A Bed of Thorns - Chapter 1

Welcome to the first chapter of Bed of Thorns, a work of fiction which will be published here with a new chapter going up each month. As we continue you can also expect sketches of the characters, drawings of the world and the environments and additional tidbits of history throughout. If you enjoy or have any criticisms please feel free to comment. Once the work is complete I'll bring it together, give it a final edit and make it available for download. Enjoy.

Roa lay in the bed; it was all enveloping softness, which alone would have made it hard to pull herself up. However she felt incredibly weak this morning, so instead she stared at the ceiling waiting to see if some strength would return. The ceiling had a holo screen that ran across it, the night sky had already swapped over to the morning loop. The deep rich forests of Harthun, the trees that grew in its intense gravity produced the strongest wood known; it was the same expensive wood her bed frame was made from. The trees blended into a towering series of waterfalls of liquid carbon. Roa knew the pattern off by heart now; she’d have to ask them to change it. As the video turned back towards the forests she tried to pull herself forward, after a minute struggling she was able to put a foot onto the ground. The stone was instantly heated perfectly for her; she took a moment to stay on her feet propped against the bed before sitting down into the wheeled chair beside her bed. The knock at the door came only a moment before it opened.

              ‘You're up already?’ Dreian asked, coming forward and greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. Roa returned the kiss and steered the chair towards the bathroom, it only took a slight push of her finger on the control to steer, Dreian walked beside her, already releasing the Roa’s golden hair from its braids. Roa thought the command bath and the water began pouring in. A single light hung in the centre of the room, its shine reflected across every corner by the mirrors that dressed the wall. Dreian gently lifted Roa from the chair and helped her remove the gown; she lowered her into the water. The bath was moulded to help her remain seated, everything in her suite had been replaced over the year and a half; everything designed to make moving easy and safer for her. Apart from the bed which Roa had refused to give up. The water came up to her chest and Dreian began gently showering and washing her hair, the temperature was perfect as always.

              ‘It’s a good sign, being able get yourself out of bed.’

              ‘Dreian, please,’ Roa said.

              ‘Of course we’ll have to wait and see if it continues.’

              ‘Dreian,’ Roa said harshly, the women stopped for a moment. Roa didn’t want to have this conversation again. Dreian opened her mouth but then closed it; she knelt beside the bath and wrapped her arms around Roa’s shoulders for a minute. She pulled herself back up and finished washing Roa’s hair. She helped Roa scrub herself clean and then stood, her smile in place as encouraging as ever.

              ‘Shall we get ready for the day?’

              ‘I’d like to relax a bit longer,’ Roa said and Dreian excused herself into the next room. There wasn’t any danger of leaving Roa in the bath alone, should she slip her implant would notify the palace immediately. She looked forward; the mirror looked back at her with someone who was nearly a stranger. Her muscular form had been drained away, she now looked frail, her skin was no longer the same warm colour but rather a washed out pale imitation. Roa had once delighted in her own reflection, watching the changes from a girl towards woman; seeing the effects of sport and time give her a firm tall figure. Now she hated her reflection, she could go for another muscle session; have them re-grow what she had lost but it always turned out to be just a cosmetic change. Roa’s strength continued to wane, and she’d come to understand that no one really knew why. Dreian hummed softly in the other room as she worked, till it suddenly stopped and was replaced by and annoyed humph.

              ‘What do you think you're doing Lucius?’ Dreian asked frustrated, no one was meant to enter Roa’s suite without being announced; aside from her family and Dreian of course. Roa smiled, Lucius was always the exception. ‘The Heir is still getting ready; you can bother her another time.’

‘Dreian, can you bring my clothes in here, I will see Lucius in a moment,’ Roa called out, Dreian came in with the clothes and a sour mood. Roa felt a twinge of guilt for overruling her but having her unabashedly joyous friend around is exactly what she needed. Dreian helped Roa to stand; Roa gripped the sides of the dryer and was blanketed in warmth, the water evaporating from her skin and hair. Once Roa was dressed she pulled her hair back and secured it with a clip, it was a simple, unrefined look, but something easy enough for her to do without assistance. She rolled into the next room where Lucius was making himself busy with the suite’s control panel. Lucius skin was a shade darker than hers, his family had the same golden hair as hers but was mixed with a recessive red that made it shine like copper. He beamed brightly at Roa as Dreian began to berate him for touching things he wasn’t supposed to.

              ‘I thought you might like a change of view,’ he said, sliding the panel back into place.

              ‘Perfect timing, I’d been growing tired of tourist sites,’ Roa said as she looked up, the video moved through animated abstract art, colours and patterns swirled. ‘Are these yours?’

              ‘No, well a few are. Most are some artists I’ve met through the Academy, I did the blending though.’ Lucius came forward and her a big hug, he smelled vaguely of technic, his favourite art medium which left a citrus smell. The room opened and attendants came through, the flowers were replaced and the bed made, Dreian gently dusted Roa’s face with powder and then they turned towards the hallway. ‘Medical today? Lucius asked.

              ‘No, making preparations for the dignitaries next week. The war on Trilas has escalated again; the hope is another peace can be reached.’

‘So when I was invited to a party, it is in fact a tense political dinner that will most likely end in chairs thrown.’

‘I’m surprised you expected anything different,’ Roa smiled and Lucius sighed with a shrug.

‘I suppose an excuse to wear incredibly decadent clothes and dance is still worth it.’ Roa’s smiled faded, Lucius changed the subject. ‘Where are we off to now?’

I’m meeting dad and Ray’ed in the throne room. You are free to go and do anything you wish.’

‘The Heir-elect, Heir and Monarch all in one place? I’m definitely not important enough for that meeting; I’ll wait for you in the garden.’

‘Don’t you have anything to do today?’ She asked and he shook his head with a smile. It was an academy break day and he had left his social calendar completely free. ‘Then why would you waste a day off?’

              ‘I'm not wasting it, I’m spending it with you,’ he said has he turned and headed towards the gardens. Roa’s smile returned and she and Dreian continued down the halls, as they left the residency into the council halls it was suddenly bustling with movement and people. The elections had just passed and people were in a rush to get things in preparations for negotiations and any law changes. The throne room itself was more a grand ball room, three thrones stood at its head. The largest in the centre for the Monarch with the Heir’s throne to the left and Heir-elect’s to the right. Ray’ed was already inside, he had soft white curls on his chin which passed for a beard, he’s just been made the Heir-elect for his seventh term, so he’d held the position for all of Roa’s life; they nodded respectfully to each other and then hugged.

              ‘You’re looking well today Roa,’ he said.

              ‘As are you, congratulations on the results by the way,’ she said and he shrugged, they turned towards the thrones.

              ‘It continues to be a pleasure working with you and your father,’ he said.

              ‘Perhaps you will one day be Heir, and you can enjoy the pleasure of my father all to yourself.’

              ‘There hasn’t been an Heir-Elect replace the Heir in our history. So I am sure that pleasure will remain yours.’ Roa laughed softly as the door opened and The Monarch entered, flanked by his advisors. He carried himself with an unyielding urgency, tall and broad across the shoulders. Roa and Ray’ed bowed, he grunted in response before taking his seat on the Throne.

              ‘You look well,’ he said to Roa, ‘she has been improving?’ He asked Dreian before Road had a chance to respond.

              ‘Yes sir, she was able to get herself out of bed without assistance this morning,’ Dreian said encouragingly and Roa sat in silent, angry embarrassment. The Monarch looked over Roa briefly and then turned to Ray’ed.

              ‘It is becoming difficult to communicate with the royal family of Attlion; I’m concerned they may end up avoiding the negotiations.’ The Monarch sounded annoyed as he thought of the lost month of deals and negotiations should the meeting never go ahead.

              ‘I doubt Ademas would change their mind so suddenly, they have a lot of infrastructure projects that would be greatly affected by another escalation.’ Ray’ed said, ‘It would be better for us to look at our own issues, we are tracking a spike in the population. Fifth Dome could face severe shortages in the next few decades.’

              ‘The surveying has come up with a few options for a sixth Dome, but would we be able to finish it in time to release the pressure?’ Roa asked.

              ‘Assuming no delays with the construction and habitation, however it would be best to institute some population controls just in case.’ Ray’ed said and The Monarch grunted.

              ‘Those always go over well; as would diverting most of the funds into a new Dome construction.’

              ‘You can’t really be concerned about that, it doesn’t mean...’

              ‘Start drafting a proposal,’ the Monarch cut through Ray’ed straight away.

              ‘I’d like to take charge of this if there are no objections,’ Roa said and the other agreed.  The meeting dragged on, details of the state ended up being superseded by small details of the party. Do we need to look over the seating arrangements again?' Roa asked in frustration, the last three discussions kept ending with the same conclusion however The Monarch continued to look over the display.

              'We should place the ambassador of Attlion next to Roa,' he finally said.

              'That's where we've put Lucius and besides...'

              'Ensuring the guests are well greeted is far more important than chatting with your friend,' The Monarch cut Roa off again and she curled her nails into the arm of her chair but remained silent.

              'It would be taken as favouritism as we've discussed. It makes perfect sense for one of the heirs personal friends to take that position.' Ray'ed said with a sigh, he stretched out his back and found a seat. The conversation continued for another half an hour before The Monarch finally stopped trying but with an announcement he would look over the plans again himself. He left with a curt farewell and the others bowed.

              'What I'd give for the ability to be able to throw furniture,' Roa said once he'd left, Ray'ed laughed gently while Dreian huffed at the thought.

              'Perhaps next meeting I shall bring enough antiques for the both of us it is more fun if it's something expensive.' Roa laughed and they headed out of the throne room. 'Much planned for the rest of the day?'

              'Lucius is waiting in the garden,' Roa said and Ray'ed smiled.

              'Ohhh?' He said with a big gesture, Roa shook her head with a calm smile. Ray'ed had always been the closest thing to an uncle for Roa, Roa was momentarily thankful as he was one of the few people who didn't treat her differently now, but then her smile went away and they travelled on in silence. Roa rolled into the garden, the air was as crisp as always with the clean sky blended yellow and green. The dome was near invisible through the glare from the star, the arching columns that rang along it were in full bloom of plants and trees although it was impossible to see them from the centre where the palace stood. The garden itself was rounded like most of the buildings, circular enclosures with plants native to Cradle. Their kingdom didn't have any native life to speak off, so everything had originally come from other star systems. The most impressive feature of the garden was the space clock which stood in the centre, six round timepieces held by a tree of silver. Each of the domes was represented by a timepiece as well as one for Cradle, showing both its calendar date on its surface and relative to their kingdom. 

Lucius lay beneath it, his eyes closed but eyelids were constantly twitching, even on a supposed day off he was sketching.

              'Dreian I can take care of myself from here, why don't you rest for a while.' Dreian was about to object but Roa gave her a pleading look and she sighed.

              ‘Call me if you leave the garden; I’ll be nearby,’ she said and Roa thanked her. She rolled over to Lucius; he looked over to her and smiled. ‘Been working on anything in particular?’ Roa asked and Lucius shrugged.

              ‘Doing some plotting out for my next piece but it’s not working,’ he said but he shook away the frustration. ‘Any more meetings today?’

              ‘No, I’m meant to have class this afternoon, but I can probably get out of it.’ Lucius pretended to be appalled at the idea. ‘Considering how many times she’s cancelled on me of late I think I’m well within my rights to return the favour.’

              ‘I thought you were going to talk to her,’ Lucius said and Roa scowled.

              ‘And right after that I’m going to tell my father exactly what I think of how he acts,’ Roa said and Lucius sat up. ‘I just,’ Roa began but exhaled in surrender. ‘Hamoura has always been, distracted, but this last month I’ve barely seen her at all. It feels like I just keep losing people even when they’re still here.’

              ‘I’m still here, and I’m sure Dreian is here,’ Lucius said encouragingly grabbing her hand. ‘In fact I’m surprised I can’t see her right now, is she camouflaged as a statue?’

              ‘No, she’s hiding in the tree’s,’ Roa said and she gave a quick smile.

              ‘I’m sure Hamoura is just working on a new project, no doubt she’ll show up soon with her lab slightly singed and another revolutionary discovery.’

              ‘Like my twelfth birthday you mean,’ Roa asked and they laughed. The rest of the day passed by slowly, relaxing in the garden. Dreian showed up briefly to let Roa know that Hamoura had to cancel class and Roa gave Lucius a ‘see’ look. Lucius offered a lesson on art to make up for it, Roa was surprised Dreian didn’t actually object; and an intensive art lesson lasted for an entire half an hour before they relaxed into conversation.

              ‘Have you seen Sera recently?’ Lucius asked and Roa shook her head. ‘I knew she’s busy but I wish was better at keeping in touch.’

              ‘She’ll be at the party, so we’ll see her then,’ Roa said and she stretched softly in the chair. Roa attempted to pull herself out but barely managed an inch out of her seat. Lucius stood up and moved quickly over to her.

              ‘Did you want to lie down?’ He asked and Roa nodded, he picked her up out of the chair, huffing slightly as he did.

              ‘You ok?’ She asked.

              ‘Yup, just making sure I don’t drop you,’ he said as he gently laid her down on the grass. Roa felt her cheeks go red and she turned slightly away. Lucius grabbed one of the stabilizing pillows from her chair and placed it under her head before sitting down next to her.

              ‘How’s the Academy going?’ Roa asked and Lucius ran his hand through his hair.

              ‘It’s… good, just this current project, I can’t get it to work at all.’ Lucius leaned back, ‘the technic just doesn’t have a long enough kinetic memory; I’ve been talking with some engineers to extend it but the colours start fading when we do.’

              ‘If it can be done I’m sure you’ll figure it out, there isn’t really any who are as good with technic as you.’ Lucius laughed.

              ‘Clearly you need to come by the Academy sometime; the pieces are getting better each month. One of the new artists has already started to play around with randomized technic; I don’t even know how she is doing it.’ Lucius kept talking about the new pieces coming through; a lot of the specifics went over Roa’s head as she’d never really worked with the interface for technic. It wasn’t till he started talking about some of the political art coming through that her interest really spiked.

              ‘What’s the mood with the pieces, I haven’t been able to get dad to tell me much about any discourse?’

              ‘Really? That seems like a pretty important thing for you to know.'

              'A point I have made many times over, this last year he just... it doesn't matter you can tell me now. ‘Roa looked to Lucius who hesitated.

              'I thought you already knew,' he said, 'Ray'ed only won his title back by a couple of dozen votes.' Roa's eyes widened. 'A lot of people see that he's too close to you family, they want someone who will represent them.'

              'And that’s Mall'eh Say right? She was the one who was almost elected?' Lucius nodded, 'I'd heard she was popular but I didn't know.' Roa shook her head, she hadn't really considered that one day it wouldn't be Ray'ed as her opponent for the throne.

              'Roa there’s something else,' Lucius said, 'there's a lot of talk about voting in the Heir-Elect, they don't know that you can do it.' Roa's stomach gave way and she pushed herself up sharply, her arms gave way under her and she crashed back to the ground. 'Roa!' Lucius shouted and Dreian came running.

              'What happened?' She asked as she gently helped Roa to lie down again.

              'Dreian I need to speak with The Monarch,' Roa said and Dreian tried to insist she see the doctor first. 'I will speak to him now.' Roa said and Dreian placed her back into the chair. Roa steered back inside, heading towards her father’s office. An attendant waited outside and explained he didn't want to be disturbed. 'Tell him I will see him now,' Roa demanded, the attendant uncomfortably stood as he closed his eyes and opened communication. Within a few seconds he opened them again and cleared his throat.

              'I'm afraid The Monarch isn't available to speak with you,' he said, and he positioned himself between her and the door. Roa herself boiled with anger, she wanted to push past him but Dreian rested a hand on her shoulder.

              'We understand he's busy, I'm sure he'll be able to make time soon,' she said and the attendant nodded gratefully. Roa felt her hands shaking, she bite back her anger and nodded silently. Turning back towards her suite, she rolled on in silence. 'Perhaps you should head home now,' Dreian said to Lucius at the door and he nodded.

              'I'll see you soon, ' he promised as he gave Roa a hug and headed off. Roa didn't respond, once inside Dreian helped her change and braided her hair. Roa could now feel a bruise across her shoulder blade; she bruised very easily these days.

              'Dreian, upload the last few months of news releases onto my screen.' Roa said as she was laid into bed, Dreian nodded and quickly set it up. She went to sit beside Roa's bed, 'that's all. Good night.'

              'You haven't had any dinner yet.'

              'Good night Dreian,' Roa said and Dreian frowned.

'I know you're upset, and I won't say you don't have reason to be. But I won't let you starve yourself just because of that. If you eat while you read I'll leave you in peace.'

              'Ok,' Roa conceded as she began flicking through the news. Dreian brought the food in, already cut into small pieces, Roa was able to stomach some of it to start with but as the night started to draw on she continued to eat and read. She chided herself for not paying more attention; she'd assumed she would just be told if there was a change in public opinion. She could no longer assume her father would tell her anything she thought bitterly.  She had near nine months of news to catch up on, a lot she could skip over but she read in depth on any of the articles regarding Mall'eh Say or herself. Her implant told her it was four in the morning when she finally dropped to sleep.