Sarkata (On Hiatus)

Chapter 8: Felix

She had been sent to the Princess, of all people. The Princess! Felix mumbled curses at everything that seemed to oppose her, walls, passing servants, and the floor. The stupid marbled floor and walls that were dripping with gold and encrusted with gems, the more she looked at them the angrier she became. And the other servants disgusted her. The way they bent backward for any royal or courtier they came in contact with was a disgrace to the Oiyan name. Felix walked around the halls, looking for the room she had lost her identity in.

When she reached the edge of Oiya in the carriage that took her from her home, she was switched into a flying vehicle known to many Oiyan inhabitants as a Fly-Thing. Mainly because it could fly, it was a thing, and they knew not of its original name being that it was of Tempran lineage. The Fly-Thing was metal and had mechanical arms. The arms were shaped like those of a bird and thin metal feathers were created for the Fly-Things arms. Overall, it looked like a giant metal bird and was decorated with lines and swirls of endless gold engravings. Its eyes were giant turquoise gemstones. Its back was hollow, presumably for passengers; however, it could only seat two people. The master of this Fly-Thing was already seated in the front, so Felix never got to meet her mysterious carriage driver with the funny voice. She was helped into the Thing by an accompanying guard (which she found rather odd because outsiders don't typically help Oiyan's) where she sat in the backseat. Then, as the Fly-Thing began to rumble and make noises, a glass casing came from behind Felix and over her and the driver. Felix had seen Fly-Things before as they picked up shipments of exports that would be going to Tempra, those were much bigger. Never had she thought she would get to fly in one! Then she realized she flying as any regular shipment of property Tempra usually took.

And then she arrived in Tempra. Rode once again in a carriage, and ended up at the palace where she was greeted by a tall young woman. She had unfair bags under her eyes and wore a shapeless, blue dress. Her hair was long, down passed her shoulders, brown, and covered by a white cloth used to hold her hair back while cleaning. As Felix stepped out from the carriage the woman ran over and greeted her. Felix was surprised.

"Hello, you must be the new one. Follow me." She said hurriedly as she grabbed Felix's hand and led her into an enormous building. It was made entirely out of pink marble with luscious green vines adorning areas of the walls and miraculous windows made of colored glass. There was a grand entrance, white brick led to a massive white wooden door with gold knockers, knobs, and hinges. However, that is not the entrance the lady took Felix through. They went through an entrance that was tiny and shoved into the cranny of one of the Palace's towers. It was a small wooden door that Felix and the lady were taller than. The woman opened the door.

"I'll go before you." She said and got down on her hands and knees and proceeded to crawl through the door. Felix was stunned; this is how I am to enter the Palace? Like an animal? She thought. She looked behind her and saw two overpowering Imperial Guards looking at her. The brutish women were daring her to try to enter from another way.

"Come girl!" The woman said from within the tunnel.

So Felix, not wanting any trouble with the guards and not seeing another way in, bent down and crawled through the doorway.

It was cold and barely lit. The only light coming into the tight tunnel was at the end of it through an opening. They were crawling on bare ground. Grimy dirt and mud squished between her fingers. Felix was used to working with earth however; this barbaric treatment of the servants in Oiya was making her feel less than she did while surviving on a whim in Oiya. The tunnel they were crawling through was made of stone. The stones were dirty and the environment grey. It smelled foul, as if they were crawling through an old sewer pipe; yet Felix wouldn't be surprised if they were. Her knees were getting irritated from the sand and gravel that pressed into her skin. But the light was getting nearer and so soon it would be over.