by Tom Burton
“For the first time in Neroman and all of its unattained lands history, a woman from its military seeks tribute from the Queen of the Treno-Ban.”
“You’re a queen?” Laura asks. She continues looking down at the floor as she remains on one knee.
“Queen Athora…you may rise,” Queen Athora offers. She raises her hand as she speaks.
Laura slowly rises to her feet.
“My name is Laura Hutton,” she says, “second in command of the Dellmoor army.”
Queen Athora smiles.
“A woman in Neroman can rise to power?” she asks sarcastically. “I thought that was unheard of in such a backward land?”
“We have matured over recent centuries—something history taught us we had to do,” Laura replies.
Queen Athora smiles once again.
Laura then takes the sealed scroll out and lifts it up in the air for the queen to see.
“I have a message from the leaders of Neroman. We are willing to grant amnesty to every person on this island.”
Some of the guards murmur among themselves. Queen Athora leans forward on her throne.
“In exchange for what?” she asks.
Laura takes a few moments before she replies.
“We need your help.”
Queen Athora chuckles.
“We have a tradition. We perform it whenever a new warrior wants cooperation from the queen. It’s certainly the quickest way to earn our respect, if she wins,” she says.
“Win?” Laura asks.
Queen Athora leans back in her throne. She begins to pick at the armrest, then looks up at one of the guards beside her.
“Give her one,” she whispers.
The guard walks behind the throne and pulls a short steel sword from behind it. She then turns and throws the sword toward Laura. The sword lands right in front of her.
“Choose your opponent,” Queen Athora demands.
Surprised, Laura looks at Queen Athora. The queen smugly smiles back at her. Laura then turns to Kamara, who grabs the hilt of the sword and unsheathes it halfway. The warriors nearby do the same, staring at Kamara.
Queen Athora then looks at Kamara gripping her sword.
“And who might you be?” she asks.
Kamara turns her gaze from the guards and looks toward the queen.
“Kamara Vance, your grace,” she replies.
Athora’s smile continues to widen.
“You can fight in her place if you wish?” she says.
Laura quickly turns back to the queen.
“No! I will fight!”
She then bends down to pick up the sword. Kamara sheathes her sword again, as the warriors nearby do the same.
Laura looks around the room, scanning the guards. Eventually, she lifts her sword up, pointing it at a guard slightly smaller than the others around her.
“You.”
The guard takes off her helmet and reveals her young, frail face.
“Drident, you will fight Commander Hutton…to the death!” Queen Athora announces.
Shocked, Laura looks to the queen, but Queen Athora merely shrugs.
“A woman fights better when her life is on the line,” the queen explains.
Laura then slowly turns to see Drident walking toward her. Suddenly, Drident draws her short sword and starts lashing it at Laura. Laura immediately backs off, dodging every lunge and swing that Drident throws at her. As Laura successfully dodges Drident’s attacks, she refuses to strike back at Drident, reluctant to hurt her.
As Drident’s attacks continue, Kamara watches on nervously.
Suddenly, Laura slashes the sword out of Drident hands—but she still refuses to strike her down. Drident then kicks Laura in the chest. Laura flies into one of the wooden pillars.
Kamara grabs the hilt of her sword once again, but the warriors surrounding her again scowl back, as if to signal Kamara should not get involved.
Fatigued, Drident slowly walks over to her sword to pick it up again. As Laura looks up, she sees one of the guards carrying a bow in front of her. Laura snatches the bow out of the guard’s hand, but receives no reaction. Drident then starts walking toward Laura. Laura uses the steel sword as an arrow for her bow. Drident sees Laura’s strategy and starts charging her. Laura quickly draws her sword back on the bowstring and aims it at Drident; she hesitates, but as Drident gets closer she fires the sword at her opponent.
The sword drives into Drident’s stomach. The momentum shoves her back. She lands on her back.
Queen Athora watches this in surprise. Relieved, Kamara lets go of her sword.
Laura runs to Drident and grabs the back of her head to cradle her.
“Is it true…we’re going home?” Drident weakly asks.
Laura nods her head.
“You’re warriors of Neroman,” Laura replies. “You all are.”
Drident begins to cry.
“I wish I could have seen it.”
As Drident says this, she draws her last breath.
Laura then slowly places Drident’s head back on the floor. After a few seconds, Laura bows her head. She remains perfectly silent for several long moments, closing her eyes out of respect for the brave warrior. Then, Laura stands up and looks angrily up to Queen Athora.
“Have I got your attention now!” she roars.
Queen Athora looks back at Laura, deep in thought.
“We’ll talk more in my chambers,” Queen Athora eventually tells her. She then stands from the throne and walks out of the hall through one of the side entrances.
Laura then turns back to Kamara.
“Go back to the boat, wait for me there,” Laura tells her.
Before Kamara can respond, Laura follows the queen out of the hall.
As Laura follows Queen Athora through a narrow wooden corridor, she looks at her sadly.
“Did you know her?” Laura asks the queen.
“Of course I did,” Queen Athora sternly replies. “I trained most of them myself.”
The queen keeps her gaze trained before her. Laura looks down at her feet in sadness at the events that took place in the hall.
Eventually, Laura and Queen Athora make their way to a set of double doors. Athora opens the double doors and walks into the room beyond them. Laura follows to find that they are in Queen Athoras’s chambers. She sees just a single bed and a table set.
“As queen, this is all you have?” Laura asks.
“This is all I need,” Athora quickly replies.
She takes a seat at the table then points toward an empty seat for Laura.
Laura slowly takes a seat on the opposite side of the small table.
“You told me earlier that you carry a message from the leaders of Neroman?” Queen Athora asks calmly.
Laura rushes to take out the sealed scroll and finally hands it over to the queen. The queen removes the seal and opens the scroll. She starts to read. The room is silent for a minute.
“Difficult times?” Athora quotes from the scroll.
Laura takes a few moments to answer.
“In normal circumstances, we would abide by the king’s law and not approach those who have been banished…but these are far from normal times,” Laura notes.
Athora lowers the scroll and looks at her.
“What happened?”
Uncertain how to answer, Laura looks at the table. But as she composes herself, she locks eyes with Athora again.
“The ancient wizard Mutaro has resurfaced…he has come out of hiding centuries after the Great War. We never expected such a swift stroke from Mutaro and his army of orcs. As more and more villages fell for the fire and fury of the North, many retreated to Dellmoor, thinking they would be protected. When the orcs attacked Dellmoor, it was razed to the ground in a matter of hours. N
ow the rest of us lie in the royal forest, awaiting our fate.”
Queen Athora considers all the events that have taken place in the last few weeks.
“And what do you want from me and my women exactly?” she asks.
“We will exchange amnesty back to Neroman if you give us your full support. This includes provisions such as food and water. We will also need your warriors to help defend those who cannot defend themselves.”
“Who leads you now?” Queen Athora asks.
Laura considers for a few seconds.
“A leader is not a permanent state of affairs. We have the lord commander, Jaylen Vance…myself…and Daniel Rane.”
Queen Athora looks back at the scroll, rereading the page.
“Should we win this war, you will be welcomed back with open arms,” Laura promises.
But the reluctant expression on the queen’s face does not change.
“If you win the war….If Mutaro and the orcs can take out Dellmoor in hours, who knows what they can do to us?” Queen Athora replies.
Her answer is followed by a moment of silence.
Then Queen Athora places the scroll on the table.
“I will need to consult my advisors; you will have your answer before nightfall.”
As Laura leaves the room, Queen Athora reviews the scroll again, deep in thought. After a few minutes, she receives a knock on the door. She looks up and sees four women standing before her; they bow to her simultaneously.
“Welcome, my friends.”
The four women take seats around the table.
“We heard whispers circulating in the village—whispers about the events in the throne room,” one of the advisors says. “Is it true a soldier from Neroman is here?”
As answer, Queen Athora offers the scroll to them.
“Commander Laura Hutton…she completed the ritual in the throne room,” the queen explains. “So I gave her the honor of listening to her proposal. But her proposal is…unusual.”
One of the advisors reads the scroll while the others stay focused on Athora.
“Laura is willing to grant amnesty to all those living within the domain of the Treno-Ban; we will be welcomed back to Neroman as though nothing ever happened. So long as we join them in their fight against the recently resurfaced Mutaro.” “Mutaro?” one of the advisors asks. “The wizard of old?...We sided with him against Azdus and Goras.”
“I think we can all agree that our forebears regret that decision,” another advisor says.
“But if we answer their call for aid, and we beat them,” Queen Athora argues, “we will finally return home, where we belong.”
“If Mutaro wipes them out, he could turn his eyes on us,” another advisor replies. “Power only breeds more power.”
Queen Athora looks on as her advisors argue, until one advisor turns to her desperately.
“Mutaro might not know where we are, and I do not want us to get destroyed for a chance at something that we already have,” the advisor argues.
The queen chooses to look at the table, deep in thought.
“Thank you councilors,” she finally states. “I have made my decision.”
The four advisors then stand and bow to her before walking out of the queen’s chamber.
Outside the hall, Laura sits on the wooden stairs, watching the sun set in the west. She looks around the village and sees some of the women looking curiously at her, but she chooses to ignore them.
As the wind picks, Laura looks up to the clouds above her. She sees a shadow behind the clouds and squints curiously
The shadow quickly disappears.
Laura carries on looking suspiciously, but the doors of the hall suddenly open behind her. She stands to see Queen Athora walking out. Two of her guards stand behind.
“Your grace,” Laura greets the queen and bows to her.
“I believe you are waiting on a decision?” Queen Athora observes.
Laura nods.
“I’m sure you understand, Commander Hutton, we are reluctant to sacrifice our independence for something we already have. But we are not a cruel tribe, like your history books may describe us, and we cannot stand by and watch as innocent people needlessly die. So I have a counter-proposal for you?” Queen Athora asks.
Laura nods, inviting the queen to continue.
“We will send as much provisions as we can afford, and we will provide you the military support you need for the war. But we keep our independence, and create an alliance between ourselves and the kingdom of Neroman.”
Laura smiles back at the queen.
“I think we can do that,” she replies.
Queen Athora smiles back at Laura, and the two then shake hands.
Just as Laura and the queen shake hands, their newfound peace is shattered by a screech high above them. The two look up to see a shadow behind the clouds…the same shadow Laura saw earlier; this time, it moves swiftly across the clouds.
“No…” Laura whispers.
She looks back to Queen Athora.
“Your grace, it’s Mutaro’s dragon. It took down the capital in a matter of hours. You must get your people out of here.”
“And abandon our home so easily?” Queen Athora replies sternly. “I think not.”
She turns toward the military building close by.
“Soldiers, move out!” she roars in the direction of the barracks.
As Laura looks on soldiers charge out of the building. A bell rings throughout the village, and she sees villagers rush into their houses and duck into public buildings.
Down at the beach, Kamara sits in the rowboat as she sharpens her sword with a whetstone. She hears the screech of the dragon then stands up and looks toward the island. After a few moments, she hears the bells ringing in the village. A feeling of panic overcomes her. She quickly unbuckles the belt holding her weapons and throws it down into the boat. Then she jumps out and sprints desperately toward the village.
At the small town, most of the villagers have withdrawn indoors, but the soldiers continue to pour from the barracks.
“Archers! Get into battalions, nock arrows and take aim at the skies!” Queen Athora instructs.
The soldiers separate into battalions of twenty then nock their arrows and raise their bows to aim at the shadow in the skies, which is now flying slowly above the village. Queen Athora then grabs a bow and quiver of arrows. She walks toward Laura and offers her the weapons.
“Will you fight with us?” the queen asks.
Without hesitating, Laura takes the bow and arrows then quickly joins one of the battalions just ahead of her.
The archers wait for the shadow to reveal itself as they nervously hold their aim. Suddenly, the fully armored dragon bursts through the clouds. It pulls its wings in and dives toward the village.
“Fire at will!” Queen Athora instructs.
Hundreds of arrows fly upward toward the dragon. Queen Athora looks on eagerly. But the arrows deflect harmlessly off the armor; the dragon quickens its descent. Suddenly, the dragon raises its head and breathes a fireball toward the village. The fireball hits the town hall. The town hall is engulfed in flames, and the sudden fire causes an explosion in the village.
Queen Athora watches the town hall burn in shock.
“Keep pushing!” she barks, as the archers continue shooting arrows at the dragon. But their weapons barely pierce its armor.
After a while, Kamara catches sight of the village ahead of her. She stops running and watches as the dragon breathes fire around the village.
She resumes sprinting. Soon, she makes it to the edge of the burning village. As the dragon continues soaring over the village, setting more and more of the buildings aflame, Queen Athora glances around: her soldiers are gradually being consumed by the fire.
Kamara enters the village, sh
e anxiously searches for Laura. She finds her crouching behind an untouched house not far from the village entrance.
“Come on!” Kamara shouts. She grabs Laura’s shoulder and tries to pull away, but Laura resists.
“Not without the queen and her people,” Laura shouts. “We need them!”
The two then look across the field and spot Queen Athora helping several people out of a burning house. Laura stands and runs toward the queen. Kamara follows quickly behind.
“Your grace!” Laura shouts. She grabs Queen Athora as everyone successfully leaves the burning building. “We need to leave now, before you lose everything!”
“I will not abandon our home when we can still win this fight!” Queen Athora argues.
Just then, some of her soldiers run up to them.
“My queen, we have lost half of our forces,” one of the soldiers informs her.
Queen Athora looks back in shock. As everyone awaits her instructions, Queen Athora looks around her village—and then she looks to Laura.
“It’s time,” Laura whispers.
Queen Athora slowly nods her head. Then, she turns back to her soldiers.
“Gather as much provisions as you can, and head for the ships,” she reluctantly instructs them.
The soldiers run back to the rest of the battalion, which soon begins to disband.
The queen then turns back to Laura and Kamara.
“Will you help us?” she desperately asks.
“What do you need?” Laura replies straight back at her.
“The people are the ones I swore to protect; we need to get them out.”
Laura and Kamara nod in agreement; they run past Queen Athora and race toward the burning village. Queen Athora then grabs a bow and a handful of arrows, and immediately fires at will at the dragon flying over her.
Laura and Kamara find the first building and throw themselves into it. As fire rages all through the house, they hear screams and struggle to push through the flames.
“Hello…?” Kamara shouts.
The screams grow get louder. Laura and Kamara slowly move forward, until they reach a closed door. Laura pushes through the flames by the door then opens it to find a woman and her two daughters, scared and curled up in a corner. Kamara reaches for the three, but the mother pushes her daughters toward her. Kamara picks them both up and starts carrying them from the house. Laura then reaches for the mother’s hand.