Runes and Royalty

Plans and Plots

Her majesty, Queen Lilith of the Blazing Springs, was in a pensive mood. She stood at the window of her aquamarine-frilled sitting room, in the palace at Ferra, watching the major comanders take charge of the Omnibus in training. There was still no news of the whereabouts of her brother, and the two men she had secretly hired to kill him. To the authorities, she didn’t tell them of course.

A small tap sounded on her huge doors, but Lilith stayed where she was, looking at the soldiers. “Come in,” she called impassively. Kevan, wearing his handsome grey doublet walked in, looking sullen and troubled. He bowed.

“I bring news, your majesty. And visitors,” he said, his head still bowed down. Lilith frowned; there was a drop of guilt in his voice.

“Visitors first,” she said without turning.

Kevan stood up uneasily. “He’s a Magaian, and he says you know him.”

“Oh?”

“He says his name is Zir A’naog.” He layed a hand on the hilt of his sword. “I don’t really trust him, your majesty.”

Lilith tore her gaze away from the marches, and picking up her skirts, she made her way to the couch, and layed down luxuriously. “I know him. He’s my associate. Show him in, please.”

“And,” Kevan displayed a disgusted expression, “there’s a woman with him, she uses such language your Majesty might prefer not to hear.”

Lilith smiled deviously. “That must be Exandra. I heard her swear before, but we agree on the same terms. Please show them in.”

If she had heard right, Kevan gritted his teeth together. “At . . . once, your majesty.” Kevan bowed again and then closed the door behind him.

Zir A’naog looked as shabby as ever. At some point, the shoulder seam of his long black overcoat had given way and had been rudimentarily repaired with a piece of rawhide thong. His beard was coarse and scraggly, his hair was unkempt, and he looked like he didn’t take a bath for a very long time. “Your excellency,” he said grandly, attempting a bow which was marred a bit by an unsteady lurch.

“Drunk already, Master Zir?” Lilith asked him archly.

“No, not really, Lilith,” he replied unabashed. “It’s just a little from the journey last night.”

The queen wasn’t offended by the Magaian’s use of her first name. Zir’s grip on formality had never been firm, though sometimes, she was really tempted to behead him on the spot. But she couldn’t, since Zir was the one who told her the whereabouts of the other kingdoms.

Now, she wasn’t worried about her name, she was worried about last night. Her men still hasn’t arrived that morning, and it was sending her butterflies in the stomach.

“What about last night, Zir?” she asked anxiously, her hands shaking a little, which she had hidden underneath the fabrics of her gown.

“They didn’t succeed. We didn’t succeed.” The woman who stepped out of Zir’s shadow was a stunningly beautiful Magaian with dark red hair and icy blue eyes. She was dressed in a tight-fitting leather trousers and a black doublet. A silver-hilted dagger protruded from each of her boot tops, and two more were tucked under the leather belt from her waist. She bowed with infinite grace, but she kept her eyes down. Her pride was gone, and she seemed wounded, her right arm bandaged with white gauze.

It was true that she had asked Exandra to accompany her two men, but she was the best assassin Lilith knew. Why would she be wounded?

“The two men were killed. I was only able to flee and return here, your majesty. They used some kind of magic I did not know about—”

A dagger flew by Exandra’s face, missing a scanty inch from grazing her cheek. Zir stepped immediately in front of her, arms shielding Exandra; of course a father wouldn’t allow harm to his daughter.

“The little bastard!!!” Lilith ground her teeth in a fury. She clenched her knife tightly, the dragon imprint on it leaving a trace on her palm. She grabbed Exandra by her collar. “Why the bloody hell did you not kill him?!” she screamed in her face. “How did you not know the magic he used?!”

“It wasn’t he who was using the magic, your majesty!” Zir helplessly said, practically kneeling on the floor, begging her to let his daughter go. “There was somebody else!”

“It’s . . . true . . . your . . . majesty . . .” Exandra choked out. Lilith was so angry she didn’t realize she was holding Exandra two feet in the air. She put her down; the girl gasping for precious air.

“I was really planning not to tell the authorities about this!” she thundered relentlessly, pacing up and down the floor, her gown making a swishing sound. “How can I tell them now? I swore them my brother would return, but where is he?! Gone! By your stupidness!”

“Might I suggest an idea then, your majesty?” Kevan’s voice made her look at him. She held up a hand for him to stop. Lilith turned to the two, her eyes burning anger.

“Please, your majesty. Pardon us!” Zir pleaded.

“Kevan, get the guards, ready the executioner. I want these two’s heads on the spikes, their bodies thrown to the hounds. Just get them out of my sight!” Lilith almost screamed, waving the dagger around so dangerously.

They watched in horror as Kevan scurried away again, and Exandra was crying silently, tears falling from her eyes.

“Please!!!” Zir was screaming like a madman now, clawing at her skirts, but she kicked him off. She’ll have to hire another man to hold off the events, and she already knew who was to be.

Two burly Omnibus guards took them roughly by their arms; Exandra now like a lifeless doll, while Zir, screaming for mercy and frothing like a madman. She turned away as they were dragged away, and Kevan was at her side.

“Tell the authorities your brother is already dead, by Sybillia, that way, you could also gain another kingdom, your majesty,” he whispered in her ear. Lilith turned to him, her anger ebbing away.

Her lips formed an evil grin. “Perfect.”