[ferretchucker]

II

The two coffins were lying on a marble table each. They had been carried up there by seven of the original men and the driver. Bartholomew had got two men to carry up James’ mauled body to one of the storage rooms. A coffin was being made for him. Up in the coffin room five men stood silently gazing at the two corpse boxes. Bartholomew, Isaac, the driver, King Albert of Glenwick and a doctor. Isaac was occasionally letting out a small sob and Bartholomew would check out the window.
Footsteps drew closer to the room. Up the stairs heavy boots made a loud thudding noise like the beat of a bass drum. The door on the east side of the room swung open to reveal a man in a large coat with sheep skin trousers on. He had large black boots with blood splattered on them. His black beard and long hair made it hard to see much of his face, but what could be seen looked petrified.
“Thomas,” said Bartholomew “thank you ever so much for coming.” The man looked down at one of the coffins and winced.
“Can we get this over and done with?” asked Thomas “I don’t feel safe near that.” He nodded at the window.
“Very well then,” said Isaac “You told us that my step mother gave you a command. Take us through what happened.
“The Queen told me that she had a, a friend. A friend who would tell her anything. She said he lived up in her bedroom but nobody knew he was there but her. Her and me. He would tell her every night that she was the most beautiful woman of all.”
“You do not mean to tell me that she had a man with whom she kept in her bedroom? She was not having some kind of relationship with this man of which you speak?” asked Isaac sounding enraged at the thought of his step-mother commiting such a blatant lack of respect for his father.
“Yes, that is true, but one day.” Answered Thomas “She found him saying that the Princess was the most beautiful.”
“So that’s what she meant,” said Isaac to himself. He looked up to the others. “My sister told me she had met a man, a man who she found standing at the window in Father’s room. She said that they were seen sharing a kiss. I thought she was speaking of a dream.”
“The queen told me that he betrayed her. She ordered me. She ordered me to take the princess out into the woods and kill her. She told me to bring her the princess’s heart.” Said Thomas hastily “I couldn’t go through with it, I took her out into the woods and told her to run away. Instead I killed a dear and brought back its’ heart. All was well until earlier today when the man delivering a message by horse asked the Queen why he had seen a girl who looked like the princess hiding in a tree with her hair messed up and with blood all down her dress.”
“Why didn’t the messenger stop?” Asked Isaac.
“In case it was the crying woman. He had heard the legend of the crying woman in the woods who drew you close then slaughtered you fiercely.” answered Thomas, “anyway, the Queen was furious. She ran out to the woods screaming the Princesses name. When I found out the Queen had left I jumped on a horse and rode out as fast as I could. When I met her she was red in the face.” He paused for a moment and gulped. His voice suddenly got a bit croaky.
“Princess Jane came out of the darkness with twigs in her hair, tears in her dress and horrific bruises and cuts covering that of which I could see of her. She tried to keep on running but the Queen stopped her. She started to strangle the princess. That was when they came. I, I, I tried to help but there were too many of them. The screams, they were horrific. I tried so. I barely got away.” He covered his face and walked over to the window.
“They will come for me. Now they know I saw them and I got away they will stop at nothing to kill me.”
All was silent. Nobody knew quite what to say. Thunder sounded and flashes illuminated the outside. One of the many lanterns crackled fiercely as a spark flew out, landing on one of the coffins.
“Open it.” Said a tired sounding voice. It was King Albert.. “I want to see my daughter, I want to see what they did to her.”
“I wouldn’t advise it your majesty,” said the driver, “when I picked her body up and put it in the co-“
“I said open it!” shouted the King causing Thomas to turn around. Bartholomew and the driver did as they were told. Bartholomew’s usually cheerful looking face and bright eyes were dull and full of sorrow. They removed the lid and placed it on the marble floor, trying not to wake up the king’s youngest child, four year old William.
A girl of no older than twenty five lay in the box. Her blonde hair was stained with green and brown. She was missing three fingers on her left hand and there were scratches all over he forearm. A large chunk near her left elbow was hanging on by a thin layer on skin. The white bone was visible through the torn muscle and tissue. Her neck consisted of three thick strands of skin. The rest had been torn off. One of her eyes was missing and the skin around it had been torn off.
Her other eye was completely purple, likewise to the area around it. Her nose appeared to be broken and swollen. Her mouth, which was open, was a pool of blood. There were bits of her gums floating in the scarlet liquid. The most shocking thing however was her left leg. It appeared that the creatures had wanted to lift it up from the knee the wrong way around. It was bent upwards and parts of bone were sticking through the skin. There were many chunks in it and hundreds of scratches. All over her were bite marks and bruises.
The men were about to open the second coffin when the king stopped them.
“It is her fault this happened. Throw her outside and let the crows get that hag. As far as I’m concerned she’s nothing but a wretched, horrible looking old woman who doesn’t even deserve hell,” snapped the king. Tears were trickling down his wrinkled old face causing his grey beard to shine slightly in the light of the lanterns.
“Bartholomew, show these men to their rooms. It is too dangerous to go out now. They can leave in a carriage followed by two guards tomorrow. I think Isaac and I would like some time alone with my daughter. Do not wake me in the morning for breakfast. Tell Prince Charles Ming I cannot go to his Ball on Sunday. I don’t quite think I’m ready for that. They closed the coffins and left the King and Prince standing there. As Bartholomew closed the door he heard them talking to Princess Sarah.