Chapter 2

A strange morning, the beginning of new things and maybe, the solutions to those presented problems of the future. How will things unfold?

 “Elszris has been touched many times by forces unknown and unnamable to men and beast alike. Many, powerless against them, fall to their whim. While those few who resist, are still swayed by their will. Yet, there are those seldom beings who can wholly stave off the infection. It is these who persist, and these who will be our salvation“ - R’diochaus of the Starhand.

It seemed, to the king, that his problems always came from afar, rather than from abreast, he mused as he stood in the royal library. It was as if they crept up such as a spider might do. He could not fathom it, why would they strike now? He was sure they had been appeased….

“You cannot appease them…” he turned, it was Monea’s voice he heard. There was a soft smile on her face as he gazed upon her; though the woman was worried. “Why? All men can be appeased, even animals my dear, so why not the Ki’int?” Monea shook her head and came to him, gently laying her hand on his cheek and smiling comfortingly “Because the Ki’int are neither men, nor beast.” She reached up and kissed his forehead comfortingly, the rage she had displayed before was gone, Jen would never know.

Jen’s lips parted in a smile and he embraced her, his queen, his love, and behind his back she smiled coyly.

- - - - -

Dreams, no, nightmares, plagued him. Raal had barely slept, though he praised the stars for what little rest he had gleaned from the night. He had thought himself doomed to sleeplessness, but he found that while the ache had not left him, it had indeed receded, becoming a dull pain in the back of his mind.

With a sigh he stretched and moved from his bed to don his clothes. A servant knocked and he replied “what?” His tone rather disgruntled by the interruption so soon after his waking. “U-uhm…. Her majesty has summoned you.” Smiling to himself he continued to dress then realized he had not sent off the servant, “Off with you then, to your duties, squander no time here boy.” It was almost as if the servant had gone before his sentence was finished, so eager he had been to depart.

Taking no mind to the boy, Raal finished adorning himself in his usual garb: bracers upon his forearms, chainmail beneath his adorned cloth shirt, the sleeves long and the fit loose for comfort. He had opted out of his grieves and other more battle-necessary armor as he was unlikely to need such things at a moment’s notice. Despite this mentality he finished the process by fastening the scabbard of his blade, its bejeweled pommel displayed magnificently, and its edge hidden within its casing of leather, adorned with splays of gold and silver in ornate patterns.

As he walked to the door and placed his hand against it he glanced down to the pommel of his blade, Raielna, and for a moment the darkest of bloody smiles marred his face, but only that moment before he shivered and opened the door. The look of darkness gone.

- - - - -

Arriving at the door of the royal library, Raal nodded to each guard, and pushed the door open, his station and official summoning far superseding their right to stop him --not that they could. Entering, he glanced about till his eyes lay upon the silken fabrics of the Queen’s gown. He smiled briefly, admiring her form, “you called my queen,” Raal said as he approached her where she stood at the sill of a great window.

“Indeed I did Sir Raal,” her tone was matter-of-fact, business-like. It was far different from the anger of their previous encounter. “Tell me Raal, why is it that I did not know of their arrival before the others?” The Knight flinched slightly, but stood his ground, she still had not turned to face him. “My queen, I have no excuse for you.” The air was tense, but when Monea turned, there was only a calm seriousness on her face. He detected only a hint of annoyance that remained from her passing anger. Her form gliding towards him, seeming as if she barely touched the ground as she walked, Raal could not help but be enthralled. Looking up at him,she sighed lightly and smiled, only to quite suddenly strike him across the face once more. The Knight gritted his teeth, doing well not to make any comment or look of distaste, but in the veil of his mind rose rage.

Monea’s hand caressed his chin briefly following the act of violence, and then flowed back to her side as she walked past him. “As I told you, your mind is not your own dear Raal. Suppress your rage, it is unbecoming of you”. Raal seemed to almost growl, but he did well not to look at the woman he loved. For she was not his lover, though she surely knew of his affections. She was his queen and his master, and he had no right to disobey her rule. Not even the will to do so if he had the right. It still bothered him, this slavery.

“Raal, what is it you’re not telling them then, if you did not come to me first?” Raal took a deep breath and expelled his anger as best he could and preceded to respond, “I did not tell them…” he begun in tense tones “…that our defensive line has been annihilated”.

Monea smiled, he saw it as she passed by him, opposite from before. “Such a loyal knight,” again her mood had shifted, she seemed pleased and it only made his jaw tense. He felt trapped, as if she were a circling predator and he her prey.

This was not far from the truth. After all, he might as well have been slave to her will, for with the power she possessed, he could not escape and disobeying led only to punishment. The headache that still duly afflicted his mind was proof of that.

Simply disappointing her earned him more than just her ire, which was bad enough. “Oh dear, don’t make such an expression, you are far more handsome when you smile,” her hand graced his jaw and he flinched, evoking a light laugh from the temptress of a queen. “I like you better when you are pleased,” there it was, the sensation, the response from his body almost without his will. Again her voice was like honey in his veins, permeating him with a corrupting sweetness, weakening his wit, and dulling his resistance in one fell blow. His jaw relaxed and she smiled, that wonderful smile that he could not resist. He wished he could just reach out and…and what? He berated himself, turning away from her gaze. She lifted her hand away and sighed. A pain from the stab of her disappointment striking him.

“That is fine Raal, I understand, but regardless I do have another task for you. I would hope that you could help me,” she said it almost as if he had a choice. Why could he not resist her charm? Why was he so weak against her?

“What is this task my queen,” the knight said tensely, looking to her again, an act out of respect and the compulsion to gaze upon her visage. “Oh only a simple thing, dear knight…” she paused, lifting her fingers deftly to her bosom, drawing his wanting eyes, and extracting a small device. Raal shivered as a measure of power fluxed from the object and washed over him. He tore his eyes from the mysterious device and looked back into her’s, “What do you wish of me?” Her smile grew.

“Only for you to place this on our guest,” Raal’s brow furrowed “the merchant?” Monea nodded in response and placed the strange device in his hands. “I trust that you will know how when the time comes,” and with that she glided back to the window, streams of golden light illuminating her, but she said no more. So, finally, barely able to pull himself from her, Raal strode off, the strange device in hand. He wished he at least knew what he would be subjecting the merchant to, for though he did not prefer the man’s presence, he surely did not believe that any being deserved whatever Monea gave them, even if it were veiled in pleasure.

Yet, Raal knew he could not afford to defy, not again. Even if he did not risk himself by doing so, he could not handle the sadness, false or not, that she held in her eyes when he failed her. It was a cruel curse, this love he felt, for he knew that she could never return it. He knew that had she wished to, she would still have been incapable; for no longer were their minds their own.

Reviews

[Sacsen Foote]

A good job I don't have any specific comments on this chapter. I look forward to future chapters, perhaps I'll have more to say about those :p. I'm liking it.