GLENDYNNES

" That boy is a fool " her husband complained as usual.

She resisted the urge to glare angrily at him. What will be he use, anyway? He would be too busy in his angry ramblings to notice his wife. His insignificant wife. He was the Emperor for the Coal Empire and she was his Empress. Yet the citizens respect only him. All the storytellers and singers and even priests of the Elrori Principles tell of his justice and wisdom, completely ignoring her. And he most important thing that irritates that his enemies are only scared of him- and not her. Want could a woman do to them? Even if the woman was the wife of the most powerful man in the country? Yes, she was the wife to a powerful man, but not powerful herself. To Empress Glendynnes, the tittle of ' Empress ' is nothing but hollow and useless. What good is power when you don't possess it yourself but it comes indirectly to you from a source which is none but your own husband? That is not power. And since Glendynnes had none of the power she had dedicated her entire life to letting her children lead a life of power that she never and lead. When her husband, a regular lord possessing a small keep, and distinguished for owning the biggest coal mine in Arkonia ( hence the name of hai empire, the Coal Empire ) , converted to the Elrori Principles and gave up and abandoned his Arkonian gods and wanted his family to do the same, she was the first to comply by his wishes same, as it is the duty of a wife to do everything as her husband pleases. Despite this she missed her the old gods of Arkonia which were long forgotten now, when the Elrori Principles were declared the official religion of the Coal Empire, of which Arkonia and become a part of. But she never prayed to the Arkonian gods again, and diligently worshipped the god so the Elrori Principles. " Goddesses " she reminded herself. The Elrori Principles were gender-neutral but they leaned towards the women side as their prime deity was a goddess. She mainly worshipped Elgrave, the goddess of maternity and motherhood and one of the prism goddess of the Triarch Pantheon and the adoptive mother of Khalidar, the prime Goddess of the Elrori Principles. According to mythology, she was once a human. Having lost all her children at the cradle, and her husband due to a terrible disease, she once found an abandoned baby at the steps of her cottage. That baby was Ademe, one of the reincarnations of Khalidor. Ademe became a great warrior queen by marrying a chief of a jungle tribe and after dying, her creator, Khalidor, gave her divinity and made her the Goddess of jungles, for she was born in a jungle and found in a cottage located in the jungle, and married the chief of a tribe of jungle men. After becoming a Goddess, Ademe made her mother, who had died previously and was staying in Heaven as a human soul, a goddess too. Khalidor, Ademe and Elgrave formed the Triarch Pantheon. And Glendynnes preferred to worship Elgrave, because she felt a sort of connection to her, due to her motherly love. And that is she would not keep quiet while her husband would badmouth her son, their son, Prince Garithand the heir to the Coal Empire, and their eldest child and only son. Or only her son. Despite acknowledging Prince Lewin as his bastard son, she had got suspicions that her husband had got many bastards spread across the realm. Prince Lewin was acknowledged because his mother was of noble blood, a member of House Tross, one of the noble houses of the Coal Empire. The other bastards' mothers would be commoners and not of distinguished birth. But that is a matter for some other time.

' What our son had done now ? ' she said calmly to him.

Her husband looked at her with annoyance flickering in his eyes.

' Your son - ' he began.

' Our son ' she was quick to remind him.

He paused. Then continued again, without acknowledging his mistake. 'Our son has done an extremely foolish thing.' He struggle to keep his voice under control. Despite being in their royal chamber, their voice could easily be held from the outside, if spoken loudly.

'And want is his so-called " extremely foolish deed" ?' she inquired.

The king looked at the message he was reading and then back at her. The message was from Prince Lewin, written in his good handwritting. Glendynnes and never understood why he paid attention to the boy's education so much, something he and not even done for her own son.

'He took the castle, or the Assembly, as the Entoshi people put it, of the Union Leader of the Republic of Entoshi.'

'And-?' she asked quietly.

'The fool took the Assembly instead of putting a seige like I told him!' the emperor bellowed. Then, regaining his composure, he said hissed quickly but quietly, ' I told him to seige the Assembly, to corner it from all ends but the fool ran out of his patience and captured the castle. Captured. Not conquered the castle, mark you. He only captured it. And once he went inside the castle, he found that the Union Leader and already retreated and escaped with his family through one of the secret passages, as one of the captured soldiers said upon harsh interrogation. I told him to raid the nearby villages to weaken the economy of the Republic but he directly captured a driver castle. And the castle will be re-seiged, no doubt, but this time by the Republic leaders!'

'How?' she asked.

The king looked at her as if she was the most stupid creature in the world. ' Are you deaf?' he said angrily. 'The Republic people will take back their Assembly. A captured Assembly. Not a conquered Assembly. If the person in charge of the conquered fort, is not captured or killed, then the fort si not conquered at all, as long as it's true holder is still alive or beyond the reach of its captures.'

Glendynnes maintained a plain face and said, 'To take a castle, one requires men. And once the Union Leader and shamelessly fled, abandoning and leaving behind his men. Why the same men will trust him twice? He had already lost their trust.'

The emperor shook his head mildly. 'You may be right. The people will not trust him. But after taking over the Assembly again, they can easily elect another Union Leader. It is not the small as a kingship or heriditory rulership.'

'Yes' the queen agreed. ' It is not the same as kingship. It is a federal government which has got full power in the capital only and no power outside the villages. The Republic leaders will have extreme struggle in getting the villages help them.'

' Perhaps ' the king said, although hai voice was doubtful. 'But in an attempt to give their country freedom from us, they may revolt in unison.'

' Then let Prince Garith win the love of the Entoshi villagers ' the queen said to him, meaningfully. The Entoshi villagers formed the bulk of the Entoshi economy. Having them to their side means having endless resources that could help the Coal Empire to flourish.

The king scowled. 'Put that thought into that boy's head's he said firmly. 'Instead of socializing with the villagers, he wastes his time,wait, what is the term that he used? Oh yes, 'interrogating' the soldiers, he said he was interrogating the soldiers. I would say that he spends his time torturing the soldiers. As if some common soldier would know the secrets of the Entoshi Republic. Oh yes, the soldiers disclosed about the secret tunnels. But it was common knowledge in Entoshi. Even the poorest Entoshi commoner would tell you about the secret tunnels. It was written in their Seal.'

The Seal was a signed documents produced by the founders of the Entoshi Republic. It describes all the rules and laws of the Entoshi citizens. 'Lookin at the Seal would have taken a long time for him to find out that particular point about the tunnels. It was better than he tortured the soldiers. He gained quick knowledge about the tunnels this way.' What was wrong with her husband, she wondered? Could not he see the quick wit behind her son's motives?

'The Seal would have helped him very much. It was written that for easier accommodations, people have built an extensive tunnel complex underneath the houses and that the tunnel complex in the middle of the Assembly houses a meeting hall for the leaders of the Republic. But no one could have told him where the tunnel complex was, not even the Seal. But the least he could do is to read it to know the customs of the Entoshi to learn them better and recruit them in our side. That would something Prince Lewin would have done. Oh why he boy could not be like his brother?'

She immediately stiffened at his response. Although she is usually calm and peaceful, she would not just sit silently whirl her husband insulted her son by comparing him to that- that son of his. That one bastard son of his is nothing compared to her precious true born son. 'And does your precious Bastard Prince did anything to stop or even adise our son to do something' she said to him calmly, her voice cold and filled with a mocking quality. 'He just sent a letter about his half-brother's whereabouts but the letter does not tell anything of his whereabouts. What he is doing, I wonder? The truth is, Your Majesty, your bastard is a lazy boy who is so craven that he cannot even confess his laziness to someone. My son at least acted to do something. And if you do nothing to advise him and only make silly complains here, you are nothing but a bigger fool than your bastard who-'

The Emperor slapped her before she could fully complete her sentence. She stood quietly without a word and bowed respectfully. 'A good day to you, Your Majesty' were the only words she said before she fled from the room with all her remaining dignity. Once she crossed the hallway connected to her room, she lightly touched her cheek and immediately closed her eyes as pain stung her. Her cheek was red, but no blood was flowing. Although the slap would certainly leave a bruise on her cheek. Still, she knew she could cope with her pain. It was not the first time her husband had striked her, after all, in their forty unhappy years of marriage.