The cushioning of Princess Daniela's fall was a horrific, squelching sound of flesh impacting decomposing flesh. Instantly, her body was coated in a warm, sickening mixture of blood and the vile byproducts of decay. It was all so slimy and gelatinous, a truly horrific and disgusting shock to her senses. Beetles and maggots, fat and slow, crawled all over the bodies, and she felt their horrifying, cold slither begin on her own skin. Daniela scrambled to her feet, instinctively trying to brush off the writhing insects and the clinging putrefaction. Looking up, she saw no hole in the ground; the stone floor had simply liquefied beneath her to let her through.
The room was a suffocating darkness, barely pierced by any true light. There were no windows, only a large, black hearth that seemed to blaze with an unnatural, hungry light.
A voice cut through the air, raspy and excited, "You're not dead!"
Whipping around, Daniela saw a man wearing a mask that covered his entire face.
Large glass eye-holes revealed sockets that looked unnervingly empty. The man tilted his head and leaned forward, his gaze fixed on her.
"Very much alive!" Daniela's voice was a hard, unyielding stone in the fetid air.
"We don't get them as fresh as you down here!" His voice was eerily calm, yet a manic excitement seemed to vibrate beneath it. The man, Igor, was thrilled. It had been a long time since he'd seen a specimen so fresh—ripe for the taking. Her very presence meant they had been given an exceptional toy to play with.
Daniela immediately sensed that something was deeply wrong with him. He was clearly a creature of this filth. The overpowering stench of rot and waste down here instantly worked her gag reflex. Before she could even respond, a wave of uncontrollable nausea forced her to vomit violently onto the very bodies that had broken her fall. Lifting the hem of her soiled dress, she stumbled a few steps away from the fresh mess. As she moved, she noticed she recognized one of the women beneath her. It was Carlita.
Daniela didn't know her well and wasn't even sure when she had died, but here she was, her decomposing face mere inches from Daniela's toes.
"The line is quite thick between life and death. And I am obviously alive. And lost! How do I leave here?!" Daniela's voice was like steel, even as her mouth tasted of bile and her skin was covered in crawling insects and decaying flesh. She refused to wither. She had just survived her nightmare; some bugs and a creep would not make her waiver now.
Igor took a few cursory steps toward her, the distance still great enough that he couldn't simply touch her. "You know," he said, pulling off his headgear to reveal his true face. His skin was sagging and a sick gray, as if all elasticity was gone. His eye sockets were empty, swirling with a grayish-white smoke. His hair was long and scraggly, with some areas completely bald and smooth. His teeth were impossibly sharp, like those of a shark, and his lips were an unnaturally bright, impossible red, as if he had smeared them with garish lipstick. "That line is not as thick as you think it would be. It's very, very thin. A little push here and there, and you're with me." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "All of you princesses end up with me. I am your true Prince."
Daniela felt she had had enough. This world was really starting to try her patience.
Igor watched in fascination as Daniela's emerald-green eyes began to glow, her irises taking on a strange, intense luminescence.
As he tried to swallow, he noticed his throat felt suddenly constricted, as if an unseen garrote was tightening around his windpipe. He began to gasp, clawing frantically at his own throat, trying to force air into his lungs, but he could feel nothing.
Daniela stared at him, actively wishing she could ring his neck, compress his breathing, and watch as he struggled for his life. And before her very eyes, he started doing exactly that, gasping frantically and clawing at his throat.
She looked back up toward the dark ceiling. She recalled the moment right before she fell through the floor, when she had desperately wished to sink through the stone to get away from Eric. And then she ended up here. She had wished for this man to choke, and he was. She released the thought, instead focusing on him merely standing there as he once was. As if a spell had been abruptly broken, Igor dropped to his knees, coughing violently.
Daniela's once thin, hard lips began to curl into a slow, satisfied smile. She could access the power inside of her. This was excellent! She had enemies, and they were all about to understand her wrath.
"I did not mean to—" he gasped, struggling to collect himself, still kneeling on the floor amidst the bodies. "The exit is just this way. The door's tricky, but if you push with force it will open." He then lay down next to the dead princesses on the ground, the corpses seemingly comforting him.
"You're a necromancer, right?" Daniela asked, her voice calm now.
"Yes!"
"What do you do with the bodies?" She had wondered what happened to the dead princesses—where they buried them. But here they all were with this necromancer, strewn all over the floor like heaps of trash.
"The bodies are converted to energy. Raw, wild energy that can be used to power kingdoms." He didn't bother hiding anything. If she survived, she would know about it soon enough. And if she died, well, she would be his new favorite prize.
"Interesting." With that, Daniela walked past him, heading toward the large, ornate doors he had indicated. She pushed them open with a firm shove, just as he had directed. On the other side, she saw guards standing in a beautiful, well-lit hallway. You would never know that just beyond the door she had exited was a complete horror scene. The guards looked at her in complete shock; she was covered in death, and her eyes were firm and furious.
"How do I get to the princess bathing chamber?" Daniela demanded of the guards.
The guards knew she was the princess most likely to be married by Prince Jasper, but they had no idea how she had made it into the necromancy's area. They would certainly have to report this.
"Speak or point! I do not care. But if you stand there for one more second—"
Daniela's voice was hard and crisp. She was not in the mood to be played with.
"It is quite far from here, Princess. I will escort you. Follow me." Graham said, the guard beginning to lead the princess away from the necromancy chamber. It was a long walk, nearly thirty minutes. The castle was huge, and the necromancers' area was specifically far away from the rest of the palace so incidents like this would never happen. As they reached near the bathing chambers, Daniela saw her maids. All three of them looked on edge. When they saw her, they began to move toward her, only to stop dead.
Lola's eyes rolled back into her head before she dropped to the ground. The guard next to her was quick to catch her before gently laying her on the ground. He bowed quickly to Daniela before walking away.
Josephine swallowed hard and tried not to breathe through her nose as she stared at Daniela. Her smile was strained and awkward. "Princess, my God, how...!" She gagged, taking a strong step backward.
Ida held her fist to her mouth, her stomach making gurgling noises as if she, too, would soon begin to retch. She couldn't help it. Ida turned away, vomiting on the polished tiles, careful not to get her mess on the carpet, as it would be far harder to clean.
Daniela simply walked past her three maids, heading for the bathing chamber.
The bathing chamber was a vast, elegant room supported by large, smooth stone pillars. The bathing water was deep enough to reach one's neck. The ceiling was entirely glass, allowing the sun to illuminate the entire space in a soft, warm light. In the center was one massive main bathtub, and on either side of it were smaller, individual bathing areas. A servant with fire magic stood at the edge, constantly keeping the bathing water warm, while a water mage consistently clearing out any impurities.
Daniela didn't want to contaminate the bigger pool. She went to the first small bathing area on the left side, rapidly stripping off all her soiled clothes before getting in. She dunked her head under the water, furiously trying to rinse off as much of the clinging skin and blood as possible. As she stepped out of that first small pool, she noticed the floating bugs and the pieces of flesh still left behind. She immediately moved to the second smaller tub on the right side and did the same. This time, there were very few bugs, and the water was only discolored by the remaining blood on her skin.
Getting into the large central pool, the hot water soothed her skin as she made her way over to one of the edges. She grabbed the various soaps and began to scrub her body incessantly. Normally, it was something her maids would do, but they were obviously busy vomiting or passing out. They were truly useless. It didn't make sense that they were so squeamish; this world was covered in blood and pus. They should be used to it by now.
Once she had scrubbed her skin raw, she leaned against the side of the bathing chamber, letting the heat soak into her. She touched her chest; it felt bare without Jasper's pendant, the necklace she had worn or kept on her person since the first day she arrived. She was so angry that she had lost it. Beyond its supposed protection, it was very pretty.
A group of ten princesses made their way into the bathing chamber. They wrinkled their noses—the room smelled subtly odd—but they noticed Daniela at the furthest end, her eyes closed, her head tipped back.
Bethany's eyes widened as she realized Daniela wasn't wearing the black-jeweled necklace she always wore, the one that was an obvious gift from Jasper and supposedly offered her a shield. "She's not wearing her necklace?" Bethany whispered to the girls, a spark of malicious glee in her eyes.
"Do you think she can hold her breath for long?" Willa smirked, her intent pure evil.
Bethany and the other water conjurers used their ability to rapidly circle Daniela in a massive column of water before pressing it down, holding her firmly in its grasp beneath the surface. Willa helped by increasing the surface tension and pressure of the water, making the watery barrier impenetrable for Daniela to rise.
As the girls all smiled and giggled, feeling triumphant, they noticed steam begin to rise from the water directly around where Daniela was submerged. Suddenly, an explosion erupted, throwing them all backward. Some of them slammed violently against the stone pillars and walls, while others just crashed against the closed oak doors.
Daniela's eyes blazed with fury. A shimmer of brilliant green light disappeared from around her, her eyes glowing with the intensity of her palpable anger. It had not been a good day, and this was an even worse moment to try her patience.
"How?" one princess cried out, cradling her bleeding head against a stone column.
"I thought you didn't have the necklace!" another spoke, noticing that her leg looked to be broken from the impact.
"Shut up. Do not speak a word, do not move an inch." Her words were their own, separate explosion of force. The women felt their bodies instantly stiffen and their lips seal. It was as if Daniela's words weren't an outburst, but a physical spell, stopping them from speaking or moving.
They felt a wave of complete, crushing domination roll over them, a terrifying sense of being utterly overpowered. They couldn't understand it. She was supposed to be a cripple, the weak sister. Was she not wearing the pendant that supposedly contained all her power?
"She's hiding it," Bethany thought frantically, her mind racing against the binding spell. "She's been hiding her power all this time! She must be just as formidable as her Sun-wielding sister, perhaps even more so with this unique ability!"
"Are you all so stupid? I am the last princess you want to bother." Her eyes blazed as she moved forward, her large breasts no longer hidden beneath the water as she glared down at the other women. Daniela took a slow, deliberate step out of the large pool, the water sheeting off her skin. She walked slowly, casually, stepping over the prone bodies of Willa and Bethany as though they were minor obstacles on the floor. "Me, of all people! I have done you all a great favor.
There is unprecedented peace between princesses as you all, for some silly reason, focus on me. I'm not a prince! There is no reason to bother me." Daniela paused, her shoulders slumping slightly, an expression of profound, irritated disappointment settling on her features. She rubbed her temples with a weary sigh, like a parent dealing with spectacularly foolish children. "The only time any of you should speak to me is to ask for advice. To wonder how I could help. Because I am obviously not looking at the other princes." Daniela smoothed her wild, wet hair back until the dark green strands were slicked back against her head, her movements slow and meticulous. She walked toward a pile of discarded towels, picking one up and inspecting it for lint with an air of clinical boredom. "I know the princes better than the rest of you, and still you bother me with feeble female nonsense. It's as if all of you want to die. Have none of you realized that there are only five princes left and under sixty princesses? Only five women will leave a Queen. Do the rest of you want to leave dead?" She shook her head, a soft, disheartened 'tsk' escaping her lips as she began to slowly pat her body dry. "Make a deal with each other! Install room for six Queens. Just make deals. The ones of you that obviously will not end up being a queen—make a deal to back off, so you can end up a Lord's wife, a wealthy merchant's wife, whatever it is. At least you're alive and living well. Yet here you are, playing your little tricks. You're so lucky I'm kind."
She stepped fully out of the water, her movements perfectly composed. Daniela looked down at them as they stared back up at her, all of them still laying on the floor, their lips sealed together, their bodies as stiff as boards.
"You're so young." Daniela sighed, turning up her lip before grabbing a nearby plush robe. Securing its rope, she walked away, her steps echoing in the suddenly silent chamber. Her influence ceased the second she was past the doorway.
The princesses gasped, clutching their chests. Their injuries felt as if they were aching more as they were finally able to move. All of them exchanged looks as they stared after Daniela.
"What was that?" Bethany asked, pressing her hand against her open wound, trying to stop the flow of blood.
"The kindness of a Queen." Another princess murmured. "She is right, there are only five more Queens."
Very few of them cared about what Daniela had actually done to them. Her words had sunk deep, adding a clarity they hadn't possessed before. It was time to be honest with themselves. Not everyone could be a queen, but everyone could survive.
Author's note:
When I was writing about the bugs at the beginning of this chapter. I was so freaked out. I was picturing it in my mind it was so disgusting. It's why it's such a short little bit. Because I just can't. It was so gross. Even imagining it I felt like I was going to gag. Hope you like the chapter!