“Oh no,” she whispered. “Oh no. My wonderful Rose Boy,” she sighed and then let out a soft laugh. “The world is such a horrible place. You were mistaken, and I am partially to blame. Oh, no please forgive me.” Her fingers caressed my cheek again and her eyes looked moist.
“I don’t understand,” I choked out.
“Let me help you into a chair and I will explain.” She picked me up as if I were a child and then sat me in the plush leather chair next to hers.
“Dogs, leave us!” she commanded her men, and they quickly marched out of the large dining room.
“Would you like some water? Perhaps some wine?” She gestured to the table with a shy smile.
“Wine,” I said. This conversation had become surreal and I figured getting drunk wouldn’t make it any worse.
“It is so wonderful to see you again. I can’t begin to explain how much the sight of you makes my heart sing.” She poured the blood red liquid into a large crystal glass and passed it to me. I grabbed it with my left hand, only two of its fingers were broken, and I was able to hold the cup properly. The liquid tasted expensive and I wanted to gulp down the entire bottle.
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Raltenor did conquer the castle, of course, you remember that. Then he did rape me, Rose Boy. He raped me two or three times a day, every single day. The man was a monster and kept me chained in his harem to prevent me from committing suicide.”
“That is horrible,” I choked out, as tears came to my eyes.
“Yes. I thought of you often, but I believed you were dead. For many months Raltenor violated me, and I almost gave up hope. Then one day the man asked me if I enjoyed…” she paused and looked down at her hands, suddenly vulnerable. “If I enjoyed it.” Her eyes looked far away and I felt a torrent of anger fill my stomach.
“It was a turning point in our relationship. I told him that I did enjoy it. I told him that I loved it, that I loved him. They were lies but, the man was vain and he wanted my affection as much as I wanted my freedom. I continued to compliment him and eventually he removed the bindings and let me roam around free in his presence. I was his most revered concubine and he soon cared nothing for the rest of his harem.”
The tears that rolled down her face made me sure of her sincerity. I had endured much to survive and come to this place, but I was beginning to understand that my sacrifices were just a small drop in the pond of pain my love had endured.
“We began to have conversations, I grew to know the man. I despised him, of course, but I convinced him of the opposite and he eventually told me his darkest secret.” She smiled slightly but the motion was filled with sorrow.
“Secret?”
“Yes,” she said as she reached into her silk blouse and pulled out a wide medallion. The platinum disk depicted a hand grasping a skull. Two rubies formed the eyes and the teeth were sharpened. “This was his secret.”
“What is it?” The adrenaline began to leave my body and my broken bones screamed.
“It was the source of his power. You see,” she leaned in close and her beautiful smile grew, “Raltenor the Conquer used to be called Raltenor the Apprentice Digger. He worked on an excavation team clearing build sites for homes in the City of Umparatil. One day he found a chest on his site and discovered this medallion within. He put it on and his life changed.”
“It is magick?” I felt my blood run cold and my pain was suddenly forgotten.
“Yes. The most amazing magick. It makes the wearer invulnerable to weapons. Not only that, but whoever wears it gains the strength of twenty men, and their aging slows to a crawl.”
“Incredible.” I wouldn’t have believed her story, but I knew my love would never lie to me and I had felt the power of her body when she lifted me.
"Raltenor quickly became drunk with the power and murdered those around him so he could acquire their wealth. He did this kind of thuggery work for many years until he built himself a small crew of followers who knew he always won in battle. Then he got the idea to form an army and conquer the world.” She sat back and took a sip from her own wine glass.
“But why do you call yourself Raltenor?” I asked.
She smiled at me and my heart raced. It also hurt exquisitely, and I was sure that some of my organs bled into my stomach. I felt at peace though. My love was alive and it seemed as if she had avenged herself.
“Raltenor may have started out an idiot, but he became cunning after many years of commanding evil men. He noticed some odd capabilities about the medallion and he began to search for knowledge of the device. I won’t bore you with the details of the search as he explained them to me, but I will tell you of the complete powers of the magick.” She held up the disk again and it spun lazily on its matching chain.
“It cannot be removed by anyone other than the wearer, and it will lose its powers for a hundred years if its wearer dies. That is how Raltenor was able to claim the artifact. Whoever had it before him must have perished, and then someone else removed the medallion.”
“How can anyone die while wearing it? If they can’t be hurt by weapons and they don’t age, it would be impossible.” My imagination couldn’t puzzle out how the Princess had come to possess the magick amulet with the powers as she just explained them.
“Poison,” she smiled and licked her lips, “it is really the only way to kill the wearer. Raltenor was too clever though and had hundreds of slaves he used to taste his food and drink. He used to make me sample his meals before he fell in love with me.”
The jealousy tugged at my heart and I nodded again. I took another sip of my wine and my stomach began to feel nauseated. I didn’t know if my bleeding would kill me, but it was getting hard to keep my eyes open. None of that mattered though, because the woman I loved was here with me.
“You are hurt,” she spoke with concern.
“I will last until you finish the story,” I said.
“I will summon the doctors. They are the best in the land and can cure you of any ailment.” She reached across the table and ran her fingertips across my face. “It is so wonderful to see you again my love.”
“Please continue with your story.” I sighed at her touch.
“The ending is somewhat anticlimactic,” she laughed slightly. “He had just conquered the Kingdom of Rilltya and we celebrated with many bottles of wine. Alcohol still made him drunk and he didn’t notice me pouring half of each glass I drank into his. When he was at his peak of intoxication I told him how beautiful the medallion was, and I asked if I might try it on to see how it looked with my dress.”
“And he gave it to you?” I couldn’t believe her words.
“Yes. Then I ripped his arms off his body and watched him bleed to death on the tiger skin rug of our pavilion.” Her eyes glazed over and she licked her lips slightly.
“But the Kingdom of Rilltya was conquered by Raltenor more than twenty years ago.” Her story didn’t make sense. The man had just finished uniting every country under his banner five years ago. Then he had begun to squeeze the life out of the world.
“Yes. Twenty-two years ago, actually. It took me two years to get him to give me the medallion.” She spun the medallion again and it seemed like the skull grinned at me.
Then her story made sense and my heart froze.
“You conquered the rest?” I almost couldn’t hear my own voice form the question.
“Of course.” She smiled at me. “Perhaps I should have been thankful to the man. I took his magickal artifact and became a god. Then I took his name and commanded his army.” She leaned back her beautiful head and laughed.
It didn’t sound beautiful anymore.
The laughter sounded insane.
“People are struggling to survive. There is famine and plague across the land,” I selected my words carefully to judge her response.
“The strong feed upon the weak, Rose Boy. You must understand that by now. These aren’t the tools of a peaceful man.” She lifted my short swor
d and smiled at me. “I am doing this world a favor. The people need a leader to tell them what to do and think. They need a god to walk amongst them and give them divine guidance. This is just the first part of my plan. Weak people will die, but those who survive the next ten years of suffering will be strong. With these strong disciples I will create a new utopia.”
“I see.” My stomach flipped like a fish out of the river and I fumbled for words. Our eyes made contact and I easily perceived the adoration in her blue orbs.
“I am so happy to see you, Rose Boy. I’ve been so lonely. There is no one to talk to about my dreams for this world. No one to share my life with. The Dogs are just beasts really; they are nothing more than the tools I need to achieve my goals, merely living weapons. I’ve always wondered what my life would have been like if we had married, if Raltenor had not invaded. Thoughts of you kept me sane while he raped me. Dreams of what our life may have been kept me from killing myself every time he lay on top of me.”
Her eyes fluttered and her smile grew as beautiful as I remembered.
“You must love me as well. No one would go to such lengths for revenge for someone unless they loved them beyond all reason.” She gestured to my equipment and then turned back to me.
“Do you love me?” she asked softly, a faint twinge of fear in her question.
“Yes. I’ve loved you all my life. You are all I ever dream about. I thought you dead. But now you are alive. It is a miracle.” Perhaps it was truth mixed with the lies I had told myself over the years. This was no longer the woman that I loved.
This was Raltenor the Conqueror.
She had led hundreds of battles in the last twenty-two years and been responsible for killing millions of people with her armies. The woman had sucked the life from this world by enslaving it with her iron fist. She was insane, and I knew that she would never be stopped while she still wore the medallion around her neck.
The Princess that I loved died twenty-four years ago.
She died on the same day that I died.
“I am so happy.” Tears came down her eyes and she wiped them with the tips of her fingers before letting out a soft giggle. “I always wanted to marry you. Can we do that now?” For a second I forgot about the murder and only saw the beautiful girl that I loved with all my heart.
“Of course we can. You rule this world. We can do whatever you want.” I forced a laugh to my voice and hoped that it didn’t ring too hollow. My chest had become cold and my body shook lightly.
“You need a doctor. My Dogs beat you badly. Let me fetch them.” She rose from her chair and my hand grasped her forearm to stop her.
“There will be plenty of time for that later. I want to kiss you my love. I’ve wanted to kiss you all of my life.” I used every last part of my strength to stand. Her arms slid around my shoulders and mine found her slender waist. Her mouth formed an excited circle and her beautiful blue eyes closed as my lips approached hers.
I bit down on my hollow molar.
I felt the liquid fill my mouth an instant before our lips touched. Our tongues wrapped around each other and she let out a moan of enjoyment. For a second I only thought of the love I possessed for the memory of the girl she had been. I cursed the universe for what it had done to her.
I’m sorry Spider. There was only one way this mission could end.
I felt her legs stiffen and her hands gripped painfully around my shoulders. Then I heard my bones snap under her fingers and she yanked my face away from her lips.
The poison had already numbed my entire body.
“Why?” There was an untold sadness in her eyes, and they filled with tears the color of sea water.
She fell and I landed on top of her. She choked and the sound became the death rattle that I had heard a hundred times. I somehow had enough strength to raise my head a final time and I stared at her pale beauty. The skull amulet hung from her neck, and the deep crimson of the ruby eyes faded to clear diamonds.
Then the colors in my vision turned as red as the rose on the patch, before fading into blackness.
The End
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Editing and e-book formatting by Ginger Earle
Cover art by Daniel Kamarudin
Typography, illustration and print book formatting by Jason Faraci
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Michael-Scott Earle
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