To Kill the Queen

To Kill a Queen

"Trying to kill the Queen, are we?" Kizzy questioned of the intruder pinned under her boot, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Raenor, but I'm afraid someone else is going to beat you to it." Her breath clouded the air in front of her as she waited for his reaction. The winter of 1327 had been especially frigid, and with night quickly falling Kizzy could feel the cold seeping through the castle's stone walls. Becoming impatient, she pushed down on Raenor's chest with her boot, pressing him further into the rough stone of the castle's floor. After a pause, Kizzy sighed and released him from her grip, knowing he wouldn't talk unless he was properly motivated. The tall elf stood slowly, brushing himself off and carefully arranging his clothing as Kizzy studied his face, waiting for him to speak.

    Raenor's face split into a mischievous smirk, "Or perhaps I could be of assistance to you, Ma Vhenan, since I just happen to know every little detail of this assassination plot you're referring to." The short girl raised an interested eyebrow, curiosity beginning to get the better of her. Her mouth opened to speak just as a red glow quickly pulsed along the stone wall, causing her to quickly shift her focus to the more poorly lit end of the passageway. Grey eyes scanned the darkness, locking on their target quickly. A left foot slid back quietly along the rough floor as tense shoulders rolled back, hips lowered, and the sword raised. A click of nails on stone. And another. And another. Red eyes emerge from twists of inky black. Click. Raenor raised his bow. Click. A deep breath in. Click. A deep breath out. Click. Kizzy nods. The demon came screaming forward to meet a speedy demise at the hands of the two experienced fighters. Yellow blood stained the stone and Kizzy's sword, as the hideous creature stuck with arrows sunk into itself. Raenor sighed, "Maybe not every detail."

"Regardless, you're more in the loop than I am." She wiped her blade clean and looked him in the eyes. "I trust you. You've never given me misinformation before, this is no different." Sheathing her sword, Kizzy gestured for Raenor to follow her as they made their way towards the East passage. "What have you heard?"

"Very little. But silence speaks volumes in situations like this." Raenor paused to glance around a corner. "Whoever's planning this has a great amount of wealth to be able to keep such secrecy. Servants, maids, squires... anybody will stay quiet if the price is right. My guess is that it's someone close to her, a member of the court, perhaps?" A pulse of light coursed along the wall, breaking his train of thought and pulling his mind back to a different time.

It was a winter night much like this one, when the Queen's Red Riders took his parents away. Three days later her Royal Highness gave the orders to have them beheaded in his presence, a lesson, she said, so he would understand what happens to traitors. But they weren't traitors, just victims of the anti-elf sentiment and the movement to rob noble elves of their power. That was the moment Raenor's hatred of humans was born. With time, he learned to trust a few, but the Queen could never redeem herself.

His reverie was broken by a shout from Kizzy as she readied herself to face two more shadowy demons. The beasts were struck down quickly and with little resistance, but brought on more questions for the two exhausted fighters.

Kizzy panted, "Once is bad luck, but two Unwanted sightings while an assassination plot is underway? What in, quite literally, Hell did she do to incite the wrath of so many people?"

A hearty laugh echoed through the stone passage as Raenor dislodged his arrows from the dissipating bodies. "You're joking, right? I know you're new to her service but you must have seen something to give you a hint." He sighed, a somber expression overtaking his face. "I was ten when my parents died. "Her Highness" said they betrayed the throne, that they were robbing peasants of their livelihoods. But they were good people. I may have been young but I knew my parents, and they would never do something like that."