The Treasure Part One

Hello, everyone! I’m back, with more of my tales! This one is called The Treasure. It was the first of my Tales of the Great King stories. I hope you like it!

Part One

Melody rushed through the dark castle halls, desperate to get back to the outside world. She, unlike many of the other castle servants, was not afraid of what lay outside, she was only afraid of what lay inside the castle. Rather who lived inside the castle. That was The Voice. Harsh and cruel, it belonged to the lord of the land. She feared it, and hated it. She never said this out loud. She did her best not to let it be known that she hated The Voice. To do so would mean trial before the Wraith Court, a court made up of The Voice’s greatest servants. For a servant like her, appearing before that court would likely mean a quick death, or worse, torture in the deepest, darkest dungeons, from which none except The Voice’s most trusted servants returned alive. The Voice, that was Melody’s name for him. To her, he was little more than a voice and a dark presence hovering above her, waiting to pounce. She had never seen him. The only ones who had were the Wraiths, a group of his closest, most trusted, and cruelest servants and knights. Melody shivered at the thought of them. They were almost as evil as The Voice, and she was so afraid of them!

            Melody spotted the door to the outside world. Gathering her cloak around her, she rushed outside and to a grove of beech trees. This was her favorite place in the world. Here, she could sit and daydream about a better life, a life where she had not been pressed into service when she was seven, a life where she knew who and where her father was, a life where she, her father, and her mother lived together far away from The Voice. She could think there too. There, in her special grove, Melody could think of her life without getting sad or angry. Today, she thought about how much she hated being afraid, and how everyone was afraid of The Voice. She remembered how when the housekeeper was mad at her, she’d say “Work harder, you lazy dog, or I’ll tell the lord of the land about you!” The fear of The Voice was always creating more work for her and the other servants. Except for Luke, she corrected herself. Luke, the newest servant, didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. She giggled to herself. Luke was also incredibly handsome! With longish golden-brown hair and blue-gray eyes, not to mention a fairly athletic build, Luke looked like a prince, or that’s what Melody thought, anyway. He was kind too, Melody thought, fondly. She had seen him help others at the risk of getting punished himself. Suddenly, a bell clanged at the castle, breaking Melody out of her thoughts. She rushed back to the castle, knowing that if she didn’t get back to work quickly, well, she could just say goodbye to her supper.

Well? What did you think? Please comment and tell me! I’d love to know!

-Sarah