Chapter 20 - She Is The Last Of Her Kind...

The next day, I woke early in the morning. I prepared myself ahead of the day's activities. Some of the gifts I received from the other queens and other members of the empire for the contest were going to be given to the poor as donations. I already told them when they presented the gifts to me, I was sure no one would get angry when the items are been distributed in the village.

Mother also gave me food, drinks, clothes and jewelries to give to the women at the temple. I was happy she was supporting me in this.

"Anne, is the Carriage ready?" I asked.

"Yes, my lady"

"Is everything in order?"

"Yes , I have checked everything before coming" she replied.

"Then , let's go. I don't want to keep the priest waiting." I grabbed the gloves on my bed as I made the way to the palace gate. Anne and maids were right behind me with some of the gifts, I was going to share.

The carriage was bigger than expected. Its had enough space that I could share with my maids. The Emperor gave Apollo the permission to follow me to the temple making sure that nothing goes wrong.

I wanted to tell him, not to bother about me but I was scared of the punishment, he might receive if he disobey the King.

The journey started. Apollo rode with the guards in front. Together with few women of the palace, we left.

Not too long we left the palace, we arrived at a place that seemed like a market. The village was beautiful than I expected, with a long line of people going and coming inside.

The people stopped what they were doing when we arrived. Apollo announced my presence to them before I came. I could hear them chanting and singing praises in my name. It showed that they were happy to see me and as such my presence was highly respected.

Apollo came to where my carriage was and urged me to come, so that the people could see their Queen. They didn't Know what I looked like because most of them didn't attend the King's Ball.

"Please, come down my lady" Apollo offered me a hand. Reaching for it, I came down from the carriage.

There were a lot of people waiting for me outside. I wasn't having the courage to faced them, all these eyes scared me. Just then, I remembered that it was because of these people that the king permitted me to come outside. If I don't do what I came out to do, he will find a way to mock me about this.

"Greetings to you all"

"Greetings Queen" they answered in chorus.

I noticed that the children stood at a corner watching from afar.

"Please, let the children come to me. They are also important" I said.

"They are going to distract you Queen, that's why we kept them behind" an old man answered.

"I won't offered the prayers if the children stay away from me" I insisted.

The old man, turned around and asked the children to come to me. I could see the excitement on their faces as the raced to where I was.

"How are you doing?" I asked them when they came to me.

"We are fine" they echoed. Children brought a lot of happiness to their parents. There will no Akkad Empire tomorrow if these children aren't here today.

Together with the children, we all entered the temple. Lord Xanva's statue was the first I saw, he was the goddess of death. He was know as the link between life and death. They said he also acted as the communicator of death.

I went closer to the statue and touched his feet. I closed my eyes and offered a quick prayers for my parents, asking Lord Xanva to tell them I was doing fine at the moment.

The other statues in there, belongs to the various gods, the people of Akkad worshipped. The temple priest stood at the altar waiting for us, I increased my pace and walked up to him.

"Greetings holy priest" I bowed.

"Bless you my child, shall we begin?"

"Yes priest, please go ahead"

We all sat on the floor while he began the process by chanting the Creed of Lord Xanva. It was a long prayer and I saw that the children were tired.

He offered prayers to the Lord, asking him to guide and protect my brother in the land of the death. I lied to the king about this, because I didn't have a choice. Had it been I told him that, my parents were dead, I would have been in a serious trouble by now. The creator had a way of saving me from being caught.

Wherever the priest mentioned the name I gave to the fake brother of mine, I quietly replaced it with those of my parents. No one noticed what I was doing, I didn't mean to lie to them here. The circumstances I found myself in left me with no choice other than this.

Few minutes later, the priest declared that the prayers have come to an end. He gave me some of the dry woods to burn them at home.

When we were done in the temple, I went outside to address the people properly.

"I know many of you don't Know me in person. I am Queen Ariadne, the youngest wife of the Emperor" I began.

"You look so beautiful" one of the children muttered. I hardly noticed that. A lot of people told me that I was a beautiful girl, though, it was hard to believe them because of the way, my own husband behaved towards me. If I was beautiful as they always say, why did he kept on ignoring me?

"Thank you" I gave a big smile.

"You are welcome to our village my lady. We are happy to see you" the old man said.

"Thank you for receiving me. I brought some gifts for you. I hope you all like them."

The maids came forward with the gifts and started sharing them to the people. I could hear them whispering to each other. "She is such a nice Queen. I wished the other queens were like her. She is the last of her kind."

This praises were supposed to make me happy but, I felt bad instead, because nobody in the palace care to visit these poor people.. Hearing them, say all these was an insult to the Emperor and his queens. They didn't care about their subjects!