Royal Blood

by Faith Soprano

  After everyone was done with breakfast and dressed in as many layers as they could wear while still being able to move, it was time to go outside and tackle the problem.

  “I’ll go see if Licky has anything that can help us,” Kay said. “I’ll meet you at the front door.”

  “All right,” Jo nodded.

  Everyone circled Jo, who was now apparently the leader of the operation. Mari, the castellan and only member of administrative staff still left in the castle after the storm, stood beside her in support, but remained silent.

  “What are our orders?” Elloriann said with a smile.

  “The front door is too large, we probably won’t be able to open it,” Jo said, putting on a pair of mittens over a pair of gloves already on her hands. “So we’ll go to the back door. It opens inward. The snow will collapse inside, we’ll be able to leave and start cleaning up a passage. We only have 2 shovels here. The rest are in the tool shed, so this will be where we’ll be going first. We’ll get more tools for everyone there. Silva,” she said to the dishwasher, “you’re responsible for cleaning the shed roofs. You’re small, so you’re less likely to cause more damage, and you’ll be easier to catch if you fall.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Silva replied.

  “Stav and Hannah are taking breakfast to the guards right now. They’ll bring back anyone willing to help. Dario, you’re the strongest, so we’ll need you to carry equipment and help anyone who needs to be lifted up.”

  Dario worked in the laundry room. He had strong arms and shoulders. He also often helped Licky when she was building something heavy.

  Jo started giving out more detailed instructions to people who would stay inside and maintain the castle. Everyone still waiting for their orders stayed as close as possible to the dining room fireplace, trying to stay warm.

  “I’m so glad we don’t have animals in the castle,” Elloriann whispered to Carla. “We'd have to be taking care of them now as well.”

  Elloriann didn't know much about animals, but she assumed many of them probably didn't tolerate freezing temperatures very well.

  “Were there ever animals at the castle?” Carla asked.

  “Maybe a very long time ago, before the law against animal ownership came into force.”

  “When was that?”

  Carla didn't know as much about the history of Evlirone as she sometimes wished she did. Her parents had taught her many useful skills, but her knowledge on things like law and history was fairly limited. It didn't usually bother her that she was less educated than Elloriann, she was happy to simply be very good at the skills she had. But that didn't mean she wasn't happy to learn when given the opportunity.

  “Before I was born,” Elloriann said. “It was one of the first laws my mother made when she became queen. I've read the speech she gave when the law came into force. She said that by studying the history of Evlirone and other lands she'd come to realize that people often find ways to justify putting down those they see as beneath them. She said she believed that someone's right to be free shouldn't be dictated by hierarchies. She believed there was no sense or fairness to giving the same basic rights to all people no matter the wealth, abilities, or how much power they held, yet at the same time owning other living, aware beings simply because they are not like us. She wanted Evlirone to be a land where no living thing would ever own another just because one of them happens to be stronger, richer, smarter, or believes itself superior.” Ell looked over at Carla with a soft smile. “That speech is one of the few things that gave me an idea of what my mother was actually like. We have it at the library, you can read it if you want.”

  Carla nodded, moving a bit closer to Ell so that their shoulders were touching. She was silent for a while, considering Ell's words.

  “It must have been a big adjustment for a lot of people at the time,” she said.

  Carla's first and only experience with animal ownership was when she was a slave. Before that she'd only ever caught glimpses of animals in the woods by the farm.

  Seeing animals in harnesses, restrained, hurt into submission, and used for the convenience of their owners, was a new and uncomfortable experience for Carla. But she also saw just how much people relied on animals to perform various tasks when desired and without pay. It often wasn't an act of cruelty, it was simply something they were used to, something they didn't question. Losing that resource overnight certainly wouldn't be easy.

  “I've read about the consequences of most major laws throughout Evlirone's history,” Elloriann said, “and every single one of them had both support and opposition. There are many people in the land, and they want different things. Some people supported the law on moral grounds, others opposed it. Some people were afraid the law would affect their business, many were upset that taxes were temporarily raised to build a sanctuary for freed animals that couldn't be released into the wild. But the sanctuary created new jobs, and business for farmers and carriers. Many tasks that had previously been performed by animals now had to be performed by hired workers. Some lost money because of the law, some gained work and means for survival. Any major change in a country requires adjustment, and it's never the same for everyone.” She shivered a little. “After the storm hit, there were people who came to the king to request a reversal of the law, allowing them to purchase draft animals from neighboring lands to help rebuild Evlirone faster. This was the queen's law and she was no longer around to defend it, so it would be no great surprise if the king chose to reverse it, but he didn't. He gave away most of the royal treasury to support the people who needed it, but he didn't reverse the law. He said that if we used a crisis as an excuse to put the convenience of some over the freedom of others, it would damage Evlirone in ways the storm never could.” She looked over to the fireplace where the fire was going at full blast. “I don't know if he did it out of respect for the queen's memory, or because he truly believed it, I never asked. Nonetheless, I really respect him for that decision.”

  “I never knew about that,” Carla admitted.

  She didn't know about a lot of things that happened in Evlirone after the storm. It made her feel a strange kind of sadness. She realized, perhaps, she wouldn't have known about this anyway – there were plenty of things happening in the land every day that she would never know of because they didn't affect her personally. But sometimes when she learned of something that she'd missed since the storm, all she could think about was being taken out of Evlirone by force, and everything that happened after.

  She also couldn't help but feel a little sad about the fact that most of Ell's connection to her parents seemed to be based on their political moves and decisions that she studied from afar.

  “Change can be fast, or it can be slow and layered,” Ell said. “Young people living in Evlirone today have lived their whole lives in a land without animal ownership. For them, going back to it would be a step backward. At the same time, we've thought of animals as lesser beings existing for our convenience for a long time, and a whole land's minds won't change overnight. Change can be especially difficult when it involves giving something up.”

  Carla took a moment to think about that.

  “I wonder what this will mean for Evlirone a hundred years from now,” she said. “Or 2 hundred. When the law is far in the past and read of in history books. How will people feel about it then?”

  Elloriann looked over at Carla's thoughtful face and couldn't help smiling. Carla didn't speak much, so it wasn't always obvious, but her mind rarely stopped at the surface of any issue. Unlike Elloriann, Carla didn't grow up with a large library to peruse, nor teachers to pick for knowledge. Her thoughtfulness hadn't been fed with easy access to information nor encouraged by an impending future of leading a land, and yet, here she was, curious for new information, looking at everything with an open mind and finding ways to understand, to form her own opinions, and to keep thinking further. It was one of the things Elloriann loved and admired the most about her.

  Th
ey were silent for a while to make sure they weren't missing anything important. Jo was busy instructing some of the other servants on how to clean the lowest windows that were almost fully covered in snow, so Ell continued the quiet discussion.

  “I don't know if you remember this – several years ago, Father had a contest to invent a new independent means of transport for a large monetary reward. He was intending to support mass production of the winning design so that people in the land could buy it with relative ease.”

  “I remember that, I was a kid then. I remember Papa being upset that he wasn’t an inventor.” She smiled at the memory.

  “Some people were not too happy about it. They said that making independent means of transport easily available would hurt people in the carrier profession.” Ell pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. “I remember reading about those reactions in close succession. After the law about animal ownership was passed, many people were upset that they would now have to pay someone for something they used to get for the price of an animal's keep. But just a few years later, they were upset about the idea of there being something that could allow people to transport themselves and their goods independently, because the people who were being paid for it would be out of a job.” She raised her hands to her mouth and breathed on them for a moment, warming them up. “To be fair, the people who were upset about the law, and the people who were upset about carriers losing their livelihood because of independent transport were probably not the same people.”

  When Carla was a child, she and her parents would usually transport things to and from the farm themselves, to save money. But there were a few times when they hired a carrier. There was never a shortage of people in town offering their services to transport both goods and people. Some carried things on their backs, some had carts and carriages. Many larger farms, shops, and factories had favorite carriers they would always hire, who would in turn give them lower prices for being returning customers. Carla had never questioned this and hadn't been aware of the fact that the carrier profession only became so popular after ownership of animals was outlawed and people could no longer use unpaid work force for transportation. Now as she listened to Elloriann, she found it both exciting and overwhelming to think of the intricacies of ruling a land, of the ripples a leader's decision could send. It could be so hard to bring major change to a land, and yet, people's habits and everyday lives could change so much and so quickly because of something that their rulers did.

  “I suppose people are just afraid of change,” Carla said. “Even the best changes often mean that someone will lose something.”

  “Makes being any kind of leader a terrifying prospect,” Elloriann replied. “Even when you're trying to do what's best, someone will always feel wronged. Time passes, people adjust, opinions shift. But the next change comes, and someone will feel wronged again. And even if you never change anything, someone will feel wronged by that as well.” She smiled reassuringly at Carla's worried expression, brushing the subject aside, for now. “Anyway, that invention contest was how we hired Licky. She won. Rejected the reward and asked for a position in the royal estate instead. Father was only too happy to agree.”

  “What did she invent?”

  “A pedal car. Four wheels, a seat, and some pedals. You turn the pedals with your feet and that makes the wheels turn. It's easier and faster than walking and carrying things on your back.”

  “That’s amazing, why aren’t they everywhere?”

  “Well, the design was still raw when Licky presented it to us. She was improving it as she started her work at the castle. She made several really good models. But then the storm hit, and that sort of changed everyone’s priorities. We still have a few pedal cars though, that’s what our traders use for travel.”

  “You could be selling them. That would make a lot of money, I imagine. Or at least sell the design so someone else could make them.”

  “Probably. Father is a little protective of the design, even though Licky has told him that other people elsewhere have probably designed similar things. She said she’d had an idea for the steam car when someone else invented it.”

  “I can’t believe I still haven’t met her, I’ve been living here for months.”

  “Yes, she doesn’t come out here much. Well, at all actually. She doesn’t–”

  “Carla, Rich,” Jo said, unknowingly cutting off the conversation. “You know what needs to be done in the garden.”

  “Yes,” Rich replied, “we need to remove snow from trees or they could break.”

  “You and Carla get on that. Ell, help them shovel. A lot of snow will need to be removed before you can even get to the trees.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Ell said, wondering if Jo would make a good military tactician and if her talents as a leader were being wasted.

  Everyone moved to the back exit. Jo and Dario opened the 2 doors, and snow poured inward. For a moment, everyone sort of panicked. The amount of snow outside seemed insurmountable. Jo noticed everyone’s uncertainty and took action immediately.

  “Dario, Silva, bring as many buckets as you can from the kitchen and laundry. From the bathing room too. We’ll fill them up with snow. We can use that water later.”

  A few minutes later, an assortment of containers was placed before the door, and everyone started filling them up with snow.

  Soon the snow that had collapsed into the building was cleaned away, and it was time to start digging the way outward. It was slow and tiring, but not nearly as impossible as it had seemed at first. Several guards soon joined the servants.

  At first everyone used bowls and buckets, but once a path to the shed was cleared, more shovels were acquired, and the task got a lot easier.

  When they cleaned a path to the front entrance of the castle, they cleared away enough snow to open the doors. Inside, Kay was waiting with some things he’d brought from Licky’s workshop.

  “Hello there!” he said as everyone poured into the castle.

  “We should take a break,” Jo said.

  Stav and Hannah, who had not taken part in the clearing of snow, soon appeared with warm drinks for everyone.

  “We’re making dinner,” Hannah said. “Will be ready in about 2 hours.”

  “Good.” Jo nodded. “We’ll start clearing the snow around the castle for now. Drinks first though. Kay, what do you have for us?”

  “She made this just now,” Kay said, indicating what looked like a very big shovel with 2 handles on the sides.

  Two of the guards immediately volunteers to operate it. As soon as they were done with their drinks, they started clearing a path toward the main gate using the large shovel.

  Kay had also brought 3 newly-made pairs of snowshoes, which Carla, Rich, and Elloriann claimed for their trip to the trees.

  As everyone was finishing their drinks, Jo addressed her little army.

  “Folks, it’s important to do this quickly, before the sun starts setting, and before more snow falls, but please, don’t overwork yourselves. If you feel like you’re getting too tired – rest. If you get too wet or too cold – come inside, change into dry clothes, get warm. Check that you can feel your toes and fingers. Check yourselves and each other for injuries. Cold is deceptive. You stop feeling your body and don’t always know that you’ve been hurt. Stay safe.”

  She gave everyone a reassuring nod, and they set out to do more work outside.

  Kay approached Ell, Carla, and Rich before they left.

  “Hey, you’re in charge of trees, right?” he said. “Licky is making something for you. It’s not ready yet, I’ll bring it over when it is.”

  Carla and Elloriann cleaned some of the snow with shovels, while Rich did his best to walk over to the trees without sinking. By the time they cleared a small path to the trees, Kay approached them with what looked like some sort of weaponry.

  “That looks dangerous,” Carla said, not bothering to hide her concern.

  “It can be, yes.” Kay hande
d one of the guns to Ell, while using the other to demonstrate. “Licky says it’s an air gun. She doesn’t usually make weapons, but she made these a while back just to understand how they work. I don’t understand how they work, so don’t ask. She said point and shoot and try not to hurt each other.”

  He directed the barrel toward the crown of a tree and pulled the trigger. A projectile was launched out of the gun, hitting the snow and causing most of it to fall out of the tree branches.

  “Well,” Elloriann said in astonishment. “That’s useful.”

  “Licky said that she designed them specifically to be weak, so that they could never be used to kill, since they were just an experiment,” Kay continued explaining as he took some more ammo out of a bag – the projectiles were simple pieces of wood, carved to fit the weapon. “You know how Licky is with inventions,” he said to Elloriann, “she always says everything can be used for good and for evil, so she hoped she could apply the idea for something other than weapons. I guess she finally got her chance. Probably not what she’d had in mind though.” He smiled, launching another wooden ball at a different tree.

  Elloriann fired her own gun, knocking down a pile of snow.

  “Is this really necessary?” Carla asked. “We could just as easily throw snowballs.”

  “True,” Elloriann said. “But how far can you throw? And for how long before you tire?”

  “I suppose,” Carla conceded. She was still uncomfortable with using an actual gun for something that should have been very simple and straightforward, but she had to admit that the benefits of Licky’s contraptions were apparent. Ell and Kay cleaned snow off most of the fruit trees before they even had to move from the spot. The guns really were quite weak, so most of the ammo fell close-by and could be reused.

  Carla and Rich removed snow from the smaller trees by hand, and shoveled snow away from trunks where possible.

  “I worry for the trees,” Rich said. “It’s very cold, I don’t know if they’ll survive.”

  Carla sighed and nodded in response. She shared the concern. They’d covered the ground around the trunks with leaves and dry grass back in the fall, but the winter was proving to be ruthless. Whether or not the roots would survive remained to be seen.