Monarchy (5 page)

Gwen poured for them while a maid entered with a pot of steaming tea for Elsie and the Queen.

When everybody had a drink in hand Gwen proposed a toast. “To that which really matters.”

“And same goes for the those, I assume?” the King said and took a sip. “Dame Margaret told me about your altercation after I left. ‘An old flyswatter’?”

“She called Gwen…” Elsie started but Gwen shook her head.

“You really have a knack for hitting it off on the wrong foot, don’t you?” the King asked rhetorically.

“Love me or leave me.” Gwen said with a shrug. “Honestly, I don’t like her much and last time I checked nobody could force me to embrace her presence.”

“Dame Margaret has done a lot for our family the last few years.
 
I value her opinion.” the King took a bigger sip this time.

“Well, I don’t trust her opinion at all. She seems like the type of person who is more interested in personal power and gain than the well-being of her employer. You are her employer, aren’t you? Because for a moment this morning I could have sworn she was yours.” Gwen emptied her glass all at once.

“I don’t like your tone, Guinevere” the King said angrily. “I think we should end this evening on a high note. Goodnight” he said and left the dining room.

“Yeah, the conversation is heading for a downhill. I’m off to bed. Night guys” Gwen said and followed the King in silence.

Elsie looked up at her mother who was staring down at the table, her tea untouched.

“Mother?” Elsie touched her mother’s hand and she looked as though she had been ripped from a faraway place.

“My dear Elsie” she smiled sadly and sighed. “When Gwen was born the law had just been passed granting the daughters of royalty the same rights as the sons. Our first born wasn’t going to be a King but a Queen.
 
I had to give her a name that would one day be synonymous with a great leader.
 
I was half way through reading King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and I just knew I had to name her Guinevere. I had great dreams for her.
 
She was to be the beginning of a new era. And then Guinevere betrayed Arthur with Lancelot…” the Queen’s voice broke and she started to cry.

“Mother, surely her name doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Elsie touched her mother’s face, wiping away the tears.

“No, but I do. I pushed her too hard, Elsie. I treated her like a Queen even before she could sit up by herself.
 
She never wanted it but played along until she didn’t have to anymore and when she left I did the same to you. Now, standing at the side of my deathbed…”

“Don’t say that…” Elsie interrupted but the Queen continued.

“…I have a tired husband, one rebellious daughter with no aspiration of becoming Queen and another much too young to stand in for her. I’m sorry Elsie, but only a miracle could save us and though you might think that my wish is for some miraculous cure it isn’t. My wish is that by some divine intervention, Gwen would wake up tomorrow morning ready to do her duty within a seconds notice and that she’ll have her father’s blessing and support to do so.”

“Gwen will make sure the King doesn’t retire…”

“I want her to be Queen.
 
No offense to you but you’re my little princess. I need you to remain in the fairytale but away from the round table and as far as possible from Lancelot.” The Queen was rambling in circles now that Elsie didn’t understand.

“You need to get some rest mother. Can I help you to your room?” Elsie offered.

“No, I’ll be fine” the Queen sighed. “Goodnight Elsie.”

Elsie felt overtired when she finally climbed into bed. It felt warm and she was about to doze off when a whisper disturbed her.

“Scoot over.” Gwen bumped Elsie as she got into bed next to her.
 

“Gwen? What the hell?” Elsie asked irritated.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Well, I can. I’m tired.”

Elsie’s sleep was gone for good now and in silence they laid mulling over the day’s events.

“Why didn’t you tell father about Dame Margaret’s threat?” Elsie asked.

“What would he have done? Anyway, I’m not a snitch.”

“You shouldn’t take her lightly. She has a huge influence over father and can really make your life hell, you know.”

“Exactly. I need to get rid of her.”

Elsie laughed. “I hope you’re not talking about hiring a hit man.”

“Too messy. Don’t worry, I’m working on a plan.”

They lay lost in thought again. Elsie could feel her eyelids growing heavy when Gwen spoke again. “Let’s go out.”

“To the garden?” Elsie asked confused.

“No, stupid. OUT out.” Gwen got up and pulled the covers off Elsie. “Get your but out of bed, dig out your pair of jeans I know has been dying for some fresh air and let’s go.”

“Gwen, this is crazy” Elsie said with a yawn.

“No, Princess. This is living!” Gwen shouted from the bathroom.

Chapter 8

Elsie felt uncomfortable in the jeans she hadn’t worn for years.
 
Gwen borrowed her a somewhat revealing top she tried her best to hide with her coat. The guard at the gate was the first person they encountered.
 
Elsie felt her heart beat faster as the guard looked up at them walking across the court yard but he tactically looked the other way when they left the palace grounds.

“Where are we going, Gwen?” Elsie whispered as they walked through the deserted park.

“I told you, out.”

“This isn’t right. We’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble if this gets out” Elsie said looking around uncomfortably. “Where exactly are we going?”

“There’s this little backstreet club on the other side of the park. They play old music, really nostalgic” Gwen finally said.

“Old music?”

“Not like Elvis and the Beatles. The nineties and early two thousands mostly. You know, almost old music.”

“And you know about this how?”

Gwen laughed. “This isn’t the first time I snuck out, Elsie.”

They reached the street beyond the park and Gwen led them in the direction of a dark alley. Elsie could hear a muffled beat even before she saw the faded sign above a side entrance. ‘
Cobain
’ it read.

The club was much larger than Elsie expected.
 
Smoke hung in the air and people screamed at each other over the sound of a song she hadn’t heard in ages.

“GWEN?” a girl with a green wig screamed at them suddenly.

“In the flesh” Gwen answered as the girl threw her arms around her in a hug.

“And Princess Elsie?” Elsie recognized the girl now as being the eldest daughter of their neighbor, the Baron of Sign.

“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked them.

“Whiskey thanks” Gwen answered surveying the crowd.

“Just water for me, thanks” Elsie squeaked.

Gwen saw somebody else in the crowd and set off in their direction.

“Gwen?” Elsie yelled and followed her like a lost child.

“Hi” Gwen yelled to a handsome young man leaning over a rail with a beer in hand.

“Hi” he yelled back with a smile and turned to face them. Elsie gasped in shock and the man almost dropped his beer.

“
Your…
Your highness” Sir Windsbury stuttered at the sight of Elsie. She barely recognized him with his jeans and messy hair. “It’s…it’s my night off and…”

“Oh, we won’t say anything if you don’t, John.” Gwen patted him playfully on the shoulder.

“Do they know that you’re out?” he whispered to Gwen.

“Of course not. Come, Elsie, they’re playing our song.”

Elsie knew the song and the serene piano sounds brought back fond memories of her and Gwen jumping on the bed as children. “I shouldn’t.” she declined.

“Come.” Gwen dragged her to the middle of the crowded dance floor.
 
Elsie looked around frantically for a moment but nobody was looking at them.
 
There were no bows or bending knees.
 
To the rest of the club they were just two young girls out to have a good time. Gwen started to sway to the beat of the song. “Dance, Elsie.”

Elsie felt embarrassed. Apart from a few waltzes at balls she hadn’t danced in public before. She made small movements with her feet still looking around expecting to be recognized at any second.

Gwen threw her hands above her head and turned around. She was doing the moves they choreographed themselves years ago.
 
Elsie relaxed and closed her eyes. They were in Gwen’s room, dancing to a mix tape she got from a friend at school.

Gwen sung with the chorus waving her arms around.
 
They were still invisible to the crowd around them and Elsie joined in leaving the troubles of being royal behind for the first time in her life.

It was already early morning when they snuck back into the palace quite noisily.
 
The guard once again looked the other way when they returned. This time with a smile.

“They don’t say anything?” Elsie asked Gwen.

“Not as far as I know.
 
Used to sneak out regularly when I was your age and a bit older. Mother caught me once but said nothing about it.”

“So, you just decided to walk out the front door one night and coincidently found a small nightclub hidden in a backstreet alley?” Elsie asked doubtfully.

“Not exactly” Gwen answered. “John snuck me out the backdoor the first time when I was sixteen.”

“Sir Windsbury?” Elsie had another perception of the knight that quietly stood by their side day after day.
 
He was the youngest man ever to receive the honor in their kingdom. When he was nineteen he saved an important diplomat’s toddler from drowning in one of the garden ponds. He was just a waiter at the function but he impressed the King so much with his chivalry that he was appointed as the King’s assistant chamber gent immediately.
 
He was knighted a few months later and given the option to leave the palace as a nobleman but he just accepted the title and chose to remain by the King’s side.

“He wasn’t a ‘sir’ yet back then. Just John” Gwen said his name with a sort of tenderness.

“Wait” Elsie said as they headed for the stairs. Gwen turned around curiously and shook her head when Elsie gestured in the direction of the throne room.

“You know we’re not supposed to” she said with a gleeful smile.

“We’re in a lot of trouble as it is already. Come on, we haven’t done this since forever” Elsie was trying to hold on to the feeling she had experienced the whole night. The two of them, on a royal adventure just like when they were small.

“Oh, alright but if we get caught it was all your idea” Gwen laughed.

“Yesss” Elsie whispered and pushed open the throne room door. It was a long room with a high ceiling adorned with hanging tapestries. At the far end two thrones stood on a stage, flanked by marble busts of their grandmother and grandfather. They stood marveled at the magnificent room they’ve seen so many times before yet couldn’t grow tired of. Gwen approached the rose hanging that hid a secret entrance off to the side of the room. “Are you coming?” she whispered, careful not for their voices to carry in the cavernous hall.

Elsie nodded excited and followed her into the so-called treasure room. The crown jewels were displayed here in glass boxes and on velvet cushions. Elsie and Gwen’s golden tiara’s they received for their thirteenth birthday each, stood side by side next to a large dressing table with a very poufy pedestal. Gwen picked up hers and flayed herself down in front of the mirror.