Day: 401 (Food Drop-Off)
Days Left: 5079
Lives Saved: 2
The day of the next food drop-off quickly arrived. Calixte looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, his hand quivering as it touched his injured antenna. He sucked in a gulp of air, adjusted his bowtie, held his head high, then exited the bathroom. Harmony and the golden knight greeted the amphibian.
"Ready to go?" asked Corinna.
Calixte nodded.
Trekking over the dunes, the trio made their way to the grassy slope of the food drop-off and stood outside the large circle of stones. As they waited, other prisoners began to arrive: Rin, Sumit, and Reggie; Princess Alfreda and her servants; Dex, Kai, and Klei; the seven imps; and Riley, Jackson, and Clarence.
Everyone commented and admired Corinna's golden knight form, marvelling and cheering as she demonstrated how high she could jump. Princess Alfreda, however, appeared not to share their enthusiasm. She watched on from afar in silence, wafting her paper fan, her fire demon eyes burning more violently than usual. Her servants glanced at Corinna with concerned looks.
Soon, the moon above faded into red and the countdown began. The twenty-five prisoners waited together and watched the silver packets fall from the sky. Once the food had all landed in the centre, everyone divided it amongst themselves.
After Corinna, Harmony, and Calixte made their farewells and were about to head back to the house, Lili stopped them.
The bodyguard held her head high, her hands behind her back, then bowed.
Calixte returned a graceful bow of his own.
"Her Highness, Princess Alfreda I, invites you to join Her for afternoon tea," said Lili, rising from her bow.
Corinna looked at both Harmony and Calixte, who gave approving nods. "We gladly accept."
*
Corinna, Harmony, and Calixte sat on the sofas in the front room at the princess' house. Oscar gave the three cups of tea; however, in her golden knight form, Corinna could not drink any of it as her immovable mask covered her mouth. She had been unable to eat for the past few days as well, but she strangely felt neither hungry nor thirsty.
The servants stood by the walls when they weren't tending to their guests' needs. Princess Alfreda, however, was not present, presumably upstairs in her quarters.
"How's your wound?" Harmony asked Oscar. "Did the... 'ointment' work?"
The blonde-haired man nodded, then lifted the veil covering his mouth and revealed that he now had some semblance of a lower jaw with red and pink skin regrowing over it but still sore. He wrote down his appreciation to Harmony in his notebook then showed it to her.
Eventually, Lili climbed down the stairs. "Miss Warren, Her Highness requests to speak to you in private."
Corinna followed Lili up the stairs to the top floor where the princess' room was. She was guided inside and instructed to sit down on the cushioned chair. Opposite her sat the fire demon, lounging back, her legs crossed.
As soon as Lili left and closed the door behind her, Princess Alfreda transformed into her human self, draped in a purple and white embroidered dress. She snapped open her large paper fan and wafted herself. "Tell me, Miss Warren, how did you come about that mask?" Her eyes narrowed.
"It... it just appeared on my face," began Corinna. "It was just there, then started glowing and I transformed."
"I presume moments after you lost your arm?"
YOU ARE READING
Calm and Calamity
Fantasy(Book Two of the Harm and Harmony Series) Status: Completed It has been half a year since Corinna Warren had first arrived in the Eternal Abyss and now has to survive another fourteen and a half more years in the hell dimension. Fortunately, she has...
