Chapter 01

Part 1

A young girl was hiding in a cupboard watching through its keyhole how her parents were bound on two chairs tortured by a man with a red coat and a Russian accent.

His eyes gave a disgusted look at them. He asked:

"Where have you hidden them? Where are they?"

Her father, a man with an immovable personality, said with a scary grin:

"You will never find them this way. Only I know where they are."

After her father made this statement the man broke the finger of her mom.

*crack*

A hurtful scream squeezed the little girl's heart.

"I will do this with every one of her fingers when you don't give me what I ask for."

*crack*

A scream.

Tears blurred the sight of the girl.

"I will ask you another time: Where are they?"

"The empress knew what was on the line when she married me. Even if she dies, I won't say it. Long live the monarchy."

*crack* A scream.

Tears appeared in the proud face of her father.

"When you don't say it I'll take her arm."

A saw was put onto her shoulder easily scratching the smooth skin.

"Empress, I'm sorry."

"I know emperor you did everything you can to save our family and the future of our kingdom."

*ratch* Blood sprinkled the floor

The saw buried itself into the meat.

"Where are they? She won't have any damage which can't be fixed when you tell me now."

"Never! When you would know, it would be the downfall of our whole empire! All our family has worked for, for all these generations"

The girl, quietly sobbing, looked at the spectacle outside. Her mother two *ratch* away from losing her arm. She waited for the sound. And then it came.

*ratch* *ratch*

The arm fell on the floor.

"Next I will take her eye sight…. Where have you hidden them?"

"Empress, Heidi will have a good life without us. I have organised everything so she will become a strong, gorgeous empress. Even my great great grandfather will be a side note in history compared to her."

The red one laid a toothpick on the table.

The mother smiled when she thought about her beautiful little daughter hiding in the cupboard.

She looked at the tip of a toothpick between the thumb and the forefinger of the anarchist bastard. In the next moment her sight became black. Warm liquid ran down her face. She felt an intolerable pain in her head.

Suddenly blue light and a serene.

The red man made a complicated face:

"We won't get anything out of him in time. Have you found the girl?"

"I'm sorry. We looked everywhere but we didn't find her."

A grim expression spread over the face of the man in red.

"Okay then, kill these two! We don't have the facilities to bring them into the Free Nations. At least we can celebrate the death of the royal couple at home. Take their heads.

For mother Russia, for father China, for the Free Nations."

Two *sing* were heard then the knocking on the floor of two heavy objects.

The girl nearly let out her voice.

Then fast steps away from the site of crime.

2 January 2003 Vienna

On this day the heads of the house van Habsburg were found dead. Only survivor: Adelheid van Habsburg, the 10 year old daughter.

The police found the girl in the arms of her mother's dead body. The heads were cut from the bodies. They weren't found at the site of crime.

Several fingers were broken. The arm of her mother was separated from her body.

The girl under shock couldn't give a report. She was given to her aunt, a relative of the house van Habsburg.

Part 2

After the police found the girl in the lap of her mother she was brought to the police station.

There she sat on a bench, a glassy look, tears on her cheeks, a hot coco in the left hand and a blanket around her shoulder.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In her head the scenes of the disaster repeated over and over. When someone talked to her and wanted to free her from her miserable state, he didn't get an answer. When she closed her eyes the red overwhelming evil haunted her. No escape. The screams of her mother had become her nightmares. The knocking on the floor had become the ghosts haunting her.  The girl wept till soft sleep surrounded her.

When she awoke she laid in a bed. Her aunt, her uncle and her two best friends the gardener's Son and the little maid stood at the edge of it.

She knew the gardener's son and the little maid since she was born. They were the same age as her and children of their personal.

The servant’s daughter had blonde smooth long hair and was a bit chubby. The boy on the other hand was thin like a stick.

Her aunt was a woman who looked, bluntly speaking, like an insect. She had long, thin fingers, striking, big glasses and her hair was shoulder long.

She looked with caring eyes at Heidi. Heidi's best friend, the gardener's son made a complicated face. Probably he didn't know how to handle the situation. He only knew that he was one of the most needed persons now.

Her uncle, a man in his 40s, laid a hand on the shoulder of his niece and said:

"We'll show these bastards what it means to make an enemy of the royal family. We'll show them."

He gave a hard look which nobody would be able to stand very long.

These few words gave the girl's eyes their light back. She felt the longing for revenge, the unbearable hatred against the red man. The last pictures of her mother's and father's death became red: Her personal colour for revenge. The red man should pay for what he did. He should be crushed under the shoes of her family and together with everyone who stands over and under him. Everyone should feel her wrath and no one should escape.

She will do the same to the red man what he did to mother: crack his fingers, cut his arm, steel his sight and crush his head.

She will become his personal monster. What was it? Mother Russia, father China? She will steel his parents the same way he had stolen her parents. Then she will crush them in front of his eyes, without him being able to do anything.

The red man should wimp for forgiveness because he took the life of such a great man, of such a great woman.

Seeing the spark in her eyes her aunt bowed her knees and said:

"The way you are now you can't do anything. You could make war but you will fail. Let us help you avenge our great monarch. We will guide you to victory, my empress!"

After these words everyone in the room bowed in front of the little girl their knees.

The young empress thought long over these words. In the end she lifted her head.

"We will wait our beloved subjects. We will learn the arts you consider useful for your future empress. We will feed our hunger for revenge until the day of our coronation. At the age of 20 we will start our plot.

Our loyal suspects, revenge will become after these long 10 years so much sweeter.

Wait for the day we will avenge our beloved Lord, our father.

Please do what you consider necessary because we are nothing but a little girl."

After these words the young but wise empress lay back onto the bed. All tears disappeared from her eyes. A decided expression dominated her facial features.

They began to discuss what had happened and what they had to do in the future. So everyone was ready in 10 years. Most of it was considered, but there were many unknown factors. So they decided what to do for the next 4 years and then to hold a gathering of the whole royal household.

Heidi decided to go to her aunt's place learning about politics and tactics.

Late in the evening after a long discussion they went to her new home where she immediately fell asleep.