Fallen Queen (Mariposa Book 1)

by Y. R. Shin

  “Reuyen!”

  “Sweetheart!”

  Over the startled voices of her brother and mother, a distant memory appeared.

  The world we’ve longed for is right ahead of us, dear sister.

  Before her father could unsaddle the horse, the little girl dragged up a step stool and got on the horse by herself. With tears and snot running down her face, Reuyen screamed at her surprised father and brother, who came running out of the house, almost breaking the door. They awkwardly held out their arms in case she fell again, but dared not put their hands on her or the horse.

  Why can you not live outside of here?

  The heartbreakingly clear and sorrowful voice clawed at her ears.

  Though she knew it was wrong, she tightened her small fists around the reins. Her instincts kicked in. She realized at last that she could ride this horse without learning from anyone.

  A higher point of view than ever before.

  It was the first moment in her life when she felt her fears extinguished. Her father and mother screamed with fright at the sight of her by on the horse.

  The girl precariously held on to the unfamiliar reins and rode on. She only wanted to shake off the scary voices echoing around her.

  For our highest honor.

  Her hands holding onto the reins of the galloping horse felt empty, like they had just let go of something, and the forest and the field were absent of people who should have been there.

  Anything for my dear sister.

  The ghastly voice whispering close by her ear unveiled foggy memories.

  Carry out the execution.

  She shrieked like her own head had just been cut off by the hallucination of a frightening sword. The pampered little girl did not know fear of swords. She should not have known. As if her world had just turned upside down, she kept on screaming like a madwoman and riding on until she lost her grip on the reins, then the mane, and finally fell on the small trail right outside the town. Her beloved horse ran away. She sat on the deserted trail, shaking like a leaf, then dropped her head to the earth.

  Swan Sekalrid Rarkalia, you are…

  The girl who had been howling fearfully knew who she was.

  You are the great queen of Rarkalia.

  Not long after darkness fell, her father and older brother, along with the townspeople, found her. The distraught girl was brought back to her home and was looked after with great care.

  The filly that dropped her came back after two days.

  She gave the horse the name “Dekallia,” meaning “of Kalia.” She was forbidden to go anywhere near the horses for a while, but that didn’t matter. She knew how to ride without being taught, knew how to wield a sword without a teacher, and knew the geography outside the town without a map.

  Her memories and knowledge became clearer and clearer as the years passed by, flowing out of her without her wanting it. She was both praised as a genius and misunderstood as a witch, but she was not proud of any of it.

  Had the woeful soul of the queen possessed her, or had the unrelenting queen come back from the dead? The girl spent fifteen more winters with the question she could not share with anyone hidden deep in her heart.

  Soon after sunset, the dark clouds covering the sky started pouring down streams of rain, thick rain that seemed like it wanted to flood the world. The cool sound of rainfall covered the empty places of the outsiders, who had become harder to spot recently.

  It was an evening when even the twilight was fogged by the rain.

  Senila, Reuyen’s mother, came out into the living room after finishing preparing for dinner and started to put away the leaky flower pots, then suddenly stopped.

  “I wonder if he’s getting wet at all…”

  “Go eat, Mother. I’ll put away the pots.” Reuyen quickly took over the task.

  “Look, Reuyen, honestly… How could your brother not send one letter?”

  “These are hard times, Mother.”

  Her father, Jess, who had extremely good hearing, heard that from the kitchen table and yelled, “Woman! Don’t even start about him. He’s all grown up anyway!”

  “Now I can’t even express concern for my own child?”

  Jess covered his ears at Senila yelling right back at him. Sidan giggled as he sat down at the dinner table and picked up a nicely roasted chicken leg. The young man quietly put it back down after seeing his father’s face.

  “But it’s already been, let’s see…over half a year since he left, right?” Sidan asked. “No wonder you’re worried. Dekallia’s babe’s already…”

  “He’ll come crawling back when he runs out of money,” said Jess.

  “But he didn’t even bring that much. It’s about time he ran out of money, and he’s never gone this long without sending a word back home. He seemed quite hurt when he was talking about joining the army before, and with his temperament… You don’t think he would have gone to the battlefields, do you?”

  “Sidan, what on earth are you talking about?”

  “If that’s so, will he come back home with a title or something? Will we become nobles then? Hmm…”

  Sidan muttered and played with his spoon, and Senila’s face turned white. Jess smacked the back of his youngest son’s head without a word.

  “Ouch!” Sidan moaned and rubbed his head.

  “Stop talking nonsense and eat.”

  With an even more depressed look after Sidan’s cheerful words, Senila took the seat to the left of Jess. On his right diagonal side were Sidan and Reuyen’s seats. And one last seat. That seat had begun to collect some dust because its owner hadn’t returned in a while.

  Senila stared at the empty chair and suddenly called out, “Reuyen, just put a bucket under there and come.”

  “Coming. You can start without me.”

  Jess glanced at his oldest son’s seat and then looked away. “Not an easy one, that one.”

  For whatever reason, the oldest son of the Detuas, Eivan Detua, had announced that he desired to enlist himself to fight in the Great Battle against Morgana half a year ago. That was around when the royal army, who’d bought nearly sixty horses from the Detuas, was still staying in town.

  “I want to fight too,” he’d said. “They say that even commoners can receive a title if they distinguish themselves on the field, and I heard a soldier from Deujen actually became a knight.”

  Eivan’s sudden declaration ruined the whole family dinner. It hadn’t even been a full day since the Detuas were overjoyed by the big sale to the royal army. Even Sidan was surprised enough to drop the piece of meat he was about to eat. “Eivan…you’ve really gone mad, haven’t you?”

  “I’m not as good as Reuyen, but I know how to wield a sword and fistfight.”

  “A war is no joke, you know. I heard it’s absolutely brutal out there. Is it actually a place where everyone and their mother who knows how to use their fists goes and win titles?”

  Jess threw his spoon and ended the debate. “No.”

  “Why, Father? With great risk comes great reward.”

  “Listen to your father,” said Senila sharply. “Eivan, don’t even speak of such a horrifying thing. We have a comfortable living…and you’re the firstborn, our oldest son.”

  “I’m sure it will not come to that, but if any accident happens, Reuyen or Sidan will take over the family business. Reuyen is an outstanding individual all around, and Sidan takes great care with the horses, so it really doesn’t matter which of us takes over.”

  Whatever the royal army had told Eivan, it had worked. Eivan had already made up his mind. Jess finally lost control and threw the table on the ground, then struck Eivan across the face. The table crashed with a great racket, and Eivan stumbled for balance. Shocked, Sidan clung onto his father and tried with all his might to calm him down.

  “E-Eivan! Why would you bring up weird things like that at the table? Father, calm down!”

  Sidan, who especially loved Eivan, tried to change Eivan’s mind by sho
uting at him, persuading him, coaxing him, and telling stories of those who came back from war as a cripple, but to no avail.

  After quietly watching him, Reuyen spoke. “Eivan, you can’t even stomach that much.”

  “I’m…”

  “A battlefield is a place where you have to march on even if you want to stop and vomit at the dead’s guts rolling around, and run straight into your death with oil splashed all over your body if your commander tells you to. It’s a place of death where no one cares about ten, twenty foot soldiers dying to save one single knight. You could be one of them. And an edged sword is different than a training sword. Once the battle starts, you have to cut a man’s throat like a piece of meat, smash the enemy’s face with your shield, open his chest and plunge a dagger into his beating heart, and cut off the legs of those who are chasing you. It’s customary to cut an arm or a leg of those who have surrendered if you can’t take them as prisoners, so they can never hurt the ones you love again. Reward comes from killing an enemy, not protecting your country. And when the enemy aims for you, they are thinking the same thing. Wouldn’t they have the same kind of patriotism as you?”

  Sidan shivered at Reuyen continuing without showing any emotion, dabbing her lips with her napkin. Reuyen noticed this and added with a sigh, “…or so I’ve read somewhere. Anyway, a battlefield is not a place for someone who cries over one dead horse, like you. Trust me.”

  “Ugh, what on earth was that?” asked Sidan. “Where did you read that? And why the hell were you reading it?”

  “None of your business,” she snapped. “Maybe you should read some books.”

  Leaning on the wall where Jess pushed him, Eivan silently listened to his sister. Jess just stared at his daughter, even forgetting that his son had stopped insisting that he would go to war. He looked worried that she had said such unexpected things in such a composed manner.

  In the silent dining room, Reuyen looked back at her father and grinned.

  Thanks to Reuyen’s warning, if one could call it that, Eivan started to give in. After Senila’s tearful begging, and Sidan’s desperate pestering, he finally took back his announcement.

  About two weeks later, Eivan told the family that he was going on a trip with a couple other young men in town to cool off. Senila, who had been nervous the whole time, gave him a bit of pocket money, saying that she’d rather have him be on a vacation. Jess, who was still mad at Eivan, indirectly permitted it by telling him to just get out of his sight.

  Early morning in the beginning of winter, Eivan found Reuyen at the door, wanting to say goodbye when everybody else was still asleep. He ruffled her hair and gave her a bitter smile.

  “When I think about it, you were always different. Sometimes to the point it became scary. I am relieved to have such a wonderful child as my sister,” he said. A quiet utterance.

  Reuyen let him ruffle her hair without saying anything, looking at him through the fog made by her breath.

  “As the oldest daughter, you have a lot of responsibilities. You know that, right? When I’m not here, you protect the family.”

  “Sounds like a last word.”

  With his eyes widened with surprise, Eivan lowered his head and put his forehead against Reuyen’s. Not showing any emotion, Reuyen kept her light, cat-like eyes open and stared straight into his. Eivan’s low laughter resounded in the morning air.

  “Eivan, it’s not too late to give up,” she said.

  “Reuyen.” He shook his head. “Listen. We need to fight. I hear Morgana has reinforced their army by tens of thousands.”

  “It’s an exaggeration.”

  “Exaggeration or not, it’s still true that there is a war going on right next to Galabua. We’re safe now, but if things go wrong, our town will not be safe anymore. And if the war doesn’t end soon, we’ll have to pay a lot more taxes.”

  She set her jaw. “I don’t care.”

  He sighed. “Reuyen, you’re smart enough to understand what I’m saying. If Morgana’s reinforcements come and start attacking with full force, our border will fall right away. And what would happen if Rarke loses? Even if what I’ve heard is all just a rumor, nothing changes. It’s still true that our enemies are getting closer by the minute. Toby from the fenced house and Hald from the Reeses are joining me. I’m fine with me alone not changing anything and my not being strong enough to do one man’s part. It’s better than doing nothing. I, someone who cries over one dead horse, might have to kill another man, like you said. I probably will. But I can promise you this. I will never kill for the sake of killing. I am leaving to protect. To protect our town…and to protect our family.”

  Thinking that Eivan’s face suddenly looked sorrowful, Reuyen put an old handkerchief around his wrist without another word.

  She could guess what kind of speech the royal army would have given to awaken the patriotism in the young country men. And what kind of hopeful and fearful thoughts the men would have had when they heard that speech.

  Reuyen kissed his cheek a little longer than usual. “I wish you good fortune in war.”

  A small figure in a black robe came into Reuyen’s sight when she crouched down to organize the flower pots. The man staggering toward the house in the dark and the rain was someone she knew very well.

  “Oh…”

  A pot slipped through her hands and fell to the floor with a crash.

  “Reuyen?” her mother called. “Is everything all right?”

  Surprised, Senila came running from the kitchen. Reuyen fixed her eyes on the window, staying completely still. The rain poured even louder.

  Knock knock knock.

  Her mother went to open the door.

  “Toby? Aren’t you Toby from the fenced house?”

  It was small Toby, who had left with Eivan. The young man had a new deep wound on his left cheek, and he suddenly kneeled on the cold, battered floor.

  “Ma…dam Senila…Reuyen…”

  “What in good heavens…” began Senila. “Wait, didn’t you leave with my son? What happened? Where’s Eivan?”

  Bloodied armor showed through his sleeves as he lay on the floor. Clang. Reuyen saw the moment her mother finally realized the smell of blood was mixed with the smell of rain; Senila froze.

  “I’m—I’m so sorry, so, so, sorry…”

  “Toby, why are you here alone? Where’s Eivan?”

  Trying to swallow the hiccupping sobs, Toby handed her an old handkerchief that was now stained a dark red. Sidan, who’d come nonchalantly with a spoon in his mouth, and Jess, who was sulking in the corner with his eyes on Toby, both kept their silence.

  “Toby…?”

  “Eivan…was trying to save, save me…I was too scared…ran…away…”

  “Where is my son…where…?”

  Toby’s sob burst out, breaking his voice. “I…report.”

  Stopping herself from covering her ears, Reuyen shut her eyes.

  She pictured the man who had left with such a pure desire to protect the ones he loved on the horizon of that beautiful morning where you could see your own white breath. His back had seemed so wide and so dependable.

  I wish you good fortune in war.

  Good fortune. What a meaningless thing to wish for on a battlefield. From one who knew very well that one could not rely on fortune.

  “As a fell…ow in the army of Rarke, third brigade, Ei-Ei-Eivan Detua slew an enemy knight and proudly fell… Forgive me. Please, forgive me. I’m sorry. I’m so…rry… Sorry…”

  A teardrop trickled down Reuyen’s cheek as she stared at her mother falling to her knees.

  “You…bastard…” Father muttered with his head tilted back, crushing her heart.

  It was a rainy, dark evening.

  Chapter Two

  A few years ago, there had been an imperial decree by the emperor of Morgana, a country that was drunk with the title “the only empire on the continent.”

  “Morgana is upholding the great responsibility of bringing order
to this continent. Therefore, the neighboring countries shall double their tributes.”

  But everyone knew all that gold and treasure would go into building their new palace.

  This proclamation provoked Rarke, which had endured all the years of shame since the queen’s war from two hundred years ago, just waiting for the right moment to set everything straight again. The vengeful royal family of Rarke not complying with the new order was almost opportunistic.

  As always, a war was sparked by a few people’s interests disguised as conviction.

  Of the three young men in the town who had left saying they were going on a trip, one died, and another came back in bloodied armor.

  Those who heard the news started a commotion. Some were even planning on moving away after hearing a rumor that the Morganaans, having won battle after battle, had set foot in Rarke. Some went to visit Toby, half nervous and half excited that they might be able to hear the news of their husband or son who had gone to war as well. But Toby had already left, and an unusual despair and anxiety covered the town.

  Reuyen took the anxiety, fear, and sadness with more calmness than anyone else. War was something very familiar to her life.

  When she closed her eyes, she could still see and hear her memories of war like it had happened yesterday. Riding in the fog, reeking of blood, passing through horses, enemies, comrades, and corpses. As if guided by instinct, she rode in search of another living enemy among all the dead. She remembered holding all those deaths in her hands like badges of honor and looking down at the enemies pounding their chests with the grief of losing a comrade.

  But in this present, she was just the daughter of an ordinary horse dealer. After slowly melting into the country life where nothing special happened, she had put an end to the dichotomy of her identity and let everything from her past life flow away. All she listened to now were stories the visitors told from time to time.