Lioness of the Kingdom

The session of today's Royal court ended a while ago. The king is sitting in his garden trying to clear his thoughts. He spends time in the garden whenever he is tense or in any predicament. The royal garden wasn't this beautiful or this big before. But now the garden is enormous. King Rages loves flowers. He planted almost all the trees here personally. He even tends to them whenever he has time. His personal favorite is the Violet Hibiscus and the Rainbow Rose. As beautiful as they are, the fragrance they emit is the most soothing and pleasant experience in this garden. He takes a deep breath. Someone just came and stood behind him. He knows who that is. Only Theodora has permission to enter when he is in the garden. She takes a seat beside him.

- Are you nervous?

Theodora asks him. Rages looks at her.

- I am. Scouts have been sending reports of monster horde activity for the past three months. Even though I knew they couldn't breach through the blue forest, I sent hunters to disperse the hordes. And now someone is destroying the blue forest. How am I to protect everyone if hordes start to pour in through there?

- You shouldn't worry my king, Our kingdom has many capable hunters, and they will fight diligently for the kingdom. I would too.

Rages looks into her eye, deep in thought. 17 years ago he married Theodora. The blue kingdom wasn't united then. It was two different kingdoms named East Blue and West Blue. Rages' father, who's known as Troels, was the king of the East Blue kingdom at that time. Rages hadn't succeeded the throne yet. The king of West Blue was a brave and down-to-earth ruler named Thorvald. He was a good friend of Troels and the relationship between the two kingdoms was peaceful. Thorvald often went hunting with some royal hunters. People really loved him as a king. He loved people and used to spend a lot of time among commoners. Used to note down the problems people face by staying by their side. And everyone really appreciated that.

One morning he went hunting as usual but his hunting party didn't return for 15 whole days. Which was way past the usual duration of a hunt. Royal hunters formed search parties and went in to search for them. On the 21st day, a search party led by a Royal huntress, Adelee, returned with three injured hunters and bits and pieces of a body. It was Thorvald's body, or what was left of him.

Survivors claimed they didn't go too deep as usual and hunted monsters that they could handle confidently. But one night the cave that they camped in was attacked by a Flame Maned Wolf. It was a terrifying monster. It's ten times the size of a normal wolf but a very agile monster. Its fur is light blue colored and from its head to its leg, it has a burning fire almost in the shape of a horse's mane. Thus the name Flame Maned Wolf. It's a Disaster class monster. They had no idea what a monster like that was doing so close to the kingdom border. Usually, disaster-class monsters have their own territory and they don't leave their territory very often.

There was no way for all of them to survive. They usually hunted in the area of the epic class monsters so their hunting party was formed with Elite class hunters and only Thorvald being the Royal class hunter. But taking down a disaster-class monster requires a party formed by a lot of royal-class hunters. So Thorvald faced the wolf alone and ordered others to escape. But no way he could face that monster alone and as such, he was killed mercilessly. And among 12 other hunters, only three were able to escape and live to tell tales.

After the king's death, the West Blue kingdom was in chaos. Thorvald's wife died a long time ago. He didn't have a son. His only child was his beloved daughter, Theodora. She was only 21 then and was in shock as she had lost her only family, her father. But she needed to step up and succeed to the throne. But she clearly wasn't ready for the throne yet. People started to protest, and revolt, they couldn't agree with the fact that the kingdom would be run by a woman from now on. Theodora started to struggle with handling the situation. Her courtiers weren't also helping her. She was left alone. That's when Troels stepped up. He proposed the unification of the kingdom and a royal marriage to Theodora with his son Rages. Theodora was skeptical about the proposal. She didn't want to give up on the kingdom that her father spent blood and sweat for. She cherished this place.

The proposal was poorly taken by the courtiers as well. The proposal implied the kingdoms would be unified, Troels would step down as a King after the unification Rages would succeed the throne and Theodora would become the queen. This also implied the courtiers from the West Blue Kingdom would all lose their position. They were furious with it and decided to cross the line. They all banded together to assassinate Theodora. During the next royal court session, they openly attacked Theodora. Every member present in the court lunged at her to take her life. The bet was, that whoever kills her gets to take the throne. And with this attempt, the last thread of patience snapped for Theo. She was in possession of her late father's sword. Adelee found it and brought it back. She unsheathed her father's sword and retaliated.

Rages still clearly remember that day. He was sent to West Blue to meet Theodora and give her some presents from the King. When he entered the court after hearing a commotion, the floor of the court was a sea of blood. Dead corps one over the other. And a woman fighting with 10 other men with a sword. She was moving swiftly like the wind and slicing them up as if she had done it countless other times. She was as swift as the wind, as fierce as a lion. That day she killed 49 people all by herself. When she came in front of Rages she was covered in blood from head to toe. Her eyes didn't have any light. The Royal envoy that was behind Prince Rages saw the battle in awe. A woman fought almost 50 people all by herself and among them above 30 of them were elite-class hunters. That day they named her the Kingdom's Lioness, and the story spread all over both kingdoms. After this incident, she couldn't believe anyone from her kingdom and decided to accept King Troel's proposal. But she didn't like Rages. Not as a human but as her husband. She didn't really feel anything for him. Part of it was because Rages was always a bit distant from her, even after their marriage. She suspected him of having feelings for someone else at times but never really pried into the matter. For the past 17 years, they both were just fulfilling their marital responsibilities towards each other without any real feelings for one another. And now they both seem tired of this life but still can't really say that to anyone.

- Something on your mind my lord?

Theo's words bring Rages back to the present. He averts his eyes.

- Nothing really, just thinking about some past events.

He pauses and speaks again in a mellowed tone.

- Theo...

She shivers at his call. The tone had something that she never felt in his voice,

- Do you regret marrying me?

She felt guilty at his question. Yes, she regrets her marriage, but since meeting Argos, she never really thought about her marital life all that much, Her responsibility as the queen, as a mother, and to Argos, that's all her life is nowadays. Rages likes to spend his time alone so some days she doesn't even meet him. He doesn't call her either. The only thing common in their life is the kingdom, and their daughter, Princess Sylvia. They have been married for the past 17 years. Even though she doesn't love him, he's still her husband. And she doesn't want to hurt him or disappoint him.

- No I don't, my lord. You married me when I needed a hand that I could trust the most. I owe you a lot.

He looks into her eye for a brief moment.

- Did you ever love me?

She was startled by his sudden question.

- Rages, I...

He places his hand on her lips.

- Shh... I know you never did. You don't have to lie Theodora. And the truth is, I never loved you either. I never gave you the attention and care that you deserved. I never even tried to earn your love, your care. I was... distant from you, always. I apologize. But I need to tell you something. I...There was someone I...

Before he finishes his sentence, Theodora grabs Rages's gown and throws him from the bench as she jumps along with him. Rages shouts, "THEO, WHAT ARE YOU...!"

Just then, Three arrows pierced the wooden bench just where Rages was sitting. He is shocked that's when Theodora says, "We are under attack, Rages."

Rages is still confused. In terms of fighting prowess, Rages is not gifted like Theodora. But Rages is very witty as a king. He thought about the events till now and added two and two together. Someone destroyed the blue forest, a Cloaker invaded, he had to send Argos far away from him and now he is under attack. Someone is after the Throne.

Theodora shouts at him, "We should get out of the garden, I don't have any weapon with me. I can't retaliate. Let's go towards your bed chamber. I can get my sword from the treasury."

Rages nods and runs along with her. Suddenly more arrows brush past them, and they run towards the door, dodging multiple arrows, An arrow was straight up heading for his neck. Theodora throws an empty tree pot and the arrow pierces through the pot but the pot breaks its trajectory and it doesn't hit Rages and brushes past his left ear. They somehow safely get out of the garden and step into the hallway. But there is chaos there as well. About ten hostile hunters are fighting against two royal guards that were guarding the garden. As soon as they see Rages and Theodora coming out of the garden one of the guards shouts.

- MY LORD! MY LADY! PLEASE RETREAT FROM HERE, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK AND OUTNUMBERED. WE'LL HOLD THEM OFF PLEASE RETREAT TO SAFETY.

Rages and Theo both want to jump into fighting along with them as well. They don't want anyone to die for them but jumping in there to fight without anything on them to fight with means they both will die alongside those two. So with a regretful heart, they had to leave those guards behind and run away. But right in front of the Bed chamber of the King, about 5 people are waiting, fully armored and ready to fight. But unfortunately, they are in the same attire as the assassins. And Rages and Theo recognize one of them.

He notices the King and the Queen and smiles broadly.

- Hah! My lord! My lady... I knew you guys would fall back to this room first. Good thing I brought some men with me to guard it. See? My intuition still works fine.

The King's face turned red with rage.

- Sobin, What's the meaning of all this?

The king's advisor Sobin grins and says, " What do you think? We are here to drag you down from your throne."

Theodora doesn't say anything. She picked up a wooden shield that was hanging on the wall. Seeing this Sobin laughs.

- What do you intend to do with that thing, my lady? I know you are the fierce lioness and all but when facing 5 Royal class hunters who are fully geared up to fight, picking up that thing to face them is very laughable even for you.

Theodora looks at them with a fierce eye and says, " We'll see who's still laughing after the fight ends. Shall we?"

And she rushes towards them and all of them see her right eye suddenly lighting up on green flames. And she grins at them like a fierce demon...