The River of Reflections

The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished.

We searched for hours, only a few men, trusted woodsmen and hunters who knew the area well.

Of course, if word got out into the city that beloved Queen Anna was missing, there would be chaos, and no real search could be performed.

It fell to me to lead the men on the search, me being the Queen's personal Huntsman.

I don't dare tell this tale to just anyone, and I must keep it in my heart.

We found her naked by the river, drenched, dirty, shivering. I veiled her to protect her honor with my own personal cloak.

Terror grew in my mind as I heard the hysterical yet whispered ramblings coming from my Queen. She spoke in half-understood words, mixed with nonsense sounds and jibberings.

Shredded pieces of leaves stuck in her once pristine hair. The elaborate braids and pins were missing, the dark locks shorn to her shoulders.

She had only been gone a few hours!

What had happened to my Queen?

At her chambers, I was forced to relinquish Her Majesty to her maids, who quickly ushered her into her bathing room, almost slamming the door before me.

Constantine, the Steward, took me aside and admonished me in hurried tones to keep my silence.

I bristled at the suggestion of my possible disloyalty, but nodded my head curtly, nonetheless.

I was then utterly dismissed.

...

I just sat by the fire in the banquet hall, the fire low, and only a single cleaning servant and a musky dog for company.

There were few lanterns lit, it being the heart of the night.

The servant was beginning to snore, his head cradled in his arm, his back to the puttering flame.

I would be surprised if the fire didn't go out tonight.

I fed the fire small sticks and pinecones from the nearby bin. It wouldn't harm me to let the old man have his rest while I tended the fire for him.

I was starting to nod off myself, when the biggest surprise of my life nearly set my heart into its last roaring pulse.

Against all belief, I was staggered to see who entered the main hall, wrapped in a course horse blanket.

Escorted by her own son, the Younger Prince, was the Queen! She was shivering with cold, but was fully dressed, and a long dark lock wisped away from the confines of the blanket next to her cheek.

I stayed in the shadows, too alarmed to think or move.

If this was the True Queen on the arm of the Prince, who was the woman I had brought to her chambers much earlier in the day?

The Younger Prince eased Anna into a chair next to the fire, and then they both acknowledged me, as I finally came to my senses and nodded briefly to the Royal pair.

I was a close friend to My Lady. So I was not dismissed as she began telling her son of her ordeal.

The Queen spoke quietly, as not to wake the night servant sleeping on the floor. I continued to feed the flames, keeping a soft light and warmth to combat the dark of night.

Anna wove a tale so absurd I may not have believed it had I not seen the backwards flowing river, and her double, for myself.

There is a place, a twin of our world.

Yet it is utterly different, with strange metal towers and noise and other things you only see in nightmares.

She had been sitting quietly at the edge of the river, looking at her own reflection, when suddenly it started to change, looking much like her, but much different, too.

Somehow, Anna and her twin had traded places, each emerging into the other's world.

Anna had spent the day hiding, running, lest she be taken captive by these strange people from the other side. When the day turned to dusk, the Queen began to lose hope. She stared into the river once more, and amazingly saw her twin's face again, as her maids got the false queen prepared for a bath.

They were both returned miraculously into their proper worlds.

The Queen left to her chambers, and me alone with the mutt and the old sleeping servant to ponder her strange story.

Did I believe her? Yes, of course.

I am loyal to my Queen.