Amelie Mackie: An Author in the Making

We want to congratulate Amelie Mackie on her recent entry into a writing competition earlier in the year and placed in the top ten. Please enjoy her story below.

The Mystery of Maddelina’s Mother 

Chapter 1 

My heart was beating out of my chest, it was the only thing I could hear aside from the fast footsteps behind me, as I raced through my royal chambers. I sprinted down my long white rug, around my purple canopy bed, and dashed through to my marble bathroom. BANG! I slammed the door shut behind me and wedged one of my satin chairs under the door handle.

My hand was gushing with blood as I tried to tie it up with a cloth, but just as I was tying the knot the blade I had just escaped from was stabbed through the door (typical). Oh, why are the guards never around when I need them? I could hear whispering through the door, that meant there was more than one of them right? Or was he just talking to himself, it only sounded like one voice? I quickly rummaged through all of the cupboards that I went through every day, I knew I wouldn’t find anything to help me though. I was Bluestone’s princess, why would I ever need a weapon, I had guards to do this for me for goodness sake! 

CLICK, that was the lock on my door, let’s hope that chair stays put. As I pulled everything out I found something, it wasn’t sharp but it was smooth and it felt like a golden plaque or something on leather. I pulled it out of its hiding spot and looked at the object in awe. It was a burgundy book, the book was made of leather with a golden latch and a golden spine, on the front cover in tiny cursive writing was the name Lilliana Bertroth. Bertroth, that was my last name, I don’t know anyone called Lilliana though. I don’t have a sister, or aunty, and mother disappeared eight years ago.

CRASH! The chair fell to the ground as he slipped through the door. I didn’t get a

good look at him earlier due to me running for my life. He had crystal blue eyes that changed to grey in the light, his hair was a curly blond and he was a head taller than me, he was looked around the same age as me, sixteen. The knife he was holding wasn’t that big, he looked reluctant too. Maybe someone threatened him to kidnap me? I wish mother was here, she would know exactly what to do.

I had nowhere to run, no window to climb down from (the drop was four stories anyway), I couldn’t fight him, so I just stood there frozen, anticipating the pain through my heart that would lead to my death. My coronation was tomorrow, I didn’t even get to be queen. But, he stood there too, observing my movements, watching me with his desperate blue eyes. We made eye contact as I looked up at him, his mouth moved as though he was going to cry and scream and whisper in desperation all at once, but he clearly wasn’t going to lunge at me. What was he doing? That was when he finally spoke. His voice rang through the room gently but firmly as he looked from me to the book I was holding and back again.

“Go, run away from here, you deserve to live Maddy. If you stay you will die, someone like me will be ordered to come and kill you, we have no choice, but if you leave you will see the person you have longed for most. Please, just go!” 

I didn’t know what to say; thank you, goodbye, question him. So, I ran past him out of the room, but as I looked back over my shoulder I caught his eye, he gave me the softest of smiles but it was still a smile.

Chapter 2 

As I ran through the corridors I picked up certain things like a bag, another dress, a piece of paper, a pen and anything else that I might need. I beelined for the kitchen and snuck past Mrs Parré, she was my favourite person in the palace but I didn’t want her to get worried and stop me. I grabbed the best knife I could find as well as an apple and three of Mrs Parré’s special blueberry muffins, my favourite. I crept past the ballroom and through to the front door, as I reached for my burgundy velvet cloak I realised that I would be recognised, so I slipped one on from when I was ten. It was a sleek black one, papa wanted it to be respectable and practical no matter how much I begged him to make it purple. No one would remember me wearing this, perfect. I slid past Mr Beterich, the gardener, and slipped through the garden and out the front gates.

Now what? I just snuck out of my own castle and the last time I went to the village papa and I took the royal carriage. He was the king and I was the beautiful princess, everyone protected me because I was the only heir to their throne. Now I had no one; mother disappeared when I was eight, papa just died of a fever, I have no friends or siblings, where do I go?

The book! I was still holding the book, I hadn’t even glimpsed at it yet. Now that I looked at it though, it was not just any book. It was a diary! The first entry was May 18th,

1908, I began to read.

“I was innocent, minding my own business. Then he found me, he was wearing a dark cloak over his head but he had the kindest of faces. He looked at me, then he asked where I was going, I told him that I was visiting the bookshop, his face looked trustworthy if I ignored the clothes. He asked if he could walk with me! Me! Of course I said yes, he was charming, and kind. We never made it to the bookshop though, instead we sat on a bench at the park and talked for hours, then he walked me home, it was the best day of my life.”

I flicked through to the 22nd of August 1912.

“Today is my wedding day, I am about to be Queen. It took us a lot of time to get to this point, I mean he did hide his identity, but only to reveal that he was the prince of Bluestone! His brother was the heir to the throne, but sadly he had a sudden death a year ago. That means he will be King and I will be Queen. We love each other and that is all that matters. Maybe we will have a daughter one day, I will teach her how to sew, and read. We could cook in the royal kitchen together and I could play in the gardens with her for hours.”

I stopped reading, I was born on the 24th of August 1913. This is my mother, this was her diary! Why was it hidden in my bathroom cupboard though? I started to read September 15th, 1920.

“It’s all too hard, Maddelina is an incredible child, she loves reading and I play with her in the gardens often, she is kind and caring too. But her father is different, he only wants her to sew and sit for portraits, he doesn’t think she should have a voice and play in the gardens either, she is only seven and she deserves to have fun. He has a terrible temper and I can’t put up with it much longer. I have requested to change my royal chambers so I am closer to my precious daughter, but it still isn’t enough. I still have thoughts about what he did all those years ago.”

My mother changed her sleeping chambers so they were next to mine, I remember that, then she disappeared. I was told she left us because being queen was too hard for her and she didn’t want to keep being Queen. What if papa was wrong, or what if he’s hiding something from me? I skipped through to August 25th, 1921, this was the day before Mother disappeared.

“I have to leave, if Maddelina remembers me it will break her heart even more, her father will keep her safe, but when she is sixteen he will probably die, I have planted this diary in her bathroom cupboard. If you find this darling, I love you and you will find me one day, but do not trust your papa, he is a tricky man and he was not supposed to be on that throne. He wants power, I didn’t realise how much till last year. I have pushed through but if I take you with me he will find us, I kept you with him so he didn’t suspect me it was the safest option at the time, please try to find me when you feel it’s time, I will always be above you until the day you find me in our favourite place hidden in the village.”

Chapter 3 

No, it’s smudged! In our what? I clearly have to find her, it’s been eight years, I miss her more than anything. I could imagine seeing her beautiful face with her smooth brown hair swooped in a low style, looking at me like I was her reflection in a mirror. She would be standing there in her burgundy gown waiting for me with her arms open for a long awaited motherly embrace. If I found her we could rule together and catch up on everything she has missed. Wait, what if it’s too late, she could have died alone. No, no, to many what ifs I need to keep to the limited facts that I have.

Let’s see, Mother said above you. What’s above me? As I looked into the sky the only thing I could see was Bluestone’s fluffy, white clouds blowing over the town and over the river to cross the border, there were birds and a hill, but really nothing else.

A hill! When I was little we used to play in the gardens and mother would tell me stories of when she was a little girl. How she would run up the hill and crawl into her little hiding spot where no one except her mother would ever find her. I remember one day I ran out of the castle gates, I ran up the tallest hill and hid in the hiding spot till my mother found me. She would have been so scared now that I reflect on it. She cried and cried into my shoulder when she found me, after mother recovered she made me promise that I would never run away from her again. After that day we went to the hiding spot often to talk and play and hide from the people who would try and control us; like papa.

I ran and ran and ran all the way to the top of the only hill in Bluestone. It felt like I had been running for a good hour or two but it was only twenty minutes. I turned a sharp corner and all I could hear was my feet crunching on the golden, autumn leaves on the path.

My heart was pounding more than I could imagine, what if I found her?

That was when I heard it, it was a gentle cough and then there was a voice, it was male but familiar. I turned around expecting it to be my imagination, but there he was. It was the boy from earlier that morning. He looked at me and gave a shining, kind smile as he ran forward, I stood there not knowing what to do until he said something, the words were blurred, but I wanted to hear his voice.

Then I heard my mother’s voice. 

“Maddy, wake up, the castle gardens are waiting!”