Power and The Queen

Chapter Eleven. 🟢

Elias just returned from his master's shop where he was an apprentice. His master had much experience in pottery and had agreed to train him at no charge. He mostly helped in moulding the clay and made sure the furnace was at an accurate heat level. Recently his master began teaching him how to style them.

Being an apprentice while his mother sold food items in the city market was the only option for them. His father was killed years ago during the war. No one figured out they were related to him, so they were safe. The moment he was of age, he began training himself to fight and defend his family if the need arose. Being an apprentice slowed down his training until a few months ago when they came to him and told him the truth. He was told his father had died during the war; he was lied to. They killed his father after the Queen's coronation as an outlaw.

The anger he felt towards the situation made him accept their terms and conditions. His father fought for the well-being of the kingdom and he was killed because he was considered a threat to the throne. He thought his father was a soldier, or even better, a general, but his mother told him the truth. His father was far braver than any soldier. He was part of the great revolution of those days. He was born soon after his father's death.

They tried to live a simple life after that. His mother even married again and gave birth to another son, but his stepfather died of a strange illness. He was all they had now in the name of protection. His brother was still young, too young to understand anything.

The sun was down and he could smell the dinner his mother was cooking from the front door. He was not usually home this early, but his master had given him the night off since he left for a trip the previous day.

"Elias is back! "He heard his younger brother call as he opened the front door.

Their house was not a big house like every house in the city. It was a tall building. The room was lit by two medium-size lamps which stood at different corners of the sitting room. When their financial problems increased after the death of his stepfather, his mother placed the top flat on rent.

His younger brother ran out to meet him. He was growing taller, almost his height, and his voice was deeper than it used to be. He was growing. Although he was four years older than his brother Renad, he treated him as if he were much younger.

"When is your master returning?" Renad asked.

He does not want to get used to me coming home early, Elias thought to himself and smiled at his brother.

"He did not tell me, but I am to close the shop early every day till he returns," Elias answered, taking a sit in their small sitting room.

He leaned in and eased away from the stress of the day. Renad joined him and tried copying his brother.

"What's for dinner?" Elias asked, but his question was not answered.

The sound of something crashing to the ground and breaking made them jerk upright. Their neighbour screamed, and more screams and cries followed. Their mother came out from the kitchen clutching a wooden spoon.

"Elias?" she said.

Elias got up and raced for the window. He pulled the curtain aside a little and saw them. It was dark, but there was no mistaking them, soldiers. They killed people's children or anything in their path. Some of them did not kill. They inflicted wounds that would likely not heal. They just wanted them to suffer.

He had heard of the queen's arrival, the whole town heard most especially after she killed the fruit-selling man in cold blood. He knew she was here for the revolution; she knew about their operation here. She should have called them out instead of letting innocent people suffer. But then she was a queen no one can question her actions.