?” A red haired man walks out of the flames in light brown leather armor.

“I was but I didn’t expect you to show up so soon. I see you’ve mastered that fire teleportation spell of yours,” Emilia coughs trying to regain her composure.

 “Sorry to surprise you,” Haydn apologizes with a smile.

“Somehow, I doubt that,” The queen remarks sarcastically. “Although, having my very own dragon would come with some surprises no doubt,” she chuckles.

“And you got the very best one, my queen,” the young man jokes.

“As far as dragons go, I would say that I’ve got the lion’s share,”

“No need to patronize me so much, your grace,” Haydn looks away flushing.

“In any event, I would think it best for us to begin our journey now,” the queen smiles.

“I have news to report your majesty,” Haydn kneels. “Our scouts have reported in and have found clues to the whereabouts of your mother. What would you like us to do?”

Queen Emilia swore she could feel her vampiric heart beating and a nonexistent breath catch in her throat. She knew that missing this meeting would be essentially shirking her responsibilities, but how could she not go after her mother? Wouldn’t anyone in her position do the same? “Ready the horses. We leave now to find my mother.”