Prologue
Princesses don’t cry…
This was something I
heard a lot of when I was growing up.
I recall that as a
princess I was very happy beside my father, King Saulo. My father governed the
province of an earth far from this one.
In the castle resided
my father, my aunt, myself and all the castle guards.
I remember I grew up
with the protection of King Saulo as he reigned. I didn’t have a normal life
because I was always escorted by several guards and I could never exit the
immense gateways of the castle.
It was necessary for
my protection.
Like all royal
dynasties we had enemies everywhere. The most astonishing thing is that our
most immediate threat came from within our palace, people among our royal
family.
Chapter 1
Dorotéia
“Tomorrow will be a
big day!” I said as I walked from side to side in my bedroom. The hem of my
long, dark dress, embroidered with precious stones flowed gently over the
floor. My fire-red hair was adorned with a gold tiara. After all, I was King
Saulo’s sister-in-law and I needed to keep myself looking like a lady of the
aristocracy.
I wanted to be more
than that however. I wished to reign. I wished to govern Saulos’s earth.
“I see you are very
animated, Madam Dorotéia!” Said Escariodez. He was my right arm in the castle.
After my husband’s death, Saulo’s brother, Escariodez, became my lover.
Escariodez was a
handsome and charming man. Despite the fact that he was blind in one eye he was
still an attractive man. He hid his eye with a black patch. But that made him
even more attractive and mysterious.
“Escariodez the big
day will come tomorrow! On my adoring niece Salomé’s birthday!”
In this moment, I
walked to my bed and sat down on it, felling its softness under me. My heart
beamed with enthusiasm as my mind imagined the day I had waited for.
My niece’s birthday.
“Tomorrow Salomé will
cry bitterly.”
Escariodez smiled at
my brilliant plot. Only he and I knew about what was set to take place the
following day.
***
King Saulo
During this time, I
went to the bedroom of my only daughter. In the future, Salomé would be sitting
on my throne. She was my heir after all. I had only her, my daughter and my
successor.
There was no other
heir to govern the Sun Earth over and above me. So that role would be taken by
Salomé in the time to come.
“Dear, I came here to
wish you goodnight!” I said and walked toward my daughter’s bed. Salomé was
still lying in her bed under her opulent bedspread. Her long red hair was set
in a long tress, thrown over one of her shoulders. Her skin was pale and her
honey-colored eyes were about to clos with sleep.
“Dad, I was hoping
for your embrace for the night!”
She said to me and
opened her arms to get hold of me. I embraced her carefully like the careful
father that I was. I kissed her head one or two times.
“I would never forget
to wish goodnight to you,” I smiled over her fire colored hair. “You’re my
treasure, my dear!”
She smiled at ease
and embraced me stronger.
“No gold in this
castle could substitute the immense love I feel for you! You were my best gift
from God!”
“I also love you so
much, Dad!” Salomé said and smiled up at me again. She looked very happy with
my declaration. I reached out and took her chin in my hand. I stared down at
her angelic face.
“Tomorrow will be a
big day! I will introduce you to the nobility. You will be eighteen, after
all.”
“Dad, I am very
nervous! Everyone will look at me and everyone will want to talk to me.”
My daughter glanced
to the sides. I could tell she was anxious. It was as if she was already before
all the guests.
“Salomé,” I smiled at
her and released her chin. “No one will approach you without my permission.”
Chapter 2
Dorotéia
Hours before the Princess’ birthday banquet
“There are only a few
hours left to make everything work perfectly, my dear,” I said as I held Escariodez’s
face.
He smiled as he
looked at my dress adorned with precious stones. My lipstick was blood-red and
on the top of my head was a gigantic tiara with more precious stones.
I was by now,
prepared for the big banquet. The same one which would be put on in honor of
the eighteen-year old Princess Salomé.
“When Salomé has
spilled her first tear tonight, her life will change from water to the wine,” I
affirmed, gazing up to my bedroom ceiling.
The light that shone
down from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling lit up my face. I could not
contain myself from my loud and noisy laughter. Escariodez began to smile with
me as well.
“You’re perfect! −My
future queen!”
I turned and faced
him saying, “I CAME TO THE WORLD TO GOVERN. I WILL NEVER BE COADJUVANT, MY
DEAR!”
King Saulo
“My dear, let’s go!”
I said, walking through the gigantic bedroom of my daughter Salomé. In this
moment, she was standing before her round mirror. By her side, there were two
servants. They were helping her put on her neck a gold collar with the picture
of diamond tiara and a sun.
This collar
symbolized the position of Princess of the Sun Earth.
Her hair was loose.
My daughter was beautiful in her long dress which was navy blue and embroidered
with precious stones.
Salomé had a beauty
worthy of her reign and her crown.
“I…think…I …am
…ready…” She stuttered, walking on her crystal shoes in my direction. She
already looked like the queen of our castle.
“Dear, you look so
beautiful!” I held her chin and held it carefully. “I believe the princes that
are present at your party will want to fight among themselves in order to get a
dance with you.”
Salomé interlaced her
arm on mine and walked beside me. , However, her cheeks became ruddy after my
attempt at a humorous commentary.
“Majesty, you told me
you wouldn’t permit that anyone to approach me tonight.”
“Yes, my dear.” I
looked at her profile. “But I will not interfere with the princes that ask you
to dance.”
Salomé
We arrived at the
dance hall. Several guests were waiting for us. I stared apprehensively at the
multitude of people.
There were several
princes from multiple provinces.
Ladies of the
nobility were accompanied by their daughters who were around my age.
The guards made a
barrier with their own bodies for my entrance to the hall. I walked beside my
father, King Saulo.
I tried not to glance
to the side in an effort to avoid facing all those people on all sides of me,
like a metal chain.
Even so the princes
were so handsome, as much as their crowns but they didn’t succeed to get a hold
of my attention entirely.
For a moment I looked
down at the ground and didn’t get to raise my head again. I didn’t look like any
princes of the nobility. It was expected though that I should lift my head and
prove my authority over those people.
But it wasn’t what I
did.
My body felt almost
like it wasn’t mine. It still helped me arrive at my destination and sit down
in my chair beside my father. I sat before those people. They were all very
well-dressed and perfumed with most costly perfumes. Their gold sparkled on
their clothes, their necks and over their heads which were adorned with crowns,
tiaras and other adornments for hair.
I looked to one side
and Aunt Dorotéia smiled falsely back at me. But I could never imagine her
smile was so false.
By her side, was
Escariodez, with his black eye patch on his eye. His dark clothes matched his
long, dark hair which came down to the top of his neck.
“His Majesty, the
King Saulo, will celebrate with all of you present, the eighteen springs of his
only daughter, our dear Princess Salomé.”
The emissary of the
king spoke these words loudly and after that the guards played their trumpets.
Aunt Dorotéia’s face
contorted with envy, thinking highly of my beauty and all my wealth. That was
only the beginning.
In next to no time,
my father rose from his gold seat and
looked over at his emissary who was walking towards him. In his hands he
was carrying a diamond tiara on a red velvet cushion.
My father held the
tiara and gazed down at me, moving his face prudently for me to lift up in that
instant, before everyone.
“Today I introduce my
only daughter and heiress of my throne,” he said in an elevated voice. Little
by little, his hands holding the tiara, he lowered it toward the top of my
head. Glancing around the great hall at everyone there he declared,
“Princess Salomé!”
In this moment, there
was a deafening rain of applause. I made
a grimace discreetly and didn’t dare to look up or to my sides.
Nevertheless, I felt
all the princes and all the people in that place gazed only in one direction. I
was their aim, the aim of their envy,
their ambitions and their admirations.
Before the banquet was
served, the King demanded his servants bring out the wine glasses. They should
be served to each guest there. My father held his glass, raised it high and he
made a toast in that moment in front of everyone present.
“Viva our Princess
Salomé!” he exclaimed.
“Viva!” Everyone
responded in unison and at that instant. I looked down to the ground. My cheeks
became red once again. The tiara seemed to weigh heavily on my head.
I thought I must look
like the most stupid princess in the universe.
Finally, my father
tasted the wine which was in his gold chalice. Soon after that, each guest did
the same and they brought their glasses to their lips and tasted their red
wine. It seemed they were satisfied with
the taste of their drinks.
Suddenly and quite
unexpectedly, my father let his wine glass smash to the ground in a fit of
aggression that made everybody stop. The noise of the object smashing on the
floor made everyone there stare at him.
Aunt Dorotéia
extended her neck to gaze attentively in our direction.
“Faaaatttheeeeer!” I
shouted loudly when I saw him falling backwards onto the floor. He didn’t seem
to be breathing at all.
“Faaaatttheeeeer!”
Another shout echoed
through the great hall. All the people there stared at us. They weren’t sure
what was going on.
What was happening
there?
No-one got it.
“Father, talk to me!”
I fell on my knees
beside his body which was extended on the floor. My father was pale, his lips
were purple, but his eyes were still open.
A group of people
formed a circle around us.
“Father, talk to me!
Talk to your daughter!”
My pale fingers shook
his face. I needed to hear his voice at that moment. I needed to know he was
still alive.
However, that didn’t
eventuate.
Soon my honey colored
eyes closed and blocked out everything
around me.
“Father, don’t do
this to me!”
My hands touched his
chest, I needed him to still be alive, still be with me.
“Dear! Don’t drive
yourself to despair!” Aunt Dorotéia said at my back.
The King’s emissary
knelt down beside me and he touched my father’s neck, trying to feel his pulse,
his heartbeat.
I heard him breathe
out loudly and he looked up at me. I could see it in his eyes.
At this moment I
heard the worst phrase I had ever heard in my life.
“King Saulo is dead!”
Were the words that came from the lips of my father’s emissary.
“Aahhhhhhhh!” I
shouted out in despair. I tore away the
brilliant tiara from my head in a violent manner and threw it down to the other
side of the great hall. As if that would have helped in any way.
The date of my eighteenth
birthday had become the worst nightmare of my life.
The worst springtime
of all springtimes...
So at this instant, I
remembered the time I was just seven and my father carried me in his arms,
filling me with his kisses.
“You’re my little
Princess! Princess of the Sun Earth.”
I found myself coming
back to my reality and saw my father’s body extended on the ground like a
Persian carpet, completely without life.
I never imagined the
end of King Saulo, the end of his reign.
Even though I knew
his passing away would have to come some day, I still wasn’t prepared for it.
The tears that I had
been holding back came pouring down. Those same tears slowly touched my
father’s face as they fell.
Aunt Dorotéia looked
to the side, at her lover Escariodez and both of them made a discreet movement
with their heads, affirming some secret between them.
As my tears fell, a
glaring radiance emerged on the castle ceiling. The people were astounded. I
looked up at the glaring radiance and saw a strange energy coming in my
direction.
My body was sucked by
that energy. Within seconds, I disappeared from the great hall.
My tiara, which had
fallen to the ground, was picked up by Escariodez as he walked up to it and
lifted it. At the same time, a discreet smile appeared on his lips.
The spell of my Aunt
Dorotéia had worked. She had poisoned the king. In such a case his reign was
ended and there was now no government ruling the Sun Earth.
Only I could govern
it after his death.
But aunt Dorotéia
bewitched me with my own tears. I shouldn’t have cried. I didn’t realize it but
the first time I cried my life would
never be the same again. My aunt had seen to that.
This damned tear,
which had appeared after my father’s death, on my eighteenth birthday, was the
cause of everything that was to follow.
From then on,
everything began down at zero.
Almost everything...
Chapter 3
Françoah
In the afternoon, a
glaring radiant light arose in front of me. A flash of lightning crossed the
path of my dark horse.
In a hurry someone crossed
in front of us. My horse, completely frightened, lifted himself up on his hind
legs and I lost control. I didn’t expect that reaction of my animal that
incessantly looked so calm, so tame.
Quickly, I felt my
body going back and passing lightly over my horse’s backside. I fell to the
ground hard and my horse fell to the other side. Soon, that bizarre figure that
had passed our way, stopped walking and stared at us. Fear was in her honey
colored eyes. She stopped and looked at me fallen on the ground, holding my
left arm. I was feeling pain. I think I had fractured it.
“Are you crazy?” I
shouted at the young woman with honey
colored eyes. She wore a clear kerchief to cover her head. There was no hair
showing on her head. Her long dress was navy blue and looked so old and torn.
The strange girl looked like a beggar.
She became even more
afraid when I shouted in her direction. She began to move away quicker until
she entered the forest. In this manner
she disappeared among the shady trees.
“Steady!” Exclaimed
my sister as I sat in the chair. She, my sister Francisca, swathed my arm. I
was feeling too much pain to even speak so I squirmed in my chair. The fall of
my horse had caused me inexplicable pain.
Every time I
remembered that scene, the bizarre girl crossing my path as I rode my horse, I
cursed her a thousand times or for all the pain and suffering she had caused
me, deliberately or not.
“Stupid girl!” I
murmured squeezing my eyes. My pain was intolerable.
“Which girl are you
talking about?” Francisca asked me, narrowing her light chestnut eyes in my
direction. She did not understand anything. I hadn’t made it clear to her the
real reason for my rough fall.
I glanced to the side
and started explaining.
“Some strange girl
crossed my path during my ride earlier today. My horse became alarmed and ended
up throwing me to the ground.
“Upon my soul! Did a
bizarre girl really do all this? Had the power to frighten your horse and throw
you down so hard you broke your arm?”
Her voice was loud
and I could tell she was very surprised at what I had just told her. I made
grimaces, but was completely serious. I was not joking. My fall had ruined my
afternoon.
“I believe she is not
in her normal mind! Maybe she has escaped from some madhouse. Her state was miserable.
There was a kerchief on her head. It looked like she had no hair on her head...
and she looked very strange.
Francisca raised her
eyebrows at me and finished swathing my arm.
“Now I feel sorry for
that girl,” she confessed.
Francisca was my
middle sister. I had another sister called Fabíola. There were three brothers
and three sisters in my family. I was twenty-one, Francisca was twenty and
Fabíola was nineteen. Our parents were dead, so the three of us lived in a
humble house in a small village.
Francisca and Fabíola
took care of our house and I was in the habit of hunting and working in the
village. That was what brought in some money for us to live.
Some minutes later,
Francisca and I stared in the direction of the front door. Fabíola had come back
from the market bringing some fresh vegetables and fresh bread in her straw
basket. Her hair was up in a tress.
“What happened?” She
asked looking over at my swathed arm. Soon after, she placed her basket on the
wooden table.
“Our brother was
thrown down from his horse by a bizarre girl that crossed his way.” Francisca
explained to her.
Fabíola put a hand on
her lips and tried to hold back a laugh. However, she remained completely
serious when she imagined I might have been badly wounded.
“Wow! Today is your
time of good luck!” Fabíola joked.
I gazed at them both
angrily. My sisters were making me very annoyed. My cheeks started to become
red with anger.
“I’m going to my
bedroom,” I said getting up. “My bedroom’s walls don’t annoy me as much as you
two do.”
“Sorry, we were just trying to soften your pain,”
Francisca said,
gazing at my back. But I didn’t waste my time in gazing back at them.
At this point I
preferred the silence of my bedroom. It was there as soon as I stepped into it
and turned the lock in the wooden door behind me.
