A Day of Steel and Blood

          It was nearly midday in the single citied country of Brisengale, and the guards atop the high stone walls surrounding the city, leaned against the sides, enjoying the cool blustery beginnings of spring. Unbeknownst to the guards however, was a silent infiltrator.

          Maurenna Kólasi was the paragon of a nefarious evildoer, as she lounged against the side of a butcher shop, bathed in shadow. She wore all black from head to toe and a thick hood concealed her splendiferous features. And yet a single strand of ice-white hair had escaped from her hood and floated gently in the wind. The passerby was none the wiser, as she pulled a lengthy sharpened knife from her clothing and made a casual move to pick her teeth. In fact this was not the only weapon concealed in her dark clothing, but one of many.

          Maurenna had traveled to Brisengale months ago with a single goal in mind: to exact her revenge on the king of Brisengale and take over as the queen. She had no army or followers, just a score to settle on behalf of her mother. Before the king had ascended to the throne the immortal Witches had ruled the land with their magic and ingenious minds. The Witch queen's right hand general had been Maurenna's own mother. Somehow the king had managed to hire someone gifted in magic and nullify the immortality of the Witch Queen and her court; their time catching up to them in accordance to their age.

          Armed with her guile, weaponry, and malevolent smirk, she exited her secluded aperture into the busy streets, making her way to the castle. As she approached it, she ran through her head the information she had memorized through her mother's maps, and analyzed the total quantity of guards she would be inhibiting on the way to her real prey.

          She knew the responsibility she had been tasked with would be arduous, but it was imperative that she free her citizens from this tyrant.

          A block before she reached the castle, she pulled down her hood to reveal her pale young face and onyx eyes, and her white hair tumbled down her shoulders. She approached the great steps that led up to the humungous iron doors and could already sense the guards at the top, who had no premonition that she was coming.

          She didn't even bother twisting their minds to see her differently as she advanced toward them. As soon as she could see their faces she plastered a bright smile on her face, brimming with felicity to placate any cynical thoughts they might have. Still, one of them stepped forward to question her.

          "I'm sorry to ask madam, but what is your business at the castle today?" He asked politely.

          "Well, I'm here to kill your king and take his throne for my own!" she said sweetly.

          Before any of them could make a move to constrain her, she removed a knife from her attire and swiped for each of their stomachs with lightning speed. They crumpled over one by one and their blood began to cascade down the steps in a brilliant crimson waterfall. She then pushed open the great doors with both hands and entered the castle.

          An old tune rose up in her memory as she met the next group of guards.

    "Today is a day of steel and blood, but by tomorrow it'll be over and done."

          She withdrew the two swords concealed on her back and without stopping her movement, spun and swung through her foes before they even had the chance to capitulate. Nothing could stop her from consummating her position as the rightful queen of Brisengale.

          She moved to the spiraling marble stairs and began to ascend to the next floor. Up ahead of her, a guard was already on his way to alert the others and possibly the king, of her arrival. She withdrew a throwing knife and flung it at his back. Hitting its mark, the man collapsed on the stairs with a groan. Once she reached him, she squatted down beside him.