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Queens of Treason #931716 added March 29, 2019 at 7:43pm
Restrictions: None
Chapter 1
 
 Chapter 1
Princess Saedah
Princess Saedah popped a ripe grape into her mouth, chewing as she tried to form the right words. A stream of morning sunlight highlighted the breads, fruits, meats, and fancy tarts on the tray in her father’s private chambers. Across from her, her father sat chewing on a piece of meat. Just say it, she thought. All she had to do was tell him the truth and announce her goal as the future queen of Nardor. But at age eighteen, saying that she wanted her legacy to be that of a warrior queen felt like she might be putting chains around her wrists for the rest of her life.
Footsteps echoed on the marble hall throughout the palace. Princess Saedah glanced up at her father, who had taken another mouthful of food. She exhaled the deep breaths, listened, then spoke. “Call the guards.”
Her father looked up at her with a questioning look on his face, but he didn’t reply.
“Those footsteps,” she said. “they’re not normal. They seem to be coming from the secret passages.”
Her father shook his head. “Only messengers know the secret passages. We’ll be fine. I doubt anyone is coming for us.”
She chewed her lip. “Something feels off. I swear.”
After a few moments of silence, a hooded figure slipped up behind her father. Princess Saedah stood, backing away from the person, ready to scream. But after a split second, the person drove the knife through the king’s throat, leaving him in a crumpled position on the chamber’s carpet. Princess Saedah screeched as the person strode towards her, a knife in hand. Her heart raced. She reached for her side to feel nothing. Her own sword laid in her own bedchamber.
She turned toward a window which overlooked the capitol city, Serdran, as well as the ocean and mountains beyond. After taking off a heavy ring, she hurled it at the window panes. Without another moment to waste, Princess Saedah hurled herself at the sizable crack, shattering the class. She grimaced from the pain in her arms before she jumped off her father’s balcony and onto the rooftop below.
She darted across the roof then grappled the edges with her fingers as she hoisted herself onto the ground. She panted. She couldn’t just stay out here like this; without guards or a sword she wouldn’t last long against the assassins. To add, the shock of her father’s murder slapped her insides. At that moment, there were only two people she wanted to see.
Once she reached Korinas’ private champers, Princess Saedah collapsed onto a purple settee. She panted, fighting the urge to release an onslaught of tears. Her trusted adviser remained silent, but the middle-aged woman kept an tense gaze on the princess. Princess Saedah massaged her temples as she fought the sadness. It wasn’t much of an hour earlier that she was trying to tell her father something important. The bloodied form of her father haunted her. She remembered the moments before, urging him to call a guard.
“I,” Princess Saedah paused, not quite sure of her own words despite being there to witness the king’s death. “His Majesty is dead. Murdered. I was right there.”
Korinas placed her drink next to Princess Saedah’s abandoned teacup. “Your father? What happened? How?”
Princess Saedah shook her head. “I don’t know. First, my mother dies from a plague. Now, with my father . . .that goddamn assassin slipped into his champers and stabbed him.”
“Your Highness, I am sorry,” Korinas said.
“It was just the two of us,” Princess Saedah said. “I just wanted a moment with my own father.”
The two women drank their spiced tea in silence. Korinas adjusted a jewel embedded in her black curls. Korinas gave a grim smile, her charcoal eyes displaying a deep sadness. Princess Saedah’s hand froze on her cup as she gave the woman a blank stare, not sure of what else she should say. She closed her eyes, inhaled a deep breath, then turned to a nearby window.
“According to the Treaty of Ascension, one cannot take the throne unless they are over twenty five and the four other sovereign states recognize their rule,” Princess Saedah let out a long sigh. She grimaced as she spoke of her father’s death. It was as if a sheer layer of denial protected her from the full weight of an ugly truth: her father was dead. “even still, I must summon them and try to gain my throne. We cannot leave Nardor with a central power.”
Korinas frowned. “I agree. But maybe we should take you to a physician first to see about your arms.”
At that moment, Princess Saedah couldn’t fight back her tears. “I need my guards.”
“Of course,” Korinas said. “I’ll be right there if you need anything.”
As the evening sun set over the city, Princess Saedah made her way up the temple’s shiny white steps. Her guards trailed behind her, nodding at the men outside the ornate doors with intricate carvings into the arches. Inside, the marble floor looped around, scenes depicted in golden patterns. Three doors lead to the sanctuary, multiple golden fountains mounted on the wall.
After she washed her hand and dribbled water on her forehead, Princess Saedah entered a room with an ornate ceiling adorned with multiple paintings from various stories. Golden statues of multiple gods filled the room with several rows of benches and kneeling pads before them. A few people milled into the sanctuary for their evening prayers, picking a god or goddess they wished to obtain power from. Princess Saedah turned to a man with two swords, and she knelt in the front row. She trembled as a priest stepped toward her.
“Your Highness,” he said. “how may I guide you today?”
She inhaled a deep breath. “I am here to call upon Ediss’ power for war.”
The priest gave a mournful sigh, then turned to one of the lesser priests. “Bring out the garments and ornaments for the proceedings.”
The lesser priest disappeared, leaving Princess Saedah in a silence which lasted too long. She trembled. It wasn’t the fact that she was calling on the god of war for his powers, it was the reason why. With her father gone, she didn’t know how to handle the unrest which might follow. Another tear slipped down her cheek, but she paid little attention to it.
Once the main priest had his materials, he handed her a red shawl. “This represents the blood of your enemies.”
Princess Saedah took the shawl, comparing it to the deep umber skin on her fingers. She wrapped it around herself, letting the beaded edges fall to the floor.
After handing her a golden-colored shawl, the priest spoke once more. “This represents your own purity and prosperity.”
She took it, placing it on top of the red shawl. Heat spread through her shoulders as she waited for the next ornaments. For a brief moment, she lost herself to her thoughts and plans, analyzing the sickness in her stomach.
Finally, the priest placed a golden ringlet of laurels onto her braided black hair. “This represents your rule and sovereignty throughout the fight. I need you to swear the warrior and leader’s oath.”
“I swear to lead my people through times of turmoil,” she said through a shaky breath. “I solemnly pledge to lead them with courage, sacrificing my own life as needed. May I do my best to follow my promise to Ediss and her commands, to raise an army, and to lead my people to victory.”
“Rise,” the priest said. “embrace your role. May the Godess, Ediss, endow you with his blessings.”
For a brief moment, Princess Saedah couldn’t feel anything different. But soon fear rose inside her as she embraced the oath and the blessing she just took. Ediss’ blessings often were the kind which tended to hurt more than all the others.
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© Copyright 2019 Anders J. Miller-Go Big Red! (UN: andersmiller at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Anders J. Miller-Go Big Red! has granted InkSpot.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work. |
About This Author
Fantasy novelist, poet, college student, Kerri J. Miller spends much of her free time thinking about her writing. She has eight novels in the rough draft stage, two incomplete novel drafts and several ideas she has yet to hone and craft. Her main goal in writing is to produce quality works. When she's not writing, Kerri can be found working on digital art, tinkering with personality tests, or surfing the internet.
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