Artemisia

Prologue

"I'm going to tell you the story of Artoria Pendragon, one of the fiercest warriors there was."

I sat in my mother's lap and listened intently.

"Long ago there was a place called Camelot. Hidden in this land was a queen who concealed the fact that she was a woman from the rest of the world. She battled monsters, had knights and a strategist who she trusted her life with and in turn they entrusted her with theirs. This woman would come to be known as King Arthur."

I tilted my head in confusion and my mom picked up on it. She patted my head and smiled. Comforted by her, I leaned into her embrace.

She continued where she left off. "She was faster than the other knights. Her skill and battle prowess made her enemies fear her. However, they feared the man that they thought she was. Unable to shed her mask to the world, she remained hidden behind the facade that was created for her."

I started to yawn, but my mother continued her story.

"Her chivalry was unparalleled and her leadership is what made others follow her."

I could feel myself drifting to sleep as my mother held me in her arms. She carried me to my bed and the last thing I heard her say was;

"But the truth is what always remained hidden throughout her life and beyond that. However, she never lost hope that all of this would one day change, my dear Artemisia."