It had the curious appearance of
a ballroom dance. The twelve hand selected members of the Prince’s personal
guard, in their finest dress uniforms, strode into the Court in two files of
six. Each carried a four foot long cane at his side. As the two columns
approached the thrones, the last in line stopped. Every four steps thereafter,
the next in line from the rear would stop, until the first in each line stopped
ten paces from the thrones. The guards then took two steps apart, clicked their
heels once, then froze in rigid attention. Cinderella’s twelve Ladies in
Waiting, dressed in diaphanous translucent white camlets, entered next in two
files of six. When each had taken a place next to one of the guards, the Ladies
curtsied to Prince and Princess.
“Begin.”
The Ladies turned around in
unison, and bent over and grabbed their ankles. Each guard then parted his
partner’s camlet at the rear, exposing twelve lovely pairs of creamy white
orbs. The guards snapped back to attention as Captain of the Guard came
forward, and bowed to the Prince and Princess. Captain of the Guard turned and
addressed the twelve pairs.
“It is the duty of a Lady in
Waiting to attend to the needs and desires of her mistress. But the paramount
duty of every Lady, which rises above tending to the needs or desires of her
mistress, is to ensure the safety and well being of her mistress, even when it
might conflict with a Lady’s other duties. In this regard, these Ladies have
failed their mistress. While the fault might not be entirely their own, there
is still a price to be paid for such negligence.”
Cinderella felt tears welling
up. She had not told any of them what she intended when she went for her ride.
Indeed, until she gave Snow Princess her apple, she had not even thought of
such a misadventure. It was not fair that her Ladies should have to pay for her
misdeeds.
“Assume positions. One!”
Crack!
Twelve simultaneous cracks
echoed through the Court, accompanied by twelve concurrent gasps.
“Two!”
Crack!
Twelve red lines appeared an
inch below twelve others. Twelve more gasps were followed by several
intermittent sobs.
“Three!”
Crack!
The Prince and Princess looked
out at thirty-six fiery bars.
“Four!”
Crack!
A dozen yelps, and a dozen more
crimson weals leapt to the fore.
“Five!”
Crack!
Tears fell readily as a fifth
line blazed forth, forming a dozen perfect staffs for musical compositions.
“Six!”
Crack!
A dozen vicious diagonal cuts
barred the gates. The guards snapped back to attention, as Captain of the Guard
turned back to the Prince.
“A full measure, Milord, as
ordered. Does it meet with Milord’s satisfaction?”
“Well done, Captain of the
Guard. You may dismiss your troops.”
Captain of the Guard bowed, and
turned to his troops.
“Company dismissed.”
The guards clicked their heels,
then retreated in the reverse order from their entry, leaving the weeping
Ladies bent over on display. When the last of the guards had left the Court,
Captain of the Guard turned back to the Prince and Princess, bowed, and took
his leave.
The Prince rose. “I leave you, Milady, to deal
with your Ladies further as you deem meet and proper.”
Cinderella rose and curtsied to the Prince.
“Milord.”
Cinderella rose and curtsied to the Prince.
“Milord.”
The Prince left the Court to the
fanfare of a dozen muted sobs. Once the great hall doors closed behind him,
Cinderella ran down the steps to the center of the room.
“Come to me!”
The Ladies ran to Cinderella and
hugged her and each other. Together they cried.
****************************************
Ready to read the rest? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B1W4YWK
No comments:
Post a Comment