Perranth With You

16

Manon

Abraxos barrels toward the castle, only a couple kilometres away.

We've been flying since Lorcan and I witnessed the brutal end forced upon my witches. My witches. How dare they touch them. And how dare they believe there will be no repercussions.

I catch sight of below as civilians watch as we fly past, casting a flashing shadow across their houses. So much effort put in to save these people and these roads. Yet completely useless in the end.

How the evils come chasing when the peace has come at last.

I refuse to let any ego or powers even attempt to stop what will inevitably come true. They will be destroyed, and I will take everything they worked for, everything they believed in first.

So they know how it feels.

How it feels to lose everything and anything and what it takes to come back from it. Except they won't come back. None of them will. There will be no exceptions.

Abraxos slows, nearing the castle tower. The wind slows against my body, but the pressure builds on my shoulders. The top window of the tower opens.

This is who I need and who needs me. Two birds with one stone.

"They're killing them. Give me what I need and I shall irradicate the problem." No questions, no need for them.

All I get in return is a nod, and they turn and get to work.
- - -
Elide
Another council meeting has been ordered. Except this time, I did the ordering.

We have no time for their antics now, not with matters more pressing than their last meeting topic. All have answered accept one. Lorcan said he'd deal with it.

I asked for them to meet here, at the manor. Yrene and Chaol have asked to join, and neither I nor Chaol want her pushing herself, she's too close to her due date now. Any day we suppose.

The meeting isn't until tomorrow morning, as many have excuses as to why they could not attend this evening.

Yrene asked to take a walk with myself and Chaol out in the gardens, but Chaol explained he was called to another matter, so I push Yrene in her chair along the footpath outside.

She was dismissive of the chair when we suggested it to her, but when we reminded her of the link between her strength and her husband's ability to walk, she finally agreed. Now was not the time for weakness. And I know she would feel endless guilt if Chaol were to be hurt.

The day is bright. Not too sunny as to be breathless and flushed, the light breeze taking care of the sun's harsh gaze. I let the wind wash over me, imagining as if it were taking with it all the pressure and problems carefully thrown into our midst. As if it were hand-picked especially for us.

These new villains in this story will not last. They will not destroy any more lives. Criminals are a gift and a curse. We can flush out the bad when they finally reveal themselves. No longer hiding in the back, waiting and pondering on their wrong doings.

Of course there are those who need to break laws for survival, I know and understand why it must be done. All too personally. Most people in this world will enact a crime for good rather than bad, for the benefit of their lives and the people around them.

Our own Queen is probably the best example of this. Before, some detested the idea of her ruling because of what she needed to do to survive. What she needed to do for others to survive.

It is important for rulers to understand the difference between a "good crime" and a "bad crime". They both break the rules but one is so much worse than the other. Sometimes it may be difficult to find the difference and enact on it with the right justifications, but trying is better than not trying at all.