The Servant, the Student, and the Slave

Perfect balance. The perfect balance between the sun and the moon. The fire and the ice. Perfect. Only one day of the year is perfect. The Fortune Solstice. Gather around and let me tell you about the day when everything changed.

Most people don’t celebrate the Solstice's. Except for us Keepers. We celebrate the Heir of the Sun on the Summer Solstice, for it is the longest day of the year. We also celebrate the Heir of the Moon on the Winter Solstice, for it is the longest night of the year. There is another Solstice that many people don’t care for, or have never heard of. It’s called the Fortune Solstice. It has been measured in as many ways as possible. It is the most perfect day of the year. There are exactly, 12.00.00 hours during the day and the same for the night. A long time ago, the Keepers overthrew the king. Shortly afterwards, our society crashed. Riots and mobs broke out. No one was safe.

A boy named Ben Keegan, found a rare geode. The inside was a rainbow-like sapphire. Ben shared his artifact with the world,but they only saw it as a way of monarchy. The Gem could sense good hearted people. Those people would become the Heir of the Fortune Solstice. The Gem does the same on the Winter Solstice, and the Summer Solstice. Soon after the Sapphire was found, mountains of rock formed around the kingdom, making it a valley. No one ever saw the Keepers again. Poor Ben was taken from his home and forced to be the Keeper of the Stone. They named him Krome. Ever since, the Gem has always picked the Heirs six days prior to the Solstice. Once a new Heir is picked, the other is forced out of the Palace of Quartz and Stone, and sometimes even executed.

****

The Fortune Solstice was on the way. Flowers of white, cyan, and pink, were strung up above the streets. It was time for the Choosing of the Stone. Krome, in front of the entire kingdom, consulted the Stone. The Choosing of the Stone is a magnificent light show. The color the stone produces is like sun shining though crystals. The entire Kingdom held there breath, waiting for the show, but they held it for a long time. Finally with a sudden exhale from everyone in the crowd, the Stone stood silent. It had not chosen. Recently, the kingdom was becoming more polluted with corruption. There weren’t many good hearted people left. As the Sun and Moon Heir’s tried to calm the crowd, Krome ran inside with the stone. At the end of the day, the Stone still hadn’t chosen. If it didn’t choose soon, things would get real ugly,

real quick.

****

Everyone treats us like animals. They whip us like animals. They sell us like animals. They even breed us like animals. Slaves. It doesn’t matter what you look like or your origins. As long as you have no money, you are sold. You become the inventory. Harvesting is a pain. Although I come from a long line of farmers, it still wears you out. The endless rows of grapevines aren’t gonna harvest themselves. As I pick the berries, there rough stems cut into my fingers and palms. The men behind me, sit in the shade and drink their oldest, finest, wine from their fancy glasses. It makes my blood boil. If I pause or even slow down, crack goes the whip. They don’t do full lashings, only nips. From my point of view there worse.

They crack the whip and it barely cuts my skin, but it still pierces it. The sticky blood only makes me more hot out in the sun. Then the salt from my sweat, scars them and makes them burn.

Today I had to work extra hard. The Fortune Solstice was coming up soon. Only yesterday, the Stone grew faulty and never chose anyone. I think that Krome is doing it on purpose. As I finished my row, I hauled the basket to the storehouse so it could be turned into wine. A smaller girl named Maya, was having trouble breathing. I set my basket down and ran to her aid. The sweat on her forehead seemed to sizzle. She was having a heatstroke. I picked her up and ran as far as my chains could let me. She had no chains for she could never make it out of the fields. The Watchers ran after me. I ran to the small pond. It was in the shade. I sat her down and poured water over her. She was improving by the time the Watchers arrived. They tore me away from her. She was okay for now. I didn’t even resist as they dragged me. She was put away to rest a little longer. Only a little. The two Watchers through me down and whipped me. Slowly they stopped. A light came down from the clouds and swirled around me. Bright golds and whites. It wasn’t long until the guards came.

****

Being a Slave can mean many things. For me, it means I’m bound to one person in servitude till the day I die. A very cruel man he is. His favorite thing to do is hunt. Especially at night. It makes him feel like a “real predator”. He is my Stepfather. My mother married him because he had a lot of money and she thought I would have a good future with him. Once he found out that she had no money, he killed her. No one but me knows that he was the one to kill her. That’s why I’m still with him. That’s why I have scars along my arms. When he hunts it reminds me of the night he killed her. She ran through the forest. I watched from the door as he pulled back the string of his bow. She dropped like a stone. I was too scared and too little to do anything. Now here I am. His dog. My job is to do whatever he wishes. For now, I have to retrieve his kill. It’s a horrible task. Sometimes the animal isn’t killed fully so I have to finish it off. The blood soaks my pants and stains my hands. Worst of all, it reeks. We were chasing a herd of deer. I was in my ragged shirt and hunting jeans. My stepfather drew back his string. The night of her death flashed in my mind. I hardly noticed the arrow as it flew through the air. He missed. He slapped me up the back of my head.

“Are you deaf? I said go retrieve the arrow you maggot.”

I nodded quickly and ran to retrieve it.

“Kathleen do this, Kathleen do that,”

I grumbled under my breath. It was buried in the swampy mud. I tugged on it a few times. Finally it came loose. Then I heard a grunt. I looked up. A deer, standing not three feet away from me. Right by her side was a fawn. She must have been born a week ago. I marveled at the sight. Suddenly the hair on my arms stood up. An arrow was whistling through the air, straight for the fawn. Without thinking I ran forward and blocked the baby. My entire side burst into flame. The arrow dug itself into my shoulder blade. I yelped. The doe and fawn took off into the trees. He walked through the tall, weedy, grass to inspect his kill. All he found was his worthless stepdaughter with the arrow sticking out of her shoulder. He struck me across the face and to the ground.

”Damn woman! Scaring my kill! You better get back to the house before I drag you there.”

He was mad. I stood up and managed to run ahead a few feet. When I got to the house, the doors were locked and the lights were off. He passed me a little ways back but this was my punishment. I laid on the porch step with the arrow burning in my shoulder. As I drifted into a sleep I might not wake up from, a trail of light glittering all shades of blue, came streaming out of the sky and surrounded me. I feel asleep before I could see more.

****

“Miss. Kingmen, it’s time for your piano lesson’s.”

Andrew called. Lesson’s. I hate lesson’s. All day and all night it’s nothing but lesson’s. My parents want me to be the best at everything. I just turned eighteen and they would marry me off to some other rich family. All anyone ever cares about is money. Anyone who is considered poor is sold as a slave. I groaned. It was three days till the Fortune Solstice. The riots I heard the night before still gave me chills. The Stone had not picked anyone. What did it mean?

“Miss. Kingmen!”

Snapped Andrew. I whirled around from the windows where I had been standing. He was taping his foot impatiently. He had to drag me into the study for lessons. I groaned. I started playing the symphony perfectly like always. Suddenly a small crowd of Slaves were being forced down the street. They were all kids. When Andrew left to go retrieve a letter at the door, I grabbed my small piano and ran outside. The kids were left in an alley as the woman walked inside a tavern. I walked up to them. They were startled and cowered behind one another. I sat down on the step of an old building. I held out my hand. A little boy, with chains of iron, shuffled forward. I taught him a simple song on the piano. He smiled. It made me feel wonderful. I played a beautiful piece for them. They all smiled. I was there with them for about an hour. The woman still hadn’t come out yet. They were starting to get hungry. I went into the market for a few moments and came back with bread and cheese. They devoured it. As they ate the woman came out of the tavern, drunk.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She yelled. She grabbed their chains and yanked them away from me. My heart dropped into a pool of anger. Before I could react and before she could do anything else, a messenger ran down the streets crying,

“A NEW MOON HEIR HAS BEEN CHOSEN! THE STONE IS BREAKING!”

The streets were full of people in full panic mode. I was swept up in the crowd of people. Before I could break the current, a snake of white and pink light, came twirling out of the sky and seemed to encase me. Others around me screamed. I almost screamed myself. Then five bulky guards came running towards me.

****

When I woke up, I was in a big bed. It’s clean white covers were cool against my skin. I was dressed in white clothes that were much like the bed spread. The room around me was big and luxurious. My back didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I stood up and walked into the big bathroom. As I passed the mirror I noticed something. In the middle of my forehead, was a sun. It was gold and white and had little swirls encasing it. I blinked. It was the symbol of the Sun Heir. I looked closely at the floor. It was a gray stone with glittering white veins. I was in the Palace of Quartz and Stone. What happened to Maya? What was I doing here? I threw open my doors. Before I took a step out of my room, a servant was frozen in a position of knocking. He blinked and straightened up.

“Master Daniels, I’m here to escort you to the main room.”

I stepped around him and said,

” Okay. Please, escort me.”

The servant gave me a nod then walked ahead toward big double doors. When I entered the room, two girls sat on the floor with their legs crossed. I had never seen either of them before. In front of them were two men. One of them I recognized as Krome. I sat to the right of the taller girl. She had an hourglass pouring pink sand on her forehead. The pink sand swirled around the hourglass. The smaller girl next to her, bore a blue moon with glittering swirls of stars. I looked questioningly at Krome. He nodded slightly then said,

” Everything the Sapphire does is not without purpose. There is a reason it chose new Heirs.” The other man scoffed.

” Damn things broken. I don’t see why I can’t be king and we could end all of this.”

Krome scowled at him.

“ Gatrue, be serious. These are the children of the future. You can’t defy the Sapphire.” Gatrue thrusted finger at the small girl.

“You girl. State your name,age,and your purpose.”

The girl blinked but answered,

” I’m Kathleen Rink. I’m seventeen. I’ll turn eighteen in five months. When my mother… died.. I became a servant to my stepfather, Marrow Rink.”

Gatrue didn’t waste a moment. He pointed at the taller girl.

“Oh! Um. My name is Ayesha Kingmen. I just turned eighteen. My parents are Mabel and James Kingmen. I’m more of a student than a daughter though.”

She bowed her head slightly. Gatrue then thrusted his finger at me.

“Um.. I’m Rodrick Daniels. I’m seventeen and I’ll turn eighteen in two months. I was a slave for Berkeley’s Wine Fields.”

Gatrue turned back to Krome.

“You see! The Stone brought us a mid-class maiden, a worthless servant, and a beaten slave!”

His disgust for the three of us was like a punch in the face. Ayesha frowned.

“I’m not just gonna sit here and let you insult me! I wish to leave now.”

Ayesha stood up and snapped at Gatrue. He smiled a strange grin. He knew something we did not.

“I afraid you can’t leave Miss, Kingmen.”

…

Author’s Note:

You made it to the end! Check out part two for the rest of the story. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed.