1st 5 Pages December Workshop - Mahoney

Name: Vivian Lee Mahoney
Genre: YA
Title: The Rebel Queen


I was born with my eyes open, an oddity that spurred gossip and encouraged matchmakers to find other baby girls to promise to the village boys. Mother and Father didn't mind when none of the village families claimed me. They saw my life's beginning as an auspicious sign--a way for me to always see the truth behind the falsities of life--and named me Jin-Ae, Truthful Treasure. How they smiled when I spotted the slight-of-hand merchant who tried to cheat Father with fake pearls that crushed into dust, or the traveling farmer who weighed down the rice with river stones to collect more copper coins. While I didn't have the ability to see into the future like the village shamans, every silent glance, unheard word, and stifled movement ruffled through me and kept me awake to people's intentions.

My senses dulled when Mother and Father's spirits rose to the heavens seven summers ago, perhaps to forget how my heart pounded me with accusations when I blamed the gods. Where were they when my parents needed them most, their cries drowned by the shrieking wind, their hope smashed by the capsized boat? The ocean swallowed them up and refused to spit them out, no matter how much I wailed and hurled rocks into the churning water. My grief almost drowned me, until stories Father told me of the Legendary Dragon King hissed in my ear. Rough waves knocked me down in an instant, dragging me deep into the West Sea, choking my pleas to the Dragon King, the protector of Korea's waters. The dark waters swelled and tossed me about, until rough hands caught me, dumping me unceremoniously onto shore. I ignored the soldiers who saved me, suffocating instead on the pitying looks from the townspeople, wondering at the shimmering light I saw below.

I failed my parents. I lived. I was only nine-years-old at the time, a mere child, with no brothers to protect me or sisters to befriend me.

Fortune shone upon me when Mother's only sister, Precious Aunt, moved into my home high above the sea, close to the temple of my parents' shrine. On occasion, she accompanied me down the hill, past the lion statues and onto the sacred grounds, whispering promises to Mother, torn between her duty to her husband and love for her deceased sister. As I grew older, I realized Esteemed Uncle made an exception for me. Surely, life looked better from my parents' compound than from his one room hut in the village. My home sufficed as compensation for Precious Aunt's attention and I gladly paid. She kept me in the land of the living, even though my cousins pulled her skirts and Esteemed Uncle hurled insults, his voice thickened with drink.

Her thin face captivated me. I often found myself stealing looks at Precious Aunt from beneath my lashes, seeing Mother's delicate beauty and willful eyes. How I missed Mother. If only I could her say my name, "Jin-Ae."

Esteemed Uncle's voice ruled my life, his daily teachings dulling my pain. I followed and learned, and learned to obey, hating the words "honor" and "duty" when Palace officials announced my fate. I only had myself to blame. The time in the only place I've known as home for the past eight years drew to a close. The Royal Guard would soon arrive and take me away.

A slight breeze rustled through holes in the rice paper window. Shivering, I clutched my jacket closer to my shoulders as I paced the women's quarters a final time, a stranger in scarlet silk. My gown, a lustrous crimson, edged with gold embroidered peonies along the sleeves and hem, announced me with every movement. Swish. Swish. Never had I worn a gown so elegant, soft to the touch, a gift to the eye. Yet, misery draped over me. My red satin slippers burned bright along the path burrowed into the heated dirt floor, twelve paces from one wall to another, towards the open door, away from the chamber of my childhood.

"You look just like your mother." Precious Aunt waited by the doorway, her face softening into a melancholy smile. "She would never want you to go." She shook her head. "Already I speak too much."


My heart caught in my throat. "Please tell me. There is no one else here."

Precious Aunt hugged me and whispered in my ear. "Do not believe such foolishness. There will always be eyes and ears following you around." She straightened my jacket and fastened a gold filagreed ornament to my skirt. "Your mother was once a favored friend of the Royal Family. Did you know she was once betrothed to the Daewon-gun?"

"How could it be?"

"Aiee," she said softly, smoothing out my hair. "It doesn't surprise me."

"What happened?"

"We must not talk of such foolishness. It will only bring us bad luck."

Why are you telling me this now?"

"Shh." My aunt glanced towards the door. "There isn't much time. Before your mother left the palace, the Queen gave her this good luck piece," she said, brushing her fingers against the golden ornament at my waist. "Perhaps if she wore this..."

A shadow passed outside the window and a chill blew through the torn rice paper. Precious Aunt grabbed my hands. Even though she spoke softly, her eyes expressed a wildness, a fear I've never seen.

"Promise me," she squeezed my hands. "Promise me you'll wear this at all times. It's said this was made from a dragon scale and will protect you from harm."

I nodded, even though thousands of questions burned on my tongue. The shrill cry of the azure-winged magpie shrieked outside my window, and I started. Mother believed in the magpie's warnings.

"You've mourned your parents long enough." She reached out and touched my forehead. "It's time to pay attention, Jin-Ae. You're treading into new territory and we will all lose, if you don't wake up."

"Whatever do you mean?"

Esteemed Uncle ran into the room, his face blotched red with exertion. "Wife, hurry. There is no time."

"What is happening? Take me with you."

"Shh, my child. Kiss me goodbye." Her eyes blessed mine with love.

An arrow darted through a hole in the rice paper window and pierced Precious Aunt clear through her upper arm, embedding itself into the dirt wall. Esteemed Uncle cried out. He ran forward. As my aunt slumped to the ground, I caught her and rested her head on my lap. Blood, her blood, left dark petal shaped splotches on my dress.

"Do not leave me." My fingers brushed her hair from her face, stroked her cheek, the face so like Mother.

"Find the old man," she said, her voice faint against her labored breath.

Shouts rang out in the courtyard.

My uncle fell on his knees, at his wife's side. His voice broke. "He promised us safety."

"Who did?" A tall man strode into my room, accompanied by two soldiers. Briefly, the Daewon-gun glanced at us. He gestured his men to attend to my aunt. They brusquely took her away from my arms, and wrapped cloth around her wound.

"We caught a man outside your window, notching his bow and arrow."

Esteemed Uncle bowed low to the ground, grabbing the Daewon-gun's robes. "We thank you for coming to our rescue."

The Prince Regent waved uncle's words away. Instead, he looked down at me, his head cocked to the side. He smiled. "You seem far too calm for a girl who just had an attempt on her life."