The Runaway Queen

Chapter 8: The Library

Two months had passed and Andy and Violet were inseparable. As much as was allowed they roamed the King's place as much as wasn't allowed they hid and explored like two wild curious children.

They discover the monarch's large library, a collection of books of various topics greater than any collection Andy had ever discovered. And that was saying something, after all, Andy cause from the Providence of knowledge the very sector responsible for the production and pub of books and literary material.

The other women were nice as well, at a point, Andy almost forgot that she was a captured maiden whose only purpose was to sexually gratify the King.

One women's story, in particular, grabbed Andy's attention. They were from Providence 5 said to be the protest for largest of all the Providences in Anthropos. There were wide laugh open lands and animals everywhere. 

"Our Providence is responsible for making and distributing food and animal products," said Anesa the bravest of the three shy girls.

"The women at home are responsible for the toiling soil, reaping and taking care of animals, while the men sit on their high horses and pit at us. They benefit from the work the women do and give them no reward." Anesa continued.

'We three are fortunate not to have had the life. But being training and groomed to directly serve the King wasn't easy either. Our Father's beat over backs with spoons in order for us to remember to sick up straight one we were slapped if we decide to speak out our opinion.

Andy's face turned pale red she had been hidden in the land of trees all her life. She knew that oppression women were taking place but she had no idea it was to this extent.

Her father taught her much about the oppression and his passion for the fight of equality among the genders. But he never told about the mass murdering of groups of women who stood up for themselves and spoke out about not being mistreated. He didn't tell her the child and teenager soul bearers in Providence. And he certainly didn't tell her that the very food that they had consumed at their home's dining table was harvested by pregnant, beaten and tired women slaving in the hot sun of the farmlands in Province 5.

Maybe her father sought to protect her or maybe didn't know. But how could he have not known? 'He must have known' Andy thought. After all, he was the one who taught her how to freedom fighters, he must have understood how things were if he trained his daughter to fight against the oppression of women.

But even so, Andy wondered what other secrets her father kept from her. She wondered what secrets were hidden in the ancient test, the books her father ensured that she never read.

It was about time that she found out what was really going on. During these two months, she had sneaked into the library many times. She enjoyed reading up on different warrior tactics, various strategies of battle. She didn't even mind carrying Violet along and teaching her how to read and write basic words. She observed a group of black books at the very top of the shelves.

Sneaking in the library was one thing but dragging that great wheeled ladder all the way across the square tiled floor was another thing. It would make way too much noise and the knights would swiftly burst in to see what was happening. She already knew the palace like the back of her hand. She knew they were two knights stationed in front of the library's door. She already accounted for that. She and Violet had left the window cracked the last time they sneaked in. it would be a piece of cake.

As for the moving of the heavy ladder, that was another story. It the two guards rushed in it would be nothing for Andy to kill them even without her swords. Violet, on the other hand, would probably squeal in fright and hide behind her, hindering her movements. So no Violet, not this time anyway. This was a mission she had to accomplish on her own.

The mission was to not get caught. Andy learned from that other virgins that it was illegal to teach women to read. So most, if not all of the women who lived in Anthropas with the exception of herself couldn't read one word far less an entire book. Furthermore, Kind Andrew, about nineteen years ago banned the distribution of books. Making it only legal for Priest to read books and then teach men what they ought to know. With that being said, none of the knights, none of the knights would expect anyone, far less a woman to be in the library or would even be remotely interested in being near a library. Besides, that Hamon informed the virgins that that part of the palace was restricted for the women to roam because it was closer to the King's chamber and throne room. But not like Andy cared about the rules anyway.

Andy imagined what would happen to her if she let herself get caught, they would probably kill her or worst subject her to some form of cruel punishment. But Andy of Allagi was smart and she would never allow something like that to happen to her. It was the dead of night; the moon's light peered through the virgin's chamber room. Everyone was dead asleep. This was the moment Andy was waiting for. Her father didn't teach her how to read the moon and stars for nothing; she knew that it was exactly 11 pm, the time when the knights change shifts.

Andy had observed the flaws in the system. 'Things would be so much different if I was King' Andy thought. She quietly sneaked out of her bed and tiptoed to the door. She planted her ear between the cress of the door and listened patiently. She heard the sound of the knights marching away. This was perfect! She opened the door slightly and exited, then quietly closed the door. She quickly crawled away from the knight's view. One knight spun away. He shrugged. He saw nothing, even Andy's shadow was long gone.

Down the long stairway and into the kitchen Andy scudded; this was way too easy. Out the door and into the yard, she crawled until she got to the spot right below the library's window. She picked up a few rocks and stuffed them into her brassiere. She gathered up the rope she had placed in the bush the day before for the task. And using her skilled ropemanship, she swung the rope upward, towards the window and Andy the great warrior that she begins to make her way up.

She flung herself on the library floor and rolled herself behind a desk. Dust swam around her, she coughed slightly and then slapped her mouth shut. The easy part was done. Andy removed the stones she had hidden in her bosom. She took a deep slow breath. There was great danger in what she was about to attempt, Andy's heart quivered with focused excitement.

Andy rolled the stones across the floor for about ten seconds. Shock waves of noise broke the silence of the night and just as she predicted two knights stormed into the library, spread out and began to search for the source of the strange noise but they did not find Andy. The discombobulated knights exited the library. Such idiots. Andy scuffed and then began to count, 1....10....30....98...99...100. Then again as accurately as she did before she rolled the stones and again the perplexed fools came running in, did their search, was unsuccessful, then left. She did this twice more and finally on the fifth try the knights came no more into the library. Andy's plan was working.

She ran across to the ladder and rolled it across the floor a short distance then stopped, it made a similar sound that the smooth stones had made. She glanced at the door. The knights did not come. 'How stupid' Andy thought. Consistently and surely Andy rolled the ladder all the way to the shelve with these big ancient black books. She sighfully smiled, her plan was going swimmingly. She carefully began her way up the ladder and with each rung, her cheeks become more and more rosey with excitement in the darkest.

She planted her buttocks on the step of the ladder and slowly removed the book from the shelve and softly blew the dust off of the cover. "The Holy book of Man'

***A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please share your comments, I would really appreciate your feedback. Hopefully you enjoyed reading!