Under the Queen's Rule

Chapter 7: The Cursed Crib of Confinement

~~~~Kelia~~~~

I may or may not have actually fallen asleep waiting for the Queen to leave, but luckily I woke up sometime after.

The room was dark and quiet, it was the perfect opportunity to make my daring escape from the cage of oppression the Queen had confined me too, and I certainly was not being dramatic or 'imaginative' as she put it. I was an adult, I shouldn't have been put in a crib to begin with.

Since I was rather short, climbing out of the crib was a little awkward but I still managed to get on top of the railing. Getting down was another issue. It wasn't much of a drop, but it was dark and I was trying to be stealthy not to wake up the Queen or her guards. I quickly jumped, hoping to land on my tippy toes, but instead I slipped, rolled my ankle and fell flat on my butt.

I sat on the ground pitying myself and  consoling my soar butt, while I listened to the hallway in case anyone heard my fall. It seemed like the coast was clear so I quietly exited the pastel dungeon. The hallways were way too dark, putting a slight hiccup in my escape, but I was determined. I hugged the walls and walked slowly down the hallways trying to be as quiet as possible. I listened carefully for any guards coming through the hallway while trying to remember the tour. If I could just make it to the great hall, then I'd be home free. There'd be multiple guards in the great hall, at the castle doors, and at the gate house... But otherwise, home free.

I heard a guards armour clanking further down the hall and quickly hide behind a big pillar as the guard past through. Clearly my great hide and seek skills have paid off.

After a while of sneaking around and trying to find my way in the dark, I managed to make it to the great hall. If I followed it through escaping would be easy, but I started hesitating.

I took a moment and tried to think of why I didn't want to leave. Sure the food was good but it was nothing like being free.

Then it hit me. I couldn't leave without getting revenge on the Queen.

That was definitely the reason, and there was absolutely no other reason at all why I was hesitating to leave the castle. The more I thought about it, the more angry I was. She was forcing me to a life of infancy but I was 19! She had no right! I could escape later, but right now my revenge was more important.

I sauntered over to the kitchen, hiding from the passing guards as I went. For a royal castle the security was pretty bad. None of the guards ever stopped to see if anyone was hiding behind the pillars or sculptures. 

As I got into the kitchen, I went straight into the pantry and pulled out all the tomatoes I could find. I didn't have an exact plan for my revenge, but I knew I wanted to make the Queen as red as she made me when I blushed.

I started to get a bit tired so I decided to eat some sugar to wake me up a little. I then pulled out a large bowl and began smashing the tomatoes up making a nice chunky tomato paste. It didn't feel like enough though, I wanted it to be stickier and slimier for the Queen. I found some strawberry jam and threw it in there too. Some more sugar and I had the perfect consistency to dump on the Queen. But first, I needed to eat some more sweets while I contemplated the best way to get my concoction on the Queen.

After much thought and many helpings sugar, I decided that I was overthinking it, and the best practice would be to sneak into her room while she was sleeping and dump it on her. I took one last helping of sugar and some juice before sneaking off to the Queen's room. It took me awhile to find it since it was dark and I had never been to the Queen's room before, but I figured it would be the largest room with the biggest door in the upper hallway. There were more guards patrolling around which made me think my guess was right. Sneaking around got harder and harder the closer I got to the room, but luckily my shortness allowed me to hide in more places.