Runes and Royalty

Brother and Sister

Her majesty balanced a dagger carved from dragon bone on a finger while listening at the battlement's formation practice calls. She was dreadfully bored, and had nothing to do. The strategist was utterly stupid, planning on flanking when he is putting the soldiers in danger by giving the enemy a chance to flank them instead. Then the door opened, and her dagger left her hand immediately when someone went inside the room. 

He caught it around, and it landed shivering on a book case. A man in a black cloak and a satin shirt with ruffles walked to her and kissed her hand.

"Kevan. . ." the queen smiled at her henchman. She looked at him. "Have you done it?" 

"Yes, your majesty," he answered. Her hand was still in his. 

"Good then. He'll never make his way back here again." She stood up, her gown shimmering red in the sunlight. "Didn't I promise you, Kevan? That we'd rise up and rule?"

"Yes you did, your majesty."

"I swore we would. All those years that mother and father had locked me in that cell, making sure that my puny brother would get the crown, all because they thought I would be a bother to the kingdom," she spat, and then wrenched the knife off the bookcase, and stared at the picture of her mother and father, the former rulers of The Kingdom of the Blazing Springs. It had been 7 years since they died. Or more like died from the poison she and Kevan had brewed.

Oh yes, she could still picture it in her eye. Brewing that poison was incredibly easy. Just a few Death Herbs, Snake berries, Stramonium, and Mandrake roots, and they fell dead as a door nail on the dinner table. And on that day, she executed all the people who had seen that. And she never regretted it. 

"Your majesty," Kevan's voice brought her back to reality. "Have you heard the news recently? In the city."  

"What is that?" she asked. Her face an impassive mask. 

"Thieves are raging through it. Would you like to do something about it?"

"No. Why would I? They have to deal with it, as long as I have food in my own belly." 

"Anyway, may I ask one question, your majesty?" he said and pulled out a book from the book case she had stabbed a while ago. "Why did you let him go?"

She turned to look at him. "Because. . ." she purred and traced her knife on his jawline. "Because he doesn't have any use to me after all. He'll be a nuisance if he calls on anybody in that cell. And to where I've sent him, in that Sybillia place, it is said that the people there kill the strangers on sight. Don't ask me anymore," she walked to her couch and reclined on it. "I'm tired. Send for the cook. I want Golden Honey Pudding."

"Yes, your majesty."

                                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        The horse was panting so heavily now, and the wound on his chest was bleeding terribly. It doused his shirt a crimson red, and his hair stuck to his head in the rain. Panting, he looked around for anything, anyone that could help him. The horse couldn't go on any longer, and as it was about to fall, he used the last of his strength to jump off it. His face pressed against the mud, and upon opening his eyes, he saw a blurry figure walk towards him. 

"H-help... me..." he whispered. The dark figure came closer. He saw that the figure was holding a bow and arrow. Is he going to kill me? He thought. And the world went black. 

~~~~

        The next time he woke up wasn't anymore in the luxurious bed he was used to, but on a hammock with pillows that were as hard as a sack of rice. He opened his eyes ever so slightly and spotted a strand of red hair. He could hear a faint sound, but he couldn't quite distinguish what it said. When his eyes came to focus, it was to see a red-haired girl with green eyes that resembled the leaves of the trees he used to climb back where he lived. Worry was etched into the girl's face.