Veritas Ch. 01

Karoleah Gregory stood in the warm sunlight of her solar as the people below moved about at the lazy pace that was afforded on a hot day. With her eyes closed, she could almost remember a time when she was free to do what she wished; without the tyrannical husband that was the bane of her existence. The warm breeze in her hair as she hiked through the woods or rode her steed through the mountains; God, how she missed that.

Turning from the windows, her gossamer gown swirling around her legs, she walked towards her ladies, sinking down into a chair and picking up her embroidery. She use to hate embroidery, nothing more distasteful in her life then picking at threads and sewing so carefully. It seemed a waste of a perfectly good day when she could be outside, but now it kept her sane and grounded. It was her punishment for being so defiant and unladylike. She preferred armor and steel to cloth and thread, but there were those that ruled her life now that were determined to cure her of her unhealthy obsession.

How had her life ended up like this? It was question that she wondered a million times a day, every time the needle disappeared into the fabric with a new stitch, and the countless hours she was made to suffer in the bed of a man that she didn't love. This life wasn't her own and it was a life that she wouldn't wish upon the very worst of her enemies. She was like the caged birds that hung near the windows, chirping cheerfully even though they too were trapped and broken.

She glanced up from the knot she was working on as her husband stormed through the room, his black mood sending shivers down her spine as her ladies exchanged looks between themselves, whispering behind their hands as to what he was in a foul mood for. Karoleah stood, placing the hoop on her chair, and walked towards her bedchambers, pausing just outside the door as she heard him yelling his anger at nothing, tossing items around the room and destroying the fine furniture that their wedding guests had bestowed on them.

She reached out a hand to the ornate gold handle of the chamber door and paused, unsure of whether she should enter. She could still feel the bruises upon her skin from his treatment earlier, but something told her that this was the day that she could finally garner information about what she really wanted. With a deep sigh to center herself, she pushed forward, entering the chambers and readying for the onslaught that awaited her.

He had stopped when she entered, his dark eyes turning towards her with a look of disgust and lust. He took in the way that her moss green eyes stared at him, eyes that weren't as dead as he would have liked them to be. They'd been married for three years, but it had been more then enough time to beat every remaining petulant thought out of her until she coward from his raised hand.

"Milord." She murmured as she bowed respectfully to him before she moved across the room and opening the windows to the cool breeze that came off the nearby mountains.

She was perfect, he had to admit. Her pale skin held a slight hint of blue that alluded to her heritage and pedigree. He had to give her father one thing: he certainly knew what he was doing when he picked that slut whore of a second wife. Her long black hair was a mirror image to her mother's and she kept it piled atop of her head in the latest fashion of court; a far cry from the boyish cut and braids that she'd sported when he'd drug her back to court after tracking the renegades to the abandoned villages in the East.

"It has come to my knowledge that you know where they are," the general said as he circled the room behind her, watching as her skin literally crawled beneath her gown and she turned to face him. "And if you do not, then you know where they are heading."

"Gardner, I made you a deal. You and my Uncle would go back on your word?" She asked him with a slightly innocent look on her face that enraged him.

His laughter sent a chill through her body, her skin turning cold even in the heat of the day as he gave her a wolfish grin. "You mistake me for a better man, wife."

"Perhaps I do, Gardner Hawthorne. Perhaps I expect someone who's the commander of a king's army to keep his promise to the king's people." She stared at him with a look as hard as steel as he began to laugh again, his battle scarred face grotesque with a bitter smile.

"My dear, dear wife, a king's people do not rebel against him. You were lucky that he allowed you back into his good graces. He could have let you hang for your treason." A hand reached out and brushed against her cheek as she slunk away, her skin burning at his touch.

Gardner Hawthorne had once been handsome, with rugged good looks that were marred in his youth by an assassins blade that had somehow failed to kill him. Most said that he lost his mind on that day and that insanity only add more cruel lines to his already weathered appearance. A pension for black completed the illusion that wasn't too far from the truth.

"Treason? I'm not the one who has committed treason." She rounded on her husband, her anger turning her skin red as she shoved him hard in the chest. "A pretender sits upon MY throne and you wish to talk about treason. My uncle should be the one to hang."

A blinding blow came out of nowhere, her world spinning as she found herself on the floor among the broken wood of a chair with her husband on top of her with a crushing hand against her throat. "You would do well to hold your tongue, Princess, before it is ripped from you." He hissed in her face as his golden hair fell into his eyes, an impatient jerk of his head flinging it from his view as angry black eyes glared down at her.

She struggled against his hold, her breath gone from her lungs as she clawed at his hand, her eyes pleading with him to let her breathe. Her nails were of no use, a minor hindrance to him when he was in this state, and they would only serve to get her punished later on. As a fuzzy blackness set upon her, he let go slightly, giving her a delicious reprieve of air before it was taken cruelly away once more.

Taking her ring hand in his, he shoved the heavy golden band with his signet upon it into her face, making sure that she got a good look at it as if she could ever forget the cumbersome item. "This symbol means that you must obey me, my dear, and I am asking you KINDLY for the last time to tell me where they are!" His voice was a roar above her as spittle flew into her face and she shook her head yes in a bid to simply breathe.

As he let her throat go, she sucked in air with a gasping cough, her eyes rolling about her head as she tried to clear her vision. When he impatiently slapped her face, she looked at him with a look of fear mixed with hatred and spat out the name of a town that was among those that had been abandoned.

"Was that so hard?" He asked as he began to rip the dress from her body, his hardness already pressing against her thighs as she tried to push him off. When she started to scream, he grinned that wolfish grin once more before he took what was rightfully his. The king had given her to him as a spoil of war, a reward for all of his hard work in the senseless fighting against the traitors, and he enjoyed it very much when she screamed. It was as if he was punishing all of those that fought against him when he hurt their precious princess. It was justice served.

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Hours later when he finally left, Karoleah sat silently sobbing in the middle of her chambers. Her skin was bruised and cut from his attentions and even if she scrubbed in a hot tub for hours, she'd never get his feel off her skin. She hated Gardner with a passion and dreamed of the day that she would run him through with a sword. It seemed a punishment too good for him.

Pulling her battered body off the floor, she moved silently to her small wardrobe and pulled open the door, choosing yet another flimsy creation that she abhorred. When she'd asked for sturdy fabrics from the seamstress, she was laughed at and told that the women at court dressed much differently from those that were still in the outlands. Pulling it over her battered skin, she had to fight back tears, every inch of her wanting to scream until she was hoarse and then go absolutely insane. It would serve them all if she did, she thought as she furiously scrubbed at the hot tears as they coursed down her cheeks.

Oh, how she wished she could take off that cursed wedding band and throw it out the window. The one time she had, Gardner had broken her fingers to teach her a lesson. When they were set and healed, he placed the band back upon her hand and told her that if she took it off again, he'd simply take the hand off.

Stepping from the chambers, she noticed that her ladies were gone and it was nearing dusk. Enough time to disappear within the castle walls before she was noticed missing at the evening meal. Well, that is unless they all got drunk as they were want to do and it turned into an evening of cruel games and even crueler jest. After three years, she supposed that she should be numb to it all, but it still made her heart weep for those that were the center of their attention. Stepping through the halls, she kept her head lowered and refused to look the guards in the eye, knowing that if she did, it would get back to her husband.

She thought of times past; her father and mother, her brothers, her guardian, and the man that she truly loved. All dead. Hope was quickly following and soon it would be nothing but ashes in the ground as they all were. Her father was a good man and a strong ruler, but he'd been blinded by love. Her mother was a lady, high born and bred with a bewitching nature about her that had ensnared his heart after the death of his first wife. He'd married first for duty and after four sons he married once more for love. It had been a glorious time in the kingdom, peaceful and happy; that was until she was born. Then everything changed...

Running into something solid, she was jarred from her thoughts, a loud thud bringing her attentions to the floor as she stared at the weather worn cover of a book that she thought had been lost. Glancing from the floor, she got a look at the young advisor that stammered at her in wide eyed horror.

"Milady, I am sorry. Are you alright? I wasn't watching where I was going."

Gerald stared in horror as the Princess said nothing but kneel onto the floor and lifted the book into her arms, cradling it close as if it were something precious. "Where did you get this?" Were the only words that met his ears as she traced her fingers over the cover and pressed her nose to the pages, taking in the scent as if trying to remember the events that were within its pages.

"The library, your highness. It's been there for nearly two years now." He was startled when she looked at him with those green eyes, a look of horror and understanding crossing her fine features.

If the book had been there for that long, she thought, that could only mean... "The king's library? Take me there." She didn't give him a chance to protest, urging him on with a panicked look that he took pity on and immediately took her into the deserted library, the guard at the door only giving them a cursory glance before admitting them.

"It was here on this shelf," he pointed out to her, showing her where the book had been found. He watched as she looked over the shelf, still clinging to the book as she read the titles that were around it. "I have to tell you, your majesty, that your story touched me."

Karoleah ignored him, a dread filling her as she recognized the other titles around it, her hand reaching out to trace over the titles that she'd know well during her time on the run. "Oh, Wilkie." She murmured to herself as she fought back tears as she thought of her dear friend who would have given his life to save those books. He always marked his with a W on the spine and there it was, staring at her in gold leaf that sparkled in the light. "Who brings these books here?"

"One of the eunuchs. He's illiterate. He just places them in groups of how they're given to him. I doubt that anyone knows it's here. This kingdom does not give much credit to men of learning nor to simple reading." Gerald tried to explain as he watched the Princess place the book gently upon a table and open it to the first page, her eyes traveling over her own handwriting as a small smile graced her face. "It truly did give me hope."

She glanced up at the advisor's face, a sad look overtaking her. "It was nothing but youthful dreaming. Veritas is dead and so is what I was trying to do. There's no sense in living in the past any longer. The people do not wish for change." She was trying to be diplomatic about everything, but he could see that there was one part of her that believed still. She was wounded and raw, quickly becoming disillusioned with life, but it was still there.

Glancing towards the door and making sure that the guard was not listening, Gerald leaned forward and whispered across the table to her. "Milady, not all the people want what the King professes. There are those out there that still fight. Your husband still hunts them but they are gaining ground in this battle."

Karoleah listened to his words and was shocked. She was sure that they would have given up when all was lost, but it seemed like their will to survive was greater then any one person. She had set Wilkie about the task of writing down their crusade and she wondered, after all this time, how it had ended.

Flipping carefully to the back of the book, she look at the neat and sprawling script and read the words. Gerald murmured the back to her, knowing them by heart after reading it so many times.

"As their heart was cut away, they gave a mournful cry to the heavens, swearing that goodness would prevail. Little did they know that the dark general had other plans and a team was sent to rid the land of the last of Veritas. All were slaughtered. Children killed. Mothers raped and murdered. Men forced to watch until they too were granted merciful death."

Tears were pouring freely over her cheeks as she read that, sobbing openly at what a fool she'd been to accept their offer of peace in return that her people would be left alone. If it took a hundred years, she would make sure that her husband and her uncle paid for what they had done to those that she loved.

A hand cupped her chin and lifted her tear stained face towards the light. Kind brown eyes stared into hers and he murmured what was left on the page.

"All but two."

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