Gentle Queen
"That is the first time we have heard of his return" the elder says with a straight face. Allura looks at him for a moment, trying to piece together what she saw in her dream and what the elder had just told her.
"Up until now, we still do not know who is responsible for his return. One simply cannot summon him without attracting much attention from anyone else. Even though I cannot voice out my concern in front of the royal highnesses but I believe one of the 8 kingdoms have committed treason." He continues, bowing his head as if he's in defeat.
Allura can't help but look at him. She's still very confused about everything that has happened. She still has no idea if she can trust them or if she should run away when she gets the chance. She's still weighing down her opportunities.
"Wait, do you mean you still have no leads? At least clues and all?" she asks, confused.
"A sorcerer, a high sorcerer, is able to do so. But at the moment, we cannot point fingers at the other kingdoms. We are still in the middle of a war, we left Faistran while at war. We may have survived these past years but we cannot assure it now, given that our defenses are weakening." The elder sighs. Allura continues to study him, she can't just accept the fact that she's a princess of a kingdom she's never heard of and of course never been a part of.
"Is that all to your story?" she asks him. The elder stays quiet for a moment, studying the empty table in front of him.
"I still have not told you the reason why we came here." He says.
"I thought you said because you came to get me?" Allura asks, confused.
"I meant the whole truth Amaltheia" he says the name again, it brought ringing to Allura's ears eveytime she hears that name. She couldn't understand why.
"Then… tell me," and with that the Elder continues his tale.
- -
"I must speak with the royal highnesses!" the elder stands in front the entrance of the royal courtroom. Two tridans stand on guard at the door. Anyone in the kingdom knows who the elder is, the royal family's trusted adviser whose family had served them for hundreds of years.
The two guards immediately opened the door that leads to the rulers' throne. Shkan who has been standing behind the elder together with two other guards enter the courtroom along with the elder. In case a sudden attack happens without their knowing.
The king, who looks quite old compared to the stained-glass art that was made by the royal family's artist, sits beside his queen who has also aged through the years, sits in their throne. Among the eight kingdoms existing, the people of Faistran are the fastest to age and to die.
"Solomon, what brings you here today?" upon entrance, the king immediately recognize him. The elder makes his bow in respect and immediately went in to tell the news.
"Your majesties, I bring you terrible news." He starts. The king and queen look at each other and then back to the elder, waiting for the news he has come to tell.
"Asmodeus, he has returned." The elder says with a slight tremble in his voice. The king's face immediately turns pale and the queen's hands start to tremble.
"What kind of twisted joke is that?" the king laughs nervously. Although he knows that what the elder had said is far from a joke, he couldn't help but ask that question.
"Alas your highness, I am far from joking." The elder says in grimace. The king's face changed once again into something grim, a face full of fear.
"I am here to inform you as well of the possible covenant that will take place soon. Given the news that has already reached the rulers of the other kingdoms." The elder changes the subject. A covenant is wherein all the eight kingdom's trusted officers and generals gather when a threat arises that would affect the eight kingdoms.
The last covenant took place over a century ago, before the war took place. It was about the upcoming war itself and obviously, it didn't end well.
"We know Solomon. We trust that you would guide Faistran on the right track," the king says with such authority
"Your highness, although I am not forcing you to do such reckless actions but, is it not time to bring the princess back?" the elder suddenly suggests. The king and queen's faces immediately give away what they feel, shock, anger, longingness.
"Have you lost your mind Solomon? We cannot bring her here! Now that Asmodeus is back, we cannot do such hasty actions!" the king slams his fist on his throne.
"But your majesty-" the elder tries to persuade him but the king raises his hand to stop him.
"You are dismissed Solomon." The king says with finality.
"We hope that you would not spill this secret to the other kingdoms, Solomon. We trust you enough to know that you would not do so," the queen says gently as the elder makes his exit.
- -
"Bring back the princess, then were you referring to me?" Allura asks in confirmation. The elder nods to say yes.
"But you said the royal highnesses were against to bringing me back? Not that I'm saying I believe it's true now," Allura clarifies. She needs a clear explanation for everything, even if she's still doubting every word they had uttered.
"Ah," is all the elder said. Until, the room starts changing its form. Allura closes her eyes for a moment, the room stood too bright for her to actually see what's happening. The moment she opens her eyes, she's now standing in a different room.
She starts looking around, it seems spacious enough to fit at least hundreds- no, thousands of people if she could exaggerate. Behind her, two great doors stood closed and two figures seems to be watching guard of it. She turns her attention in front of her. There, a man, bearing a king's crown and a woman, with a queen's crown, stand in front of three figures.
She moves to approach them, unsure if they could see her or not. As she gets closer, the figures start to become clearer. There, kneeling in front of the king and queen, are the Elder, Briaphella and Shkan.
"I trust that you are ready for your mission?" the king says with a tone that Allura couldn't point an emotion to. The three of them nod their heads with sadness written all over their faces.
"My queen," the king turns to the woman beside him. She looks back at him with the same sadness as the three loyal servants in front of them.
"My king-" she says with such gentleness, such sadness in her voice. Allura doesn't know why the queen was in such state.
"We deeply apologize your highnesses but there is no other way" Briaphella says. Her tone of voice has something mixed into it, pity.
"We understand Briaphella, you wouldn't have told us this if there were other choices," the queen gives Briaphella a brave smile, tears swimming in her eyes.
"We will be awaiting your orders your highness," the Elder bows, together with Briaphella and Shkan.
"Then let us begin now. Aren't the preparations complete Briaphella?" the queen raises her hands. Allura studies where her hands are going until she realizes that she's reaching for her crown. The queen slowly removes her crown and gives it to the king.
Briaphella looks at the queen with frightened eyes. As if the moment she touches her, the queen would slowly turn to ash and fade away.
"Yes," she says finally. Looking down on the ground to avoid the queen's gaze.
"Then what are we waiting for?" the queen steps down from the throne and approaches Briaphella. Briaphella stands up biting her lip until blood starts dripping from it. The elder and Shkan then follow them, the king last.
They start moving to exit the castle when Allura looks behind her, she sees that 3 or 4 guards are following them. She looks up front and see 3 guards walking before their group. She sees a tall man with a thick build in front of the other soldiers, he must be the head.
She initially thought that whatever was going to happen will only take place in the courtyard but it somehow seems that she's wrong. They continue walking until they reach the entrance of the kingdom. With a large gate and guards standing at watchtowers.
"In the name of the royal highnesses, let us through." Shkan says to his subordinates. Without much thought, the one who is probably in charge of sealing the main gates opens just a narrow passage enough for one person to pass through.
Each of them pass through the gate slowly, with Shkan being the last to go.
"Thank you," he says before shutting the gate shut. The guard stares at the closed gate with confusion. He must have been shocked as to his superior's sudden words. Allura, who still has no idea what is bound to happen starts to panic. She wasn't able to go with them and now the gate is sealed.
'You can pass through it' a voice in her mind says. She slips a hand through the gate and surely her hand phased through it. She then continues passing her entire body through and follows them before she loses sight of them.
They stop in the middle of the forest. The air seems thick and she starts to have difficulty breathing.
'You're imagining it. Take a deep breath in, slowly' the voice in her head says again. She does what she's told to do and surely the air does't seem so thick anymore.
"Are you ready your highness?" Briaphella's voice breaks through Allura's trail of thought.
"As I could ever be," the queen smiles nervously. She faces the king and takes both his hands.
"My king, my dear husband. It seems that-" the king cuts her off by gripping her majesty's hands tight, it makes her flinch.
"My queen, my dear wife. You need not to worry." The king tries to reassure the queen. He smiles at her, though his smile is obviously fake. The smile doesn't show any reassurance, it shows sadness, despair, grief.
"Oh my king," the queen reaches her hand to touch the king's cheek and tears starts dripping from both their eyes. The king is the first to break, he falls down on his knees and starts sobbing uncontrollably.
The queen then drops to the ground, hugging the king. Her tears dripping to the ground. The three couldn't do anything but just look away.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to prevent this from happening" the king says in between sobs. The queen shakes her head furiously.
"No no no, my king." She takes both his cheeks to make him look at her. Tears streaked face an all, with a brave smile that gives away her firm resolution.
"This is the only way," the queen says firmly. The king bows his head down once again, his shoulders start to tremble.
"If only, if only it would have been me. I should be the one doing this, not you." He says. Even his voice had begun to tremble.
"No. Faistran needs a strong ruler and between the two of us, there is no need for debate." The queen smiles despite what she had just said. The king shakes his head furiously and the queen catches his face. She presser her lips on to his forehead.
"My king, Faistran wants you to be strong. I want you to be strong. The daughter you're about to meet will expect you to be strong. Be strong for all of us." The queen studies his features one last time before standing to approach Briaphella.
"We do not have much time Briaphella, are you ready?" she looks at Briaphella with strong resolve in her eyes.
"Yes, your highness" Briaphella bows and proceeds to lead the queen in the middle of a magic circle she had drawn earlier.
"Oh, and Commander Kiri" the queen calls the tall man who Allura earlier thought was their commander.
"Yes, your highness?" Kiri kneels in front of the queen, just outside the magic circle.
"You need not to do that," she says. Despite that, Kiri remains unmoving.
"Will you swear to protect the king in my absence?" the queen gently smiles.
"Of course! I will defend him even if my life depends on it your highness! Even if they cut my head and carve out my heart, I will defend him even if it sends me to the depths of the underworld!" Kiri says without missing a beat.
"Thank you" the queen says and proceeds to standing in the middle of the magic circle.
"Your highness," the elder calls the king's attention. The king looks at him with dead, sorrowful eyes.
"You must step back, for your own safety." The elder says. The king moves away from the magic circle, standing just a few feet away from where Allura stood.
"Shall we begin?" Briaphella looks at the Elder, then at Shkan and lastly at the king and starts to recite strange words Allura couldn't recognize.
The circle starts to produce bright blue light. As much as it pains Allura's eyes to continue staring, she couldn't help but do so. She looks at the woman standing in the middle who somehow, had started coughing up blood.
The king who is standing beside her starts to cry once again. She looks back to the circle. The queen's eyes had turned dead-ish, her mouth and hands full of blood. She then falls to the ground, head first. Somehow, for a moment, just before losing consciousness, Allura thought that she had made eye contact with the queen.
Just before everything burns white, the queen smiles a gentle, bloody smile.