by J. C. Ahmed
Early on the morning of the Strages, the band of rebels grabbed their weapons. Brimming with bravado, they made their way up the hill to the portal. Under the cover of darkness, they emerged onto the palace grounds. In the land of the enemy, their bluster dissipated. Many a nervous rebel jumped in fright at the sounds of the dawn. Armed with swords, bows and crossbows, they crept through the woods to the attack site. They huddled around Matt.
“I will be honest with you. They're far better fighters than we are. They outnumber us. They have horses. But we have the element of surprise. We need to use that to our advantage by killing or maiming as many soldiers as possible at the beginning of the attack. But we have to do that without harming the princess. I will kill the queen. Rory will kill the king. When they're dead, get out of there immediately. Head for the portal, scramble down that hill and hide. Don’t go into town until I give you the okay.”
“Aye, sir,” a few said.
The rebels tied thick ropes across the Narrowing to block the royals and their guards. The planned attack site was a narrow S-shaped bend. Everyone would be trapped in the bend before they noticed the ropes. The guards were there for show rather than necessity, so basic precautions like sending scouts ahead to ensure the path ahead was safe weren't taken. Matt and Rory agreed it was a perfect ambush spot as they set their trap. Small groups scattered and ensconced themselves in their hiding places. They had hours to wait before the royal carriage arrived. Matt was shaking and not just from the early morning chill.
“What have I done?” he thought.
The assault seemed so easy during the planning stages. But now it felt like a fool’s errand. He wondered if his fighters would stay put and carry out their mission. If they panicked and fled when engaged by the highly trained palace guards that could lead to disaster for the whole Step Region. The despotic king and queen wouldn’t hesitate to unleash harsh and brutal punishment on the populace to dissuade future assaults.
Morning sunlight streamed in through the bars and woke Malthus up. He had only slept a few hours. The new day brought new abuses. A dozen guards entered the boys’ cell to mock and beat them.
“Don’t mess up their pretty faces,” one said. “They have to look good from the viewing stands.”
They slapped the back of their heads, pushed them around and punched them. A commander came to the door.
“Enough! The event starts in three hours.”
As the disappointed guards streamed out, Malthus slumped to the floor. His ribs ached and his head throbbed. The weeping of the girls next door brought on a flood of tears.
“I'm so sorry, Aimee. I'm so sorry. I wanted to save you so badly. I had a plan. I messed it up. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.”
The other boys hung their heads, never knowing how to respond to the desperate cries of another. Malthus lay on the stone floor thinking of his impending death. Could he really kill his friend if it came to that? It was too hard to think about. Yet soon enough he would be in the stadium, a bow and arrow in hand, and he would have to kill or be killed. Should he let one of the others kill him and get it over with? Or should he fight for his life? One out of twelve was not good odds. Guards might come and flog him if they thought he wasn’t putting in enough effort. Then his mind turned to his painfully empty stomach. Bread was thrown onto the floor at midnight, but they hadn't been given any food since.
Liralexa moved like a ghost through the front door. Palace guards, standing at attention, lined the path to the carriage entrance. Paranoia engulfed her. What if they knew about the plot and were just playing along? How many would die in the coming battle? Her stomach was in knots as she slid into the carriage. Her parents seated next to her made her feel trapped and claustrophobic. Stella once again commented on how pale she looked.
“Are you sure you are well?”
“I am,” was all Liralexa had to say.
She sat straight as a poker and hardly blinked as they made their way into the woods.
“This is it,” she thought.
She was about to participate in murder and not just any murder. The murder of her own parents. And they weren’t just regular parents. They were the king and queen. Would she really be able to hide her involvement in a murderous conspiracy? Her hands shook as they inched closer to the attack site. The blood remaining in her face drained away.
After hours of waiting, the stiff, shivering and exhausted rebels heard the approaching royals and their protectors. They readied their weapons and waited for the right moment to strike. As the procession approached the Narrowing, arrows soared through the air and hit several guards. Shouts filled the normally serene forest as terrified guards jumped from their horses and ran for cover. Before she could process what was going on, an arrow fired by Matt soared through the air, and pierced the Queen’s chest. She slumped over. Bile made its way into Liralexa’s throat as she stared in horror at her dying mother.
Aldra the Good, the head of the Sigils Guild, felt a sharp pain rip into her chest.
“My crystal ball!” she screamed to her assistant. “Bring it to me!”
She leaned on a desk in the Guild library inhaling and releasing ragged breaths. Something terrible had happened. She could feel it. The assistant raced into the room and placed the crystal ball on the desk. Aldra uttered a spell and an image of the dying queen filled the glassy sphere.
“Quick! My books of healing spells.”
As the assistant searched for the spell books, two wizards raced into the room.
“Life is fading from the queen,” she told them. “We must act fast.”
King Cameron initially froze. He was the perfect target for an assassin’s arrow but Rory was injured when an arrow from a palace guard pierced his shoulder. He fled toward the portal in panic. Several of Matt’s poorly trained rebels followed. King Cameron pulled himself together and pushed Liralexa to the floor. They crawled out of the carriage. He pulled his sword out of its sheath and dragged Liralexa toward the trees. Fearing disaster, she wanted to scream to call attention to their location. She could see a few of the rebels running toward the portal. What would happen to her and the other plotters when their terrible deed was uncovered? As she was being dragged into the trees, she spotted a fallen guard.
“Wait!” she told her dad.
“We have to go!”
She ripped her arm from his grasp. When he tried to grab hold again, she barely escaped his reach. Because desperate times call for desperate measures, she ran to the dying guard and picked up his bow, giving little thought to the chaos and danger surrounding her. His sickly moans disconcerted her as she reached under his back to pull three arrows from his quiver.
“You'll get yourself killed,” Cameron hissed. “Hurry!”
His voice was a mix of panic and anger. She ran to him, and they made their way into the woods.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I’m an expert archer. We need all the protection we can get.”
He held her arm in an iron grip as they cautiously made their way through the hilly woods toward the Royal House. The only sounds they heard were of leaves and sticks crushed underfoot, and the occasional scurrying animal.
“Father, I think we’re safe now. I can follow you. It’s hard to push aside the branches when you’re holding onto me.”
“Stay close behind me,” he warned.
“I will.”
Aldra the Good moved her hands over the crystal ball and recited a spell to find the king. An image of the king and Liralexa appeared.
“They’re alive. Quick! The healing spells for the queen.”
She opened a spell book, placed her hands on it and recited a distance healing spell. She appeared to melt into her black and gold robes as she fell to the floor. The other magicians rushed to her aid.
“The queen is dead,” she said. “I felt the life leave her.”
Cameron and Liralexa arrived at one of her favorite hangout spots, a bubbling stream which meandered down Palace H
ill. Her place of peace was about to become a site of horror. She straightened her back, parted her feet, attached the back of an arrow to the bowstring, lifted the bow, and pointed at her target. The process took just seconds but felt like minutes to the anxious princess.
“We are almost there.” Cameron stepped into the stream unaware danger lurked behind him in the form of his only child. “I'll have every soldier in the kingdom…”
A sharp pain tore through his back. He spun around. Liralexa had another arrow aimed at him. Wide-eyed terror was etched on his face, as he stood awaiting his awful fate. Grim determination was etched on hers. She drew the string toward her face, relaxed her fingers and watched the arrow sail through the air into her father’s chest.
Aldra the Good felt the sting of the arrows. She turned to her crystal ball.
“Oh, Princess, no,” she gasped. The head of the Sigils Guild recited the distance healing spell, in an attempt to save the king.
“Liralexa?” Cameron stuttered. Once again, she attached an arrow to the bowstring, lifted the bow, aimed, drew the string, relaxed her fingers, and let another missile fly into his chest. He fell to his knees. His blood reddened the water. Liralexa pulled a knife out of her bag.
The magicians watched in stunned horror as the young princess approached the king, with a knife by her side. Aldra the Good’s continued recitation of the healing spell began to have an effect. Cameron felt vigor returning to his body. He tried to rise to his feet.
“I'm sorry, father,” Liralexa cried. “I didn’t want to do this. But I have to save my friends.”
She pushed her father backwards, knelt over him, brought the knife down and plunged it into his chest.
“I'm so sorry. I love you. I truly do.”
Sobbing convulsively, she could barely get her words out.
“Liralexa, please, I beg you,” he said, in a raspy voice.
The knife tore into his chest and stomach again and again. Aldra the Good continued to recite the healing spell but as old wounds healed others were created. In the battle for life and death, the princess was getting the upper hand. The auctioneer-like mumblings of the magician couldn’t keep up with Liralexa’s passionate desire to save her friends.
“Why did you give me no choice? Why couldn't you have been fair like my grandfather and grandmother? I love you. I'm so sorry.”
When Cameron gasped his last breath, Aldra fell in a heap on the floor. Liralexa lay her head on her father’s chest. The elderly magician could feel her anguish.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” Liralexa repeated to her father’s lifeless body. The magicians stared at the crystal ball in stunned silence.
Temporarily weakened by the deaths of the two monarchs, Aldra struggled to get to her feet. The two wizards assisted her and brought her to a couch.
“No one is to speak of this,” she told them. “Liralexa is the queen now, and we are bound by the power of the ancient wizard Attilus the Great to protect her.”
They nodded and bowed. As they turned from her, a barely perceptible smile escaped her lips. Her position as head of the Sigils Guild had not protected her from the tyranny of the king and queen. Her own granddaughter had died at the Strages two years before. A spell created by a sorcerer in an age long past compelled her to do her duty, and she did it to the best of her ability. She had no choice. But as a native of the Step Region, she was more than happy to see the end of the ruthless reign of Cameron and Stella Abbingdon.
“A new day has dawned,” she murmured.
The terrible deed done, Liralexa had to pull herself together. The palace guards were searching for them. She washed her knife and returned it to her bag. Her hands shook violently as she used a sharp rock to dig a shallow grave. Every sound startled her. She often looked up from her work to scan the trees, imagining she heard approaching guards. All the while Aldra watched and protected by directing the guards away from the site. Liralexa covered the bow with dirt, rocks and fallen leaves. She returned to her father’s body, lay in the water and put her head on his shoulder. Her mind told her she had done the right thing but her heart berated her. Her father’s blood stained her gown. She stared into the trees dreading the inevitable arrival of the palace guards. She didn’t know what would happen to her if they discovered she was the assassin. Several minutes passed before one cried out, “I found them.” Liralexa was crying uncontrollably when he rushed to her side.
“Are you hurt, Princess?”
Another guard arrived. Together, they pulled the sobbing princess off her father and out of the stream. She fell to her knees and stared at the water calmly making its way through the peaceful forest. The contrast with all the violence and trouble around her, and the panic inside her, was bewildering. She gazed at the scene trying to comprehend the strangeness of life and the world. A wiry man with black hair and bushy mustache approached on horseback.
“What happened to the assailants?” he called out.
Liralexa’s attention jerked away from the peaceful water to the conversation surrounding her. That man was the Royal Secretary Edward Munlin. He was sure to recommend retaliation, and she wasn't sure she had the strength to stand up to him.
“Six were killed. The rest ran toward the portal.”
“How in the world did they find the portal?” he asked rhetorically, as he dismounted. “How many members of the Royal Guard did we lose?”
“Twelve dead and ten injured, sir. They took us by surprise. A lot of us were down before we could react.”
Munlin approached the shell-shocked queen. “Your Majesty. We must meet with the Sigils Guild immediately for an emergency crowning ceremony. Your official coronation must happen within three days.”
“My parents have just been killed,” she said through tears.
“According to tradition, a new monarch must be crowned immediately, if they are of age. The kingdom must not be without a ruler for any longer than necessary. It is your duty.”
“Very well.” He pulled her to her feet.
“Did the blackguards hurt you?”
“No, they didn't touch me. They gave me a warning and ran that way.”
“Should we look for them?” a guard asked.
Munlin shook his head. “They have almost certainly escaped through the portal by now. What was the warning, Your Majesty?”
“You must stop killing our people, or we will come for you, too.”
“We will deal with them after the crowning ceremony.”
Guards led Liralexa through the woods toward the forest path where a carriage awaited her. She looked toward the bend where the assault had occurred.
“You don’t want to see that, Your Majesty,” a guard said.
Liralexa sat alone in the carriage as it rumbled up the hill. She didn't feel anything other than numb. Fear, sorrow, relief, they had all deserted her. In their place there was nothing other than a benumbed emptiness. No one spoke to her when she alighted from the carriage. Somber guards bowed as she drifted into the house. Servants with heads bowed lined the hall. The oak-paneled hallway appeared to pitch and shift under her feet. The butler grabbed hold of her when she became unsteady and guided her to her room where Alma awaited.
“You have been crying, Alma,” Liralexa said, her voice emotionless.
“That I have, Your Majesty. I'm so sorry about your parents.”
“A new chapter begins,” Liralexa said.
She sounded weary, looked weary and felt weary. Her bed was right there. All she wanted to do was fall into it, snuggle under the covers, and let sleep take her away from her troubles for a few carefree hours. But that was out of the question. She was no longer a princess watching from the sidelines. She was a queen with responsibilities and decisions to make. Two teenage pages, followed by the Royal Secretary, entered the room holding a white robe with gold trim and encrusted jewels.
“This robe has been worn by a dozen queens before you,” Munlin said.
Liralexa stared at the dress withou
t really seeing it. An adviser entered the room.
“Your Majesty, we have determined the rebels came from the Step Region. One of the dead is a close friend of a known rabble-rouser named Matt Regus.” Liralexa’s heart jumped when she heard his name.
“I can’t deal with this right now,” she said. “I have to think about how I should respond.”
“Crowds have already arrived at the stadium for the Strages,” Munlin said. “Should we cancel today’s event?”
Liralexa had completely forgotten about the terrible games, which had precipitated the day’s tragedy. She had feared standing up to powerful men, but she needn't have worried. The anger bubbling up inside her was ripe for eruption. And erupt it did, in spectacular fashion.
“Cancel them forever,” she thundered. “That field of terror is the reason my parents are dead.”
“But Your Majesty, there is no need to make rash decisions.” Munlin shrank at the sight of the new queen’s bitter glare.
“You are not to question me,” she commanded. “They are to be canceled. Based on what happened today I can only conclude the victims of this awful event cried out to the universal powers for justice and it was finally granted. I will not allow cruelty against the innocent in my kingdom to continue. Today’s participants are to be given a good meal and sent home as soon as possible. Do you understand me?” The embarrassed secretary bowed.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll see to it immediately.”
“Follow up their meal with tea and cake,” she thundered.
The Royal Secretary bowed and fled the room. The nervous adviser and pages followed. An expression of confused joy lit up Alma’s face as she helped the new queen into her dress.
“You look beautiful, Your Majesty,” she said with a smile.
Liralexa smiled back. “Thank you so much, Alma. I’d like to have a few minutes alone before I meet with the Sigils Guild, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
Liralexa sat on her bed, wrapped her arm around a bedpost and rested her head against it. Nothing seemed real to her at that moment. She thought about her mother, father and Malthus, but they all felt illusory, like they never existed. Had she imagined them? A shiver slithered down her spine when Aldrin knocked on the door.