Mary, Queen of Scots ~by Cassie C.

Mary was nineteen when she found herself standing on a rocking boat. She was lonely because her friends were staying in France. Saying goodbye was hard. Mary waited on the boat to Scotland. She was on her way to Scotland because her husband, the Dauphin Francis, had just died and could no longer rule France.

On the boat, Mary felt queasy because of the rocking and the food she had eaten for dinner. Mary's stomach rumbled inside. I wish I didn't have the beef, potatoes, carrots, and soup for dinner, and the cheesecake fudge balls for dessert are making me even sicker, she thought, leaning on the bow of the boat. Mary's tummy hurt because of the food and tight, metal corset she wore under her clothes. It made her sick, but she had to wear it to squash her stomach in and make her look skinny. She was uncomfortable and kept stumbling on her dress. The dresses she wore had many designs and colors that were only made for royalty.

She was a long way away from Scotland, and the rocking of the boat was making everyone seasick including the ship's captain. After 40 days on the long, long trip, she finally arrived at Scotland. Imagine her surprise to find that her cousin had betrayed her. "What? what?" she screamed when she saw a poster of her cousin Elizabeth being announced queen. "My own Cousin betrayed me and took the throne that I have been waiting for?!" She ran until she reached the castle and ordered the guards to lower the bridge, "Put it down! I have rights to be in this castle!"

When she entered the rusty castle, she quickly found her cousin smirking at her. "Leave, guards! Leave this conversation," Elizabeth scoffed at the tin caped men. Left all alone in the throne room, they talked all day long. They talked about who should rule the country. Elizabeth sat in what Mary considered her throne. She dismissed Mary, "I won't give it back."
"Please, please! I want it back!" Mary howled, falling to her knees.
"You don't deserve it. You were gone. This throne was meant for me, not you. It's too late now! Guards!! Guards!" Elizabeth spoke while staring Mary in the eyes. "Get this person out of my sight," she ordered, "Right this minute!"
"I will get you later," Mary cried while being drug away by the guards. They continued dragging her until they threw her into a cell in the dungeon. All throughout the night, Mary's mind went crazy. She couldn't stop thinking about the horrible destruction happening to her people. Elizabeth was torturing them. One hour later, Mary fell into an exhausted sleep, tears in her eyes.

The next morning she woke feeling cold, thirsty, and hungry. Sorrow melted in her as if she was in lava. She wondered how life would be with Elizabeth in charge. Will I be put in jail? Go through terror? Or be put to my death? she heard her conscious ask. "I need to toughen up and try to get my throne back," she vowed. "No more tears now; I must think only of revenge."

Fighting reached the land of Scotland. Elizabeth decided to allow Mary her freedom. The guards let Mary free and escorted her to Elizabeth's thrown. Elizabeth told her she had had two days to find as many men as would fight in her honor. If they won, Mary could have her thrown back. If they did not, they would be tortured and beheaded. Elizabeth knew that Mary would have be to killed if she was to continue to rule Scotland. Mary would never let her rule in peace. Mary was fighting for the throne, but she was also fighting for her honor. They both thought the thrown was for them. They thought that the only way to see who was going to rule the kingdom was to fight to the death, unfortunately, many would die in this battle.
"Winner gets the throne; loser gets beheaded," Mary fiercely said as she ran from the room to rally her forces.
Mary will simply lose, she can't find men to fight against my guards; it's impossible, Elizabeth thought to herself. Aloud she said, "Two days and the battle is on."

Mary traveled throughout the kingdom and hundreds of miles around on hoarse back houses looking for people who would join in her fight against Elizabeth. "Will you join me?" she kept asking. "If you do, I will bring you peace, money, care, and grant your other wishes. I will bring justice back to Scotland."
Much to Elizabeth's surprise, Mary rallied an awesome army of pheasants. Though the real soldiers would not risk joining her. They all feared the consequences of torture and death if they were to lose.
When she returned with her small but passionate army, Elizabeth mocked her. "I see that you have no soldiers on your team. There is only minutes before the joust begins; it looks like I will continue to rule Scotland after all!" Elizabeth laughed.

One more minute until the joust will begin. Panicking, Mary closed her eyes and wished someone would fight with her.

"Ding, dong, ding," the bells rang and gathered everybody came to the castle

"Gather around the fight is about to begin, and it will be exciting," Elizabeth announced.

The people sat down on the bleachers and cheered for Elizabeth. Elizabeth sent her knight out and Mary was then supposed to do the same. None of the pheasants would volunteer. Mary came out and confessed, "I have no knight. I failed to find one so I will fight myself.

"Sorry, Mary," the joust manager said, "the rules say that you have to find a knight. You are not allowed to fight yourself."

Mary sighed and looked at the ground.

"Ha!" Elizabeth laughed, "you are disqualified and that means OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

"No, no," Mary cried, "don't you have feelings for family."

"No!" Elizabeth answered, laughing.

Again, Mary was once more dragged to the dreaded dungeon and locked up. She spent the night cold and lonely.


Three days later, Mary had awaken and found her self chained up to a wooden table that was as tall as her neck. Her head ached because there was nowhere for her head to rest it. When she opened both eyes, there were all the the people from her kingdom watching, waiting for the execution. She thought, Why are these people watching me? Did I do something wrong? What did I do? Why would they want to see me killed?

"You should have stayed in France," murmured Elizabeth.
Tears rolled down her sad face, Why didn't people fight for me?
The executioner came out with an axe in his hand. He looked liked a person who was going to rob someone. He was dressed in a huge black vest with a black mask that only let the world see his eyes. The rest of him was black. He was really tall and muscular, and even more creepy.
Elizabeth cried, "It's time."
When the executioner held up the axe, he yelled, "HAAAAAAGH."

"Ahhhhhhhhhh," I screamed, fear taking over. He hit my back with the axe, blood was gushing and squirting out like water gushing from a hose. For a minute, I thought couldn't believe that I wasn't dead. There was only a little bit of skin holding me together. The pain was intense. Please, Lord. Take this misery away; it hurts to much,I was screaming in my head. The executioner held up the axe again.

"This time hit her neck," Elizabeth demanded.

"HAAAAAGH," he struck again.

Mary's ears closed down; she could hear no more. Her hands turned cold, she could feel no more. Her mouth closed, she could taste no more. Her heart stopped, she could breath no more. Mary closed her eyes, she could experience no more pain. She was on her way to a happy new life in heaven.

~ By Cassie C