Written by Emma Breckwoldt
Illustrated by Stellanie Abella
"The rich gave money, and the poor gave men. Lily thought about what he had sacrificed, but she couldn’t think of anything."
The moonlight shone over Lily as she crept across the grounds. She had two saddlebags filled with clothes, some food from the kitchen, and what little gold she found lying around. She had realized when packing that she had never used money before, but she was excited to start. She was running away after all. When she approached the stables, the door was open. Her body moved slowly and quietly as she peered inside.
“I just don’t know what we are going to do,” her father, the king, spoke with frustration. She couldn’t see him, but she could recognize his voice anywhere. The voice that told her every day for the last eighteen years that she couldn’t leave the palace grounds.
“We could sit down and try and make a deal with them,” her brother replied. He was the favorite child, the heir to the throne. She knew they were talking about the revolutionaries, a group of disgruntled citizens rising against the throne. Lily didn’t know much about what they wanted, but from what her dad told her, they seemed like deranged maniacs.
“These heathens do not want to talk. They only want to fight, and we just might have to do that. I really don’t want a civil war, but they seem unwilling to be civil,” the king stepped into the main hallway of the stables, and Lily quickly moved out of the doorframe.
“Father, why are we even talking about this out here?”
“I think we have a spy in our midst. Whenever we receive information about the rebels’ location and plan an attack, they are always gone by the time we get there. You, my son, are the only one I can truly trust.”
The sound of the two men walking grew louder, and Lily ran around the corner of the building as they exited. Once their dark figures blended in with the night, she went back into the stables, saddled her horse, and vanished in the night.
The air felt different on Lily’s face as she closed the forgotten back gate behind her. The air felt crisper, cleaner. The castle looked a lot smaller from this far away. It was quite a beautiful building, with tall spires and large windows and lots of fireplaces. Lily saw the light coming from her room, the same room where her father told her that there was no need for her to ever leave the castle except once he found her a husband. The same room that she sat in all day before deciding to start her own journey. She paused another second, maybe even two, and then she faced the woods in front of her. She didn’t look back.
As the sun came up, Lily found a lovely clearing on the edge of the woods. She took some bread and an apple from her bag, tied her horse to a tree, and sat down. She bit into the crispy apple, but it was as if the crunch echoed. She paused. Crunch. That one wasn’t her. She turned around to see only trees looking back at her. She took another bite. Crunch crunch.
“Who's there?” she stood up, suddenly remembering how dangerous the world was. Images of her getting murdered only hours after finally being free ran in her head. Her dad always spoke of heathens and deranged people, and she hoped he was wrong.
“The real question is who are you, and what are you doing in our woods?” a man said, though she saw no one. She walked in the smallest circle possible but was still unsure where he stood.
“I will ask again, who are you?”
“We are the revolutionaries, and you are in our territory. Who are you?” He stepped into the clearing. He was tall and wide, with a square jaw and furrowed brow. Behind him were five others, two identical boys and three girls, all of whom looked as if they could kill with their eyes.
“I am.. uh... Lily. I didn’t know this was your woods. If you don’t mind, I will just get going,” she started to walk to her horse, but he stepped closer to her.
“You see, Lily, that’s not how this works. Everyone knows that this part of the woods is our territory. You are either incredibly stupid, or you are a spy. But you came into our land, and you can’t exactly just prance back out here,” He looked at her with a twisted smile that brought all the terrible images back into Lily’s mind.
“Please, I will give you whatever you want, just let me be on my way,” she walked slowly as she talked, positioning her horse between her and them. She looked him in the eyes, and he stared back. No one moved. The horse’s tail swished back and forth, breaking the silence. Lily grabbed onto the saddle horn and mounted her horse when the boy grabbed the rope that tied him to the tree.
“I think you forgot about a very important piece of your equipment,” his grin grew even wider.
“Perhaps. Do me a favor though, and put that rope to good use,” she replied, reaching into her pocket and grabbing a knife. She reached out and swung at the rope, but he moved faster. If she had received sword fighting instead of painting lessons, she would’ve been free. Instead, the man was laughing as he held the rope at just the right angle where she couldn’t reach it.
“Nice try,” the others moved in closer, circling her and her horse. The man handed the rope off to one of the short boys, and he moved to Lily’s side.
“Here, let me give you a hand down. It will be much easier to kill you from down here.” As he reached out his hand, his gaze went to Lily’s saddle horn. She moved her eyes as well and realized why his eyes expanded so much. On it was the royal crest in all its golden glory.
“What do we have here? Who are you really, Lily?”
“I am no one. I am just Lily,” she refused to look at him, instead, keeping her gaze straight ahead.
“No no, you are someone. Perhaps…” he paused, looked to his friends, and then turned his head slowly back to her.
“Lily was it? As in Princess Elizabeth?”
“That’s absurd,” Lily tried to keep looking ahead, but she found her shoulders shrugging and her gaze falling to her lap.
“Absurd indeed, but also true. Now, Princess, we are going to bring you in, because you are much too valuable to kill,” he smirked, “yet”.
The camp was a clearing full of tents and weapons. Cannons and muskets sat in large piles. The smell of warm stew wafted through the air as Lily was brought to the tent in the very middle. The man pushed her inside, and she saw a small fire, a bed, a large table, and a man. His features were soft, with dimples on his cheeks and a smooth jawline. He was tall, but not in the menacing way of the other man. His brown hair fell just above his dark green eyes.
“Take a seat, Princess,” he motioned to a chair at the table.
“What are you going to do with me?” she looked up at him, who had sat on the opposite side.
“Well, that depends. Why were you in the woods?”
“I was out for a ride,”
“Everyone knows that you don’t simply go on rides. You never leave the castle. So what were you doing?” His voice became harsher, and Lily shrunk into her chair.
“I was running away,” she mumbled.
“Why would someone run away from having everything handed to them on a silver platter?”
“I wanted to see the world. I wanted to meet people,” Lily sat up and stared at him. How dare he criticize a life he knew nothing about.
“Whatever you say, miss ‘I got bored of having everything’”
“Yes, okay, I had everything! Except freedom, except friends, except my own life. I might have had whatever stuff I wanted, but I couldn’t even go on a walk alone. I would have traded all of my stuff to live like a normal person,” Lily hadn’t meant to shout as she just had, but it felt good.
“Look, I’m sorry that your life, no matter how seemingly perfect, has sucked. But so has all of our lives. You might not have had friends or a loving family, but the people here did. Then, they had them ripped away without anything in return. That is why we are currently in the woods attempting to overthrow a monarchy that has done nothing to help their people,” his green eyes met her blue ones from across the table, and Lily could tell that he was genuinely sorry for her. But she could also tell that he had been hurt too, and his hurt was more than she knew.
“I know the last war was hard for everyone, and I am very sorry. But father said that he repaid all he borrowed from the people.” Lily remembered the days following the victory, with father taking the money won in battle and giving it back to those who funded the army.
“He might have given the rich their money back, but he did nothing for the poor who lost sons. He did nothing for those whose homes and fields were destroyed in battle, for those whose livestock were taken to feed soldiers, for those who lost what little they had,” his face grew red as he spoke, and so did Lily’s.
“I’m sorry that my father did not help all people. I had no idea. Let me go talk to him and convince him to repay everyone.”
“Can’t you tell? He doesn’t want to. We have one of his highest advisors on our side, and it has done nothing. If he won’t listen to him, he for sure won’t listen to you. ”
“Who?” Her dad had been right. There was a spy in his cabinet.
“He will be here soon for a meeting, you can see him then. For now, wait here. I have things to do, and I still haven’t decided what to do with you” he stood up and began to leave.
“Wait, I never got your name.” Lily turned in her chair to face him at the opening.
“Luke.”
Lily looked into the fire, reminding her of winter mornings as a child when she would run into her parent’s room as the sun was still making its way over the trees. Her father would grab her and hug her, his warmth radiating like the fire. But that had not happened for years, not since mother died. He shut himself in the castle, only talking to his advisors. And when war came, he called on everyone to sacrifice.
The rich gave money, and the poor gave men. Lily thought about what he had sacrificed, but she couldn’t think of anything.
The opening of the tent snapped Lily out of her daydream, and she stood up to face them. In walked Luke, the man from earlier, a few more people, and then. No. There was no way. Her brother stepped into the tent, and when he saw Lily, he ran up to her and hugged her. She was not used to embracing him, but she felt safe in his arms.
“I’m so glad you are okay. Luke told me what happened, and I assured them that you are not a threat, but you are lucky. Why did you run away? What were you thinking?”
“I wanted to see the world past the gates. What are you doing here? You’re the spy?” She pulled out of his embrace and looked at him. Her brother was their father’s right-hand man, yet here he stood plotting against him.
“Yes. Father has become quite selfish and unfit to rule the past couple of years. I have tried to get him to listen to the people, but fighting might just be the only way.” He sounded so sure that what he was doing was right. Lily just stood there, mouth open, trying to process everything.
Sure, her dad had been rude. And emotionally unavailable. And controlling. But she had never thought that he was so bad that her brother, his son and heir, would turn against him.
“Let us all sit down and begin,” Luke called out. Lily looked to him, unsure if she was included. He nodded at her, and she took a seat next to her brother. She looked around the table and saw tired, beaten-down people. Her father had always said he did what was best for the kingdom, but apparently, he had only been doing what was best for himself. Lily had only been in the real world for a day, and everything she knew was already completely flipped. These “violent misguided people” were simply people tired of being oppressed. They were people who would do whatever it took to be free. They were people that Lily wanted to help.
“Now, let us begin,” Luke started at the head of the table.
“Actually, could I maybe say something?” Lily shook as she stood up, looking to her brother for support. He looked up at her, nodding as she cleared her throat.
“I know I got here under less than ideal circumstances,” she nodded to the rectangular man, who grinned back. “However,” she continued, “I would like to say that I am on your side. I grew up only hearing what my father allowed me to hear, and it is obvious now that he did not let me hear everything. I know you weren’t asking for it, but I am offering any and all assistance that I can provide. I have been unaware of the real problems in our society, and for that, I apologize. I want this kingdom to be one of freedom and equality, and if that means we must fight, then we fight. If that means we burn the whole palace to the ground and start over, then let it burn.” She made eye contact with Luke as she sat back down. He nodded slightly.
“Okay, so today I want to talk about…” a large explosion outside the tent cut him off.
“The king is attacking!” someone outside yelled.
Lily exited the tent to be greeted by chaos. There was smoke, crying children, and horses, all moving in a blur. She felt someone grab her arm and turned to see Luke.
“You need to get out of here,” he pulled her away from the center of the camp.
“I want to help. I don’t want to just run away and leave everyone else,” she couldn’t take her eyes off of the battle erupting around them.
“Lily!” her brother shouted as he approached. “You have got to get out of here,” he repeated Luke’s line of concern.
“I was just telling Luke that…” her voice cut out as she looked in front of her.
She had never seen him in his armor before. He still had his air of royalty, but he looked angrier than she had ever seen him. Her father normally didn’t fight, so she knew something had to truly be wrong. He sat there on his horse, moving his eyes from Lily, to Luke, to her brother.
“I had my suspicions about you, son, but I never thought that my sweet Lily would be brought into this madness. Unfortunately, son, you will have to die for your treason. But Lily, you can still make the right choice. Come back with me, and you can make this right,” he reached out his hand, smiling down at Lily.
She was tempted to take it, to go back to the comforts of home. She looked to her brother, whose face was so white it was as if he was already dead. Then she looked at Luke, who was standing so tall, weight shifting ever so slightly from foot to foot, ready to pounce.
“I can’t father. I would rather die than go back and be with you,” she had to look at the ground as she spoke, worried he could kill her instantly if they made eye contact.
“I am very disappointed. But if you insist.”
It all happened so fast. One moment, they were all still as stone. Then, both the brother and king were on the ground. Lily looked and saw the blood, the blood coming out of her brother's chest, and her father’s side. She saw Luke standing there, his sword in her father.
“He went for your brother. As he moved, I saw my opening. His armor shifted when he lunged, and I got him,” Luke swayed as he stood.
“Lily,” her brother groaned. His clothes were getting darker by the second. She put her hands on his chest, but the blood wouldn’t slow down. She turned to her father, who was motionless next to them. She looked back down to her brother, even whiter than before.
“Lily, it’s all up to you now,” he grabbed her hands that were on his chest. His grip was weak, but she held his hands strong enough for the two of them. He closed his eyes, and then his grip was gone.
“I am so sorry for your loss princess,” Luke knelt down to put his hand on her shoulder.
“Thank you,” Lily sat there in silence for a few seconds, “And, it’s Queen.”
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