An Oath Of Lords And Ladies (ARTK, Book 1)

Chapter 46

Ocono 2nd, 3328 A.G

Maude sat in a chair next to her chamber window, half reading and half glaring at the square below. Words could not describe her annoyance at the queen for coming back, though she knew to expect it eventually. She'd only gotten through a page of The Beckett Family And It's histories in what felt like hours, though it'd likely been far less than that since they arrived. Those who'd come with the queen were all still in the square for one reason or another, and though she couldn't understand why someone would support a queen or king- they fascinated her.

The King Ashhand, who'd married into both his title and the family's name- had just finished talking to a small group of common people, and was shaking one of their hands. Maude's eyes narrowed. In the past, one did not touch a king. One would only bow or curtsy, but he was letting people touch him.

Perhaps he was reasonable to a point, but Maude still couldn't support the Queen, the woman who'd taken rule of her family's territory.

  When the king dismissed the commoners he'd been talking to, he was mostly left alone- though he was still in sight of the advisor and guard commander they'd brought with. He looked around, eyeing the front entrance to the main house-and then glanced over the square. It felt smaller to him than the last time they'd been there, since it was more crowded- but to Maude it was just a normal day's crowd. She propped herself up on her elbows, finally having given up on reading for the day.

  The advisor and guard commander- Lennix and Tuyon if Maude remembered correctly, were laughing about something. She would have eavesdropped, if the square weren't so crowded and too large for her to hear from her window anyways. Tuyon patted lennix on the shoulder, then pointed at the alley Maude had been told never to go down.

  Maude's mother wouldn't speak of the place and had always taught Maude it was a shameful one- so she'd asked her brother and he was honest as always. The building at the end of it was a whorehouse, he'd said. That would explain why she'd always seen (mostly) men looking over their shoulders as they walked to it, some with hoods that covered half of their faces. The cold was a good excuse for the hoods, she could admit.

  Lennix shrugged. Renard looked at the ground. Lennix had been to quite a few of the places in his time alive- but Tuyon had traveled more and had more years on them both. Things were so chaotic last time they'd been here that Tuyon didn't have a chance to visit the whorehouse, or the whore his age that he preferred over the others in their early twenties.

  It'd been a while for both of them. Lennix was a lot of things; a spy and traitor even, but he was not a rapist and none of the fifty six women in Nara's Army had been in the mood as of late. He followed Tuyon down the alley, while Renard insisted he'd be fine alone. A few dozen paces away, Aises had just grabbed a large sack of garlic heads to make extra healing salve with- as what she'd been able to bring would only go so far. While she was handing coin over to the merchant, her eyes narrowed- then she reached forward and grabbed a small jar of valerian root as well. Should I have to amputate any limbs, the soldier will have no complaints- she thought.

  The valerian plant was one of only a few that could truly grow no matter the heat or cold, dryness or moisture surrounding it- so it wasn't like she'd have a hard time finding the whole things, and the root was incredibly expensive because of it's ability to make suffering people fall into a long sleep almost instantly.

  Aises could admit she hadn't brought enough, but was one jar worth so much coin when she might be able to find it wild?

Yes- she decided. I will not allow someone to go through pain because I decided to take my chances.

  She reached into a small sack to pay for the root as well, then was startled by a hand on her shoulder. When she turned, she came face to face with a woman she thought she'd never see again.

"Vanora?" It'd been forty years since the last time they met, but she could never forget those eyes or that smile. They'd been friends as children, lost touch when Aises left so young to become a good witch-

Then all but ran into each other's arms when she went home for her brother's ascension ceremony, as nothing had changed- and still hadn't.

Vanora was as beautiful as she remembered- with a few extra wrinkles, same as her. Vanora's hair was a deep red that shouldn't have been possible for their age, her lips looked softer, and the dress she wore looked like it belonged on the continent Bracari- not Ebon. Aises gulped.

  "Aises- what are you doing here?" Vanora wrapped her arms around Aises, who did the same a few moments later.

  "Serving my queen." She shrugged. "Are you not cold?"

"I don't get cold." Vanora smirked. "Blood magic can help you with almost anything."

  Aises recoiled. Vanora used to be like her; rejecting even the idea that they could practice banned magic, so she'd hoped her ears were deceiving her.

  "Blood is...Vanora...."

  "Banned, yes." Vanora nodded. "But Aises I kept a two year old alive who would have otherwise died from his sickness. I mean, you have to ask yourself- is something that can save a babe's life so bad?"

  Aises barely had her mouth open before Vanora started talking again.

  "And if you've already got the blood, why not do a little for yourself while it's fresh?" She twirled a piece of hair around her finger. "In our younger days my hair used to be so beautiful.. and now it is again. Your life could be so much better if you'd take the stick out of your-"

  "I practice the healing arts and nothing more. You should be grateful I love you too much to report-" Before Aises could finish her sentence a horn was blown, so loud that she had to cover her ears. In the square, everything went still.

As the horn blew over and over and over again, civilians and fighters alike crammed into the square until Aises lost Vanora. Tuyon and Lennix came out of the whorehouse pulling their breeches up and began making their way to the front of the crowd, so that was what Aises did too.

Renard did not move until Nara stepped out of the doors of the main entrance to the main house with Lord Beckett and most of the family trailing behind, then he did so quickly because she had that look about her that she often wore before speeches. The commoners moved aside as he made his way towards her- yet he felt out of place when he mounted the steps to stand slightly behind her.

  She'd bathed, dried off, had a servant brush her hair, and was wearing a borrowed- but clean blue dress. The intricate crown that sat on her head during these speeches was there as well, along with her sword. Stories had spread of what'd happened here and how many she'd killed, though most- even the guard's families, did not blame her for what happened. They'd been taking orders, and she was just trying to stay alive.

Renard knew what to expect because of why they were there, but he couldn't have imagined how quickly her words would draw support when his had failed horribly.

  "(Insert some fucking inspiring speech here in editing idk I have writers block as I'm typing this)

......And so we will gather every able and willing fighter the continent has to offer. We will create a better world by ending the reign of  'Commanding lords and ladies.'  We will take ships across the sea and do so in the other two continents. Let us take the world with honor, but let us do it by force if necessary. I have made my oaths to you, and I only need one in return." Nara said, something in her eyes that terrified Renard. "I am well aware that at least half of House Beckett's fighters- who are my fighters, must stay to man the walls and keep the peace, but to the rest of you I give this choice: take the oath of service to me, or refuse if you don't want to take it and none will harm you."

That day, not a single soldier who'd been offered the choice to refuse did so. That day, Nara brought two thousand and five more men into her army.

  That day, as Maude continued to watch from her window with widened eyes- she stopped hating Nara, not because she gave a good speech- but because she saw her way to becoming a warrior who would be remembered for centuries.