Chapter 2

Anna

The rising sun shone bright and I couldn't help but feel like it was the only cheerful thing about the new day. The maid, Sarah, helped me to dress and made sure my hair was neat before I went to help my mother get out of bed and ready for the day.

Once we were both presentable, we met John downstairs for breakfast and ate quickly.

"Right. We'd better get going now if we want to be there early." John announced as we finished our meal.

The journey into town was fairly quick and we made good time, despite being one of several families making their way to the town hall to take the Williams' oath. Inside the large building, there sat the town council and one slightly foreign-looking man who John said must have been a royal official, here to ensure that proceedings ran smoothly and that everyone took the oath.

Our small family of three stood close to the front (I tried to find an empty chair for my mother but there were none) and waited for the oath-taking to begin.

Before long, the royal official stood and called for silence before announcing, "When I call your family's name, step forward, say the oath and then move along to that table over there to sign the list. And be quick about it, there's a lot of you and I want to be gone by this evening."

With that said, he picked up a piece of paper from the table in front of him and called out the first family, "Ames!"

A family of six stepped forward and the father, Henry Ames- the local jeweller, began to recite the oath.

One name after another was called and slowly but surely each family took its turn to step forward and take the oath. While I watched as everyone took the stupid oath, I wondered whether any of them really meant it. I knew the people of the town and none of them had ever supported the Williams family. We were Reginalds supporters so why were they deserting their belief and taking an oath to pledge allegiance to their enemies? As more people took the oath and signed their names to the list of supporters, anger bubbled inside of me. What would my father say if he could see these people- his friends!- now? He had given his life to defending us against the Williams because he had believed them to be dangerous and now I was supposed to forget about all of that and swear my allegiance to the people who had killed my father!?

"Lynch!"

My brother stepped forward, pulling my mother along with him. I broke out of my haze for long enough to scamper quickly behind and stood behind my brother. I took my mother's hand and saw her smile faintly. Did she even know what was going on? Why was she letting John do this?

"I, John Lynch, and my family, pledge before you now, the witness of our oath, to cast aside our former allegiance, to whoever it may be," I kept my gaze on my mother's face. It was clear she didn't understand what was going on. How could I do this to her? To my father? I didn't want to pledge my allegiance to the murderers who had killed my father! "and swear whole-heartedly to forevermore honour, serve and protect the royal Williams family and our king, his maje-"

"Stop!" I cried suddenly, interrupting my brother.

John and everyone else's eyes turned towards me with varying degrees of annoyance and anger.

"Anna!" John hissed and tried to apologise and continue the oath before I could say anything more. I wasn't going to let him and I went to stand in front of him and addressed the royal official, "My brother cannot take this oath."

"Excuse me? Why not?" the royal official stood up and observed me with irritated eyes. "I have a lot more people to get through today and I don't have time for hold ups."

John pushed me aside hastily and said, "I apologise, Sir, for my sister, she doesn't know what she's talking about. I'll conti-"

"No, John!" I interrupted him again and spoke to the royal official, "We cannot take the oath because we don't support the Williams'!"

This got his attention and a murmur ran through the crowd of people in the town hall.

"She doesn't mean that, Sir-!" my brother cried, trying desperately to regain order and silence me.

"What the hell are you talking about, girl!?" the royal official asked heatedly.

I tried not to cower slightly at his anger, "I'm sorry, Sir, but I won't take an oath when I don't believe what I'm pledging."

The royal official stared at me in shock, clearly not many people had refused to take the oath. "You do know, girl, that anyone who won't take the oath goes to jail for their crime?" he said and regarded me with curious eyes.

I took a calming breath and glanced at John who looked ready to jump in and start apologising again.

"Yes, Sir." I said, trying not to let my voice show my hesitation.

"Anna, stop it. Just take the oath and we can go home. You don't know what you're talking about." John tried to reason again.

I just shook my head at him, too afraid that I might back down.

"You know that it won't be only you? Your whole family will be put in jail." The royal official stated.

My resolve was starting to shake. I looked at my mother, who was pale from the exertion of having to stand for so long. "…Yes, Sir." I said quietly.

"Anna, what are you doing? You're going to get us all put into jail?!" John became much more frantic now, "Sir, she isn't telling the truth! She'll take the oath, I swear she will! I'll make her take it!"

The royal official looked at the three of us with a strange and unidentifiable mix of emotions on his face before saying, "Guards, take them away."

Three guards stepped forward and each took one of our arms to lead us out of a side door. John was panicking, "No, Sir, I swear, I'll make her take the oath! I promise! She doesn't know what she's talking about! She'll take it, please just let us go!"

My mother looked very confused and dazed and I just kept my head down and avoided my brother's eyes while trying to drown out his voice.

---

The jail cell was freezing cold and I kept my arms around my mother to keep her as warm as possible. My brother refused to listen to my apologises or explanations and so eventually we had just lapsed into silence.

The sun had already set by the time the creaky door was opened and the royal official appeared.

"You, girl, have caused me a lot of headaches. Not to mention the fact that I finished the day half an hour later because of your little show!" he started, looking tired and very annoyed.

I kept quiet and waited for him to tell us what was going to happen.

He sighed and continued when it was clear that I wasn't going to answer, "Now, because I don't think that you are a particularly large threat to the king or his family, I'm going to allow you one chance to explain to me why you won't take the oath."

John looked pointedly away and my mother was fast asleep. Now was my chance to convince the royal official and my brother that I wasn't crazy or stupid, "I won't take the oath because I don't want to pledge my allegiance to the Williams."

The royal official heaved another sigh, "Yes, yes, that's all very well. Not everyone who takes the oath loves the Williams, but it doesn't mean that you have to make a scene and get yourself locked in jail. And your mother and brother as well!"

I stared at the man in shock, "The Williams' killed my father! He fought against them in the civil war and gave his life protecting us from them and you think I should just forget all of that and take an oath even though I don't believe in it!?"

The royal official looked bored, "Yes, well, your brother was ready to take the oath, wasn't he? Stop making things difficult for yourself."

"I'm standing up for what I believe in-!"

The royal official turned angry now and cut me off with a rough voice, "No, you're wasting everyone's time, especially mine! Tomorrow you'll be taken to the palace and the Williams' can deal with you themselves. It's late and I'm tired. Goodnight."

With that, he marched off and the door was slammed shut on his way out. There was silence in the cell before I said quietly to John, "I'm sorry John, but I can't take the oath knowing that fa-"

"No one cares! It's just like he said, you're wasting everyone's time-!" he hissed angrily.

"I'm sorry, John!" I pleaded with him, feeling tears prickling in the corners of my eyes, but he cut me off again, this time with much more venom in his voice, "If you're so sorry then take the bloody oath! Or do you want mother and I to rot in jail for no reason!?"

I stifled a silent sob and tried a final time, "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Just leave it." He said and lay down on the cold ground, turning to face the wall and effectively shutting me out. I tried as hard as I could but I couldn't stop the tears from escaping as I held my sleeping mother closer to me.

---

Lucas

The first week of my reign passed without incident. After the last busy five years which were filled with secret meetings in dungeons, sneak-attack battles, constantly moving from one village to another, hiding from enemies and using every trick of manipulation and convincing to try and gain support, my life was now reduced to a boring trickle of parties and listening to commoners telling me about their problems of escaped goats and small disputes over land. There weren't even any murders or kidnappings among the commoners. Not that I was complaining to anyone just yet but after the constant dangerous hot-waters of the war, life in the palace felt like a luke-warm bath. Surely there must be something exciting happening! The one thing that kept me from complete boredom was Lady Karen- or Karen as she had insisted I call her. She had been invited by my mother after the coronation celebration to stay on at the palace for the time being. At first I must admit I was slightly worried that maybe having her around wouldn't be the best thing but she had proved herself to be an excellent companion. And if my mother and uncle actually approved of me spending time with this girl then all the better.

On a normal day, if I was bored (which was all the time that I wasn't with Karen), I would have simply tracked her down and we would have spent the rest of the day with her ensuring that my boredom disappeared. This, however, wasn't a normal day. Lord Staines had insisted that his eldest granddaughter join the Silverton family for some sort of family celebration. I was aware of some Silverton relative of Karen's getting married- I myself had been at the wedding a few days previously- but wasn't quite sure why the Silverton family had to be suddenly gathered. At first I hadn't minded Karen's leaving for a few days but I had underestimated the level of boredom which I was capable of reaching. I was in a bad temper and the fact that I couldn't run to Karen for entertainment was making me sulky. Why did Lord Staines have to be such an annoying idiot?

I drifted through the halls of the palace feeling angry and purpose-less. Finding myself close to my uncle's quarters I figured perhaps he would be up to a game of chess or maybe we could organise a hunt in time for Karen's return the following week. I was too wrapped up in my plans for combating my boredom to hear the voices coming from my uncle's rooms. And I didn't bother knocking because… well- I was the king, wasn't I?

I opened the door and took a couple of steps into the room, announcing my arrival with a loud, "Uncle! I have a plan of organi-" before I finally noticed the three- clearly not of noble blood- people standing in front of my uncle engaged in some sort of intense conversation. At my entrance they had paused and once I had stopped speaking, we all seemed to stare at each other for a few moments in silence. The only man of the three visitors was taller than me with a hard expression and a slightly weathered and tanned face which supported my theory of them being peasant-type people. The other two consisted of a weak-looking old woman and a younger women who could have been either a wife or sister to the tall man. After my gaze had snapped over the three strangers, it turned to my uncle, who I stared at for a while longer before asking, "Who are these people, Uncle?"

My uncle gave me a deceptive smile and said in a silky voice, "It is such a trifling matter that I thought it wasn't important enough to bother you with, your majesty."

My uncle had always had a slippery quality to him in every aspect that I had ever known him. I had simply attributed it to the fact that we had been in the war for several years and he had had to be cunning in order to stay alive. But at the same time I wondered whether maybe it was just how he worked, with all of his silky words and deceptive manners. The fact that he had been obviously hiding something from me was not helping my already-bad mood.

"Nevertheless, what is going on here?" I said in a more authoritive voice. My uncle didn't give much of a struggle and immediately said, "Very well. This is the Lynch family. They have refused to take the oath and they have been sent here so that I might figure out what to do with them."

I was surprised. First of all because someone had actually refused to take the oath and second of all because my uncle had thought that this was a trifling matter.

"This is hardly a small matter, uncle. You should have informed me straight away." My uncle didn't answer and I continued, "But, it doesn't matter now, you may leave us. I will hear them out."

My uncle looked affronted and started to protest, "Your majesty-"

I wasn't about to let my uncle protest my orders in front of other people- commoners or not. That would only give them the idea and that I was someone to be reasoned with and that my orders were not final. And if these were people who were soon going to be trying to ask me for their freedom, I was not about to look weak in front of them.

"Leave us." I said in a voice that ended the conversation and my uncle reluctantly left. I took his place where he had been standing behind his desk and regarded the strangers again.

"I am quite surprised to be having this conversation. I didn't think anyone would be silly enough to not take the oath."

Sensing that this was their opportunity to explain themselves, the man now spoke up, "Your majesty, my mother and I are happy to take the oath. It is my sister who will not take it. The royal official has accused us all of being traitors when it is only because my sister would not take the oa-"

"John, I'm sorr-" the girl, John's sister apparently, spoke up at this and seemingly tried to plead with him. A sharp look from me shut both her and her brother up. Feeling tired of the conversation already I sat down in my uncle's chair.

"I don't particularly wish to listen to your little sob-story, girl," I began in a bored and sarcastic voice, "about how your boyfriend was killed during the war by some Williams soldier and how now it feels like a betrayal to take the oath but since I literally will die of boredom until my Lady Karen Silverton returns, I might as well pass some time listening to your inane explanation so please, pray tell," I gave a gesture of my hands, "why do you not want to take the oath?"

The girl looked both taken aback and annoyed at being spoken to like that. I didn't care. What a stupid little girl she was if she didn't want to take the oath. Did she honestly think that spending the rest of her life in jail would be a better option that just saying a couple of words?

"I- I just…" The girl stumbled over her words and hesitated before I rolled my eyes and said sharply, "Get the point, please."

Another taken aback look from the girl and finally she managed to get a proper sentence out, "I do not believe in taking an oath which I do not believe in. I don't want to put my family in jail but I can't support the people who killed my father."

Regarding the girl in front of me I was, just for a moment, struck by a strange feeling of almost respect. Unfortunately for her, the feeling passed swiftly and I thought it was best for me to resolve the predicament quickly. It wasn't helping my boredom and so I saw no reason for me to have to sit through more complaints. Although, that said, this was the most interesting thing to have happened in the palace since Karen had left.

"Alright," I said holding up a hand to stop the girl from continuing to speak because it looked like she was about to, "Now the law states that anyone who does not take the oath will be sent to jail." I paused but I received no confirmation or answer. "Normally this law would apply to your whole family but clearly yours' seems to be of mixed opinions on the matter."

I stood up from the chair I had been standing on and decided to pace around the room as I warmed up my kingly diplomatic-ness. "So, I am going to be generous, as this is a rather rare case, and bend the law slightly so that it only applies to the individuals who will not take the oath and not your whole family."

The man, John, now decided to start defending his sister. Gosh, he really needed to figure out which side he was on and stick to it. "Please, your majesty, I can get her to take the oath. I swear, if you just allow me some time, I'll make her take it. Please!"

Rolling my eyes at him, I held up my one hand again to silence him and thankfully he did.

"Your sister has had more than enough opportunities to change her mind. Clearly, she's very set on not taking the oath. Are you not?" I asked her. She had her eyes trained firmly on the ground and took a while before she answered with a soft, and rather pathetic in my view, voice, "Yes."

I tried not to dwell on the fact that she had forgotten the 'your majesty'. It had sounded odd at first but now I had kind of gotten used to it. But nevertheless, I could hardly blame the poor girl because obviously she wasn't in her right mind. I addressed the John character again, "Well, there you have it. So, you and your…um-"

"Mother, your majesty." John stated.

"You and your mother are free to go once you recite the words to me now and your sister will be moved into the palace jail." I stopped by my uncle chair once more and looked expectantly to the tall man. He had a long, sad look at his sister and tried once more to persuade her, "Please. Anna, please just take the oath. Don't do this to us, to mother. Just come home with us. I can't leave you here by yourself. I have to look after this family and I can't do that if you're in prison." His pleading voice and the fact that he looked ready to break out into tears almost made me feel slightly bad for this small family. The girl, Anna, looked up at him with tears sliding down her cheeks. "I… I can't, John. I'm so sorry."

Clearly my throat loudly, I tried to move things along before I felt even more uncomfortable, "Right. Now, take the oath."

John looked once more at his sister before turning to me and saying hesitantly, "I, John Lynch, and my mother, pledge before you now, the witness of our oath, to cast aside our former allegiance, to whoever it may be and swear whole-heartedly to forevermore honour, serve and protect the royal Williams family and our king, his majesty King Lucas of Athlon."

I nodded my head as he finished and said, "Well then. I'll have my uncle return to take your signatures on the list of families who have pledged allegiance. You, on the other hand," I spoke to Anna, "will be taken down to the palace jail." Moving towards the door to find my uncle, I said, "You might as well use this time now to say your goodbyes. The palace jail doesn't have very long visiting hours and you, Anna, are likely to be there for a while."

Ignoring their pitiful expressions and the bow and curtsies that I received from them, I made my out of the room and found my uncle standing just outside the door, seemingly have listened in.

"Since I know that you've heard all of that, I don't have to explain what I need you to do, Uncle. When you finish up with those three you'll find me in my rooms, planning a hunt. I'm excessively bored."

Leaving my uncle before he could answer, I drifted back to my quarters with a small smile on my face, those three people had successfully, somewhat, diverted my attention for a good half an hour. Nothing compared to Karen, of course, but it was the best I could have hoped for without her there.