Queen of the Dead

Blood ran through her fingers.

"Princess!"

She turned, setting the rabbit down.

"You know how your mother feels about this!" Agatha's shrill voice bounced around in the small room, the sound becoming ten times as loud and fifty times as annoying.

Talia faced the maid and drew herself up. "I want to save her," she said with as much command as she could.

The older woman squawked in disgust and tried to pry the needle from Talia.

Being young and well-practiced at yanking needles away from bothersome maids, Taila let go just enough then pulled back towards herself, causing Agatha's grip to slip right off the needle, already slick with blood. The maid shrieked as she fell backwards, landing hard on her backside.

Quickly, Talia resumed and finished her task. With the rabbit fully stitched, she set it carefully in a cage and went to the sink to wash her hands.

Agatha, now eternally disgruntled, got up and huffed at Talia saying, "Where'd you even get that rabbit?"

"From one of Father's traps," replied Talia calmly, drying her hands on her dress.

"Aah!" cried Agatha, which was a bit of a strange response, and prompted Talia to look at the woman. She was hunkered in on herself, tilted to the side at an angle that had Talia wondering how she hadn't lost her balance and toppled over again.

Agatha had discovered one of her other projects, a bear, which was tucked away in the shadowy corner of the shed for this precise reason.

"I'm going to save him," Talia explained again at a stupidly slow pace.

Agatha's eyes moved rapidly from Talia to the bear, then the woman let out a gurgle-like noise and fled from the room.

Talia sat down and stared at her hands. Why did no one understand her good intentions? She just wanted to save the animals of the forest, like any other princess.

Talia sighed and looked over to the bird cage in the corner, where her favorite subject lay. It was a bluejay, stained red from injury. Yet it was quiet and peaceful, like her other animals. She reached out to stroke its cold feathers. The bluejay stared with blank eyes back at her.

She smiled, and left the shed.