“That is not going to happen. This is your last warning Agnes. Hand over Anastasia now or face the consequences,” Queen Amealiana confidently declared, taking a brave step forward towards Agnes, though internally she could feel herself falling apart, feeling trapped in a situation she did not know how to navigate.
Agnes’s smirk grew wider as she dropped the reigns of her horse and closed the gap between herself and the Queen. Before Her Majesty had the time to react, she pulled the Queen into a headlock, stabbing the unsheathed dagger brutally into the Queen’s side, just narrowly missing her heart. The Queen attempted to scream in pain, but all sound was suffocated as Agnes put more pressure on the Queen’s neck, holding her more tightly. The Queen’s vision blurred, and her light faded away. She dropped to the ground, blood seeping from her stab wound onto the freshly fallen snow.
*
Agnes
Annalyse screamed in shock, diving towards her mother to try and catch her before she hit the ground but failing to do so. Throwing herself across the Queen’s body she began heaving sobs, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around her, consumed in her new grief. The snow soaked into her clothes, leaving her wet and freezing, not that the young Heir noticed. Blood seeped endlessly from the Queen’s wound; her pulse weak, breathing shallow. Annalyse ripped a section of her cape off and attempted to staunch the bleeding from her mother’s wound, but the damage was too great. The Queen’s eyes glazed over as the Goddess’s spirit took Her Majesty by the hand as she passed from this world to the next.
Agnes paused for a moment, a glimmer of remorse flashing briefly across her face as she beheld her mother lying lifelessly before her. Another life lost at her hands in rage. Quickly turning her attention to the task at hand, Agnes grabbed the Heir’s blond hair, dragging Annie towards her horse. Annie uselessly attempted to gain traction in the snow, clawing at Agnes’s hands to try and free herself. A wall of fire suddenly erupted in between Agnes and her horse and turning furiously in a fit of rage, she noticed for the first time, her sister Alecia’s presence. Alecia was sprinting towards Agnes, sword in one hand, the other faced towards Agnes, controlling the fire wall she had just created. Alecia was fire incarnate. The Kingdom’s future General a living weapon, rage and purpose devouring her senses. Agnes made a sharp turn, running horizontally along the fire wall, pulling her sister along helplessly behind her.
“You will pay for this Agnes!” Alecia screamed, hurling her sword with all her might towards her eldest sister, aiming for her heart but falling short by several feet as she misjudged the distance between herself and her target. Using her remaining free hand, she sent a volley of fireballs towards her traitorous sister, all missing their mark. Agnes ploughed through the snow purposefully, even with the added weight of hauling Annie behind her by the hair.
Alecia quickly closed the distance between her and her sisters. Finally, Alecia landed a fireball against Agnes’s side, narrowly missing Annie in the process. Agnes bellowed out a scream of pain, releasing her grip on Annalyse’s hair in the process. Annalyse instinctively rolled away from Agnes, but then rolled up a snowball and threw it at her sister’s back to help douse the fire that was spreading over Agnes’s cloak. Agnes threw off her cloak and before Alecia had the chance to catch her, she threw herself through the wall of fire. Shielding her face with her arms, she rolled on the snow on the other side of the firewall, extinguishing the flames that clung to her clothes and cooling her various burns. Then with a last burst of energy Agnes picked herself up and dashed towards her horse, heaving herself up behind Anastasia once more in the saddle and coaxing her horse into a gallop. Away from the fire, away from her sisters, away from her mother’s body, and off into the safety of the dense ancient oak forest she rode in search of a new place to hide and plan her next move.
~ ◊~
14
Princess Alecia
After Agnes’s miraculous escape, Alecia was enraged. Anger and adrenaline, her driving force. Alecia would not allow herself to be consumed by grief — she would save those feelings for later after she had captured the traitor and made her pay for kidnapping her sister and ending her mother’s life.
The soon-to-be General escorted Annie and the Queen’s body safely back to the castle and then spent the remainder of the day relentlessly searching for signs of Agnes and Anastasia. Much to Alecia’s hindrance, snow had fallen softly during her search, concealing any tracks she may have been able to follow to locate the traitor and her captured sister.
Upon returning to the castle at dusk, Alecia ordered the Queen’s personal guard to search the forest high and low for signs of them. She brutally instructed the guard not to return to the palace unless they had discovered the traitor’s whereabouts and returned Princess Anastasia safely back to the castle.
Powered with anger and remorse for failing to protect their Queen, the former Queen’s guard searched the Alearia city proper and surrounding areas endlessly, seeking out revenge on Agnes. Amealiana’s guards mourned the loss of their Queen, especially head guard Tomlin, who had always been closely bonded to the Queen since his initial appointment to the position ten years prior.
Sir Tomlin blamed himself for the Queen venturing unescorted into the forest with her two daughters, and Alecia blamed him too.
‘It wasn’t fair to place so much responsibility on my shoulders. Tomlin should have been there to protect her too. If he had paid closer attention to the Queen’s whereabouts, Mother might still be alive, and Agnes’s body might have been lying cold in the castle instead.’
As soon as Agnes was brought to justice, Tomlin informed Alecia that he intended to take full responsibility for the Queen’s passing and would honorably accept any punishment the King deemed fit. Alecia and Tomlin both knew that his life would likely be forfeit.
‘A life for a life.’
*
The Kingdom of Alearia felt as though it had stopped, its people collectively mourning the loss of their beloved Queen Amealiana. Candles were lit in each of the residence’s front windowsills, in honor and remembrance of their former Goddess blessed ruler.
Black mourning banners once again hung around the castle grounds and along the halls. The King had locked himself away in his suite, furious over Alecia and Annie’s deceit in accompanying their Queen Mother to attempt to negotiate with Agnes. And all for nothing. The Queen had ascended to the After World and precious Princess Anastasia was still held captive by their evil sister. The King was in mourning and deep in the anger stage of the grieving process.
Alecia paced around the Queen’s room as Annie lay curled in a foetal position on the Queen Mother’s bed.
‘How can Annie just lie there as though she has nothing left to give? I will save my tears, those unnecessary emotions, for after I have exacted my revenge. Life has been especially cruel to Annie though… Seemingly taking away everyone she has ever loved. But now is not the time for crawling into a miserable pit of grief. Giving in to my emotions will help no one, least of all Anastasia. She needs me to stay strong, she needs me to find her. I will not bury my mother and sister in the same week.’
Margarette, Queen Amealiana’s former lady’s maid, attempted to comfort Annie through her loss, but so entrenched in her own grief, she had little emotional energy left to offer the young Heir. Margarette had served her Queen faithfully throughout the years and had loved her like her own family. Her life was devoted to serving Her Majesty. Margarette had witnessed the Queen grow into a strong, empathetic, leader and her love for the Queen, just like the Kingdom’s, had only grown stronger as the years went on.
Uncertainty now plagued Alearia, Alecia had heard whispers of it in the streets as she searched for Agnes. Their people felt as if their rock, their solid foundation, had been taken from them. With the King’s noticeable absence since the Queen’s unfortunate passing, the Kingdom was starting to fall into disarray. The war council and senior Legion members were trying their best to uphold the peace and to keep the Kingdo
m running, but without their King taking control or Annie as the Alearian Heir reassuring their people, murmurs and unrest had starting to spread. Horrible treasonous gossip had spread about the Queen’s premature demise, rumours Alecia feared were likely fueled by the High Priestess Elizabeth. Whispers were beginning to spread far and wide, that the royal family may no longer be capable of protecting the Alearian people. They themselves were incapable of protecting their own Queen, who was beloved by all. The first signs of a coup were bubbling under the surface and Alecia was busy strategizing how to proceed in managing the situation before it became too out of control.
‘Of course, if my bloody father and sister would do their job, the people would have no reason to question our royal family’s ability to rule. One silly reassuring speech to the people, a public acknowledgement of the Queen’s passing, anything, would help smooth over this whole situation. What a fool they were to appoint an empathetic healer to the position of Heir when she clearly is out of her depth, falling into a mess over the loss of our mother. Selfish, that is what she is!
‘Doesn’t she realise that I am grieving too, that I miss our mother. But I must focus. I do not have the luxury of giving in to my grief. For now, I need to concentrate on getting Anastasia back, and then I will destroy Agnes! How stupid I was for assisting Anastasia to free her in the first place! If we hadn’t released her, our mother would still be alive, and Anastasia would be safely here with us. Only the Goddess knows how my grandmother, Queen Annalyse of Quillencia, must be grieving the loss of her only daughter,” Alecia deliberated to herself, still pacing the length of the room.
*
Princess Annalyse – Heir of Alearia
It was late evening the day after the Queen’s passing, and Annie remained curled up in the Queen’s bed, her suite connected to the King’s chambers. Alecia had left the room hours ago, frustrated with Annie’s lack of action.
“Don’t you realize that I am grieving too,” Alecia had fumed at Annie before she stormed out of the room. “The whole Kingdom is grieving! I have known our mother my whole life and yet you who have known her for 5 minutes, just lie there helplessly like you have given up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up! We need to find Anastasia; we need to plan our mother’s funeral and you need to step up and help me deal with the civil disturbance that is brewing or your reign will be over before it has even begun. Is that what you want? Stop being a coward! You have your people to think about. As Heir, you no longer have the luxury of self-pity.”
“Besides, if it wasn’t for you, our mother might still be alive,” Alecia yelled.
Those words had hit Annie the hardest, like stabbing a dagger straight through her heart.
“You have the greatest power in the entire realm and yet you refuse to learn to use it for defense. You could have saved our mother if you had just learned to use your damn mind conquering abilities under pressure! Why didn’t you just render her unconscious like you did in the interrogation room? Were you overconfident that the Queen could handle the situation with no support? Or were you just too stupid to act?” Alecia had roared at Annie, tears welling in her own eyes — a rare moment for Alecia —before she had stormed out of the room. Her patience with Annie had come to an end.
‘A coward, that is exactly what I am. She’s right… Mother would still be alive if I had acted. Why didn’t I save her? Why couldn’t I save myself? Once again, I needed someone to come and rescue me… Once again, another person has died to save me. I am a curse to anyone who gets too close. What sort of a ruler will I ever be if I can’t even protect myself?... Enough, Alecia is right! I need to stop feeling sorry for myself, pick myself up and get on with it! I once proclaimed I would be the mind conquering healer our people need, now I must become the Queen that they deserve,’ Annie declared to herself, pulling herself up from her mother’s bed, slowly rising and placing the Queen’s crown that lay on her bedside table, upon the her own head.
“I will make you proud mother, I swear it.” Annie declared, looking straight into the Queen’s ornate hanging mirror. “Be at peace, reunited with your son, father and my dear Lilianna.”
~ ◊ ~
15
Queen Annalyse of Quillencia
The first light was beginning to peak over the horizon on the second day following Queen Amealiana’s departure from the realm. Queen Annalyse, accompanied by her son Prince Joshua, Heir to the Quillencian throne, had arrived only a few hours earlier after traveling day and night on horseback to attend Queen Amealiana's funeral ceremony in Alearia. The snow and mountainous conditions of Alearia prolonging the final part of their journey and leaving their traveling party feeling bone weary. As Agnes’s decision to murder her mother in cold blood was spontaneous, neither Queen Amealiana herself or her mother Queen Annalyse, had foreseen her tragic demise and were helpless to prevent it. After Agnes had made the decision to end her mother’s life, Queen Annalyse felt the final piece of her soul shatter as she was shown a brutal vision of her daughter’s passing.
Only a few moments later, carried by the wind, the Queen felt her daughter’s spirit whisper the words “I love you,” as her soul was carried to the After World with the Goddess. Queen Annalyse wasn’t sure her heart could bear any more loss, but for her family, and to farewell her only beloved daughter, she had made the long journey with a heavy heart, barely having a moment to herself to process this loss.
Queen Annalyse was a strong woman, whose sage wisdom and prophetic gifting had guided her vigilantly throughout her life. Years of endless visions, of which she could often not prevent, had left a heavy burden on the elderly Queen’s shoulders and she knew in her heart that her reign would also soon come to an end.
‘A mother should never have to bury a child, a loss my daughter knew all too well, that I must now learn to endure.’
Standing in the Alearian royal family’s private rose garden by the fountain, Queen Annalyse stood regally beside her son. For the benefit of the Alearian people, a public ceremony would be held later that day at which the family would be expected to wear the traditional black gown and veils. However, this morning’s fire burning service was for family only. A private service commenced at sunrise on the second day following the Queen’s passing, as per her home Kingdom of Quillencia’s tradition.
Regrettably, the Queen’s personal guard who had searched incessantly without rest, had been unable to locate the Alearian Queen’s murderer or the kidnapped Princess Anastasia. The Quillencian Queen had offered for her own personal guards to join the search for the lost Princess following the burning ceremony. Queen Amealiana’s personal guards, including her head guard Sir Tomlin, were granted special permission to pause their search to attend this morning’s ceremony. All however, had politely declined the offer, intent to not rest until their lost Princess Anastasia was returned. This would be their final act of service in honor of their beloved fallen Queen. Tomlin had spoken briefly with the Quillencian Queen upon her arrival to Alearia to offer his sincerest condolences for her loss and to offer his apologies for failing to protect her daughter Queen Amealiana.
“My daughter was very fond of you all, especially you Sir Tomlin,” Queen Annalyse responded thoughtfully, “and if she wanted to go off and save her daughter without your protection, then she must have had a very good reason. I doubt anyone could have stopped her. Do not blame yourself for something that you cannot change. My daughter Amealiana is at peace now with her father and son, and we must all take comfort in that. You served my daughter honorably and I am grateful for your years of loyal service. Now go in peace Sir Tomlin, do not burden yourself with guilt. Go forth and bring my granddaughter back to us,” the Quillencian Queen wisely spoke, her sage wisdom a guiding light in her time of need.
Tomlin thanked Queen Annalyse sincerely in turn for her forgiveness and kind words. His shoulders relaxed as though a weight had been lifted from him as he bowed deeply in respect to the Queen before setting off back into the forest on horseback to con
tinue his search for the missing Princess.
As the sun rose over the horizon, near the woodland border of the castle grounds, High Priestess Elizabeth stepped forward to stand beside the pyre on which Queen Amealiana was laid to rest. The fallen Queen wore an emerald green gown, that used to remind her fondly of her home Kingdom of Quillencia; her necklace and crown adorned with jewels that reflected the early morning rays of light, as though the Goddess continued to shine though her ever resting body. A bouquet of lilies and roses rested over her now still chest and her long blond tresses hung gracefully down the sides of the silk pillow on which her head was gently laid. Only the soft whinnies of the stable horses in the distance and the morning song of the birds filled the air.
‘How Ebony will miss her master’s morning rides with her. Ebony was Amealiana’s confidant, her faithful companion, she was more than just a horse to my daughter. They were soul bonded. I wonder if the whinnies she makes are her own mourning song, for the friend she too has lost…’
Princess Alecia and King Titian of Alearia stood either side of the pyre, heads bowed respectfully. Princess Annie chose to stand beside her grandmother, a few feet away from the base of the pyre. The Quillencian Queen held Annie’s hand in her own, occasionally squeezing it gently to remind Annie that she was not alone.
“Good Morning your Majesties, King Titian, Queen Annalyse, Princesses Alecia and Annalyse, and Prince Joshua. Thank you for allowing me the honor of presiding over this remembrance service of our beloved Queen,” the High Priestess spoke respectfully. “Queen Amealiana was cherished by all. Her life was lived with integrity, kindness and compassion. Her Goddess blessed sage wisdom and prophetic giftings guided her loyally throughout her life. May Queen Amealiana’s values and wisdom live on through her descendants forevermore.”
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