sworn by both the spectre and the blood

[i_am_elizabeth]

It is with the strangest sense of freedom I walk the trails of the jungle island today. The air is not so thick with its usual moisture and is cooler given the recent rain, this brief reprieve from which I have decided to take make full opportunity of, and the sun, which already fights the thin and gently rolling cloud cover is fully tamed by that

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[stoicsidekick]

"Ma'am!" Bush saw the Queen as she was sick upon the jungle floor, though he did not immediately spy the source of her distress. For the moment the awkward formality he always possessed when near her was gone. She was only a woman in distress, nothing more. It was only when he kneeled beside her, a hand at her arm to help her up, that he saw the block, and the head beside.

He made no mention of it. "Here- can you stand, ma'am?"

[i_am_elizabeth]

I am not sure if I can. I wish to, for with my feet beneath me I could depart, but the shock of the knowledge more than the scene had struck me deep and knocked the wind from me.

"Forgive me," I say, voice straining against the tightness of my throat, "I am not sure."

[stoicsidekick]

Bush only nodded tightly and brought a hand under the queen's arm in order to haul her to her feet. If she could not stand on her own, he would provide help in doing so as best he could. "Come- he said with a glance over his shoulder at the head, "let's away from here."

[i_am_elizabeth]

Without the layers upon layers of heavy brocade and jewelery I feel light, as some poor sickly sparrow, of inconsequential matter- he lifts me easily, and I keep my hold of his shoulder and arm.

"It cannot be left," I gasp, trying to steel myself, not turning back to look upon the block and its victim.

"God forgive me the signing away of her life, God forgive her her treason, but it... sh... She cannot be left. Is there someone- Might you send someone after us, lieutenant?"

[stoicsidekick]

"Of course, ma'am. I'll see to it, first thing." Yes, he would return for the thing, but only once he was certain the queen was someplace safe. In the state she was in, she looked fit to fall into a faint at any moment. And in Bush's mind, the living should be seen to before the dead.

Hand still firmly at her arm, he started to lead her away. He didn't ask questions, not yet, not when she was in such a state as this.

[i_am_elizabeth]

I step as he steps, feet barely finding their way beneath the dragging of my skirt.

"I feel as though I have not been so far from home as I am in this moment," I murmur.

[stoicsidekick]

"From England, ma'am?" he asked, uncertain if she was referring to that home, or to a much closer home, here on the island, where she might rest. He suspect the former. "I have found that when strange things like that appear, they seem stranger still for being here, and not where they belong."

[i_am_elizabeth]

"You have received their grotesque presence as well?" I ask him, sliding both of my hands around his arm, holding on fiercely tight.

"Was it so bloody or bring with it so much shame?"

[stoicsidekick]

"No, ma'am." He felt embarrassed now, to have brought up such a thing. Some people received horrors from home, but he had only found a simple handkerchief on the beach, a small reminder of his sisters and the responsibility to them that he had left behind. "Only a small token, something from home. But I can guess, ma'am, at how unnerving something so gruesome could be, even to a woman such as yourself."

[i_am_elizabeth]

"You do me more credit, lieutenant, than my present state awards," I murmur tremulously.

"A token would have been enough, I daresay."

[stoicsidekick]

"You are a queen of England, ma'am. It is only the credit you deserve." As a ship's lieutenant, he had more than enough experience ignoring a superior's failings, temporary or otherwise. The instinct was in his very blood. "Indeed, ma'am. Tokens are odd enough."

He hesitated. "Ma'am- if I may be so bold, I imagine you made many difficult decisions as queen. But all must have been for the sake and safety of England."

[i_am_elizabeth]

Were they? All, were they all?

No, some were for me. But I came back to my mind quickly enough, I dare to hope, and then made the correct choice after all. England's choice.

"Yes. Yes, in truth, they were. It does not make some of them any more palatable."

[stoicsidekick]

"No, ma'am," Bush said noncommittally. But then, with the certainty of a military man who had seen his share of necessary death, he added, "Killing is rarely palatable, but a country has to be protected. Such things have to be done."

He was not a philosophical man, but he knew that much.

[i_am_elizabeth]

I bow my head, my grip on his arm relaxing slightly, although I continue to hold it close and step carefully.

"Your understanding is an admirable quality, sir. I would have done well to have had you in my court."

[stoicsidekick]

The Queen had brought a blush to the face of the weather-beaten sailor, as she so often did with her compliments. "Thank you, ma'am. I only say what I see to be true. I doubt that's enough to win me a place on any court." He ducked his head slightly.

[i_am_elizabeth]

"It is enough to win you either a place at your monarch's right hand, or a place in their dungeon," I murmur, troubled by such thoughts enough, and perhaps more in the moment given what is at our backs.

"But for my part, as poorly as I kept hold of the soldiers I collected, you would have been of my council to be sure, Lieutenant."