The women pointed the mirror bravely to the enemy’s ships. The smaller ships burned faster compared to the bigger ships which only created a little fire. When the smaller ships sank, the giants scooped the Spaniards like toy soldiers. Whenever their ship started to burn, they will scoop seawater using a wooden dipper and put out the fire immediately. They tried to blind the giants using the mirror’s reflection but they covered their eyes with their hands. They rowed their ships towards the island as fast as they could. The men fired the canon to capsize their ships and killed the giants but they were not able to harm their bodies because they were wearing metal armors from head to foot. They failed to capsize their ships due to its massiveness. They were only able to create a small whole on it.
Queen Raya had never been horrified in her life before. It was the worst nightmare she ever had. She wanted to wake up from her nightmare. She was having difficulty breathing. She wanted to wake up from her nightmare before she would get suffocated. But she couldn’t wakeup because it wasn’t just a mere nightmare, it was her present reality.
The giants walked calmly towards the shore of Camotes island. They scooped the Spaniards and put them down on the shore.
“That was a very warm and friendly way to welcome your visitors. I never thought that Maharlikans are so hospitable in a very unique way.” Mahlik, the king of the giants said.
Queen Raya froze in fear. She couldn’t hardly believe that she just stood face to face with the biggest giant she had ever seen. The worst part was that the Spaniards didn’t only come back with one giant but with ten giants. They knew that they couldn’t conquer the Maharlikans so they brought ten giants to assure their victory. They were cowards pretending to be in authority when in truth was they were hiding under their mother’s skirts when terror strikes.
“Who is your king?”
Queen Raya trembled. She was speechless. She tried to open her mouth but no sound came out.
“Really? You don’t have a king or a queen in your island. That’s a pity. Don’t worry, you can have me as your king. We will not devour you if you will bow down and worship us.
Queen Raya was horrified and was disgusted. She would rather die than worship the filthy giants.
“We will not worship you for there is no other God greater than Yahweh! Get out from our island and go back to the place where you came from!”
The giants guffawed.
“You’re small but terrible. We didn’t travel this far only to be insulted and pushed away by a weakling like you!”
Mahlik picked up a Maharlikan warrior and ate him alive. All the islanders were horrified.
“That was a delicious breakfast. That’s exactly what will happen to all of you if you will not obey me!”
Queen Raya lost her balance. Felipe caught her before she fell on the ground. He was so angry with what the giant did to the islander.
“What exactly do you want?!”
“Felipe, your majesty. We didn’t expect that we will find you here. We thought that you were already devoured by the beasts inside the gladiator arena.” Fernando Magallanes said (King Phillip’s commander-in-chief and right hand).
While Fernando Magallanes was speaking, Ahmad translated his words to Queen Raya and Shiloh.
Felipe clenched his fist.
“Your majesty?” Queen Raya whispered.
“I told you before but you refused to listen to me.” Shiloh whispered.
“You don’t know him? If you are the queen of this island, you are the most foolish queen in the world. If you don’t know him yet, King Felipe used to be the King in Spain before he was overthrown by his stepbrother King Phillip. He was betrayed and sold as a slave in Rome by his stepbrother. Once you are a slave in Rome, it will be very difficult for you to escape. I don’t know how you are able to escape in that hellhole. The most clever part is that you become the queen of Maharlika’s close ally. I am not sure if you are her right hand or her lover or both but there’s only one thing that I’m sure of, you are the most successful conqueror among us. You did not only conquer the kingdom of Maharlika but also the heart of the bravest queen in the world. We’ve heard about her feat when she travelled the other side of the world and killed a giant. I never heard of a queen like her. Most of the queens are pampered inside the palace with ladies-in-waiting doing nothing but knitting. But Queen Raya is one of a kind warrior queen. You should have come back in Spain and told us about your greatest achievement so that we would have put you back in your rightful throne and overthrow that useless pretender of the throne King Phillip.”
“I would rather be a slave in the kingdom of Maharlika than be a king in Spain.”
“Are you stupid? You wanted to give up your good life for the sake of your lover. You can find more beautiful woman who will throw themselves willingly to you once you will become a king again.”
“I would rather trade thousands of the most beautiful woman in the world with Queen Raya. For there’s no other woman in the world that can ever take a special place in my heart but her. My life used to be devoid of meaning until she came along and filled the void. I don’t care if I will be a slave forever as long as I am with the greatest love of my life. I will give up everything I have even my throne for the sake of her.”
“I don’t know what type of love potion that your queen poured down into your throat for you to be enchanted with her but I don’t think that you belong here. You belong to your rightful throne in Spain. We will be giving you one more chance. Will you join force with us, conquer this people and be our king from now on?”
“No! I would rather be a slave to Queen Raya than be your king!”
“So be it then. Let’s burn down the houses and the people living in this island!”
“Wait! You don’t have a right to do it! We will fight until our last breath!”
“How can you defeat our giants with your small size? If you will submit yourselves to the King of Spain as our slaves, be baptized as Roman Catholics and follow the Roman stature, we will no longer burn you down!”
“What’s your decision now?” Shiloh whispered to Queen Raya.
“We would rather die fighting than be your slaves!” Queen Raya exhorted.
“Let the battle begin!”
YOU ARE READING
A Paradise Lost
Historical FictionRianna spent most of her time in the library during the last period of her class to avoid her boyfriend and her best friend who broke her heart. While scanning through the bookshelves, she accidentally discovered a pre-Spanish Philippine history boo...
