prettycanarybird

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 6 Part 1

Blissfully, I had drifted into a sea of dreamless sleep when they came to move me the first night. Even with several strong men, a stretcher and great care, it still hurt more than I could have imagined. Or at least, I let them believe it hurt as much. In truth, while I was in pain, it wasn’t the worst I had experienced in my short life. The injury to my arm might prove to be permanent, and perhaps, I would have to concede it to be the worst at that point, but stubbornness made me believe I would eventually regain its use. Regardless, none of them knew my personal injury or pain threshold, and made it a point to cry out now and again. 

At some point, I was forced a concoction of herbs, for the pain and for infection. My mother had done the same for me on several occasions, even against my will. While I was keen to slow their progress, I had no death wish. I let them hold the cup to my lips for me to drink, my requests to release a hand to use going unanswered. They had sweetened it with honey, but it did little to mask the taste. 

I found that while Melena, the Archer and Horus, the man Hera had so triumphantly injured, were talkative, no one else was willing to pass even a few words with me. They came to give me my drink, a few bits of food and to make sure I hadn’t died. One young woman gave me a glare that said she’d gladly let me die horribly, so I made an assumption that one of the men I had cut down had been her lover or relative. Or more. I didn’t relish the kill, but I wasn’t going to let the guilt take me under for trying to protect Hera.

The next day, while I laid on the cot, earnestly listening for any signs of search, I plotted a way to leave some mark, a clue, anything. I had settled on picking at the wrappings on my injured wrist, pulling at the strings. It was painful, slow work, but I managed to get a few small pieces torn and balled into the hand. The fact that I could curl my fingers enough to hold onto the tiny scraps was encouraging. 

When they came to move me that evening, I let the little pieces fall, a tiny trail of breadcrumbs. Gil was a good tracker, and several of the 51st even better. One of them would find it, I was certain. All I had to do was make sure they knew their general still lived, and they would find me, and lay waste to the assassins holding me.

The second day, I knew we were out of the Capital. Even covered, I could smell the clear air, tinged with hay and manure. When they pulled the coverings off me, I was left in a small room of a farmhouse, sitting on a rope bed against a far wall. I recognized the type of structure, so similar to the one I had spent my early years growing up in, and a bit of it pulled at my heart. Before my father had set out on his quest to regain our place in the Empire, we had spent many happy nights laughing, my mother singing, with wooden sword play and shadow puppet stories. What sort of woman would I have been had I not be forced onto a battlefield? Would I be married now with a child? Would I be longingly looking up at the distant Capital city and wondering? I shuddered to think. 

The Archer came in to untie my wrists and ankles, apparently confident in their ability to prevent my escape. Or that I was far enough away they would be able to track me before I reached help. I gratefully pushed myself into a sitting position, rolling my ankles and working out the knots that had formed. My side burned and throbbed, forcing my eyes closed, and I bit the inside of my cheek. Carefully I set my wrapped arm in my lap.

“I’m sorry to have so gravely injured you, little Empress.” “Don’t call me that.”

His face was the picture of innocence. “What should I call you then?”

“General.”

He smiled. He might even have been considered handsome by some. “General, then. I am still sorry. You are a valiant fighter, and one of our own now. We protect our own, not harm them.”

I snorted it and held my arm aloft. 

The Archer nodded gravely. “That is my deepest regret. You can fight with your other hand, yes?” I narrowed my eyes. “We will fix you. Do not worry, General.”

Slowly, I shifted so that my back was against the cool, smooth wall of the little room. “You may not wish that.”

Genuine pleasure lit in his eyes. “We’ll see. An archer and a swordsman fight very differently.”

Another snort. “I couldn’t tell.”

He crossed his arms over his slender chest. “You like to lash out, like a viper. I had a friend like you once.”

“Oh, joy.” I quipped. “A story.”

Some of the pleasure left his eyes, and I was genuinely sorry for it. “Yes, General. A story. We are all stories. They are what make or break us, and remake us again. You will listen to this story.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“No,” a bit more light returning to his eyes, “you don’t.” The Archer sat down on the far end of the rope bed, poking the toe of my boot to give him more room. Reluctantly, I obliged, if only to bend my legs which had been left so long straight and tied. 

“My friend, he was like you. He liked to bite at his enemies. Goad them into foolish anger. I always told him that he took too much pleasure in it, as I’m sure you do. He would push and push. For many battles, he was the victor for it. They became angry and made foolish mistakes that would cost them their lives. One day, he pushed too far, and with too skilled a warrior. A sharp tongue could do little against a sharp blade in the chest.”

I listened, patiently, as I would have to General Lorr and one of his lectures. When he had finished, I curled my legs under me more. “Are you saying you’re going to put a blade through my chest?” It was more genuine than combative. General Merien had always taught me to find whatever you could about your enemy, even in the smallest way.

“No, but someone will.”

“Of course they will.” It was a frank admission. “I have spent my life on a battlefield, Archer, and that makes all sorts of enemies. The fact that I haven’t met my end just yet, is a miracle. I am Empress now, and that target is bigger. I do not expect to grow old.”

The Archer stared at me for a long moment. “Xavi. My name is Xavi. And that is a very sad way to live.”

“Xavi,” I repeated. “And you expect to grow old? In your line of work that’s a dangerous sort of confidence.”

Xavi gave me a small smile, rising from the bed. “I don’t intend to be this forever. Just as one day, you will have to stop calling yourself ‘General,’ and accept that you are now ‘Empress’ and only that.” 

He didn’t wait for me to respond. The archer simply turned and left the room, and me sitting on the rope bed. 

I sat for a time before I slowly stood. My head swam a little as the pain came in waves, forcing me to concede inwardly that I hurt far more than I wanted to admit. The wrap around my ribs and waist was well done, and tight, mercifully. Escape on my own was out of the picture, at least until I was more stable and more capable of moving quickly, which meant, I would need to rely on my men to find me. It wasn’t a position I was fond of, but one I had to accept. For now.

Tentatively, I paced the small room. Four paces wide and five paces long, it wasn’t much. The rope bed was shoved against the wall, a mattress of stuffed straw and feathers atop. The floor was covered with flat beams of wood, carefully laid but had seen a lifetime or two of footfalls and were showing their age. Some of the edges curled up, and I was careful not to trip and tear open my side. There was a window with wood planks hastily boarded in from the outside to slow my escape if I should think to climb out. Through the slats, I could see that the sun was high, and a little stable wasn’t too far off.

After the second, slow turn about the room, I set my sights on the door. The moment my toe peeked over the threshold two spears, a sword and a dagger centered on my chest. No doubt an archer was nearby, Xavi even. I sighed and held up my hands in surrender, one heavily bandaged, and stepped back into the room. They wouldn’t be able to maintain such a heavy guard on me for long.

I returned to the bed, cradling my arm in my lap. Gently, I began to unwrap the bandage to see for myself for the first time just how bad the injury was, and judge how much work it would be to get my swing back. I had only briefly looked at it when the arrow had pierced through. Pulling away the last of it, I hissed. 

The wound had been burned closed, and an ointment spread around it. Still, I could see the angry red that would hint at a long recovery if I wasn’t careful. If the infection wasn’t managed, it could even kill me. I assumed my side looked much the same. Gingerly, I began to feel around the wound itself, for breaks or cracks, but it must have gone through the bones. A lucky break, but the muscle was a mess and curling my fingers was difficult. My last two fingers did not respond as well as I would have liked. I might never be able to swing a sword with that arm again.

The loss struck something deep in my chest. Of course I could train up my left hand, but swordplay had always been something I excelled in, even before I knew what I was doing. My left would never be quite as good as my right, which I supposed I had no one to blame but myself for having relied on my other hand so much. Without a sword in my hand, what sort of general would I be? Was that what Xavi was hinting at?

I curled my fingers again, wincing.

“Stop fussing with it.” Melena’s voice came from the doorway. How long she’d been standing there, I wasn’t sure. She was an assassin after all. I reached for the bandage to begin re-wrapping it. “Stop.” She commanded. “Use a clean one.” The assassin leader snapped her fingers and one of the spearmen leaned around the door. “Bandages and ointment.” He disappeared to do as he was commanded.

Melena leaned against the doorframe while we waited, studying me. She crossed her arms over her chest, arms that while I was strong, would lose against in an arm wrestling match. The woman who led the Hired Hands was not a woman to be trifled with, but all the more reason to either gain her on my side for the Empire, or find a way to remove her. The later was more than likely not possible on my own.

“Give it time,” she nodded toward my arm, “before you dismiss it.”

“Or accept the reality and move on.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Or that.”

I looked down at the arm again, turning it over to see the identical wound on the other side. What would Merien say to see me now? He’d say I was a damned fool.

“How is your side?” If I wasn’t so sceptical, I’d say I heard a touch of concern in her voice.

“Broken. Bruised. Sliced open.” I didn’t bother to look at the wrapping, or the fact that my shirt had been torn to do so.

She nodded, braids dancing. “You did kill several of my men.”

My eyes narrowed. “You tried to kill mine. Paralyzed her.”

“Fair enough.” She conceded as the spearman returned with new cloth and a bottle of ointment. Melena took them from him and made quick work of the room to sit beside me. She held out a hand in silent command. I gave her my arm. 

She was gentle with the ointment, and ignored my hissing when it stung. Just as gently, and efficiently, she wrapped my arm, producing a small knife to cut the bit of cloth and tie it down. “You’ll need your side redone.” When I glared at her, she stared back. “I can get Xavi to do it.”

I chewed my bottom lip, then set about to unwrap my waist myself. To her credit, she let me, sitting patiently while I peeled the soaked cloth away from my side. I’d been right. The slice wasn’t a pretty one, but it had been stitched up admirably. Better than Gil’s stitches. The edges were looking angry, but the soft pink bled away into blacks and blues and purples that spotted my ribs. I was surprised I was breathing as well as I was looking down at the damage.

Melena dipped her fingers into the ointment and waited until I nodded my permission before applying it to my gash. She tisked at my flinching, but worked quickly. “Your ribs are not as bad as they look. Bruised more than broken.” A small concession but not by much.

As she wrapped, I helped pass the fabric around. “So, a daughter?” It was a blunt question, but sometimes being blunt worked.

It did not work on Melena, though she smiled anyway. “Yes. And while I admire your strategy, you will have to find out more about her on your own. Consider it part of your training.”

I clenched and unclenched my jaw. “Training.”

“Yes,” she chuckled, taking the last bit of cloth and tying it tight. “And know that while you are an obstinate girl, a thing your mother and I would agree on, I believe, my daughter is more so. I look forward to seeing who will win.”

I blinked. “You don’t wish her the victory?”

Melena sat back, setting aside the ointment on the floor, making a point to show me where it was for the future. “Little Empress, when one day you have a daughter, and she turns out to be just like yourself, I hope you will do her the honor of letting her fight her battles without you, and the respect of your honesty about her odds.”

“And what are her odds?”

She looked me over pointedly. “Considering the state you are in? Tipping in her favor.”

Self conscious, I tried to cover myself with my good arm. “I’d like a new shirt.”

Melena chuckled again. “Of course. You’re far too distracting as is.”

I frowned. “Are you mocking me?”

Melena blinked. I had finally knocked her a bit off her balance. “Why would you think so? Oh,” an understanding dawned on her, “Little Empress, do you not know? You’re rough around the edges, but a bit of kohl, some rouge, your hair done and a deliciously scandalous dress, and you’d be a dangerous distraction. You’d end up opening your mouth and all would be lost, but just standing there, I can see how men would wage wars for you. And they did, didn’t they? And you didn’t even have to comb your hair. Hm.” She turned thoughtful.

“I’m not a pawn, Melena.” My voice dropped.

“No,” she was still thoughtful when she stood from the bed, looking me over in my disheveled and injured state, “Not a pawn. Rather something else.”

#ladyknight ladylead femalelead epicfantasy fantasy novel fantasynovel writer writing

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 5

With a start, I jolted back to consciousness. The spasm sent a shockwave of pain up and down my side, stealing my breath away. There was an echo of pain in my forearm, but nothing compared to my battered and sliced ribs. It took every ounce of control to stay silent, biting my lip till I tasted blood. Even if I had wanted to struggle more, I couldn’t. Rough rope looped around my wrists, pinning them to my sides. My feet were tied as one, thankfully my boots protecting my ankles.

The pain made my vision spin and it took a few moments, four or five shallow breaths, before things came into focus. We were in a small room, several lanterns lit casting a warm glow, so night must have begun to fall. I was laying upon a wooden cot, straw or something of the like, stuffed behind my head for a pillow. Hera was on her stomach on a similar cot, her wrists bound closer to her head. She was watching me, her eyes glazed over with pain or something else, I couldn’t make out in the dancing shadows. What I could see was the way her eyes shifted when she saw me try to move.

“Stay still, General.” Her young voice was reassuring. “That rib didn’t look so good when they brought you in.”

I blinked at her a few times. How could she be trying to comfort me in such a time? I was her general, even more so, I was her empress. It was my job to get her home, safe, and I was failing miserably. 

“Oh, well.” I didn’t bother to even look down at my side. No doubt it was a few broken ribs which were probably bruising colorfully, and stitches through an angry red cut. If I was lucky, the scar would heal up attractively. If not? Well, I had plenty of others that it could join. “Did I tell you,” I attempted to shift and sucked in air when my side objected too much, “about the time that Gil’s stubborn horse threw me?”

Hera shook her head. 

“Broke a lot more ribs than I have right now.” The crooked smile I gave her, I hoped was convincing. “How are you?”

Hera glanced down the length of her cot. They hadn’t bothered to tie up her legs. “I can’t feel anything from my hips down,” her breath caught, “I keep trying to wiggle my toes.” 

I swallowed hard. Even in the lantern light, it was easy to see that she was trying not to let the darkness take her. Brave, young Hera, cut down. A thousand thoughts must have been circling her head, and all of them were my fault. “I’m so sorry.”

She lifted her head. “For what? I knew what I was signing up for when I joined you.”

Her kindness was too much; I had to look away. “You didn’t sign up for this.”

“No,” her voice dropped, “but you didn’t sign up to wear a crown.” I snapped my head back around as she continued, “Any fool can see you hate it. I saw it earlier. Swinging that sword? That’s the general we love and follow. I follow. 

“It’s not fair what’s happened to us. But when has it ever been fair? I know I haven’t seen it. And I know you haven’t seen it. We’ll figure this out. The empire needs us.”

The way she paired us together broke my heart. I had always walked a path alone with people either trying to pave a way before me, or watching my back, but never by my side. Hera had no other thoughts but to do just that: be by my side, even if it killed her. The problem was, I wanted her behind me, safe and well protected. If I did nothing else, and I had finally reached the end of my life, I would make sure that Hera returned home.

I opened my mouth to tell her just that when we heard steps outside the wood door. Instead, we shared a look and collectively braced ourselves. We were soldiers first and foremost, and it was plain to see the resolve on her face, which I knew mine echoed back in response, that we were not going to break. Our bodies may give in, but our minds never would.

The footsteps paused outside the door a long moment before we heard a key slide into the lock and turn. The wooden door swung open slowly, but no other light followed. My guess had to be correct: darkness had fallen. By now I could only imagine the guards and soldiers who were turning over the streets to find me. It was only a matter of time before I was found, even if these assassins had found a good hiding spot. They had to have known that. Still, there was no sense of haste when a tall woman with braided hair stepped into the room, flanked by the archer.

“I hope you are comfortable.” Her voice had a sweet melody to it, smooth and almost soothing. 

“Very.” I quipped back, sharpness in my tone.

The woman’s smile was slow, but tender. “Yes, I’m sure. I apologize for the ropes, but you were rather… resistant to our services.”

My eyebrows went up. “Services? Is that what you call broken ribs, a gash, and a hole through my arm?”

The woman walked further into the room so she could address the two of us. “Yes. Your injuries are regrettable.”

“Regrettable?” I felt the heat rising in my cheeks. “Untie me and we’ll see who regrets what.”

“I’m afraid, little Empress, that you are not fit for that fight. Yet. I look forward to the day you are.” She chuckled a little bit, and regardless of the pain, I pulled at the ropes holding my wrists. “Now, now. Don’t go opening up your wounds. Infections are nasty things.”

I balled my good hand into a fist. My other hand was too bandaged to do much more than lay there. My good sword arm, ruined. But Merien and my father had taught me the use of both hands, for such an occasion. Foolishly, I had always leaned heavily on my dominant hand. I would need to re-train, and I would, if only to cut down the archer who ruined me.

“I admire your fighting spirit. Both of you. If only your father had sent you to us when you were younger, perhaps… Nevertheless, there’s still time, especially for you, my dear.” The woman turned her attention to Hera, who had kept silent. As the woman knelt to look Hera in the eyes, the girl tried to pull away, putting distance between herself and the woman before her.

“Leave her alone.” I dropped my voice dangerously low.

“Hmmm.” She hummed before standing up and moving away from Hera. “A father’s debt becomes the daughter’s. Your freedom for her.”

My eyes went wide. “What? Never.” There was no bargain enticing enough to convince me to hand Hera over to the hired hands.

The woman nodded in understanding. “I know. I know the responsibility on your shoulders. I, too, have such responsibility. You’d do anything for her. Give your life for her…”

“No!” Hera begged.

“Shhh, girl. The adults are speaking.” The woman held up her finger before squaring off to me. “I propose this: pay off your father’s debt. Your life is ours, and the girl is freed. We’ll even ensure she is returned to the Capitol in one piece.”

Hera pulled at her ropes. Even in the dim light I could see how raw they were becoming. “No, General. Together. Us, remember?”

I watched her pull and pull, her wrists becoming redder and redder. She was too young to lose her life to the hired hands. She was too young to be crippled like she was, but if I could return her without more harm, it was my duty to do so. It would be harder to plan an escape alone, but Hera would be safe. My life would be the only one on the line. 

“The Empire!” She pulled harder while the woman stood over me, waiting patiently.

The Empire would survive. My mother would ensure it. She was the one who should have ruled all along. If I managed an escape, then it would only be a temporary thing, but if I didn’t? Then the people were in good, caring hands. 

“Tell my mother…”

“No!”

“Hera, listen to me, that’s an order.” I waited until she stilled. “Tell her that I am alive. Leave out the injuries portion. That will only upset her. Tell her to give the Twin Armies over to General Merien. They’ll listen to him. Tell them both…”  I didn’t know what I wanted to tell them. They could very well be my last words to them, and I had never even thought to prepare. “Tell them I fly on silver wings. I will be fine, I promise you.”

I wished I could slice the satisfied smile off the woman’s face as she nodded to the archer, who went to Hera’s beside to begin untying her. She lashed out at him, but he held her wrists firm. Even as she fought him, he took care to lift her from the bed, despite her agonizing groan, taking her poor, useless legs in one swoop. I met her eyes one last time and prayed I would see them again. The archer swung around, and once through the door, slammed it shut.

I heard Hera screaming for me all down the hall and to wherever they were taking her. I closed my eyes and tried to block it out.

The woman waited until Hera’s voice disappeared from earshot. She pulled up a stool, dragging it over to my bedside and sat down. Her keen eyes looked me over, tongue clicking. “Empress Jade Virillia. You know, I attended your coronation.”

“I hope you enjoyed it.”

“Immensely,” she mused. “We don’t need to be enemies, you and I. I quite support your reign. A woman who fought with her men, rose up the ranks. Disposed of a vicious man who fancied he knew how to rule an empire. Men are foolish that way, but you did it. Impressive.”

I snorted. “ Yes, that’s why you slaughtered my men in the north. You support my reign.”

She nodded. “Hmm. Yes. We often go where we are hired. Even if that is not what we, as individuals, desire. That does not negate my respect for you. Business is business, little Empress.”

I shook my head, and tried pulling at the ropes at my feet. Tight. 

She watched me. “We’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, I’m afraid. My name is Marlena. These men and women take their cues from me, so let’s clear things up a bit. You have a fire in you that you’re going to need to control, if you want to live long enough to try and pull off that escape plan you are putting together in your head.”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t underestimate me.”

Marlena smiled her sweet smile. “Oh, I don’t intend to. I know you are quite capable of doing just as you set your mind to. It’s why I made the bargain with her father all those years ago, and more than likely, why he broke that bargain. And if you want to hear more of that story, you’ll need to be a good little Empress and behave, or a crippled arm will be the least of your worries.”

Again with my father. I was beginning to regret having Lord Icarius reach out to the assassins. On one hand, I had an admittance of involvement with the North. Whether I could use that would determine if I could escape and get back to court in time to find out. On the other hand, my father was somehow playing part from the grave. I wasn’t too keen on what part he was playing either.

“You have a lot of questions, I know.” Marlena cut through my thoughts.

“Who hired you from the North?”

She sighed heavily. “And that is such a boring one. I had hoped you would have started with your father. That is a much more interesting one.”

“And irrelevant at the moment. You said you understood responsibility, then you’ll understand why my empire comes first.”

Marlena nodded. She leaned forward onto the cot, shifting it slightly. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from voicing the pain that shot up my arm and side. She noted it with her eyes but said nothing about it. “I’ll answer your questions, but you won’t be successful in your escape, and you won’t be able to tell your advisors. That dastardly pirate, Lord Icarius might figure it out, but will he in time to change the course? Without you, will your precious armies fight just as hard for the Empire?”

I grit my teeth. “The Empire is bigger than me.” My men and women were wiser and stronger. They believed in a better future. I had to believe they would keep fighting for it after me, or what was it all for?

“Is it?” Marlena’s hawk gaze held mine. “I’m not trying to anger you, little Empress. But is it really? Those men followed you. They saw you fight in the field with them. They heard you speak and preach your new world. They watched you from the time you were young become injured, and broken, and still held your sword high for them. It wasn’t your mother, or General Merien. It was you. Empires are no bigger than their ruler.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Don’t be foolish. You’re smarter than that.”

I refused to follow her train of thought, or all those lives lost, on both sides, were all mine to carry. While in my darkest moments, I felt that weight without her telling me so, in these moments, I had to push those thoughts away, or the darkness would drown me. The Empire deserved better than that.

“Who hired you.”

She leaned back from the cot, shifting it again. I couldn’t hold back a whimper. “Would it surprise you if I said my own blood? A daughter who has delusions of power on a tiny scale. So you see. Regardless of my regard for you, I am still a mother, and she offered enough coin to ensure that several Wasteland tribes will eat this dry season. What’s a mother to do?”

So our enemy had enough wealth to pay off the best assassins in the world. It could only mean that it was someone in a position of power in the North. But who? Last I heard, the Northerners were governed by man. Surely that meant a courtier, but what courtier had that much wealth in their pockets?

“Going through the Northern courtiers, little Empress? How long have you been at court? A handful of days? Without your advisors, would you even know them?” Melena taunted.

But she was right. My education was on the battlefield, or snatched as we traveled. My mother and General Merien had done their part to ensure I was well learned, and knew enough of the several languages that spanned the Empire to converse, but learning the roster of other courts had not been foremost in my mind. Like a child procrastinating, I thought I would have time to learn them now, or at the very least, be able to write them down and cheat.

“They were brave men, little Empress. Strong, determined, and some of the best we have ever fought. You would have been proud of them.”

And I was, even as their deaths tore at my soul. I stared up at the ceiling, following the cracks to keep the tears at bay. General Merien had marched out after them. Had he already met his end by the hired hands? Were they all dead now too?

“Little Empress,” Melena moved to gently touch my hand, but I pulled it away from her as much as I could, hissing in pain. “Know that slaughtering good men does not bring us joy.” I gave her a look that said I didn’t believe her. “You’ll learn this in time.”

“Right,” my voice was hoarse with pent up emotion. “I’m yours now. A bargain made long ago.”

“That’s right. We turned the tide of the war for him, and you, and all for just a few years of your life with us. A small price for an entirely new future.” She was watching me, judging me.

“And I had no say in this.”

A shoulder rose and fell. “You were a child.”

“I’m not now.”

“No,” she conceded, “You are not. And you made your own bargain, little Empress.”

I had, and I had no regrets so long as they were true, and Hera was now safe. I also knew that in freeing Hera, I would be giving my men information. Hera was a 51st squire. She would know how to lead them back to me. Even if the hire hands moved me now, it would only be a matter of time. I had to survive that long, and I had to do everything that General Merien had taught me to ensure that rescue or escape would come.

I continued my visual trek of the cracks in the ceiling. “And how long did I make my bargain?”

“Her life for yours.”

“Right.”

“Until I see fit.”

“Of course.” I closed my eyes. How much pain could I feign? Much of my pain was real, but could I feign enough that they would scarcely want to move me? Infection, I wouldn’t be able to fake, but if they valued my life, as Melena seemed to imply, perhaps I could hope to slow them down. Just enough for my men to find me.

“Little Empress - “

“I’m sure you’ll be moving me soon.” I closed my eyes, doing my best to seem as tired as I could, which wasn’t all that difficult. “I should like to rest before then. I can’t imagine it’ll be too comfortable.”

I didn’t see Melena stand, but I heard her put the stool back where she had found it. There was a pause, and a shadow that came over my eyelids, but I refused to open them. She leaned down so I could feel her breath on my cheek. It smelled of honeyed tea with a hint of rose. “Do not make this difficult, Jade.”

“Melena,” I began, “you don’t know me, so let me share a secret: I will always make things difficult. But you wouldn’t want me if I was any less.”

She didn’t return a quip. Instead, she leaned away, and I imagined she was watching me, judging me for any signs of deceit. Too bad I was already riddled with them. If she wanted to know which I’d play first, well, that was a secret event to me.

The door closed behind her, but the lanterns remained lit. I opened my eyes to the world around me: the knots at my wrists and ankles, and the empty cot where Hera had only just been laying. I felt the trickle of blood between my knuckles on my injured arm, no doubt I had caused the wound to reopen with my struggles. My fingers barely wiggled when I commanded them to move, and pain shot up to my shoulder.

I doubt I’d be feigning pain. I would simply be making sure they knew how much pain I was in rather than swallowing it down. There had been a time or two after a battle where I had been in rough shape. A man had stomped on my leg bad enough that I had hobbled around on crutches for some time. Never had I been injured and held captive.

I laid there, staring up at the ceiling again, wondering what my father had done when he was captured. Wondering again what mistakes of his I could avoid. In the end, he hadn’t escaped, and Gil and I had found his body, relieved of his head, in the woods as a warning. I wasn’t going to end up that way. That day, Gil and I had vowed to go out in a blaze of glory. Now I had to figure out how to either do that, or get back to him, and my mother, and Thea, and Merien. With my head still on my body.

#ladyknight femalehero femalelead empress Knight fantasy story writing writer novel

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 5

With a start, I jolted back to consciousness. The spasm sent a shockwave of pain up and down my side, stealing my breath away. There was an echo of pain in my forearm, but nothing compared to my battered and sliced ribs. It took every ounce of control to stay silent, biting my lip till I tasted blood. Even if I had wanted to struggle more, I couldn’t. Rough rope looped around my wrists, pinning them to my sides. My feet were tied as one, thankfully my boots protecting my ankles.

The pain made my vision spin and it took a few moments, four or five shallow breaths, before things came into focus. We were in a small room, several lanterns lit casting a warm glow, so night must have begun to fall. I was laying upon a wooden cot, straw or something of the like, stuffed behind my head for a pillow. Hera was on her stomach on a similar cot, her wrists bound closer to her head. She was watching me, her eyes glazed over with pain or something else, I couldn’t make out in the dancing shadows. What I could see was the way her eyes shifted when she saw me try to move.

“Stay still, General.” Her young voice was reassuring. “That rib didn’t look so good when they brought you in.”

I blinked at her a few times. How could she be trying to comfort me in such a time? I was her general, even more so, I was her empress. It was my job to get her home, safe, and I was failing miserably. 

“Oh, well.” I didn’t bother to even look down at my side. No doubt it was a few broken ribs which were probably bruising colorfully, and stitches through an angry red cut. If I was lucky, the scar would heal up attractively. If not? Well, I had plenty of others that it could join. “Did I tell you,” I attempted to shift and sucked in air when my side objected too much, “about the time that Gil’s stubborn horse threw me?”

Hera shook her head. 

“Broke a lot more ribs than I have right now.” The crooked smile I gave her, I hoped was convincing. “How are you?”

Hera glanced down the length of her cot. They hadn’t bothered to tie up her legs. “I can’t feel anything from my hips down,” her breath caught, “I keep trying to wiggle my toes.” 

I swallowed hard. Even in the lantern light, it was easy to see that she was trying not to let the darkness take her. Brave, young Hera, cut down. A thousand thoughts must have been circling her head, and all of them were my fault. “I’m so sorry.”

She lifted her head. “For what? I knew what I was signing up for when I joined you.”

Her kindness was too much; I had to look away. “You didn’t sign up for this.”

“No,” her voice dropped, “but you didn’t sign up to wear a crown.” I snapped my head back around as she continued, “Any fool can see you hate it. I saw it earlier. Swinging that sword? That’s the general we love and follow. I follow. 

“It’s not fair what’s happened to us. But when has it ever been fair? I know I haven’t seen it. And I know you haven’t seen it. We’ll figure this out. The empire needs us.”

The way she paired us together broke my heart. I had always walked a path alone with people either trying to pave a way before me, or watching my back, but never by my side. Hera had no other thoughts but to do just that: be by my side, even if it killed her. The problem was, I wanted her behind me, safe and well protected. If I did nothing else, and I had finally reached the end of my life, I would make sure that Hera returned home.

I opened my mouth to tell her just that when we heard steps outside the wood door. Instead, we shared a look and collectively braced ourselves. We were soldiers first and foremost, and it was plain to see the resolve on her face, which I knew mine echoed back in response, that we were not going to break. Our bodies may give in, but our minds never would.

The footsteps paused outside the door a long moment before we heard a key slide into the lock and turn. The wooden door swung open slowly, but no other light followed. My guess had to be correct: darkness had fallen. By now I could only imagine the guards and soldiers who were turning over the streets to find me. It was only a matter of time before I was found, even if these assassins had found a good hiding spot. They had to have known that. Still, there was no sense of haste when a tall woman with braided hair stepped into the room, flanked by the archer.

“I hope you are comfortable.” Her voice had a sweet melody to it, smooth and almost soothing. 

“Very.” I quipped back, sharpness in my tone.

The woman’s smile was slow, but tender. “Yes, I’m sure. I apologize for the ropes, but you were rather… resistant to our services.”

My eyebrows went up. “Services? Is that what you call broken ribs, a gash, and a hole through my arm?”

The woman walked further into the room so she could address the two of us. “Yes. Your injuries are regrettable.”

“Regrettable?” I felt the heat rising in my cheeks. “Untie me and we’ll see who regrets what.”

“I’m afraid, little Empress, that you are not fit for that fight. Yet. I look forward to the day you are.” She chuckled a little bit, and regardless of the pain, I pulled at the ropes holding my wrists. “Now, now. Don’t go opening up your wounds. Infections are nasty things.”

I balled my good hand into a fist. My other hand was too bandaged to do much more than lay there. My good sword arm, ruined. But Merien and my father had taught me the use of both hands, for such an occasion. Foolishly, I had always leaned heavily on my dominant hand. I would need to re-train, and I would, if only to cut down the archer who ruined me.

“I admire your fighting spirit. Both of you. If only your father had sent you to us when you were younger, perhaps… Nevertheless, there’s still time, especially for you, my dear.” The woman turned her attention to Hera, who had kept silent. As the woman knelt to look Hera in the eyes, the girl tried to pull away, putting distance between herself and the woman before her.

“Leave her alone.” I dropped my voice dangerously low.

“Hmmm.” She hummed before standing up and moving away from Hera. “A father’s debt becomes the daughter’s. Your freedom for her.”

My eyes went wide. “What? Never.” There was no bargain enticing enough to convince me to hand Hera over to the hired hands.

The woman nodded in understanding. “I know. I know the responsibility on your shoulders. I, too, have such responsibility. You’d do anything for her. Give your life for her…”

“No!” Hera begged.

“Shhh, girl. The adults are speaking.” The woman held up her finger before squaring off to me. “I propose this: pay off your father’s debt. Your life is ours, and the girl is freed. We’ll even ensure she is returned to the Capitol in one piece.”

Hera pulled at her ropes. Even in the dim light I could see how raw they were becoming. “No, General. Together. Us, remember?”

I watched her pull and pull, her wrists becoming redder and redder. She was too young to lose her life to the hired hands. She was too young to be crippled like she was, but if I could return her without more harm, it was my duty to do so. It would be harder to plan an escape alone, but Hera would be safe. My life would be the only one on the line. 

“The Empire!” She pulled harder while the woman stood over me, waiting patiently.

The Empire would survive. My mother would ensure it. She was the one who should have ruled all along. If I managed an escape, then it would only be a temporary thing, but if I didn’t? Then the people were in good, caring hands. 

“Tell my mother…”

“No!”

“Hera, listen to me, that’s an order.” I waited until she stilled. “Tell her that I am alive. Leave out the injuries portion. That will only upset her. Tell her to give the Twin Armies over to General Merien. They’ll listen to him. Tell them both…”  I didn’t know what I wanted to tell them. They could very well be my last words to them, and I had never even thought to prepare. “Tell them I fly on silver wings. I will be fine, I promise you.”

I wished I could slice the satisfied smile off the woman’s face as she nodded to the archer, who went to Hera’s beside to begin untying her. She lashed out at him, but he held her wrists firm. Even as she fought him, he took care to lift her from the bed, despite her agonizing groan, taking her poor, useless legs in one swoop. I met her eyes one last time and prayed I would see them again. The archer swung around, and once through the door, slammed it shut.

I heard Hera screaming for me all down the hall and to wherever they were taking her. I closed my eyes and tried to block it out.

The woman waited until Hera’s voice disappeared from earshot. She pulled up a stool, dragging it over to my bedside and sat down. Her keen eyes looked me over, tongue clicking. “Empress Jade Virillia. You know, I attended your coronation.”

“I hope you enjoyed it.”

“Immensely,” she mused. “We don’t need to be enemies, you and I. I quite support your reign. A woman who fought with her men, rose up the ranks. Disposed of a vicious man who fancied he knew how to rule an empire. Men are foolish that way, but you did it. Impressive.”

I snorted. “ Yes, that’s why you slaughtered my men in the north. You support my reign.”

She nodded. “Hmm. Yes. We often go where we are hired. Even if that is not what we, as individuals, desire. That does not negate my respect for you. Business is business, little Empress.”

I shook my head, and tried pulling at the ropes at my feet. Tight. 

She watched me. “We’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, I’m afraid. My name is Marlena. These men and women take their cues from me, so let’s clear things up a bit. You have a fire in you that you’re going to need to control, if you want to live long enough to try and pull off that escape plan you are putting together in your head.”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t underestimate me.”

Marlena smiled her sweet smile. “Oh, I don’t intend to. I know you are quite capable of doing just as you set your mind to. It’s why I made the bargain with her father all those years ago, and more than likely, why he broke that bargain. And if you want to hear more of that story, you’ll need to be a good little Empress and behave, or a crippled arm will be the least of your worries.”

Again with my father. I was beginning to regret having Lord Icarius reach out to the assassins. On one hand, I had an admittance of involvement with the North. Whether I could use that would determine if I could escape and get back to court in time to find out. On the other hand, my father was somehow playing part from the grave. I wasn’t too keen on what part he was playing either.

“You have a lot of questions, I know.” Marlena cut through my thoughts.

“Who hired you from the North?”

She sighed heavily. “And that is such a boring one. I had hoped you would have started with your father. That is a much more interesting one.”

“And irrelevant at the moment. You said you understood responsibility, then you’ll understand why my empire comes first.”

Marlena nodded. She leaned forward onto the cot, shifting it slightly. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from voicing the pain that shot up my arm and side. She noted it with her eyes but said nothing about it. “I’ll answer your questions, but you won’t be successful in your escape, and you won’t be able to tell your advisors. That dastardly pirate, Lord Icarius might figure it out, but will he in time to change the course? Without you, will your precious armies fight just as hard for the Empire?”

I grit my teeth. “The Empire is bigger than me.” My men and women were wiser and stronger. They believed in a better future. I had to believe they would keep fighting for it after me, or what was it all for?

“Is it?” Marlena’s hawk gaze held mine. “I’m not trying to anger you, little Empress. But is it really? Those men followed you. They saw you fight in the field with them. They heard you speak and preach your new world. They watched you from the time you were young become injured, and broken, and still held your sword high for them. It wasn’t your mother, or General Merien. It was you. Empires are no bigger than their ruler.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Don’t be foolish. You’re smarter than that.”

I refused to follow her train of thought, or all those lives lost, on both sides, were all mine to carry. While in my darkest moments, I felt that weight without her telling me so, in these moments, I had to push those thoughts away, or the darkness would drown me. The Empire deserved better than that.

“Who hired you.”

She leaned back from the cot, shifting it again. I couldn’t hold back a whimper. “Would it surprise you if I said my own blood? A daughter who has delusions of power on a tiny scale. So you see. Regardless of my regard for you, I am still a mother, and she offered enough coin to ensure that several Wasteland tribes will eat this dry season. What’s a mother to do?”

So our enemy had enough wealth to pay off the best assassins in the world. It could only mean that it was someone in a position of power in the North. But who? Last I heard, the Northerners were governed by man. Surely that meant a courtier, but what courtier had that much wealth in their pockets?

“Going through the Northern courtiers, little Empress? How long have you been at court? A handful of days? Without your advisors, would you even know them?” Melena taunted.

But she was right. My education was on the battlefield, or snatched as we traveled. My mother and General Merien had done their part to ensure I was well learned, and knew enough of the several languages that spanned the Empire to converse, but learning the roster of other courts had not been foremost in my mind. Like a child procrastinating, I thought I would have time to learn them now, or at the very least, be able to write them down and cheat.

“They were brave men, little Empress. Strong, determined, and some of the best we have ever fought. You would have been proud of them.”

And I was, even as their deaths tore at my soul. I stared up at the ceiling, following the cracks to keep the tears at bay. General Merien had marched out after them. Had he already met his end by the hired hands? Were they all dead now too?

“Little Empress,” Melena moved to gently touch my hand, but I pulled it away from her as much as I could, hissing in pain. “Know that slaughtering good men does not bring us joy.” I gave her a look that said I didn’t believe her. “You’ll learn this in time.”

“Right,” my voice was hoarse with pent up emotion. “I’m yours now. A bargain made long ago.”

“That’s right. We turned the tide of the war for him, and you, and all for just a few years of your life with us. A small price for an entirely new future.” She was watching me, judging me.

“And I had no say in this.”

A shoulder rose and fell. “You were a child.”

“I’m not now.”

“No,” she conceded, “You are not. And you made your own bargain, little Empress.”

I had, and I had no regrets so long as they were true, and Hera was now safe. I also knew that in freeing Hera, I would be giving my men information. Hera was a 51st squire. She would know how to lead them back to me. Even if the hire hands moved me now, it would only be a matter of time. I had to survive that long, and I had to do everything that General Merien had taught me to ensure that rescue or escape would come.

I continued my visual trek of the cracks in the ceiling. “And how long did I make my bargain?”

“Her life for yours.”

“Right.”

“Until I see fit.”

“Of course.” I closed my eyes. How much pain could I feign? Much of my pain was real, but could I feign enough that they would scarcely want to move me? Infection, I wouldn’t be able to fake, but if they valued my life, as Melena seemed to imply, perhaps I could hope to slow them down. Just enough for my men to find me.

“Little Empress - “

“I’m sure you’ll be moving me soon.” I closed my eyes, doing my best to seem as tired as I could, which wasn’t all that difficult. “I should like to rest before then. I can’t imagine it’ll be too comfortable.”

I didn’t see Melena stand, but I heard her put the stool back where she had found it. There was a pause, and a shadow that came over my eyelids, but I refused to open them. She leaned down so I could feel her breath on my cheek. It smelled of honeyed tea with a hint of rose. “Do not make this difficult, Jade.”

“Melena,” I began, “you don’t know me, so let me share a secret: I will always make things difficult. But you wouldn’t want me if I was any less.”

She didn’t return a quip. Instead, she leaned away, and I imagined she was watching me, judging me for any signs of deceit. Too bad I was already riddled with them. If she wanted to know which I’d play first, well, that was a secret event to me.

The door closed behind her, but the lanterns remained lit. I opened my eyes to the world around me: the knots at my wrists and ankles, and the empty cot where Hera had only just been laying. I felt the trickle of blood between my knuckles on my ignored arm, no doubt I had caused the wound to reopen with my struggles. My fingers barely wiggled when I commanded them to move, and pain shot up to my shoulder.

I doubt I’d be feigning pain. I would simply be making sure they knew how much pain I was in rather than swallowing it down. There had been a time or two after a battle where I had been in rough shape. A man had stomped on my leg bad enough that I had hobbled around on crutches for some time. Never had I been injured and held captive.

I laid there, staring up at the ceiling again, wondering what my father had done when he was captured. Wondering again what mistakes of his I could avoid. In the end, he hadn’t escaped, and Gil and I had found his body, relieved of his head, in the woods as a warning. I wasn’t going to end up that way. That day, Gil and I had vowed to go out in a blaze of glory. Now I had to figure out how to either do that, or get back to him, and my mother, and Thea, and Merien. With my head still on my body.

#ladyknight femaleruler femalehero femalelead heroine novel writing writer fantasy yanovel yafantasy

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 4, Part 2

I should have stopped him. As empress, that was my right, but I didn’t. Instead, I lingered for a long enough moment a courtier began to eye me, trying to decide if they wanted to approach. Not in the mood to deal with trivial flattery, I swiveled on my heel, desperately trying to remember another way back to my quarters.

Ten minutes later, and a half dozen wrong turns, I was back in my quarters. I shut the door with a bang, louder than I had intended. The sound echoed through the empty sleeping chambers, until I heard a bit of rustling in the bathing room. Instantly on edge, I slunk over toward my nightstand where I kept a small dagger. I had only just told Lord Icarius to summon the assassins. One couldn’t possibly have come for me so soon.

As I slipped toward the door to the bathing room, Thea popped out from around the corner. Upon seeing me, she yelped and hugged the old linens closer to her chest. Of course it was simply Thea. I was already becoming paranoid, something I had vowed never to become. 

“Sir Jade?” Her eyes were still big.

I flipped the blade over in my hand and deftly stuck it in my belt. “My apologies, Thea. I thought you were here to kill me.”

“With linens?”

I shrugged. “One can never be too sure.”

An uneasy smile came to her small face. “Of course.” I stepped aside to let her pass. “Do you need something?”

“No, no.” I waved her off, then spotted my sword belt sitting atop my trunk. “Actually, yes.” In just a few strides, I was at the trunk. I snatched it up by the sheath, the belt dangling from it. “I have the mind to get into the city.”

Thea stopped mid stride and turned back to me. “Alone?”

“Why does everyone keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Questioning whether I can go someplace. I’m perfectly capable.” Huffing, I roughly strapped on the sword belt, pulling a bit tighter than was comfortable but my pride made me leave it.

Thea still stood there, linens clutched to her chest. “I’m sure no one doubts if you are capable, Sir Jade, just… you are empress. Just going into the city… it’s just not done.”

My jaw clenched, then I forced myself to take a deep breath and let it out. Thea was only stating the obvious. It wouldn’t be fair to take out my frustrations on the smaller girl. “Well, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m not like the other emperors and empresses. I should be amongst the people. Taking a whole unit of guardsmen will not let me do that. No one will recognize me.”

“Sir Jade…”

“And you’re not going to tell anyone.”

“Sir Jade…”

“Not even my mother. Especially my mother.”

“But-” I held up my finger to cut her off but she pressed on, “But at least take one person with you. Gil maybe.”

“Gil’s not coming.” My tone made it clear I wasn’t going to say anything further on the matter.

“Then anyone else.” Clearly she wasn’t offering up herself.

And she was right. It was good to have someone to watch your back, whether I was an empress with a potential target on my back, or a regular knight wandering the city. Still, I gave her a look to make my disapproval clear. “Fine. I will.”

Thea still seemed uneasy about the whole affair, but she would manage. “At least let me tell your mother.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No. And that’s an order.”

She frowned, and continued to block my clear exit out of the room. The smaller girl refused to move, and while I could count how quickly it would take to move her, she didn’t deserve that treatment. 

A devilish smile came to my lips. I wasn’t above a bit of mischief though, as I moved my hand to the hilt of the little dagger in my belt. Thea followed the movement, swallowing hard. She shifted her weight a bit, and yet, remained where she was standing. “Thea. I think I’d like some more coffee.”

She didn’t seem to believe me. “Sir Jade…”

“Coffee, Thea. Oh, and you can leave the linens. I’ll take care of them.”

Thea looked down at the linens, then at me. Reluctantly, she set the pile on the floor, gave me a look that said she was very disappointed in me, which stung a bit, but nevertheless left the room, pulling the door closed behind her with one last look. I had a feeling I would be repaid later.

Once the door clicked, I dragged out one of the linens and set to work, eyeing the window behind me. Hopefully, no one would see the spectacle that I was about to make of myself, climbing out of my own window like a prisoner. A girl needed a challenge now and again. And a trip into the city.

I took another with me, just as I had promised Thea. Hera, the squire girl, had been throwing knives in a corner of the practice yards when I found her. When I proposed a secret trip into the city, she was all too happy to accompany me, just as I knew she would. The girl was far too like me to want to stay cooped up in the Capital walls for very long. 

We made quick work of slipping along the walls, ducking between buildings, trees, and bushes.For a moment, it felt like old times, when we were just a scrappy lot trying to give the rebellion a spark. While most of the sneaking about had been easy, who would be suspecting their new empress of doing such a thing, it was the supply gate that had been the hardest. My gamble had paid off, however since most still didn’t know my face just yet. I wasn’t sure how much longer that would last, but for now, I was willing to keep using my luck.

The city was just as I had imagined it: bustling, smelly, and loud. People weaved in and out of crowded areas, a mixture of merchant and poor alike, in linens and wools, a few with jeweled pieces, and a few nobles in small groups.The smell was a mix of food stuffs, body odor from the rising heat, and who knew what else, I wasn’t about to delve deeper. Shouting, laughter, all of it mingled together into what I could only know as humanity. 

How I missed it, and it had only been a few days.

Children ran through our legs and hips, brushing up against us, but neither one of us had brought a coin purse, and only one child had been brave enough to try and lift one of Hera’s knives, which she had caught, scolded, then gifted the youngster with it. I had to wonder if her early years had been spent like these children: thieving to survive. If it had, she never spoke about it, and I wasn’t going to press.

We wandered about, looking to the world like two swords-for-hire women on leave. We smelled delicious meats that made our mouths water and wish we had brought something to buy slices with; though one good butcher took pity on our watering lips and gave us a small sample. I made a note to ask Thea to purchase some meat from him when I returned. Discreetly, of course, he didn't need to know that I was empress.

I found a beautiful bolt of fabric, a rich green silk, that would make my mother shine, and could not walk away from it. Hera stood by patiently while I haggled and eventually got the price down to something my mother might not balk at, and had them deliver it to the Capital tomorrow for payment. They had been reluctant, but the promise of being so close to the Capital was enticing enough to at least get them to the supply gate. Their surprise would be a hefty bag of coin I planned to hand over.

We were making our way into another bizarre when Hera slipped a bit closer to me, smiling and looking like a young sister whispering in the ear of her elder. It was a maneuver that all of the 51st knew well. “We’re being followed. Sneaky-like too.”

“Oh?” I smiled, joining her little game, ducking my head to look about myself. “How many?”

She shrugged, gave me a friendly shove. “Hard to tell. They’re very good.”

I did my best to keep up the smile, though a cold shiver slipped down my spine. The Wasteland assassins could not have been so quick. Even so, we were still in the midst of the public. They wouldn’t risk exposing themselves so blatantly.

“Hera,” I looped my arm through hers, and she gently slipped a knife into that hand, “Be prepared.”

“Always.” She had that youthful smirk that reminded me of Gil. The kind that thought they were invincible. My heart jumped painfully.

I had the distinct feeling of being herded as we went about the crowds. Each turn took us further and further from groups of people, despite how much we tried to find our way back. We knew it, giving each other a look. Beside me, still looped in my arm, I could feel the muscles in Hera’s arm tense, as I was sure she felt mine. Our gates took on a more measured step, making sure that each foot was planted and ready. I was itching to put a hand on my sword pommel, but I bit my lip and refused to give myself away. It was only a matter of time, one that we had to wait for and be prepared.

The last corner we rounded, Hera and I both knew. It was an instinctual feeling in the pit of my stomach from years on a battlefield. The walls pressed tight, restricting our movements. In the last second, just as we sensed the attack, Hera dropped a step behind, covering my flank, and giving me space to draw my sword. Though just a squire, Hera had been a part of so many of our training and even some battles with the 51st, it was second nature to slide into the familiar fighting pattern.

I didn’t see what happened behind me, trusting young Hera completely, but I heard the grunts, the exhalation of breath, and the scraping of steel against steel. I smelled the tang of blood in the air. She was more than capable of keeping herself alive, though I kept an ear trained on her. If anything happened to the squire, I would never forgive myself. 

Before me was my own trouble. The men who had herded us were smart. Their weapons were small daggers and knives, and fists. A sword in such a tight space wasn’t the best tactic, but it was my best skill. The little knife Hera had slipped me was in my left, my sword held before me, waiting. Watching. I let the pit in my stomach tell me when, just as I always relied on in the thick of a dense battle.

They were fast, like little vipers, slipping in and under and around the usual stances. Even as I swung, and slashed out with the knife, they dipped and flitted away. I landed a few superficial slices but nothing to give me an edge. Definitely hired hands, they had to be, to fight with so many different techniques. But I had been trained by Merien, and he knew some of their secrets, and had passed them on to me. I was nowhere near as quick, but I recognized a few stances, a few swipes. 

Like the one coming for me.

A devil-may-care smirk flitted over my lips, the kind that always caught me up when I was on a battlefield. I countered with a few quick jabs of my own, managing a deep cut across one man’s thigh. He staggered back to assess, letting his partner in to dance with me. Our blades clashed with a loud clang, and I was beginning my attack with the little knife when I heard a yelp behind me.

It was enough.

The wounded man jumped in, fast as a diving hawk. His blade sliced just over my bottom ribs as I stumbled back, losing the firm footing and smacking into the stone wall of the alley. The impact rippled through my body, my knife dropping from my hand with a grunt. 

I turned, ignoring the burning pain from the long cut to my side, swinging my sword for a blow only to halt mid-swing when my eyes locked onto Hera’s. One man had Hera by the throat, a knife pressed into her skin, drawing blood. The man behind him had enough cuts and blood dripping off him that I couldn’t help but be proud of the scrappy squire.

While still holding my sword, I released my fingers, a sign that I understood his threat. I pressed my free hand to my side, pulling away a bloody hand, wincing. It probably wasn’t as bad as it felt, though Hera’s eyes were glued to the blood dripping down my leg. Or maybe it was. Thea. Gil. They were all going to murder me. If these men didn’t do it first.

Still, four men? I had faced worse odds in my short life. None of them as trained as the hired hands, but even still, I was confident we could get out of this alive. A little bloody, but alive.

“Release her. We all know she’s of no importance to you.”

I felt the men I had been fighting slipping closer behind me. Just a little further…

“Not to us,” the man shrugged, “but to you…” He had an accent, one that was like an exotic song. Wastelands, indeed.

Hera squirmed a bit, a ploy to shift something into her hand. The man pressed the knife closer, drawing more blood. I tried to tell her to stop, let me handle these men. No more of her blood could spill. But it was her youth that made her give me a little dip of her eyes, a signal that she was about to do something foolish. I had to act fast.

“But you have me. Four to one. In a small alley.” I kept my sword high, refusing to drop it. “You don’t need her anymore.”

His eyes narrowed. “We are not so gullible, little Empress.”

My voice was steady. “Let her go.”

“No.” His own voice was firm. “I like her. She has potential.”

“You hear that, Hera. The assassins say you have potential.”

“I heard that, General.”

“Shut up.” He jerked Hera, which was all she needed. I groaned.

The little squire exploded, driving a knife into the man’s side. Hera sprung forward, but not quick enough. The surprised assassin left his mark, driving his own knife into Hera’s back at her waist. Her legs crumbled beneath her.

Either she screamed, or I screamed. I wasn’t sure which, but I regripped my sword and plunged it behind me into the soft flesh of a man’s torso. I yanked it out, only to spin on my heel and swing from his hip to his shoulder. The man sunk to the ground. Another bloody soul on my hands.

I turned, anxious to get back to Hera, who was still fighting for her life, her little hand reaching for a fallen blade, but from her waist down, nothing moved. She had to drag her broken body to the knife. My heart tore in two. My deft, spritely Hera cut down in the city I was hoping to rebuild. I had promised her a new life, peace, and I was giving her pain and blood.

I roared, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes, and lunged forward, but a boot, probably from the man I had carelessly left behind me, slammed into my sliced side. I heard a small crack, probably a rib breaking. The wind left my lungs in a rush, driving me to grasp the other side of the alley, digging my fingers into the mortar, or risk falling to the ground. In just enough time, I brought up my sword to stop the next wave of attack, and remembered. My blade from my nightstand.

I smiled at my assailant as he continued to press down on me sensing my growing weakness as blood trickled down my side and leg, before I plunged the knife into his chest. With what I had left, I shoved him and his shocked face away. Two more left breathing. I brought up my sword, already beginning to feel heavy with the blood loss, but before I could bring it down, an arrow slammed into my forearm.

I felt the tip ram itself between the bones and out the other side, the momentum pinning me to the alley wall. The arrowhead stuck in the mortar, an unlucky coincidence, or perhaps a skilled assassin’s shot. I screamed. My sword fell out of a hand that could no longer hold on to it. The clang echoed down the alley. Hera froze.

“Enough!” It was a deep male voice, the kind that would have been a beautiful bass in a choir. The man dropped down from the shadows, a lanky man that seemed at odds with his voice.

Hera painfully dragged herself to my boots, her little hand squeezing my foot in reassurance. “General?” Her voice was rough, hiding whatever pain she was feeling. I didn’t answer her, sucking ragged breaths through my teeth. My sword arm, he had shot through my sword arm.

The archer sauntered over to us, stepping over his fallen brethren as if they were simply sacks of grain, and sparing no glance to the other bleeding two. “That was quite a show, Empress. Or is it General? Rumor has it you don’t like that crown on your pretty, little head.”

I spat at him.

He laughed. “You see that, boys? Pinned to a wall and bleeding and still she bites. Gotta admire that spunk. Your father should have turned you over to us when we asked. Might not be pinned to a wall by your arm.”

Questions filled my head, overriding the pain for a few moments. My father? Turned me over? What did my father have to do with the attack I had today? Wasn’t it the Northerners? Wasn’t it my foolishness in summoning them. It was such a small sentence, but it began to eat at my brain.

“But two for the price of one? I’m sure she’ll be very pleased.” The archer turned toward the two blood men. “Get a few more, Horus. They’ll need to be carried.”

“That one is broken.” The man, Horus, who had held Hera captive, glared down at the girl at my feet. Her fingers tightened around my boot. I wanted to be able to comfort her but my vision was beginning to spin.

“You know better, Horus. Both.” He left little room for disagreement.

As Horus slipped off, the archer turned back to me. He reached up to the shaft of the arrow and with a smile, snapped off the end. With little ceremony, he grabbed my forearm and yanked. I screamed again, but came up swinging with a left handed punch to his jaw. The punch knocked me to the ground, cradling a bleeding arm, and aware that my side was in even worse shape.

Hera met my eyes, tears running down her face. “I can’t feel anything.”

I reached out to her. The tips of our fingers met before the world took a swan dive.

#ladyknight empress fantasy fantasynovel writing writer quarantinewriting feamalelead femalehero futureisfemale

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 4, part 1

The next morning, I had requested that Lord Icarius be summoned to my chambers early. Thea helped me scramble to arrange the small sitting room joined to my sleeping quarters so that it looked how I wanted it: clean, elegant, if not a little Spartan. For the first time since coming to the Capital, one room in the entire place actually felt like mine.

There were simple velvet chairs in a burnt gold color with dark wood scrolls. A heavy looking writing table set close to the window. The original, floral curtains had been pulled down, nearly on top of us, and simpler, dark blue silk hung it their place. While we left the original rug, not daring to lift it and find out what was under it, I didn’t mind it so much. Of all the rugs in the place, at least this one was subdued. We even pulled one of my side tables into the room and set an array of pickled and wined fruit, breads and Thea mercifully brought up coffee.

I didn’t bother to wait for Lord Icarius to arrive before pouring my first cup of coffee, swirling in just a little honey. The smell was intoxicating, and again I was struck by how much smoother it was than the campfire grounds I was used to sipping. It almost seemed a shame to add a little honey in, but I did so anyway.

By the time he arrived, I was on my second cup. Thea knocked, then gently opened the door, peaking in to see if I was ready, so I nodded. She swung the door open all the way to let in the bullish lord, then stepped aside, but did not leave. “Lord Icarius, Sir Jade.”

“Ah, Icarius,” I smiled, looking as relaxed as I could imagine in the gold velvet chair. “Come, have a seat. Enjoy a morning meal with me. Do you require anything?”

Icarius, dressed much the same as the day before, walked toward the waiting table and chair, turning slightly to address Thea, “Some tea, black, no cream or sugar, would be nice.”

Thea nodded, then tilted her head a bit to catch my eye. “More coffee?”

“Mmmm,” humming, I thought a bit, “no. This will hold me.”

She smiled, then slipped away, pulling the door closed behind her.

“Tea? I should have known.” I remarked as he found himself in the other chair.

His eyebrows went up. “Not fond of it, I take it?”

An unladylike snort came out. “Ha. Tea wasn’t something we could regularly enjoy in the field.”

“Ah.” He watched me, and I resisted the urge to shift. I had known such looks before: assessment, judgement. It would become clear soon enough just what the looks were for, but until then, I would simply have to endure.

I sipped at my coffee some more, telling myself not to voice any contentment. Even that had not been something to do in the camps. A lifetime of jokes would arise from such a sound, of which I did not wish. Especially with Lord Icarius with whom I was channeling every ounce of my mother’s grace.

Thea was quick to bring up the tea, setting it beside my still hot pot of coffee, gave me a look, then once again disappeared from the room. I would have to puzzle over the look later. 

Icarius poured his tea into the dainty cup Thea had brought with the pot, and I was polite enough to wait while he sampled it. He took his sweet time. “I’m assuming,” he began, “you did not bring me here simply to share a morning meal. We are not so cordial as all that. Though the court will talk.”

I ignored the last comment. For as long as I had taken lovers, men and women were always talking about who I was seen spending time with, whether those men and women were lovers or not. With a crown on my head, and my mother’s ideas of a political marriage ringing in my ears, any individual I spent more than a day with would be the center of gossip. They probably already assumed I was bedding Gil and Thea, maybe even together. Gossip was gossip, and there was no stopping it. I wasn’t about to spend my time trying to do anything with it. So long as who I slept with did not impact my ruling of the empire, it was my concern and no one else’s.

Finally, I set my coffee down, turning just slightly in my seat. “No, I did not call you just to enjoy some fruit and bread with you.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Rumor has it that you don’t take meals much with anyone since you’ve come to the Capital.”

I copied his movement. “Why should I? My meals are my meals. I’m not wasting time making a big show of putting food and drink in my stomach.”

Icarius brought the cup to his lips, eyeing me. “People like their ceremony.”

My lips pulled down into a frown. “So I’ve been told. I will not be that empress.” I played my part, wearing the crown, the dress, perhaps drinking a smidge too much. I’d even danced a bit, though I did love to dance in camp when the ale had flowed long enough. After the North came and went, I was going to be through with it.

I took a moment to select one of the samples of bread, a sweet bread with dried fruit speckled throughout. “I’m not going to play games, Lord Icarius.”

An eyebrow went up as he waved a hand over the morning spread. “These are not games?”

“This? Of course not. This is being polite. I may have lived a battlefield life, but I am the daughter of the Empress-Consort. And I’m starving.” To make my point, I peeled a piece of the bread off and popped it into my mouth.

He eyed me once more before selecting a bread for himself, setting his tea cup on the little table. “Fair enough.” As he ripped off a piece from his own roll, he made sure to catch my gaze, “Then you’ve come to a decision.”

“We have.”

“We?”

“I am not the old emperor.”

Icarius gave me a pointed look, trailing from my eyes to my boots and back. “Clearly.”

I bristled. “Look at me like that once more, and you will leave with a black eye.” 

He chuckled, and I was tempted to throw the punch anyway. “I don’t believe the assassins truly know who they are dealing with.”

A proud smile wanted to creep across my face. I bit it back. Setting the bread down, I picked up the coffee cup once more. “To that end…” I stared down at the dark, brown liquid. Once the words left my mouth, there would be no returning to yesterday. The consequences would be mine. “I need to speak to them.”

To his credit, whatever jovial nature he had walked into my chambers with, left. He stiffened, sitting up in his chair. “You know once I have set this in motion, it cannot be undone.”

“Understood.”

“And you still wish to do it?” 

If I was to answer truthfully, I did not. None of us wanted to, but I refused to be continuously in the dark about my enemies. I wanted to look them in the eye and see what their soul told me.

“This empire, Lord Icarius, is not about what I wish or do not wish to do. It’s about what I have to do to keep her safe.” I let the warmth of the coffee cup seep into my fingers.

“And this will keep her safe?” His question was sincere, not malicious.

“I hope so.” I told him genuinely.

“Then I have work to do.” He stood to his feet, and I with him. “I was hard on you, General, when we first met. I will continue to be hard on you. But I love this empire, and I will do whatever I can to protect her.”

I gave him a grim smile. “I’m counting on it.”

I sat for a long while picking at the breads and fruits after Icarius left. The coffee had long since gone cold when I finally left the little sitting room, venturing into the halls, mercifully alone. I hoped that my mother was keeping Thea preoccupied with preparations for the North’s arrival. That invitation I had sent as night fell the day before, too eager for it to leave my hands lest I change my mind.

It was still fairly early in the day, and the halls were just beginning to come alive with the haze of a sunrise that promised to be an unseasonably warm day. No doubt many would spend it lounging on their balconies, or setting up picnics in the gardens. Below, the bustle of the Capital City would be in full force, the other residents would not be so fortunate as the palace ones to recline in a woven chair.

Stalls would be coming alive, showing off their wares and goods. People would be shouting, haggling, laughing, or catching mischievous young thieves. The farmers would be trying to sell their produce to buy the precious things they could not grow. Perhaps even looking for a present for a wife or child. My men would be about them, enjoying time well deserved in a single place. They would bring much needed coin to the merchants below, and I longed to be with them.

I had made up my mind to slip into the city when I rounded a corner and came face to face with Gil. He had a couple slips of paper in his hands that he quickly folded away when he saw me. Neither of us said a thing for a long moment.

“I was going to go into the city.” 

“You shouldn’t.” Then he saw my face, the way I wanted to say something, and clarified, “you’re empress now.”

He was right, of course. I wasn’t free to come and go as I pleased. Toward the end of our campaign, I hadn’t been free to do much either. I always had a guard at my back, a sword at my hip, and a scout who went ahead to make sure no one was waiting to kill me. It was suffocating. I imagined it would be ten times worse now. If anyone was to know.

“Most don’t know my face.”

“Jay…” Gil turned the pages over and over in his fingers. The rift growing ever wider.

“They don’t. Besides, I’d have one of the best at my side… If you’d come with me?” A peace offering, or at least I hoped.

He shook his head, his unruly hair floating about his head. “You can’t do that. You can’t demote me in front of everyone one day, and be best friends the next.”

My face fell. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“It isn’t?” 

“Of course not. What happened yesterday had to be done. You went around me, behind my back, knowing full well I don’t approve of such methods. Boundaries have to be set, more than ever.” I was trying to swallow down my frustration. It wouldn’t do anyone any good, especially our friendship, balancing on the edge of the cliff.

He didn’t say anything. The silence stretched painfully until I could stand it no longer. “Gil…” I reached out.

Gil stepped back, out of my reach and straightened to attention. “If you wish to go into the city, General, you’ll do so without me. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He didn’t wait for my dismissal, simply stepped around me and continued on his way, leaving me standing there.

#ladyknight femaleknight female femalehero fantasy fantasystory story novel writing writer

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 3, part 3

A few of the 51st were leaned against the fencing of one practice yard. Sprinkled in their midst were a few more of the older guardsmen, those with greying hairs at their temples or in their beards. They leaned over amongst each other to whisper some advice or note about technique, or to cast bets. I was sure there was far more betting going on amongst the 51st than the guardsmen, but it was hard to tell.

I had waited for Gil, but the longer he made me wait, the more angry I became. After a few long minutes of stalking about the yard, I had come to an idea. Marching into each barracks, I had called out the men, guardsmen and 51st alike to the main practice yard. Both groups had trickled out curiously into the now gently misting early afternoon. I had one of the wooden practice swords in my hand, and a barrel dragged out to the middle of the yard full of more next to me.

The 51st, not unused to my bouts of spontaneous training, had just stood waiting for direction, but the guardsmen had been confused, staring at me, their empress, as if I had grown three heads. No doubt none of them had used a wooden practice sword in years. It was squire and first year business, but if I wanted my men and women in top shape, it began at the foundation. Merien had taught me that when I could barely lift one.

It wasn’t long before I had half the men drilling, there not being enough wooden swords for them all, while I paced up and down the lines to correct hand grips, stances and swings. Still Gil had yet to grace us with his presence, and while that fire grew in the pit of my stomach, I pushed them harder. Only a few balked, but most had seen Gil and I the day before, and whether it was that or the fact I was their ruler that fueled their obedience, they did as they were instructed. 

I was very pleased to find that the guardsmen were far more talented than I had originally assessed. Even the guard commander, who found me before Thea had found him, was inclined to let me teach. If he objected, he said nothing. For now. We had yet to have our own conversation, in which I was sure he would bring this up.

By the time I spotted Gil striding out toward the barracks, still dressed as he had been the night before, with Thea at his side, we were all sweating, mixing into the dampness that coated us from the mist. I put them through another drill, a cool down, before waving over a slender, athletic young woman from where many of the 51st were watching.

Young Hera the Squire. She wasn’t a squire to anyone in particular, the 51st having adopted the orphan girl as a whole. For a time, I had thought to take her on myself, but my mother had reminded me of my other attempts to train up a squire, and I had let her be. Most did. She was quick, hard working, and no one knew just where she picked it up, but the best knife thrower I had ever met. No one in the Twin Armies dared to mess with her, and I couldn’t wait for the day when she was knighted, but I was leaving the decision of when she should be up to Merien.

“Sir Jade,” she greeted merrily enough, taking in the drilling men before her. 

I turned by back to Gil as he was approaching, appearing as if I was far more interested in the drill than him. My hand dropped down next to hers. “I assume you have plenty of knives on hand?”

Hera smiled. Seemingly out of thin air, a small throwing knife found itself way into my hand. “Of course. Are you sure you don’t want me to throw it?”

I chuckled under my breath. A sword I excelled at; a fair shot with a bow; decent with a staff or spear, but a knife? To say it wasn’t my forte was an understatement. “No. Not this time. I don’t need it to land.” And I didn’t. I just needed to make a point and that I could at least make.

She shrugged, ever good natured, and slipped back over toward the men who were now on their toes. No doubt they suspected something was up.

I could hear Thea and Gil talking, small talk from the sounds of it, as they neared. When I was satisfied with how loud their voices had become, I swiveled on my heel and threw. The knife landed a few inches before Gil’s boot, stopping him in his tracks. My men behind me stopped, and the 51st pushed off the fence line. Gil might have been one of the 51st, but so was I, and their loyalty had always swayed toward me, even when I was just squiring up through the ranks.

“You summoned me?” There was an edge in his tone, and I thought I could see blood on the cuff of his tunic.

I looked him over once, ignoring Thea, and turned back around. The men were facing me, frozen in mid-drill. “That’ll be all for now. Take some time before going back to your duties.” The guardsmen eyed me, but slowly, one-by-one, they dropped their practice sword into the barrel. Those of the 51st who were drilling held on to theirs, even as the guardsmen warily filed out. The Guard Commander, however, made his way into the yard to join my side.

“Thea,” I called out to her as I turned back around. “Would you be so kind as to set up a room with a large table for my war council? I’ll need maps of the empire, the largest we have, as well. Some wine too. A towel for my hair.”

She cast a look about the place, reading the hard faces. “Of course.” Bobbing a curtsey, she took off. The curtsey was odd, but I wondered if it was more for the 51st’s benefit or mine.

I refused to give ground, instead, crossing my arms over my chest. A shiver ran down my spine, an eerie feeling of being watched, more than likely from the hundreds of eyes in the Capital buildings overlooking the barracks and practice yard. Let them watch, then. Let them see what my will was like, even to the men who had marched into the city by my side. And let them see how I dealt with such things.

“Where were you, Commander? I asked for you quite some time ago. Got a whole training session in, which you were supposed to lead.” 

He eyed me, but chose to remain where he had stopped, the knife still just before his foot. “I was taking care of business.”

“Business?” I snorted. “Your business is my business now. I’ll repeat myself only once more. Where were you?”

Gil dared a step forward, saw the Guard Commander tilt his head and stopped. “I was… gathering more information about what had happened.”

Veiled. Clever. Gil had always been clever and silver-tongued. When we had needed more troops, or to misdirect an enemy, it had been useful, but he forgot that I had been there through it all. I knew his tricks and was immune to them. “Gathering.” Another snort. “I didn’t ask you to gather that information.”

He took another step forward. “You didn’t need to. We needed to find out what they knew. We can’t just - “

I held up a hand, cutting him off. To his credit, he stopped talking. “No. You mean to tell me you were down there forcing information out of titled members of this court. That is not what we do, Commander.” 

“Jade… General. This isn’t the time to waste it on pen and paper.”

My eyes flicked down to the blood on his cuff pointedly. “I will not be the Empress of Torture. You could have just cost us the case against them. They were for the people, not for you.”

“General-”

“No,” I turned away from him. Walking over to the barrel, I caught the edge of it and began dragging it back through the practice yard and toward the overhang of one of the barracks, where I had found it. As I dragged it, I called back to him, over the sound of it scraping on gravel, “You, Commander Gilead will no longer be serving on my war council until a time as I deem fit. You will train these men.. And you will be barred from entering the cells. You will do nothing as it pertains to the 51st and the guardsmen without coming to me first.” I shoved the barrel into place roughly, then swiveled to look back at him. “Is that clear?”

No one moved. The Silver-Winged and the Silver-Tongued had always been aligned. Even when we argued, it was short lived and rarely in front of the men. It had always been important to me that they saw us as a united front, but that time was long gone. While I mourned that unity, I also knew that things were vastly different. We were not two knights squabbling. We were not equal anymore, as much as I loathed the difference. It had to be understood that I was not going to be that sort of empress. I had never been that sort of general. Not after the first interrogation I had been a part of; from that day, I had sworn off being the sort to do such a thing. Gil had crossed a boundary, one that had to be dealt with swiftly regardless of my past with him.

Finally, he bowed his head. “As you wish, General.” I felt a tear deep down in my soul as he said the words. From that moment, we would never be the same again. I was foolish to ever think we could be with a crown on my head, but this was somehow final. My anger died in the pit of my stomach.

“Commander,” I looked to the Guard Commander, “We’re already late.” On quick steps, I made my way out of the practice yard, avoiding every eye as best as I could. Still I had to walk by Gil to make my way to the war council I had called.

“Jay,” his voice was low so no one else could hear, making me pause. “I did it for you.”

My heart broke, but I had to bury it deep. “And I had to do this.” I met his eyes just once before walking off. 

Hours later, half a dozen maps strewn across a large table, more than a dozen little figurines and only one jug of barely touched wine later, we were still no closer to a solution. As General Lorr pointed out with a frequency that made me want to throw my untouched goblet of wine at his head, we had very little information to move on. Even after I had brought up my conversation with Lord Icarius, we were still spinning in circles. It seemed every move we made had a consequence that none of us wanted to shoulder. 

My forehead was pressed against the smooth grain of the mahogany table, my black curls tiny ringlets around me from the mist earlier. The coolness of the table seeping into my head to settle the headache that was forming there. I could hear my mother’s skirts brush the stone floor and she circled the table continuously, studying the maps.

General Lorr had his arms crossed over his wide chest, more beast than man in many ways, but his mind was sharp. He commanded the Southern Armies, the other third of our forces with an intelligence that had saved my life on more than one occasion. A fact he didn’t often let me forget. But even his sharp mind but spinning through every scenario and coming up short.

Short of summoning the assassins into our new home. 

“I’ll be the one to say it,” Colonel Poi, a younger man maybe ten years my senior, and always finely dressed, was sitting across from me, eyes on the map. “We may need to take this Lord Icarius up on his offer.”

My head came up just as he met my gaze. Poi had always been a handsome man, but he had only ever looked at me like a sister, or annoying cousin. Now he looked at me differently, like someone who needed to be told what he was to do. I supposed that was in part due to the invisible crown I now continuously wore, but I did not like this change.

“Can you really trust him, Sir Jade?” Colonel Josef, who had retreated to lean against a window, and had been silent for most of the council, pushed away to join the rest of us.

I rested my chin on the tops of my hands on the table, looking for all the world like the child I felt I was still. My map edges blurred, and the little figures taunted me. If I didn’t get this right, more than just the handful of us would pay the price. But looking at all the angles, the maps, the figures, the possibilities, there was no way we could be certain of anything.

I needed General Merien. But he was off in the woods, tending to the rest of the Golden Dragon and trying to bring them home.

I blew a long breath through my nose. “I don’t know. I don’t know that we have a choice, either. We don’t know enough.”

“Perhaps we should await Merien’s letter later tonight. Take the night?” My mother diplomatically suggested, coming to a stop at my side.

“We can’t afford to lose more time.” I sat upright.

“What do you propose, my wildflower?” My mother stepped aside a bit to give me space.

Thinking, I snatched up one of the figures, a little knight on a stallion with a banner held high, roughly painted with the blue I favored. I turned it over in my fingers. “Multiple things. We’ll send for an emissary from the North. Bring them here. I don’t want our people there. We’ll have Lord Icarius reach out for us, see what it brings and double our guards. We want to talk business. I’m counting on their desire for that to overrule just killing us outright. General Merien took a contingent of his own troops, but we can send more to meet him halfway home. The 51st perhaps. Maybe enlist a few privateers for information. More troops at the border…”

“Not the 51st.” Josef, usually so quiet interrupted. “You are empress now, Sir Jade. You need your personal troops here, with you.”

I shook my head. “No. They are second only to the Golden Dragon. They can-”

“That’s not a debate. Josef is right. They stay here.” General Lorr unfolded his arms. When I opened my mouth to protest, he gave me a hard look. “Some of my troops will do the job. Your army stays here.”

My mother’s hand rested on my arm when I moved to protest again. “Not the 51st then, General Lorr.”

I looked at her, betrayed. Who was in command here?

“It’s a sound idea, General.” Lorr pulled my attention back to him, reaching over and picking up his own figurine, a ship with a painted green flag for the North. “Or rather ideas. But it pulls us in a great many directions.”

“Then what, pray tell, do you suggest?” I ground out.

“Bring the Golden Dragon home, as you suggested. And, as much as I hesitate to say this, have this Lord Icarius bring our enemies to door. At least on our ground, we know the terrain.” Lorr turned the ship over a few times before setting the ship in the sea. “We need to start with information. You can swing your sword at some heads later, General.” He looked over at me, at my seething, and had the nerve to smirk at me.

“By this logic, I want an emissary from the North here by week’s end.” I counted, placing my knight near the northern border. 

“Is that wise?” Poi still sat across from me, watching.

My mother moved first, rounding one end of the table. “It can be. Rumors paint Jade as either an irrational, spoiled child figure-head, or a blood-thirsty she-wolf. Perhaps there is an advantage there.”

I groaned and deflated into my chair once more. Never in my life had I been good at pretending to be anything other than what I was, and that had cost me a few, backroom battles over the years. The best I had ever done was pretending to be a farmer’s daughter, and that had only worked because my father had built a little farm for us before we started this campaign for the crown. Even in a fancy dress, I couldn’t be anything more than what I was: a knight with a scarred chin, poor hearing in one ear, and dirt under her nails.

I caught Poi’s gaze as he drew a deep breath and let it out. “Well, not sure how you’re going to end up morphing that into either of those rumors, but it might give us something. We should at least try.”

“Agreed.” Josef nodded.

“I don’t like it,” Lorr began, “And I know Merien would not approve, but what choice do we have? Bring the Northerners here. Assassins. And sneaking the Golden Dragon back home so no one knows just how bad it is. What can go wrong?”

I dropped my head back down to the table.

So much. So very much.

#fiction femalehero femaleknight ladyknight empress fantasty writer writing

[prettycanarybird]

Chapter 3, Part 2

Thea found me still awake and sitting in the window seat the next morning. After the arrests, I had promptly left the meeting, retreating to my own chambers. What more was I to say to them? I needed to think and formulate some semblance of a plan. From there, I had circled up in the window seat, my armor a trail through the room, and stared at the horizon until the sun had started to come up. I might have dozed off here or there, but I certainly had not slept. 

Had I punished disobedient soldiers before? Yes. I had delivered a treasonous sentence to more than a few. Their faces still haunted my nightmares from time to time. ‘War made executioners of us all,’ General Lorr had said once. He had not been wrong. In coming to the Capital, I had foolishly hoped it would be different. Perhaps, I thought I could avoid such a gruesome deed. Instead, I found a room full of people who had hired trained assassins to murder my troops, my innocent people, to what? Prove a point to me? Revenge on me? The blood of those men and women were on their hands, but they were also on mine. A stain I would never be able to wash away. The price I paid fighting a civil war to restore my family’s seat. No amount of scrubbing would ever be able to make my soul clean.

“Sir Jade?” Thea padded through the chambers, dancing around the debris of armor, and to the window sill. She set a silver tray with a bit of bread, fruit, and steaming liquid on the opposite side of the seat. “I thought you might like some coffee. A lot of ladies prefer tea, but the House Mistress suggested you might like coffee like the soldiers.”

“She does indeed prefer coffee.” My mother swept into the room, eyeing the discarded pieces on the floor but saying nothing. “Amalthea, my dear, would you give us the room?”

Thea, to her credit, looked to me first. If that bothered my mother, she didn’t show it. I simply nodded. The small girl nudged the tray with food and drink a bit, just to make her point, then gave us our space, shutting the door behind her with a click. 

I looked down at the food, my stomach rumbling, but picked up the mug of brown liquid instead. It smelled strong, with just a hint of honey. Gingerly, so as not to burn my tongue, I sipped at the coffee, humming my satisfaction. It was dark, and rich, nothing at all like the bitter, almost burnt stuff I drank on the frontlines. This coffee was almost sinful.

Her sharp eyes watched me, noting the dark circles that were forming under my eyes, maybe even the way my hair was too tidy to have been slept upon. “I heard.” My mother came over, moving the tray a bit into the center to give herself space to sit with me. I dropped my feet to the floor, giving way to more if she wanted it. “I’m sorry I missed your tirade on the Lords of the Capital.”

I chewed on my lip for a moment. “It wasn’t a tirade.” Or was it? Had I been childish? I had wanted to appear strong, like a general and not some foolish girl.

She gave me a look, picking at a wined grape. “You arrested fifteen men of the court.”

Peering behind my mug, I winced so she wouldn’t see. “I arrested fifteen traitors.”

My mother let out a long breath through her nose. Disapproval. I knew my way had not been the way she would have handled it, or even my father. “That may be, Wildflower, but you’re playing a dangerous game.” She raised a hand to stop me from interrupting. “I know. I know what happened. Merien came to me before he left. Don’t look at me like that, you know how he worries. He only wanted to let me know, and to make sure you don’t do anything rash without him. Turns out he was right.”

I swirled the coffee in the mug watching it form a small whirlpool. “Those men had a hand in hiring assassins from the Wastelands.”

She nodded. “I’m aware. But is this how you wish to begin?”

“Of course not,” I set the cup down, getting up from the seat, gently kicking a bracer out of the way. It rolled under my bed. I would need to dig that out later. “The law will decide their fate. Before the people. Meanwhile, I have hired hands from the Wastelands to contend with…”

My mother was silent. We both knew that going up against the hired hands so famed for their skill, and horrible success rate was like signing my death warrant. We both also knew that General Merien had already marched toward his own. I had survived countless sword fights, just as many injuries, only to be just over the threshold of peace and victory, to watch it come crumbling down on my head. I could feel the weight beginning to crush my shoulders.

I picked up my breastplate, dusting it off and lovingly setting it atop my trunk. “How do I even go up against people like that?”

“First,” she got up, picking up the bread bun and holding it out to me. “You let me take care of Lord Marley and his like. I’m still an empress-consort, and mother to the reining empress. I know their kind quite well.”

“Mother…” I warned, taking the bun from her hand.

“Did you think you got all of your fire from your father?” She smiled, lighting up her beautiful face. I would be the first to admit that all of my fire came from my mother. On more than one occasion, General Merien and I had been more than happy to step back and let my mother blaze. We knew we were both blunt instruments, but my mother was cunning, swift, and always did it with a polite smile. It was terrifying.

“As long as he sees justice.”

“He will,” she promised, “as long as you swear that you will not go head to head against these assassins.”

I stuffed a piece of bread into my mouth to buy myself some time. All night, I had spent trying to find some way to safely remove the assassins, and even as the sun came up, I had no idea how I would do just that. Instead, I told her, “I’m more than capable.”

“Oh, my wildflower, my Silver Winged warrior. You are a brilliant knight, one of the best in our empire. No one can say less, but assassins are different. They won’t come at you with a sword in daylight.” She watched me carefully, judging my every move, just as she always did before a battle, checking for weaknesses so she could do what she could heal them.

I waved her worry aside, a front I hope she bought. “I’ve had attempts on my life before.”

“Not like this.”

“I know.” I conceded. No one survived a price on their head if a hired hand from the Wastelands was on the job. “I don’t even know if that’s what they were hired to do.”

“No, we do not.” She sighed and made her way back to the window seat, picking at the grapes again, her favorite. As she peered down at the garden I had yet to order to be remodeled, she looked almost like a marble garden statue. Refined, elegant, and powerful. In so many ways, it should have been her sitting on the throne and not me. I had argued the point up until the final battle, even right up to the moment the enemy sword had been placed in my hands in surrender. Still, she would not accept. She never confessed why.

I let her stand by the window, choosing to drop down onto my unused bed, picking at the edge of my bread bun, ignoring the rumbling in my stomach. “If I invited one of them into the Capital…”

My mother whirled around, her skirts swirling with her. “Bring one of them here?”

“Yes,” I held her gaze. “If General Merien… If he… There has to be a way to speak with them. Or perhaps the North or…” Anything. Anything would do.

She saw my frustration but did not come to coddle me. Without moving, a grape in her fingers, she waited. ‘It always has to be your decision,’ she would say. But what if I didn’t know what that decision was? What if I just wanted someone to tell me what that decision should be? 

With a frustrated growl, I tossed myself back, letting the roll fly away behind me. It bounced off the floor, and I could imagine my mother’s wrinkle just between her eyes on the bridge of her nose. I could scoop it up later, along with the bracer I kicked.

A knock at the door was a heavenly welcome. Stepping in Thea glanced between the two, my mother backlit against the window, and my prone form draped over the bed, the roll just a few feet from her skirt hem. Whatever she thought of the scene, her face was cleverly hidden. “Lord Icarius would like to speak with you.”

I resisted the urge to make some rude gesture and instead looked at my room. Aside from my mother and Thea, maybe Gil, I could not entertain a guest. Even my battlefield tents were kept in better order than my room’s present condition. And I would need a change of clothing. 

“Amalthea, please show Lord Icarius to the sitting room just down the hall.” My mother dismissed the small girl gently. Without a word, she went to my trunk, pulling out a new tunic and a pair of my finer trousers that matched a doublet, a gift she had given me for my last birthday. No doubt it was made from one of her old gowns since at the time, our prospects had been grim.

She laid them out for me, running her fingers down the silver buttons of the tunic. “Nothing needs to be done right away, Jade. I know I was not the greatest battlefield consultant, but treat this like one of her military strategies. Don’t act out of fear. Not for Merien. Nor yourself. Nor the empire. Right now we need General Jade, not the headstrong knight, or the newly crowned empress. Gather your allies. Which very well might include this Lord Icarius.”

I sat up, pulling the clean trousers to me, snorting. “Lord Icarius is a man who thinks too much of himself.”

My mother smirked. “What man doesn’t? I never told you, but I disliked your father immensely when I first met him. I practically begged my father not to send me away to be his bride.”

“Really?” I made quick work of changing my trousers, and quickly tossed my tunic aside.

My mother playfully tossed the new tunic at me. “Oh yes. He was a brute, all show, parading about for the other ladies. Made a great fool of himself trying to prove how strong he was, and never sat to talk about anything but hunting. At least in public. Behind closed doors, once we were married, he was very different. He was thoughtful, and even almost shy. I hadn’t known what to do with him.

“When your grandfather passed away and he assumed the crown, he was beside himself. You were so young then, we couldn’t even bring you into the throne room. You would wail for hours on end. But he put on that show again, and he did it.”

“Cost us everything,” I muttered, holding my hand out for the doublet.

“It did,” she fingered the buttons one last time before handing it over for me to finish. “But remember those days, before all the fighting began, and it was just the three of us on your great uncle’s farm? That was your real father. Not the over-confident Emperor, or the worn down soldier.”

I made quick work of the buttons, knowing we were already making Lord Icarius wait. “Why are you telling me this?”

She sighed. “Because, my wildflower, we all have a front. You put yours on with a suit of armor. Perhaps Lord Icarius puts his on with his fancy silks. We need allies right now. Don’t dismiss this one so quickly because you don’t like him.”

I pursed my lips, finishing the buttons just as Thea slipped back into the room. My mother was right. Lord Icarius had rubbed me the wrong way. But so had a lot of men, including General Lorr, and now General Lorr was a trusted friend. Or something of the kind. He often liked to lecture me just as often as I liked to rile him up.

My mother caught my hand as I slipped by her on my way out, squeezing it gently. We didn’t say anything more to one another, but that was the way of it. Silent, small gestures, never too much, but always something. I squeezed it back.

Lord Icarius wasn’t sitting in any of the half dozen ornate and stiff looking chairs as I had expected. I certainly wouldn’t be the first to blame him, but judging by the formality of the decor in the room, I doubt they were meant to be anything but decorative. At least it had a row of tall windows overlooking the same garden as my own chambers, and the curtains were pulled back to let in the soft rays of the cloudy day.

The bullish lord was dressed simply in a fine pair of trousers, an expensive, finely woven tunic, and a brocade doublet just shy of being obnoxious by many of the men of court’s standards. It was not to my taste, but I could tell there was an effort to tone down his own inclinations. Whether that was for my benefit or not, I couldn’t say. He turned when I entered and Thea shut the door behind me, and I could see how many women and men would find him attractive. A soldier’s figure, but a poet’s face.

“You requested an audience with me.” I crossed my arms over my chest, mentally chiding myself for not wearing my sword belt if for no other reason than to have some place to rest my hands.

“I did.” He paused, assessing how I was standing. “You don’t like me much, do you, General.”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “Whether I like you or do not like is of no consequence. What did you wish to say?”

The corners of his lips pulled up into a half smile, which was irksome. “I wanted to offer my services. What Lord Marley and the others did… I should have seen it coming.”

Striding into the room, I took a long moment to select my choice of seat. None of them would be comfortable, but that wasn’t the point of my pause. When I finally did pick one, a ridiculous red brocade with prancing deer and trees all over it, I waved a hand for the bullish lord to join me. “Your services? Pray tell, what can that do for us now?”

Icarius came over to join me, or rather sauntered over, dropping himself into the seat like a dancer. I must come off so brutish to his theatrical ways. “You may not be aware, but I was not always titled. I was given my title, my place here, for my services on the waters of our trade lines. I’m quite familiar with the escalation of the North. I just hadn’t suspected it had extended to our own court. Now I have a network of-”

“A network of spies, do you mean to tell me?” I narrowed my eyes. Birds and mice.

“Of opportunists, General. Very different. Spies will cross you, but opportunists? They’re predictable. Cowards in many ways, but useful. Especially when trying to get in touch with assassins.” Icarius wasn’t a man to look away, holding my gaze, challenging me.

“And why would I want to do that?” I stared back. 

“We both know why.”

“Fine. Say we speculate that I want to be in touch with the Wasteland assassins. How would your opportunists be of help to me?” I picked at a few threads on the seat arm, unraveling a bit of a tree.  

He watched my fingers as I pulled at the gold threads, perhaps with disgust, I wasn’t sure, but he didn’t seem to like it much. I pulled the threads more. I imagined if I was any other than the empress, he would have reached out and stilled my fingers. Secretly, I wished he would, then I would have the opportunity to put him in his place. “My opportunists have connections. They can easily spread the word for a few coins that the Capital is looking to speak with them. The assassins will do the rest.”

Turning my gaze back over to him, I stopped picking at the tree. Setting this plan in motion was no trivial thing. If I said yes, and Icarius was good on his word, then I would be inviting the world’s deadliest into my home, where innocent people worked and lived. I would be putting not only myself in danger, but Gil and my mother, Thea, and even Icarius. There would be no such thing as withdrawing the veiled request. The consequences would be as they were, and the blood would cover my hands, no one else’s. 

“My offer always stands, General.” Icarius had taken measure of my pause. “The hired hands are no small thing, but if you do not, someone else will summon them.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Like yourself?”

He chuckled quietly. “No. I won’t bring that darkness upon myself. I’m still a tradesman, General. Death is bad for business. Even yours. Even the old emperor. But there will be others.” He paused, then leaned forward and lowered his voice. I refused to join him. “Let me give you a piece of advice, from a former illegal Commodore to an Empress: when you’re new, you have to establish the strength of your will. I’m not talking power displays or sword play. We already know you can achieve that, reputation preceding you and all. No, you need to show them that your will is stronger than them. That’s what keeps them from mutiny.”

“Speaking from experience?” A sly smirk pulled at the corner of my lips.

Icarius didn’t lean back. “Experience is something you are sorely lacking. I’d take the advice, my Empress.”

I slapped my hands on the arms of the chair and got to my feet. “We’ll see, Lord Icarius. I’ll take it all under advisement.” Not waiting for him to stand, I made my way back toward the door. As my hand reached for the handle, I stopped, looking over my shoulder at him. “Oh, and Lord Icarius?” I waited for his attention. “Call me ‘my Empress’ again, and you’ll find out how strong my will actually is.”

The arrogant man had the gaul to smile back at me. I yanked open the door and stormed out, slamming it closed behind me. Thea, who was standing in the hall, jumped. Mentally, I scolded myself for losing my temper and scaring her. She didn’t deserve it.

As I strode down the halls at a brisk pace, I waved at her to join me. Her short legs worked hard to keep up, but she made no outward sign that it bothered her, so I didn’t slow. I had a feeling if it did bother her, she would pipe up about it and that would be that. Until then, I kept my pace, winding through the Capital halls and stairways until the merciful, cloudy sky hit my face. It would rain later; I could feel it in all my old injuries aching for release.

Once out of the prying eyes, I slowed, heading toward the barracks on instinct. “I’ll need to assemble my war council. General Lorr, the guard commander, Colonel Joesef, Colonel Poi, my mother and yourself. Where is Gil? I need him too. He should be out here helping my men get settled in.”

From my side, Thea looked at me, then at the barracks, a nervous gesture. “He’s probably down in the cells, Sir Jade.”

I stopped, the gravel slipping a little under my feet. “In the cells? Doing what, pray tell?”

She didn’t look like she wanted to tell me, but I waited until finally she did: “I assume to interrogate the imprisoned members of court from last night.”

My hands balled into fists at my side. “Find Gil, Thea. Tell him to meet me in the barracks now.” She took one look at the tension running through my body, and the way my jaw worked, before nodding and rushing off. Show them my will indeed.

#femalehero femaleled fantasy fantasyfiction novel writer writing knight

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Chapter 3, Part 1

Thea was good on her word. She delivered my tray for my evening meal, setting it on a desk I had shoved near the hearth and left, leaving the silent room to me. I lounged in a worn, but comfortable chair I confiscated from another room down the hall that was not upholstered in flowers, a poker in one hand turning a log over, and a chalice of red wine in the other. My food, I barely touched.

I let myself just sit, not thinking, just being. The last few weeks of preparation, battle, and victory settled around my shoulders, pressing me down until at last they slid away, melting into the floor. Perhaps it was the second glass, or was it three?, of wine, or perhaps the comforting cackle of the fire. Regardless, it felt good to sit alone. I could finally mourn everything.I could finally take a deep breathe.

A tear slipped down my cheek without my permission. I dropped the poker with a thud to hastily wipe it away. The men and women who died did not do so for a leader who sunk into tears. They didn’t fight for someone who mourned her loss of freedom. They fought for someone they thought could change everything, even though I did not want to admit that I was the person. 

What would wait for me on my desk tomorrow? More paperwork on the trade lines? More lords and ladies clambering for my favor so they could grow more powerful and gain more wealth? I took a long sip of the wine. I had fought and bled for this, but it didn’t feel like victory. I swirled the cup around, spinning the liquid inside.

The door banged open, bouncing off the wall. I was on my feet in an instant, poker in hand and not a drop of wine spilt. Gil was standing in the doorway, breathless in just his tunic and trousers, the only soul brave enough to defy my orders to be left alone. He looked pale, and the vein in his jaw was visible. I dropped the poker again. “What is it?”

“The Golden Dragon,” he stepped into the room, “they’ve been ambushed. Massacred by hired hands from the Wastelands.”

A chill slipped down my spine. I set my chalice on the fire mantel. General Merien’s precious Golden Dragon were the best fighters our empire had ever seen. Some had even been trained by the famed mercenaries from the Wastelands. In the hardest battles of the war, they had barely lost a soul, and cut through enemy lines like a hot knife through butter. To be simply cut down? My breath slipped away from me.

“How many?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does Merien…”

“Yes.”

We stared at each other. I could feel the blood draining out of my cheeks and my fingers felt cold. The Golden Dragon were our idols as young knights. How had it come to this? Had the Lords of the Capital so ignored their duties in the North that our enemies had enlisted the Wastelands? That seemed extreme for a mere border dispute. The North had always been poking at our borders, an endless cycle of skirmishes and political treaties. Where moments before I had been cold, a sudden rush of fire blazed through my veins.

Gil saw the change. “What is it?”

“Wake the Lords of the Capital. Every single one of them. I don’t care how they are dressed but they will be in that room within the hour or I will have them dragged here.” My jaw clenched as I whirled around and snatched my sword belt from the trunk at the foot of the bed, strapping it to my waist. I saw Gil begin to mirror my own anger. “And ask General Merien to speak with me before.”

“I am already here.” He took up the space in the doorway where Gil had barged through, already in his leather armor, sword at hip. A small, rolled piece of paper was still clenched in his fist.

“They lied to us.”

“They did, Empress.”

“Gil,” I turned toward my friend, “summon Thea. I want my armor. My battle armor. Let them see who they are dealing with.”

A dark smile slid over his lips. “At once.” Then disappeared down the hall to find my lady in waiting. Thea probably would not be far.

“What do you think?” My left hand rested on the pommel of my sword, the metal and leather comforting, cooling my anger a bit. “Wasteland hired hands? The North has never been so bold.”

General Merien stepped further into the room, leaving the space open for Thea as she rushed in, her arms filled with metal, and unceremoniously dumping it on my bed. Were I not so angry, it might have been amusing. She had probably never tended to a knight. Not that she would need to, I was quite capable of strapping my own armor on, even in a hurry.

“I think, Empress, that something doesn’t smell right. Our own scouts and intelligence told us that the North was nothing more than a show of force. A troublesome show that would have been pushed back by the Golden Dragon simply showing their faces. The fight would and should have been far more political. Hired hands. I’m not sure it’s the North. Someone wanted the Golden Dragon out of the way.” The general stood a respectful distance away as I dressed.

Thea tried, she did, but I waved her off, pulling straps and buckles faster on my own. She finally moved to the side, hands fidgeting, before spotting the food tray and rushing to do something with it. I understood the impulse.

“Wanted them out of the way. For what? A move on the empire? Or on me? If it is me they want, I will gladly meet them on the battlefield.” I pulled the last bit of leather roughly. 

The general sighed. “I’d like nothing more than to march with you and burn them into the dirt, but you are empress now. You are far too important to be on the frontlines.”

I took a step forward. “And I wasn’t before?! I will not be stuck behind stone walls. Those were my men!”

“Beg your pardon, Empress, but they were not. They were my men. My responsibility and duty to protect them and see that they were not carelessly used. I will see to this disaster. I will take my armies and sort out this mess. You have the Twin Armies,” he cut me off when I opened my mouth, “And General Lorr’s army.” I opened my mouth again, but he walked over and put a hand on each shoulder, crushing the paper between metal and flesh. “This is not a war that you have fought before, my Silver Wing. Let me do what you have appointed me to do.”

I didn’t like it. Searching his eyes, however, I knew that I would have to do it his way. His experience far trumped mine, especially with the mercenaries. I wasn’t sure of the whole story, but I knew Merien had once had his dealings with them. “Fine. But you are to send word every day. I will not lose you and your army to whatever game is being played.”

“What if it’s not a game.” The voice was small. I had forgotten that Thea was still standing there.

“Excuse me?” My attention focused on her. “Do you know something we don’t?” Was this all a part of her warning earlier?

The smaller girl shook her head. “No. But, pardon me for saying, we were rather inward thinking for many years. What if it is the North? We know they’ve been pushing at the border. What if they got bold?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you know?”

She backed up, bumping into the chair I had been lounging in moments before. Thea reached behind her to steady it. “I just listen when my father and uncle talk. My uncle is a tradesman on the Western Sea. He’s heard rumblings of privateers and more piracy toward the Northern shores. I don’t know. Could be connected?”

“Could be a possibility, but Wasteland mercenaries are more than a bad bedtime story, child.” General Merien was firm but not unkind to Thea. “If they did hire them, then this is nothing short of a declaration of war on our empire.” “I didn’t mean…” She stammered and I could see real fear boiling up in her. 

While I had not known the girl for long, what I did know of her was strong but no soldier. Her family had been largely untouched by our civil war. She would not have known the true fear and pain of bloodshed. To her, as a young woman close to the court, our civil war was delivered in letters on paper. Perhaps a few lost sons or husbands, but nothing like the rest of us. It probably wasn’t even called a war in any of their presence. That didn’t make Thea weak, just completely out of her depth.

“Of course not.” I pushed back my fury, swallowed it deep down like I did when I was talking to a green soldier who was about to piss themselves before a battle. “I have fought a war most of my life, Thea. Don’t worry. General Merien and I will handle it. That’s our duty.”

“Then what is mine?”

Purpose. She needed purpose. “To tell me things like you just did. Birds and mice, Thea.”

“Birds and mice.” She repeated.

“Now if you can handle the Lords of the Capital, my Empress,” General Merien made to leave.

“I swear if you do not stop calling me that, General…”

“Never.” A youthful smirk touched his lips before he gave a small bow, the biggest gesture of respect he’d ever shown me, aside from games when I was a child, and slipped out of the room. We never said goodbye, and never would. I had made him swear never to do so on the morning of my first battle. If we never said goodbye, we always had to come back.

“Now what are you going to do?” Thea gingerly joined my side, holding the tray of food from my meal between her hands. 

A dark smile, not unlike Gil’s slowly took over my features. “I’m going to make a few lords and one lady piss themselves for not telling me everything about the North. I’m about to make them cry.”

I didn’t see it, but I could feel it somehow. Thea smiled too, a dark smile of her own. “Good. I want to hear all about it.” Ah, there was that strong little bird. Not a soldier, but something else, something even stronger than a soldier. A hawk’s eyes in a sweet, unarming face.

“You’re coming with me. Quietly. I want you to watch them. Tell me when they’re lying.” I pulled my sword belt a little tighter, then took the tray from her hands, plopping it down on my bed with a clang. “Let’s go.”

I gave them an hour, true to my word. Some had managed to assemble themselves in a decent state of dress, others had hastily put on whatever they could before my men brought them to the Capital. An hour was more than enough time in my opinion, but these were people used to do things at their own leisure. I was used to battlefield readiness. 

I stood in full battle armor, hand on my sword hilt, waiting for them to take their seats. It was a bit theatrical of me since I had no plans to immediately march anywhere, but they wouldn’t know that, not right away. I wanted to cast a certain effect on them, and it seemed to work. They were each in turn slowly pulling out chairs, eyeing me, and dismissing servants. My gaze slipped over toward Thea who had found a darkened spot near one wall of books and parchment, in perfect sight line to myself. She met my eyes, nodded slightly, then went back to her work. A hawk indeed, my little Thea. 

The bullish lord from earlier was the last to arrive, sauntering into the room without a care and dropping down into his seat. He cast an appraising look over me, a bit too personal from my own tastes. I narrowed my eyes when he managed to reach them, “I’m sorry, are we disturbing you, Lord…?”

“That’s right, General, you never bothered to learn my name.”

“Indeed.”

“Lord Icarius, and yes, I was enjoying a lovely meal with a few charming members of your court.”

“No doubt.”

“Empress - begging your pardon - General, what is this about?” The lady, her hair hastily tucked up, and in a fine dressing robe serving as her gown, pulled the attention away from the man. I wasn’t sure how much I could trust her, but I also wasn’t sure she was an enemy.

“The North.”

“The North?” Lord Marley repeated, one of the finer dressed individuals at the table. Perhaps he never quite undressed. I could imagine him sleeping in full regalia, his office chains around his neck, jewels on his fingers, propped up like some doll. 

“Yes,” I stepped away from the head of the table, pacing around the backside of the chairs, lingering so they could see the armor up close, all the dings and scratches, the near-deaths I had missed. The scar on my chin. “The North, Lord Marley. I’ve just received some troubling news.”

He sat in his chair, folding his hands smugly. He did not seem a bit surprised, a clue perhaps. I caught a look over at Thea, who dipped her head. Someone to watch then. “I thought you said you had the North handled.”

I rounded on him, barely containing the fury in my eyes. “And I thought you had disclosed everything as well. Now I find that there are hired hands from the Wastelands trapezing through our lands.”

Lord Marley clenched his jaw, and the lady swiveled in her chair to look at me. “But… you’ve sent the Golden Dragon.”

I held Lord Marley’s gaze, ignoring the lady. “The Golden Dragon is no more. So if you’ve decided to withhold information, now is the time to disclose it.”

“What do you mean the Golden Dragon is no more?” The bullish man, Lord Icarius, wasn’t reclining in his seat anymore. He was stiff, a rigid energy taking over what had been an arrogantly relaxed form.

“General Merien has left to survey what is left of his troops, that is what I mean.” I stared back at them all in turn, making sure they each saw my eyes. Some held them, and some had the decency to look away. A few fiddled with their fingers, or hems.

The lady shrunk in her seat. “Oh.”

My hands balled into fists. “Oh, indeed.” The best men in our empire were dead. I expected a bigger reaction. “How long have you known about the hired hands in our empire?” A flicker of moment out of the corner of my eye momentarily turned by attention. Thea was clenching and unclenching her fists. I debated whether to share the information she had given me earlier, about the water trade lines. In the end, I decided they needed to know that I had my own sources. “Seems our tradesmen on the seas have known about more than a few pirate ships.”

“Perhaps,” Lord Marley began dangerously, “If you hadn’t been so consumed by your quest for a crown…”

By the time he made his dangerous accusation, I was back at my chair. I picked it up and threw it aside. No small feat since I found out about a moment into lifting it that it was far heavier than I had imagined. It smacked into the stone floor hard, making them jump in their seats, even Lord Icarius. Even Thea. “So you’re playing games with the lives of our people, our troops?!” I bellowed at them.

“You...you said you had it well in hand.” Finally Lord Marley showed some signs of actual concern. 

Leaning over the table, an uncomfortable thing given the armor, I met his gaze squarely. “Hired hands, Lord Marley, are not border disputes. I knew of the border disputes. Do you think me blind? But border disputes and dealing with the North, I expected. Not hired assassins. Once hired they don’t just give up and walk away. There are protocols to dealing with them. Ways of dealing with the North for hiring them if that turns out to be true. Did you think we could just send troops and be done with them? Or did you think you could bring them in, a little threat perhaps, and they’d walk away?”

Lord Icarius was the only one to lean forward to meet me. “What are you accusing us of, exactly? You can’t possibly think that…” He trailed off as he surveyed the room, just as I did. Only a few faces, the Lady being amongst them, were as shocked and alarmed as he, the others found other places to direct their gaze. He seemed to realize, just as I had realized, that not all of them were on the same agenda. His hand clenched, and his dropped it into his lap. Arrogant, maybe, but perhaps Lord Icarius was one to keep, as much as I was loathed to admit it. Lord Icarius turned his attention back to me, and for a moment, a tendril of fear flickered across his eyes. An ally, indeed.

Laughter bubbled up and erupted from my lips. More unease rippled through them. Of course. I was stupid and blind to think I could win a war on the field and just march into the Capital. It had never just been one man who had systematically rotted our empire, but a whole basket of them, half of which were sitting at the table before me. I was naive to think they wouldn’t have had a back up plan in place; the question was how long it had been enacted. How many hired hands, and what I would have to do to convince them to leave.

Quietly, I stood back up. “The blood of those men are on your hands, and the countless others who will die to push the hired hands back to their Wastelands. Innocent farmers and families who stood in their way. Blood stains, my lords, I should know. And you’ve spilt an awful lot of it.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Lord Marley asked quietly.

I walked away from the table and yanked open the door. Gil was standing just outside it, his back to it. He turned when he saw me, eyeing the fallen chair. “Gil, summon more guards. I need to arrest about 15 men.” 

He peeked around me and into the room, sizing up the lords within, then looking at Thea who nodded. “Will do.”

We shared a gruesome smile, a smile we had often shared in battle, then I shut the door. Slowly, I walked over to the chair I had thrown aside and righted it. Yes, a great deal heavier than I had anticipated. A bit awkwardly, I walked it back to the table and set it down. I took my time taking my seat, arranging my armor and sword.

Lord Marley waited until I was settled. “Arrest us? Who do you think you are?” Some of the bravado was gone.

I turned a gauntlet to sit better on my forearm. “I am Sir Jade Gwenyth Bertha Virillia, first of her name, the Silver Winged, General of the Twin Armies, and Empress. You, Lord Marley are traitors. You should be thankful I haven’t cut you down here and now, but I believe in a trial and justice. The people will know what you did and will have their say.”

He scoffed. “Where was your justice at the Battle of the Mount?”

Ah, so they had heard the rumors. The Battle of the Mount had been a brutal winter fight. Horses and men alike froze. The field had been slippery with blood and ice, and the rumors had spread about how I had ruthlessly rode into battle severing heads from bodies laughing as I went, a terror to behold. The rumors were wholly untrue. I had rode into battle, that was true, and I had brandished my sword, all true, but I had not been laughing or going about severing heads. It was quite difficult to sever heads with a sword in one swing, and I was the first to admit that I was not so strong as to be able to do it. 

Instead, I had been dragged from my horse, not my beloved Brownie, but a gelding who had mercifully survived the battle, and into the muddy snow. An enemy soldier, a mere footman had nearly taken my own head off, but instead had merely sliced open my chin, and had had my shoulder dislocated. Gil had set it. But the rumors spread like wildfire, and for a time, I’d admit, I didn’t try to stop them. They had worked in my favor, sowing fear into my enemies. Now, those choices made for battle, would haunt me in the secret rooms of politics.

“Pray I don’t dispense that here.” I warned him.

The door burst open and two dozen guards filled the room. As I directed them to the men who would be dragged several stories below my feet to the Capital cells, I held Lord Marley’s gaze. He would not go down without a fight, I could see that in the way his jaw firmed up. “Be careful, little Empress.”

Careful? Careful was never something I was particularly good at, even if it was in my best interests.

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#juneteenth

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Chapter 2: Part 2

I was nowhere near ready when the doors opened to grant me entrance into the chambers for the Lords of the Capital meeting. There were some twenty odd finely dressed men, and one woman, who were in turns standing about speaking in hushed tones or sipping drinks at an oblong table in the center of the room. The room itself was to my liking, filled with shelves and books or scrolls depending on the age with rolling ladders to reach the highest shelves. Tall, many paned windows lined one side of the modest hall, casting in the rising sunlight, revealing little particles of dust floating here or there. A few guards were posted, but not as many as had been at the feast.

General Merien met me at the door with little fan-fare. My left hand scrambled for purchase on my hip where the pommel of a sword would have rested, making me look slightly clumsy until I just stacked it there as if I had meant to all along.The general raised an eyebrow at me, but I refused to acknowledge it. He led the way into the room, more at my side than in the lead. 

Not a soul looked up until I stood at the head of the oblong table. Even then I had to clear my throat to get even a passing glance. Apparently all the ceremony and pretend smiles were gone from this lot. It was just as well. I was happy to oblige their stares if it meant business and not more ridiculous flattery.

“Well, lords, and lady - we shall have to rectify that - shall we begin?” I waved a hand toward the empty seats of those still standing while General Merien moved to the opposite end of the table as my Prime Commander.

“We have been waiting to begin while you were sleeping off your festival last night, your majesty.” A bullish man with small eyes but a strong chin near the center seductively took his seat. He was a man who knew he was handsome, fit, and was used to commanding space. I had met many like him. Bedded one or two. His sharp tongue, which drew a chuckle or two, would not last long in my presence. 

As they sat, I remained standing. “Let us, perhaps, begin by clarifying a few things, Lord I-Do-Not-Recall-Your-Name. First, if it was so important to begin promptly, might I entreat you to begin at that time? I can assure you that I will catch up. Second, we will not be addressing me as your majesty. That’s old and makes me feel old. You can address me as Sir Jade or General Jade. I prefer the later but will answer to the former. Third, get all of your snips at me out of the way today. Afterwards, I will expect you to be smarter than that. Fourth, we are here for the empire. Not you. Not me. Not your little corner. The whole empire. Fail to do so and I will find someone who will. Understood?” There were hard stares, a few soft nods, and a jeer from the bullish man. He would need to be put in his place soon. “Good,” I slapped my hands on the table in good spirits and sat down. A nearby servant boy who had blended so well into the books appeared at my side with quill, ink, and reams of paper. “Clever,” I muttered and smiled at him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw General Merien shake his head. “Let’s begin.”

“Well,” an older man with greying hair and beard neatly groomed began, “Sir… General… I’m sorry but that is a very odd way to address our empress. I just cannot buck tradition that much, my dear.” While I was no fan of pet names, I liked him and bit back my usual tendency to rebuke such things. “Empress… Let me begin by addressing the pressing issue in the North.”

“The North? How so, Lord…?” I trailed off, waving my quill in his direction. My mother would have memorized all of their names. She was a far better statesman than I.

“Lord Marley, my Empress.” He nodded his head in some semblance of respect. A well dressed man in expensive silks, particular to the trade in the north-west I noted, with fine embroidery, no doubt a man who was used to being addressed with respect. “The Northern borders have been continuously pressed upon by our neighbors, attacked even, while we have been… deciding our leadership. Our attention was divided and it seems they realized it and have set out to take a portion of our land, people and supplies.”

“‘Deciding our leadership?’ Yes, I suppose we could call it that. I prefer the term civil war, but if you prefer more political names so be it. But some of us had not forgotten the North as others have,” I raised a hand to silence the bullish man when he opened his mouth. 

“Regardless, we cannot simply let them walk in and take from us. Not now. A show of strength is needed.” Lord Marley looked around the table.

My jaw worked a bit, “No one is suggesting we let them.”

Lord Marley turned to me, square in the eyes and suddenly, I did not like him anymore, “The minute we turned our attention to a rogue army marching up from the South, we invited them in with a fruit basket.”

The grip on the quill in my hand threatened to snap the feather before I laid it down beside the ink pot. Slowly. Deliberately. I glanced down the end of the table to Merien who had a face of stone, one I recognized well. It was a cautionary expression, but one that said he wouldn’t interfere. I had first encountered it when I had been promoted to Colonel of the Twin Armies and had had to make a tough decision on the battle line placement. I hated it then, but I appreciated it now. 

“I’m aware that you all think I’m a child, a woman, or a rebel who should have died many times over. Or even have been hanged from the Capital walls. Your man didn’t win this war. His claim was snuffed out. He turned that eye away from his duties while I fought my way here to make sure those eyes never stray from it. I’ll remind you that I am a sworn knight of this realm, General of the Twin Armies, and I have never forgotten the Northern border. General Merien?”

The General, clad in some of his light armor, leaned over on one side of his chair, resting an elbow on the arm rest. The leather creaked, reminding all the silk clad men that even before this war, Merien was a respected and well-liked military man. He was not some foolish, young rebel, but a battle hardened general who had fought many years for the empire. “A portion of my most skilled men have been deployed to the border, even before we marched on the Capital. I expect word in the next day or two. Our borders, which have been neglected, will be well protected.”

“You mean to tell me,” the only other woman leaned up to look at the General, “The Golden Dragon themselves are North? Then who shall protect us here?” I thumped back into my seat, smacking my forearms loudly on the armrests. “Are the Twin Armies nothing?”

The woman looked at me, her silver hair piled neatly on her head, “They are not the Golden Dragon.” She was matter-of-fact, a manner I could respect if I was so insulted. “Pardon my saying so, General Jade.”

I narrowed my eyes, ready to fire back when the General spoke up, “The Golden Dragon, yes, but I have not sent my full army. And our empress is correct. The Twin Armies are more than capable of protecting us, even while drunk and sleeping.”

“Like their general, no doubt.”

My attention shot to the bullish man. “Would you like to express something, Lord I-Do-Not-Recall-Your-Name?”

A sneer. “No.”

“Good. Now, shut up.” I held his gaze a bit longer, then picked up my quill once more. “So there is that, the North is being tended to and our borders protected. I’ll send an envoy North to their courts as well.” Politics. How I hated it. 

“And what good will that do?” The lady looked at me. 

“What all good envoys do. Observe. Report back. Know your enemy, my lady, even if you have to be a little mouse to do it.”

“Is that what you did, then?” Lord Marley was not content to be quiet. “Played a little mouse? How honorable is that for a knight?”

A slow, mischievous grin split my face as I leaned onto the table on my elbows. “Who said it was I who was the mouse?”

Three hours of bickering over who got what profit over what trade lines, what colors our new royal seal should be, and endless trivial topics, and I was finally free of the meeting room. I had immediately set about to find Thea, dragging her out to some random patch of grassy space in the maze of gardens within the Capital grounds. I loved to go riding, or wander the market place, but even General Merien had said it was too soon for me to do such things. I would have to find a body double, that was my only solution.

In the meantime, I lounged on the spot of grass, hands behind my head and stared up at the clouds. Thea worked on some patch needed in one of my tunics torn who knew how long ago. I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken a moment to just watch the clouds in peace. I had certainly watched the clouds lying on my back coated in mud, blood, and trapped under a crushing pile of men. That day I had been lucky that General Merien hadn’t given up the search for me in the dead bodies of two armies. I sat up then. Perhaps laying down and staring at the clouds was not for me.

“How do you like it?” Thea showed me her find stitching work. I could hardly see where a rough hole had been.

“That’s wonderful, Thea. Do you think I’d be allowed to wear it to official meetings?” It was one of my favorite, well worn and soft.

“You can do whatever you’d like.”

I wrinkled my nose, “you know that’s a lie. Let me rephrase, do you think my mother would allow it?”

Thea held up the poor tunic. It was near shear and probably wouldn’t survive much longer. “In dark light, perhaps?”

I snatched it out of the air and held it to me. The smaller girl laughed. “I’ll have you know that tunics are very practical.”

“So are linen dresses.”

“Not on a battlefield.”

“I have no intention of ever being on a battlefield, Sir Jade.”  She was still smiling, but a seriousness had reached her eyes. “That’s for the likes of you, and my sister, and my brothers, heaven help us. My work is here, and it’s no small thing.”

I reached out like I had seen my mother do before, but instead of holding her hand, I just patted it. “No, it is not. And I am immensely grateful for it.”

“As well you should be.”

Thea jumped. I spun around on my knee, pulling out the knife tucked into the top of my boot in the process. Pointing the sharp, but small knife at the owner of the voice, I clenched my jaw to keep from smiling.

The man before us put his hands up in surrender. “You pull a knife on me, my general?”

I rolled my eyes and sat back. The boyish man before me had ruffled hair that was almost never tidy, in stark contrast to the way he dressed. His boots were always spotless, even on the battlefield, which was annoying. The square jaw almost always made the ladies swoon, even me once, long ago when we were just children. We had tested those grounds and found them too shaky, but nevertheless, Gilead remained one of my most loyal friends and trusted commanders. One glance at Thea and I could tell she wasn’t as sure as I was about him.

“Amalthea, meet Commander Gilead. A thorn in my side, but I’d not have him anywhere else.” I turned away from him, patting the ground at my side, away from Thea.

He winked, “Are you sure about that, my Most Royal Empress Supreme?” I shoved his shoulder hard as he sat down, toppling him over. “Fine. I’ll stay at your side. Probably safest there anyway.”

“One day,” I began, “someone is going to make you regret those things you say, Gil.”

“Perhaps,” he leaned around me to flash his winning smile at Thea, “Perhaps the Lady Amalthea is the one?”

I blocked his view. “You leave Thea alone.” I poked his chest, making him laugh. 

“Don’t worry, Sir Jade,” Thea had not quite relaxed, “I’m not the sort to fall for the military type.”

Gil looked appropriately insulted, “Oh, ho! But we’re great fun.”

“Gil…” My tone was in warning.

He waved me off, “No, no. We are, my Most Royal Empress Supreme. Who else can get piss drunk and still topple regimes?”

Thea pursed her lips and I sighed. Gil was not the type to bring into tense political company. He was always finely dressed, a product of being the last son of a wealthy family, but that also meant he didn’t care for holding his tongue much. It was fine on the battlefield, even in camp where it drew men and women to him, but setting him loose in court would be a disaster. Amusing, perhaps, but Merien and my mother would find some way to poison me for it. Seeing our faces, he made a show of being hurt. “Not appropriate?”

I shook my head. “No.”

He settled in with his long legs out before him. “That’s too bad. I thought present company would enjoy it.”

I followed his lead, stretching out. “Present company now has to run the entire empire. And take care of little birds and mice hiding in bushes.”

Thea set about folding my tunic she had repaired for me. “More than just bushes, Sir Jade.”

I looked over at the smaller girl, noticed that Gil followed my gaze. Was she trying to tell me something? Of course, she was, but what exactly did she mean? Was she hinting that even she could be reporting to someone? More than likely my mother if anyone. 

When she said nothing more, my attention turned to the garden space before us, and the buildings of the Capital compound. Beautiful pale stone erected centuries ago, cobbled together through different emperors with different tastes forming a strange sort of maze-like symmetry that I appreciated. Would I end up building something to contribute? Would I end up making an impression on this ancient set of buildings? I bit my lips. Perhaps. Or perhaps I would tear it apart.

“That settles my mood,” I declared suddenly, jumping up to my feet. “Come, Gil, let’s go find some swords and swing at things.” I headed down the little incline. “I’ll see you before the evening meal, Thea. If I have to eat with others, so be it, but I’d prefer to dine alone tonight.” Decidedly, I refused to look back at her. I trusted Thea, or I thought I did, but she was still a part of a world I wasn’t sure I wanted to maintain, but I also wasn’t sure how I wanted to change. 

With a few long strides, Gil caught up to me. “I don’t think she meant anything by that, Jay.”

I lifted a shoulder. “Perhaps. Still. I haven’t had a moment alone since I came here. Since the Battle at the River to be exact.” The moment I had stepped off that battlefield, sweat covered, blood soaked, and exhausted, a surrendered sword in my hand, people surrounded me. My mother, General Merien, countless other commanders, politicians, servants, Gil… all of them well meaning for the most part, but not one moment for my own thoughts.

Men and women had died that day. One of the bloodiest yet in our final push for the Capital. I lost people who had been with me from the beginning. Good people. They had laid down their lives for their belief in something different and better than the on-high oppression of the emperor who had chased my family out of power when I was a child. Usually I forced my commanders to give me a few hours at least a day if I could, to mourn, to gather my thoughts, then lock them all away and move forward. The last battle had been so different. Their faces still swam in my eyes if I wasn’t careful.

Gil grabbed my arm, and I hadn’t realized I’d been aimlessly stomping forward and was heading the complete opposite direction from the barracks. “I know, Jay.” His eyes, always so jovial, were solemn. He had lost his lover that day, a man who had both hoped would be by his side forever. 

“Gil..”

“Nope.” He marched on, directing me through the barracks and toward the practice rings. “I’ve said my goodbyes, and you know as well as I that Padraig would be embarrassed beyond belief if we were still holding on.” Reaching up, I squeezed his shoulder.

All things considered, the gardens being laid out as maze-like as the buildings, it didn’t take us long to reach the barracks and practice rings. At first the men, and a few scattered ladies, didn’t notice my presence. They went about working the horses, running drills with practice weapons, and general cleaning duties. It was a relief to be amongst the familiar sounds of work, leather, and metal. I could almost disappear; but once one man spotted me, the others did too. While I couldn’t be sure how they knew it was me, there was no stopping them once they began to take a knee. What a waste of energy.

“No, no,” I insisted, “up, up. I want nothing more than a nod when I come through here. I will not be the cause of a disruption. Back to what you were doing.” They were hesitant, casting looks at each other, but they slowly went back to their individual chores.

I cast a look at Gil. “We need to get some of my troops in here.” Originally, I had resisted. I hadn’t wanted to appear like a conquering hero, despite that I had conquered their former ruler. Now I could see that I would need to incorporate them into the current Capital Guards. 

“Agreed.” Gil nodded, casting about. “And some of our trainers. These men need some work.”

“They’re royal guards. What more did you want of them? But yes, training will need to begin immediately. I intend to see only peace but…”

“But being prepared is never a bad thing,” Gil finished. “What about the 51st? They were your first, most loyal, and hardest hit. They could do with a bit of comfort, comparatively.” 

Looking at the guards around me, I had to agree. “Bring them in. But mix them into the barracks. I don’t want anyone segregating. We are all the same now, and most of these men never raised a sword to us.”

“I’ll start getting it organized this evening.”

We made our way over to a shaded overhang where blunted swords were neatly stored. They might not have been soldiers, but I had to commend them for keeping a tidy and well cared for barracks. I would need to set up a meeting with the guard commander, make him my ally, and tell him how I appreciated his work in person.

I was admiring the grounds when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gil toss a practice sword in my direction. He was trying to catch my off guard, but neither one of us had survived countless battlefields without being able to spot sudden movement coming our way. I caught it easily, frowning at its imbalance; but a practice sword was a practice sword and I could compensate.

I lead the way toward and open space in one of the practice fields, ignoring the way the others’ eyes followed Gil and I. The former emperor had stopped being a man of action years ago. 

My back was still turned when I felt Gil make his move. Turning, I met his blade, feeling it vibrate into my hands. Gil had always been a hard hitter, using his taller size to his advantage. I was all too familiar with his fighting style, and he with mine. At any given spar, it was a coin toss who would win, usually depending on how tired either one of us was from the previous day, but today, we were both rested. I smirked at him. A show would be good for the guardsmen.

“Alright then,” Gil smiled, drawing back. 

We circled each other, sizing up the other, judging the day’s weakness. He was ever so subtly favoring one side, perhaps having bumped into a table during the previous night’s festivities. It would be a good side to exploit. I moved on the offensive first, testing spots, just as I knew he was letting me, feeling me out. General Merien would be yelling at us by now if he were watching, telling us to stop playing around. Gil seemed to read my mental criticism, and the fight began.

A crowd had gathered around the edges of the practice space by the time Gil and I had called a truce. We were sweating, tired, and neither one had really made ground against the other. As competitive as I was, wanting to be the very best, I knew how evenly matched Gil and I were; it was the reason we were a formidable team on the fields. It was a dark day for the enemy when they saw the two of us side by side. 

I tossed the practice sword into the sand. “No more. I’m starving.” Gil stabbed his sword into the ground. “Agreed.”

“Truce, dear friend?” I extended my hand.

He took my forearm. “Truce. For now.”

I laughed. “For now.”

A quiet applause began, which made me blush, so I turned away to pick up my discarded weapon. Gil was already moving toward them, pacing the edges. “No, no. None of that. That is how each of you should practice and fight, if need be. The 51st will be here tomorrow to begin a new training regime. I expect you to excel. Your empress expects you to excel.”

Rolling my eyes, I swung the sword over the back of both my shoulders, resting my arms over each end. “Don’t scare them, Gil. Not yet.” I gave one particularly young guardsman a wink. He ducked his head.

“Who is scaring my men?” An older man, fit, broad shouldered with only a hint of grey at his temples, strode onto the practice field. He eyed Gil, then me, sizing us up. Cleary, he didn’t know who I was, which was refreshing.

Gil stepped forward, but I caught his arm, swinging the practice sword around to my side. “No one is scaring anyone,” I met the man halfway. “Just reminding them of their duty.”

The older man, the Guard Commander I assumed, was not amused. He stared down his nose at me, as many other commanders had done in my lifetime. “They know their duty, girl.”

“Sir.” I corrected him. “I’m a knight of the empire. Or General. I also command the Twin Armies. Or, what was that new one now, Gil?”

“Empress.”

“Right. Empress. Pesky title. Not a fan of it, but it’s been a challenge to make people call me ‘General’ or ‘Sir.’” I smiled as sweetly as I knew.

He stopped staring down at me, but he refrained from giving any more ground. I respected that. He still needed to keep the men and women in his command in check. “Well, General, I’d kindly like to ask that you not intimidate my men.” I shrugged, moving past him, “Not my intention.” Then spun on my heel to face him. “My intention is to make sure they are in top shape. The 51st will be joining your men in the barracks, and training them. We’re not at war anymore, but I’m sure you can respect being prepared.”

I was turning to leave when he stopped me, “We’re not a military unit, General.”

Only half-turning back, I set my jaw. “Granted. I don’t intend to treat you as such, but you will be trained to my standards.”

“As you wish, General.”

I held his gaze a moment longer, before shifting it to Gil who was at the commander’s back. As soon as our eyes met, his shoulders relaxed and he walked around the commander to join me, then kept going, toward where we had pulled the practice swords. He wordlessly took mine from my hand. I could hear him shoving them into the storage rack.

Surveying the others around the yard, I let out a long breath through my nose. They were tense, apprehensive. One step forward, two steps back. Not what I had had in mind.

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Chapter Two, part 1

Chapter Two

“It’s time to rise, Empress.” Amalthea’s voice cut through my sleep. I couldn’t remember when I had finally stumbled back up to my chambers during the feast, nor where I had left the gown, but I remember the last cup of wine was probably one too many. I pulled a pillow over my head.

The bed could stay, I firmly decided in the night. It swallowed me up like clouds. I could toss and spread my arms out and not be afraid I would tip over the cot and spill out, or loosen one of the ropes. There was even more than one pillow. The bed was definitely staying. The flowers, which had spun during the night, could go.

“She also said to remind you that you are to meet with the Lords of the Capital this morning.” Amalthea was at the foot of the bed, opening the trunk and rummaging in my things, no doubt looking for something suitable for me to wear. She pulled out a navy linen tunic and held it up. It was my favorite. My mother had embroidered little white flowers along the collar. Amalthea set it on the corner of the bed.

“So it’s still morning then?” My voice was muffled as I peeked out from under the pillow.

“It is. Your mother said you didn’t like to oversleep.” The small girl pulled out a pair of tan trousers.

“No, not those. The dark leather ones.” I slowly emerged from my comfortable fort of pillows and blankets, and crawled to the edge of the bed where I sat with my legs crossed. A jeweled pin fell out of my hair. I groaned. I must have looked quite a sight.

“Shall I draw a bath for you?” Amalthea set the leather trousers beside my tunic.

A bath? I hadn’t had one of those in quite some time. Usually I had a basin and a rag to wash with, a stream if my mother and I could convince the men to stay away long enough to let us have a turn. “A bath would be wonderful, thank you, Amalthea.”

Amalthea disappeared into a smaller side room, one I hadn’t bothered to explore yesterday. I could hear water filling a metal tub, a heavenly sound. Reluctantly, I crawled the rest of the way out of bed, standing only in my short shift, and dug around the trunk to find the leather doublet to pair with the tunic and trousers. I wanted the fancy lords to remember that I lived my life by the sword, and that I didn’t spend my days sitting on overstuffed cushions.

“Come,” the small girl appeared in the doorway to the other room. “Your bath will cool.” She disappeared back into the room, a clear order to follow her. Who was I to disobey?

A large, copper tub sat in the middle of the tiled room, vines hammered into the side. Steam lifted off the top of the water and I couldn’t help but sigh. While Amalthea busied herself at a side table, probably with some oils I would decline when she brought them over, I shimmied out of my shift and unceremoniously climbed into the tub. A bit of water carelessly spilled over the edge as I slipped below the surface, the hot water closing over the top of my head. I stayed there a long moment, pretending the world would be different when I came up for air. 

Alas, it was not. As soon as I came up, water dripping off my nose, I was reminded I was Empress. Amalthea was standing by the edge, a little gold edged bowl in her hands. I wrinkled my nose at it.

“Don’t worry, Empress, it isn’t something with flower perfume. Just something to help ease the aches from a long ride.”

I still eyed it suspiciously, but my knees and back did ache. Sighing, I dipped my head back, renegade pins clanging against the copper. Amalthea pulled a small stool over to the tub and added the potion to the hot water. Whatever it was, it had a lovely woodsy smell that was comforting.

Amalthea sat behind my head, carefully pulling jeweled pins out of my hair and beginning to detangle the mess of braids and curls my hair had become. Thankfully, her fingers were gentle. “Amalthea?”

“The Empress can call me Thea if she pleases.”

“Then you must call me Jade.” Her nose wrinkled. “Sir Jade?” I offered. Her nose wrinkled further. “Your choices are Jade or Sir Jade. That’s it.”

She thought for a moment, working at a particularly tricky braid. “Sir Jade then.”

I smiled, taking my victory. “Good. So Thea. You’re Lord Burley’s third daughter then, and he sent you to serve me? I don’t recall your father being particularly supportive of my endeavors.”

“He wasn’t.” She picked up a brush. “But I’m the third daughter, and six of ten. I asked for the reprieve. And to be a part of the new world.”

I doubted the last part was very true, but I wasn’t going to argue with her. My parents had only had me, and I had only had a troop of knights to raise me. If there was one thing I could not comprehend, it was sibling relationships. “Well,” I closed my eyes as she brushed my hair, “I may not be the reprieve you were looking for, Thea.”

“From what I have heard, you treat your men fairly. You even fought by their side on the battlefield. You bled for them. That’s more than anyone in your position would normally do. I guess I don’t quite understand that sort of thing, but it strikes me as a good thing to look for in serving someone.” I couldn’t see her, but she stopped brushing my hair for a long enough moment that I sat forward to turn and look. Thea was looking out the window.

“I don’t,” I hesitated, looking at my scarred hands, “know much about being a good master to anyone. I had a squire once. It didn’t work out. I can’t promise that I will be agreeable most days but I will never treat you as anything less than a lady of my court.”

She turned her attention to me. “I’m not a lady of the court.”

I shrugged. “Sure you are. Starting today.”

“I’m your maid, Sir Jade.”

My finger shot up. “Lady in waiting.”

“That’s the same thing.”

“Ah, better title.”

She rolled her eyes, and we both laughed a little. “I accept then. Let me get you a towel, Sir Jade and I’ll call up your breakfast.”

“Our breakfast.”

“Our breakfast then.” Thea stood up from the little stool and retrieved the softest towel I had yet felt in my life. I wrapped myself in it, and if it hadn’t been for the lords waiting on me, might have stayed in it all day.

Thea disappeared with the click of the outer door, and I supposed I might as well dress, reluctantly. While my leather trousers, linen tunic and matching doublet were well worn and comfortable, they were no match for the plush towel I left behind. So I stayed wrapped in it as I wandered out into the main bedchamber, tucking the end under my armpit to keep myself covered. My hair dripped down my back, leaving a trail of water in my wake as I padded about the room, fingers trailing over the ornate furnishings. I found myself back at the window where my mother had braided my hair just yesterday.

I peered down into the garden, watching a few servants working in the plant beds in the morning sun. They worked side by side, a few stray giggles reaching my window high above them. Too bad I would have to tell them that I had other plans for the courtyard. I cringed thinking of their disappointment, or perhaps they’d be relieved not to be tending to it. The idea of people serving me was a concept that didn’t sit well in my stomach. I wasn’t sure how I was going to change it, but I supposed that as empress, I could find a way to do so. I leaned further to watch them work and knocked my head against the window. Their faces peered up at me, serious for a moment. Heat rushed to my cheeks and I raised a hand in greeting. From my height, I couldn’t tell if they were hiding a chuckle, but they ducked their heads and went back to their work. Great. Now they’d think I was a complete dunce. None of my battlefield victories would mean a thing to people in the Capital, only how I carried myself and already I was knocking my head into windows. In a towel.

With a reluctant sigh, I wandered back into the room and to where my clothes were laid out. The lords would not want to be kept waiting, as eager as I was to ruffle their feathers, I was acutely aware that I would need them to push our empire into the future. Politics, a game both General Merien and I had always been reluctant to play, but understood we had to play, me more so than him. By the time Thea rapped on the door with breakfast, I was doing up the laces of the doublet, my damp hair braid back in a single plait. I hadn’t yet stuffed my feet into my worn riding boots, so I took the silver platter from Thea’s hands and climbed up on the bed, patting the space before me for her to join. 

“Sir Jade…” she hesitated.

“No, no. Come on, let’s eat. We’ll be spending a lot of time together for which I apologize in advance, and it’s important to know,” I tore off a piece of a roll and stuffed it in my cheeks, “that I don’t do things like all the other royals.”

“I’m beginning to see that.” She gathered up the hem of her linen dress and delicately joined me, picking at a roll herself.

“I’ve spent most of my life in a military camp, Thea.” I told her through the mouthful of bread, then snatched up a bowl of wine-preserved fruit.

Thea nodded, “yes, so they say.”

My eyebrows shot up, “Oh? They say things about me. Interesting. I assumed such. I didn’t become a knight without hearing rumors and snide remarks hidden behind ale mugs. Well, good.”

Thea tentatively picked up the second bowl of preserved fruit, pushing a grape around the edge. “My brother’s are knights. I don’t think they’re quite the same sort of knights as you are, however. My youngest sister wants to be a knight, I think. My father hopes she grows out of it.”

I shrugged, popping the last of my fruit into my mouth, “I hope she doesn’t.”

A little smile graced Thea’s young face. “Me too. My brothers need a thumping.”

I leaned forward, my interest peaked, “Point them out to me and I will make sure they end up square on their rump.” 

She laughed a little. “That would be a sight to see.”

“I’ll figure out how to make it happen.” I set the bowl down at the patter. She looked at me, making me laugh. “I need the practice. I can’t be getting soft now. How would that look?”

“Jade!” The door swung open revealing my mother, elegant in a navy silk gown, her hair wrapped about her head. Thea bounced off my bed as if it was fire, snatching up the tray. My mother glanced at her, a gentle smile on her lips, which promptly disappeared once she looked in my direction. “They are waiting.”

“Right.” I gathered up myself and slid off the bed, rummaging about for my shoes. Thea coughed and nodded in their direction. I scooped them up, shoving my feet inside them. My mother gave me a once over, then shook her head, but we had had this argument before. I was not about to trade in my leathers for gowns; I stopped being that girl long ago. “I’m ready.”

#writer writing fantasy fantasystory femalehero femaleled fiction novel newstory

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Black Lives Matter

I will always stand with Black Lives Matter and race equality. I have and will always continue to educate myself and more importantly, listen in an endeavor to be a better ally.

[prettycanarybird]

Heir-Apparent: Chapter One

Chapter One

I can only recall walking down the Marble Avenue exactly one other time in my life. The first flakes of snow had begun to fall, catching in my father’s dark curls. They looked like diamonds glittering in the early morning sunrise, which peeked out beneath the fluffy clouds, casting a golden glow low over everything. 

I remember my mother crying.

I didn’t understand why we were awake so early in the morning, and why my mother and not my nurse had dressed me, hastily, roughly, not even bothering to comb out my unruly black ringlets. She had thrown some of my things into a trunk, stuffing clothing, my beloved stuffed horse, Brownie, and whatever jewels a small child like me could have possibly possessed, which was quite a lot given my heir-apparent status. My feet, crammed in last year’s snow boots and pinching, barely touched the ground as she dragged me from the room.

The halls, all the paintings of old family members that terrified me as they stared down with judging eyes, were still dark. As my mother pulled me along, everything blurred together. I don’t remember if I protested, or if I was too shocked and too scared by this sudden departure to utter a sound. 

We rushed out of the Capital and stumbled down the grey stone steps, carrying our lives with us. My father’s jaw was sharp, and his eyes never looked down at me. I think he might have been ashamed, but I was too young to know what that sort of thing looked like then.

When we reached the bottom of the steps, we stopped. My father looked behind us, then scooped me up, pulling me away from my mother. He jabbed a finger at the Capital building. “Remember, my sweet Jade, this is where you will always belong.” His voice had wavered, holding back tears, but I did as he told me, looked and remembered.

I always remembered.

Now, instead of being rushed down the Marble Avenue, sneaking away in the dawn, I was sitting atop my proud, feisty mare. We were both decorated in silver plated armor and delicate white wildflowers. I had specifically asked for wild flowers and nothing more pretentious like a rose. Other conquerors would have chosen roses or something expensive. The people, who lined the avenue, needed to see the wildflowers; that I wasn’t some conqueror, but the rightful heir who was raised among them. I was one of them.

I wished my father could have been riding beside me. To have been able to bring him home would have been my greatest joy. But war has its costs, and my father had paid the price early on. He had paid it so that I could ride up to the Capital with my armor, my army, and my mother at my side.

She was beautiful: mother. Grey streaking her hair, which she braided delicately around her head. Around her neck, on a silver chain, she wore my father’s wedding band, and had since the day they had returned his body to us. It was the only piece of jewelry she had chosen to wear, a small restraint at my own request. Though, she had managed to commission a new gown of lavender silk, embroidered in gold instead of the silver I was trying to brand everything with in my new world. She was a good woman, but not once had she lost her regal-ness. 

All around me, I could hear the snap of the velvet standard flags, a rearing stallion emblazoned in silver on each one, my personal crest. I had created it in the fading embers of a battle fire when I was just sixteen, a slice across my chin, the scar of which I still carried, and watched as the flames flickered into the shape. I knew then what my destiny was, and what we needed to do. Win back the Capital and win back my home. I lifted that scarred chin just a bit.

I scanned the crowd. They crushed together, a mix of the lower working and merchant classes. If the wealthy were there, they weren’t making themselves visible, and a part of me didn’t rightly care. They would either accept the change or not, but the people who mattered to me were here to watch me re-enter my home. That was all that mattered to me today.

My eyes settled on a small boy sitting on the shoulders of his father. He waved a dirty hand at me, the sort of dirty only a small child could acquire. A smile slid over my face and I raised an equally dirty and worn glove to wave back. He beamed, and bounced, and almost threw his father backward with the effort. I held back a laugh, and adjusted a scratched piece of the armor on my elbow.

General Merien had begged me to commission new armor before entering the city. His intentions had only ever been for my good. He had wanted me to look the part, and I supposed there was some value in that; certainly my father would have heeded his advice. I wasn’t my father, however, I was my own woman. Several months past my twenty first birthday and now empress. I would enter the city as myself: a battle worn knight with a scar on my chin, bad hearing in my left ear from a blow to the head at one point, and dirty leather gloves. I would not be some sparkling goddess who was untouchable.

“Really, Jade.” My mother kept the polite, regal smile on her face, back rigid in her seat. I braced myself but did not even shift my eyes in her direction. “You could have at least let me do up your hair. Something with ribbons, perhaps.”

It took a considerable amount of through to keep my face even. “Ribbons? I haven’t worn ribbons since I was a child.”

I didn’t have to look to know that she sagged a little bit. “Just would have been a nice touch.”

We were nearing the base of the stairs, when I would dismount my dear mare and climb the steps to a new future, which seemed altogether daunting. I chewed my bottom lip, a horrible habit, and finally glanced over at her. “Maybe,” then I held up a finger when she turned to me hopefully, “maybe you can braid my hair for the coronation.”

She smiled, and when she smiled, she was truly beautiful. My mother was the type of beauty that could be wearing burlap and still make knights fall at her feet. I was never quite sure if she knew that or not. “Just a few, I promise.” It would be more than a few, but I smiled back at her as the whole procession halted at the base of the tall tower of stairs. She reached out of me, her slender hand callused the way no Empress-consort ever should be, and I reached out and took her hand with my dirty glove. Her hand might have been small, but it was strong. She squeezed through the leather, holding mine tight for a long moment. There were tears in her green eyes, though I knew she’d never let them fall in the presence of so many people.

“Empress.”

Slowly, I turned in my seat to see General Merien at my other side, his hand outstretched. I hadn’t needed help dismounting a horse since I was five years old and could find a way to tumble out of the saddle on my own. A part of me wanted to swat it away, but the general wasn’t doing it because he thought I really needed assistance; it was a show, a sign of respect. It was something I was going to have to get used to, or so he had told me time and time again over the last two weeks as we made preparations for this moment.

I took a deep breath, my chest pushing against the metal of my armor. This was it. The moment my father had told me to remember all my life. A chill slithered down my spine, and the weight settled onto my shoulders. No longer “Sir Jade” or “General” but Empress. 

I extended my hand down to the general and deftly dropped to the ground. Brownie, my mare, tossed her head, and I gave her nose a gentle nuzzle. She would behave, I knew that, and she knew that, but she just wanted to remind me that it was her choice and not mine. Fine. I could live with that little bit. I couldn’t wait to see how she bossed her way around the stable horses here.

My feet stopped at the base of the stairs. There were two rises of stairs. In the middle where it hauled its steep incline for just a few feet, little children sat holding bouquets of flowers, probably ready to give them to me. I gave Merien a look.

“It wasn’t my suggestion. The Capital House-Mistress insisted.” Merien was hiding a smile, I could tell by the pull in the corner of his eyes.

“I didn’t practice holding all of those.”

The general shifted a shoulder ever so gently, “just pretend they are a bunch of swords, Empress.”

“Not helpful.”

He snorted, but then his face turned serious, and he grabbed my other hand, holding both of them. It was an oddly tender gesture for a man who had helped teach me how to shoot an arrow between someone’s eyes. “I have never been so proud. And I know he would have been too.”

I swallowed hard. I had not inherited my mother’s ability to keep a stoic face but I would not cry. While not a particularly vain person, I knew that I did not want to reach the top of the stairs splotchy and tear stained. “Thank you. Merien.”

The general gave me a deep brow before releasing my hands. There was no more stalling. The only thing left was to make the climb, and face the crowds. Those daunting crowds. Leading troops into battle and making battlefield speeches was easy. I’d been doing it all my life. What I was embarking on was a whole other matter.

“Right. Here we go.” I tossed the ridiculous cape they had all forced me to wear, and took the first step. Then another, and another until I was properly scaling the steps. With each step, I was further and further from the general and my mother, from the troops that felt like home. It was like I was ascending into the clouds and I wasn’t sure my wings were going to hold me up. Even the crowds were hushing, and I desperately wished they wouldn’t. 

I reached the plateau, and a woman in a navy silk dress and a sheer headdress waved the children forward. All four of them rushed up with bouquets of blue and white flowers, most of which I couldn’t identify. Their little faces were innocent, scrubbed clean, and eager to please. It was hard not to smile at them, though it was harder still to be graceful and take each bundle of flowers from bouncing, tiny arms. 

We managed it, though a flower dropped down to my feet. One little girl picked it up and offered it to me. “No, no. Why don’t you keep it safe for me?” Her face lit up, and she clutched the poor flower to her chest. The poor plant wasn’t going to make it crushed to her like that.

I walked up to the next set of stairs, the last set and paused next to the House-Mistress. “You know, I didn’t really need these.” I shifted the flowers a bit.

“You don’t, Empress,” her voice was low but soothing, “but they do.” She jutted her chin toward the crowds behind me. I refused to turn around. “You’ll have to excuse some ceremony. You’re not on a battlefield anymore.”

I gave her a look.

“Pardon my tongue.”

“Never pardon your tongue around me, House-Mistress. The day that happens, I expect you to give me a hard slap across my cheek.” And I meant it.

“The day that happens, Empress, you will have more to worry about than a slap from me.”

I liked her already. “I like you, House-Mistress.”

“And I like you, Empress. Now climb those stairs before you make a mess of these flowers.” She stepped away from me. My mother was going to adore her. Good. She needed a friend who wasn’t coated in mud, horse sweat, and stinking of camp fires.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs, my calves were burning, and I could feel the sweat dripping down the back of my neck. It was near noon, the sun beating down on all of us, when I turned to face the quiet crowd. My arms were laden with flowers, and the cape was pulling at the attachments in the merciful breeze. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do now that I was there. I had prepared a couple of speeches, but looking over everyone, they seemed so ordinary. 

A servant, a small woman, slipped up besides me, her head down, and slowly took the bundle of flowers from my arms. Before I could even thank her, she was gone, and I was left standing there awkwardly, the crowd waiting for me. My tongue was lead, my throat dry, until I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye. One of my standards. I nodded to myself, perfect.

In two swift steps, I strode over to the flag and snatched it out of its stand. With the wind picking up, lifting the heavy fabric into the air, I made my way back to the center. Once there, I took a moment. I looked over the masses, then down at my troops, at General Merien, and finally my mother. I held her gaze as I lifted the standard high above my head.

I said nothing, but the crowd roared.

I sat in the window bench in one of the central bedchambers. It wasn’t the “emperor's” room, that was I giving to my mother since she had shared it with my father and I thought she might like it, but it was the best of the guest chambers. The room would suit my purpose, looking out over the inner courtyard which would need some updating from its pretentious flowers that both my mother and I wrinkled our noses at when the fragrance had hit our noses.

My mother sat behind me, her slender fingers weaving my black curls into an elaborate plaited design. Playing with my hair was so soothing after the morning events, that I wasn’t even protesting whatever design she had settled upon. No doubt it would be far too fancy for my tastes, with one too many jeweled pins stuffed in it, but as the House-Mistress had told me, a little ceremony had to be excused. I could go back to my tunics and trousers tomorrow.

She hummed a little tune as she worked, the same one she used to sing to me when I was just a child, and father was on one of his campaigns. I closed my eyes until she patted my shoulders. “There. Fit for an empress.”

I glanced in the window, just making out my reflection. I sighed.

“I know,” Her face appeared next to mine, “but humor me for today, my little wildflower.”

Gently, I moved away from her and got up to pace about the room. It was filled with floral brocades and gold trimmed furniture. Everything would need to go. Except the bed. I had already tested the bed with a good leap, and it could stay. The final verdict would be tonight after I slept on it, but for now, I was pretty sure it would stay. 

“Only for today.” I dropped down onto the heavy wooden trunk of my things I had brought in, sitting at the foot of the bed. Behind me, a silk gown was laid out, a deep v cut into the neckline, and obnoxious long, draped sleeves. How I was to eat without dragging food about the table, I wasn’t sure. 

“And your wedding day.” My mother turned to face me, but didn’t leave the window. I glared. “Don’t look at me like that, wildflower. It’s not going to be your choice. You’re an empress now and a union will need to be made, for the safety of the Empire.”

I chewed my lower lip. At this rate, my lip would be raw before I could toast at the feast tonight. “Not for some time.”

“Sooner than later. You know this.”

I did. She was right. All the generals had hinted at it over the past few weeks. I was young, but in their minds, I also put myself in danger more than they’d like, and a marriage would add some stability. I hated the thought, quite liking my freedoms, but I supposed, just like ceremony, there were things the people needed that I would not like. Marriage being one of them. I shuddered at the thought of sharing a bed with some nameless man picked out by a committee. 

Seeing my discomfort, my mother rounded the bed, nudged me a little to give her space, and sat on the trunk beside me. “Your father and I were arranged. Carefully. We’ll just be more careful with your match, but know, you can only stall so long.”

I gave her a look and she chuckled. “Don’t underestimate my powers to stall. I am Empress now.”

“Yes,” she patted my knee and stood, “an empress who needs to change out of her riding leathers and prepare to put a crown on this head.”

I swiveled to look at the gown. How revealing it would be, even in yards of silk. No armor, or leather, or loose linen to hide in. “Must I?”

“Don’t be a child, Jade.” She scolded. I groaned, very child-like.

Before she could scold me more, a knock on the door interrupted her. I raised my hand vaguely. “Come in.”

The House-Mistress entered, same dress, but a more elaborately embroidered headdress. She bowed and stayed just inside the door. People standing so far away from me would be the first thing to go. I didn’t need the distance for protection; I could certainly protect myself. Nor did I care much about it from a respect level. The generals and I had shared small tents for headquarters for years.

“I’ve come to introduce you to your maid, Empress. So you may be on time for your coronation.” There was a subtle jab there. I bit back a snort of approval.

“A maid?” I frowned. My mother shot me a look of disapproval. “Right. Send her in.”

“Good.” The House-Mistress waved a hand and a young woman, probably three or four years my junior slipped in. 

She was a slight thing with a dress too large on her, but made of fine linen. Mousy brown hair peeked out from beneath her headdress that when the sun caught it, almost looked like gold. Her face was warm, full cheeked and though she kept her eyes down, I liked them. She looked trusting, like a sister or a distant cousin might.

“This is Amalthea. She’s a good girl, and the third daughter of one of your wealthiest lords, Lord Burley.” 

Ah, that explained the fine linen. 

“Well, a pleasure to meet you, Amalthea.” My mother, ever the diplomat, went over and took the small girl around the shoulders, leading her in. With a nod, she dismissed the House-Mistress as only a former empress-consort could. “Why don’t you and I both help the Empress today. She’s in a mood.”

I huffed. “I am not. I’m in a mood not to wear a dress that will catch on a random corner and drag me to the ground.”

Amalthea’s lips twitched toward a smile. Good. She had spirit, and mother seemed to like her already. No doubt Amalthea would be the daughter she never had in me. That would suit me just fine. Maybe she could focus her braiding on her in the future.

An hour of fussing later from both my mother and Amalthea, and I was standing facing the closed doors to the Grand Hall. As a child, I had never been invited into this space of the Capital. The ceilings floated into the sky in beautiful interlocking arches with paintings depicting the history of our empire. The doors were heavy, dark wood, carved with flowers and vines and stags. I was memorizing the little imperfections in the hand carving of one elaborate rose bloom when I heard trumpets on the other side of the door. 

My heart stopped.

I looked over at General Merien at my side, a stand-in from what should have been my father’s place. He gave me a comforting nodd, but I found little comfort in it. I was too bare. The dress hugged too many curves and exposed too much skin at my throat. I wanted my armor. Where was my armor?

The doors swung open and a long line of the most ridiculously dressed individuals in my Empire crowded before me. Their heads swiveled almost comically, jewels and chains jingling. I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the sight of it. All the wealth in the room, so much gold and velvet, even in the late summer heat, and outside these walls my people adorned themselves in linens and common stones. The latter was far more beautiful than the people before me. They were a stain, one I had plans to remove. The overdressed people before me would have to either adapt or leave. 

Their judgement flooded me in waves, raking down my athletic form, less voluptuous than most of the ladies, noting the calluses and scars, and deciding they found me wanting. I lifted my chin at them. What they found wanting, I was proud to flaunt. I hadn’t just waltzed into the Capital, but fought and bled for it. 

My mother was already waiting at the end of the long line of courtiers, and it was her soothing presence that drew me forward down the row. Slowly, step by step, I walked past them, refusing to even glance at their faces. There were quiet whispers from those furthest from me, but the clang of the armored men, some of my most trusted knights, drowned them out. I hadn’t lived twenty one years as a woman amongst men to be bothered by whispers. 

As I came to the steps that led up to the small platform where the throne sat, my mother stepped back, leaving the space open for me. Ceremony, I had to give them their ceremony. Well, a little bit of ceremony. I had no intention of putting on a coronation that would take more than an hour, as the holy men had dictated to me. When they had told me, I laughed in their faces. I was not going to kneel and stand and repeat pointless speeches. I told them I would repeat one oath and be crowned. This was a new empire and I did not have patience for the old.

The holy man I had selected, a sweet faced elder named Horrick, took my mother’s place near the edge of the top step. In his hands was a simple circlet, a hereditary crown from the time the Empire began, roughly forged with set rubies and emeralds. The first real thing about the whole day that felt authentic. I had already set about ensuring that my own personal circlet looked very similar.

As he stepped forward, the room fell still. This was it. Nothing would be the same again. He drew a breath. “From the First Age our emperors have been crowned with this circlet, forged by the first blacksmiths to signify the never ending, and unwavering leadership of our emperors. Many have fought for it, many more have died for it, and should it continue, many more will live to see it sit upon the head of our emperors to come. Today, we come to sit it upon a new emperor in a new age. We come together to forge a new promise that this great empire will remain strong and true. It is our promise from our emperor to us, just as it is our promise to do our part and pledge our duty to the crown.  

“Sir Jade Gwenyth Bertha Virillia, first of her name, the Silver Winged, General of the Twin Armies and Empress of our golden Empire, do you swear by the blood in your veins to hold true to your people. Protect them. Guide them. Love them as if they were all your own children, until the last breath has been uttered from your lips?”

I let the last echo of his voice die out, to make sure they were listening. With the glare of the sun in my eyes as I knelt before the holy man and dipped my head for him to better seat the circlet, I made my promise. “I, Sir Jade Gwenyth Bertha Virillia, first of my name, the Silver Winged, General of the Twin armies, promise by the blood in my veins to protect, guide, love, and above all, give my life for the people of our golden Empire until the day my last breath has left me.”

“Then by the power given to me by the Great God Above, I place this treasured crown upon your head. From this day forward you shall be Empress Sir Jade Gwenyth Bertha Virillia, first of her name, the Silver Winged, General of the Twin Armies. May your reign be long.”

The audience echoed, “May your reign be long.”

Gently, the holy man set the heavy silver circlet onto my head of braids, and I found myself thankful for all the plaiting my mother had done to protect my skull from the weight. I stayed kneeling there for a long moment, even after sweet Horrick had stepped back. Slowly, I lifted a hand to kiss my fingertips, then leaned forward to touch those same fingertips to the marble platform just before me. My own solemn promise to never let the weight of the crown distort my soul as it had so many other emperors before me.

I climbed to my feet, overly careful of the hem of my ridiculous dress and took the final steps to the dark wood throne waiting for me. Turning, I looked back over the crowd, their upturned faces and glittering jewels. I began to chew my bottom lip and abruptly told myself to stop. Instead of worrying it, I swept my arms wide, the draped fabric flying out of the way of the armrests as I took my seat.

“Hail Empress.” And the crowd knelt in a ripple.

I locked eyes with General Merien as he knelt. Nothing would be the same. I had the distinct feeling that I was locking myself into a cage of my own making. My life was not my own anymore. While I was proud to fulfil my father’s dream, I found myself mourning. Mourning for myself and the knighthood I had so long enjoyed.

#story #newstory #fantasy #epic #medieval #medievalfantasy #ladyknight #femalehero #writing #writer #novel #fiction #empress #chapterone

[prettycanarybird]

The New Story

Working Title: Heir- Apparent Jade made a promise to her father, that she would come back and reclaim the throne as the rightful Empress, and she did. Until a terrible accident drags her back to the beginning and she has to fight the war all over again. Maybe this time it will be different. Maybe she can save more people from violence. Or maybe someone else has followed her back and is looking to claim the throne for themselves.

#novel #fiction #newstories #newstory #writer #writing #epic #fantasy #medieval #medievalfantasy #femalehero #empress #empire

[prettycanarybird]

So it begins...

Just beginning a little writing tumblr to post my stories, any ideas or art for the stories and the like.  So let it begin!

#writer #writing #stories #fiction #novel