His Royal Maid

ike water from a spout, splattering the murderous face of the soldier, her own face and everywhere else. She could

een severed from her in a mom

gdom and left a lot of people dead or scarred in its wake. Having grown up with her mot

kery inside of their small house and sold the bread for money. Susan helped with the chores, and whe

ing himself. The day she died, Susan had planned to go alone to the palace; resources were s

to scamper away with her mom, in a bid to elude the blade of the ruthless lookin

ut, she was stopped by a soldier who looked so menacingly gigantic. His ugly face eased into a smile and then a gu

towards the front of the palace where a horde of other young women and children lay on th

unab. The road was treacherous; jagged, and ridden with outcrops and sharp stones. The p

yone who fell, or lagged behind was brutally flogged; those who became too weak to

inconspicuous as possible to avoid attention from any of the soldiers. Her feet bled and hurt as if she were walking o

ause of her occupied her mind was with the arduous sojourn. She looked on in horror, knowing that if any of the soldiers foun

they were passing by, and Susan tried to wa

ed similar to the man who had slashed her mother's th

other's - Lucille, who was perhaps the oldest amongst the pris

ing Susan her scarf, "cove

d she muttered her thanks to Lucill

ontaneous stops to drink what little water they could find, a

e its toll on the prisoners, and the soldiers were

single muscle in her body ached from being overworked, it was torture to move her feet across the stony grounds, and she got di

ver that she had died and, with a tota disrespect for a

st, then," the Comm

he horizon. Susan did not know whether to be happy about this, or sad. There

of the gate, they were made to stand

mes in with anything," the

d to cover the lower part of her dress

ften. He was however as merciless as the other soldiers, ofte

asked, "and where did t

and just stared at th