Chapter 8: Another Act

historical

Annalise could barely believe the words of sir Arlow as her eyes blinked at him in disbelief, his words coarsing through her brain like a sharp knife been pierced into her skull. Faked her injury?? How could she possibly fake something that was so obvious to the eyes of everyone?

“Pardon me but I don’t understand that statement.” Annalise spoke up with a look of seriousness glistening in her eyes, despite feeling so helpless in this unwarranted situation.

She is innocent of this accusation Sir Arlow is obviously trying to frame her for and she won’t stand for something she knows not.

“Show your true disgusting self Annalise, you’ve brought shame to the name of your father, and he was such a good man, the king’s most trusted warrior in the whole of Euphrasia.” Sir Arlow faked empathy while saying a silent prayer, like the death of her father really touched him which Anna knew was nothing but a pretense to everyone present in the hall.

Annalise returned her gaze to the king who hasn’t uttered a word but silently watched the scene before him like a hawk. It made her wonder what his mindset would be concerning all of this. He wasn’t someone who’d believe words without any sort of proof.

“I’m speaking the truth, I murdered no one. What reason would I have to take the life of my own people?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sir Arlow butted in once again with his arms folded behind his back, “the people of Euphrasia does not wish to mingle with an outcast, you might have planned your revenge and decided to cause an onslaught at the middle of the night.” He pointed out, turning to look at the King who was hearing from both sides.

.....

“Your majesty, you heard the already dead man yourself, he mentioned her name right before he kicked the bucket, why would a dying man lie about such? I don’t think we should waste any more time on this.”

The people of Euphrasia nodded in agreement while uneven whispers flowed through the crowd. To Annalise gaze only, the man dared to flash a sinister smirk her way which caused her hands to ball into a tight fist, furiously digging her nails into her palm till it made her bleed.

She was fully aware of his hatred towards her and her father cause he always made it obvious to no one else but her.

She said nothing concerning his hatred towards the both of them but she was starting to regret never speaking up cause here he was, having the greater advantage and being the king’s second trusty men, she was nothing compared to his rank in the royal home.

“But father...”

“Do not speak Callie.” Her father silenced her yet again, causing a little bit of dread to penetrate into Anna’s heart. Sir Arlow is very cunning with his words and now he’s using it to brainwash his majesty. Who knows how many more victims had landed in the hands of such a sly being.

And yet they call others the beast when they’re actually the real beasts!

“Or rather, she should defend herself and explain in details exactly where she was coming from last night that led to her fall.” Sir Arlow secretly hinted to the King like he was trying to imply something.

King Olis expression changed slightly as he recalled a little information from his men. The death of those people occured an hour before Annalise had her fall at the stairs_ which coincidentally leads to the entrance of the palace and that made King Olis crack his brain at the puzzles. It couldn’t be that she was sneaking back into the palace.... could it??

“Annalise.” The king called, gaining her attention as she kept her head bowed once again while remaining on her knees.

“What really happened last night?” He questioned, watching her carefully in case he noticed any hesitation in her movement but she remained where she was, her nails digging into her palm like she really wanted to hurt herself.

Her head was spinning from all the words and constant accusations that it made her dizzy, yet she found enough courage to speak.

“I explained what happened,” her voice came out soft and polite, “I heard footsteps your majesty, so I stepped out to survey and ended up being pushed.”

“But why were you the only one who heard the footsteps? There were guards strictly assigned to patrol the castle every night, yet they claimed to have seen no one or heard anything, how do you explain that?”

Annalise remained quiet as she shook her dizziness away, finding his statement to be strangely true while the people who had gathered nodded in agreement to Sir Arlow’s words once again, why was she the only one who heard the footsteps and no one else?

“Besides, the stairs were pretty long and yet you survived, anyone would have died after falling from such a long stairway but just like the crash you had in the ship, you survived.” He uttered cryptically which caused Anna to pause for a while.

She was innocent of this accusation, true, but the stairs were pretty long, although she didn’t roll all the way to the end of the stairs cause a guard had showed up at the nick of time to stop the fall, she already assumed it was never going to come to an end. How did she survive her death yet again??

“See that your majesty? She’s ran out of lies to hide her nefarious act!”

As much as Annalise wished to defend herself, she was trapped in the words of this evil man! No matter what she says, he always manages to twist her words and in such a perfect way that she was starting to think that maybe.....

Was this actually planned??

Her vision was starting to become blurry as she stared at the floor, it didn’t look vivid, she could barely see her palm clearly and her dizziness became extra worse. Was it happening again??

“Your majesty...” She wanted to speak, to fight for her justice but this unexpected dizziness was making things difficult for her. Her throat became dry and bitter which made her cough in reaction.

“Is this another act? To escape your death punishment after being exposed?” Sir Arlow added after sensing something was wrong with her behavior but she could barely respond.

Clasping her hand over her head to stop the uneasiness she felt, she ended up blacking out in front of the crowd when her breath hitched. Her eyes closed shut as she sprawled to the ground.

“Anna!”