A Whisper of Night

13.3 || ASTNORDEN 💫

"No!" Astna shrieked. Lorelei screamed and Rasla let out a deafening screech, her wings slapping Astna in the face as she toppled off her shoulder. "No - no - Kora - "

Kora's head lay a good five feet from the rest of her body. Black blood oozed from the stump of her neck, spurting out onto the ground in thick waves.

"No," Astna said numbly, sinking to her knees. Lorelei was shouting for guards. This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening. "Kora...."

A group of purple-clad soldiers appeared from the gardens, shouting and waving their swords. "Someone tried to kill your queen!" Lorelei was yelling. "Find him!"

"I'm so sorry," Astna whispered, crawling over to Kora's head. The hydra's eyes had fluttered shut. She looked as if she could be sleeping. "I'm so, so sorry...."

Rasla let out a mournful wail. Gemina echoed her, bellowing her fury to the skies.

"Your Majesty." Lorelei was shaking her shoulder. "Your Majesty - it isn't safe here - we have to go back."

"The knife," Astna said. "Get the knife - we have to see who did this."

"It melted," one of the guards said, gingerly poking the hilt of the knife with his shoe. "But it's made of leather - a peasant's knife. A cooking knife, by the looks of it."

"Found her!" shouted another guard.

Astna spun around. Her hands were black with Kora's blood, yet she couldn't care less. "Who is it?" she demanded. "Who - "

The guards shoved Bevayra to the ground.

The peasant girl glared at her, her hair disheveled, her hands clenched in fists. "That was meant for you," she spat. "I was close. So close."

"Take her," Astna said numbly. "Take her and - lock her up. I'll deal with her later."

The guards dragged her off.

"Your Majesty," Lorelei said quietly. "We have to go."

Astna ignored her, watching Rasla and Gemina. The third stump had already stopped bleeding - a filmy white substance now covered it. The two remaining heads were bent over Kora, shrieking and moaning. Grieving.

"I was supposed to protect her," Astna murmured. "All of them. They were my responsibility."

"Nobody could've anticipated - "

" - I should've brought a guard - "

" - that wouldn't have helped at all." Lorelei gripped Astna firmly by the shoulders. "Your Majesty, listen to me. It's unsafe to stay here. You have to return to Ormina Hall and...and deal with that girl."

Do the people really hate me that much? Astna wanted to demand. Do they really despise me to the point of death?

Kora...Kora, I'm so sorry.....

Astna gritted her teeth. Put yourself together. Queens can't be like this.

"Very well," she said. "We'll go back." She knelt down to Rasla and Gemina, who clambered onto her arm, keening mournfully. "But we need to bury - "

"Later," Lorelei said. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. But now - now's not the time."

Astna swallowed, then started back.

The shouts of men and women greeted her as she reached Ormina Hall. Apparently, word of Bevayra's failed assassination had gotten out - throngs of peasants now lined the way up to the hall, screaming and shouting. Try as she might, Astna couldn't shut out the words of the men.

"Godless pretender!"

"You bitch! You killed good men!"

"You butchered Nyclein City - d'ya hear me - you butchered them!"

"Bevayra! Bevayra!"

The chant rippled through the crowd, until all of them were screaming in unision, cheering for the girl who'd tried to kill Astna. Even Rasla's enraged shrieks couldn't drown them out.

"Don't listen to them," Lorelei murmured, as the doors of Ormina Hall boomed shut behind them.

"I'm not," Astna snapped. She turned to one of her guards. "Call my lords and lady, and Ellac. I need a council with them." She nodded at Lorelei as the guard ran off. "Come with me, princess."

They headed up one of the tower's staircases. Astna was still unaccustomed to Ormina Hall's architecture, and it took her a moment to orient herself before arriving at the right room.

Lord Denling and Lord Nurtanden were already waiting for her, Ellac standing behind his father. Lady West entered right as Astna and Lorelei took their seats.

"Let's get down to business," Astna said. "By now, you would already know of the assassination. And of Princess Lorelei's arrival." She nodded at Lorelei. "Please forgive us for today - assassinations don't happen...quite as often."

Lord Denling smiled wryly as Lorelei nodded, her face pale.

"So what will we do about this girl?" Lady West said. "Bevayra."

"Kill her," Astna said simply.

Lord Nurtanden looked up, shocked. "If you do that, the people will take her as a martyr. You can't - "

"Do not tell me what I can or cannot do." Astna's hands curled into fists. "This girl committed treason of the highest degree. She tried to kill her queen."

"You are not her queen," Lord Nurtanden said. "Not in her eyes, and not in the eyes of her supporters. You are merely a conqueror."

"I am both," Astna said simply, "whether they like it or not. Very well, Lord Nurtanden. What would you have me do?"

Nurtanden hesitated. "Use her as propaganda," he finally said. "I would try to change her way of thinking - "

"We don't have time for that," said Lord Denling. "And do you really think she'd bend to us? The people would just think that we tortured her into supporting us."

"I suggest we send a message to the people," Ellac said hesitantly. "Treason won't be tolerated. We should have a public execution."

"That's what the Lion Queen would do," Lady West said. "Kill her people to make a message. I think following her example would send the wrong message to your people."

Astna hesitated.

"But this is war," Lorelei said. Everyone turned towards her, and she cleared her throat. "We may be against the Lion Queen, but that doesn't mean we have to oppose everything she does. We could behead Bevayra, give her a merciful death."

"Good point, your Highness." Lady West nodded at Lorelei. "I agree with the princess."

Astna bit her lip, then glanced at her lords. Lord Denling nodded and Ellac seemed slightly apprehensive - Lord Nurtanden remained stone-faced.

"Very well," she said. "We'll ask her if she wants to repent - perhaps she would do so under pressure. But if she doesn't...we'll behead her."

Silence.

Astna looked around the room, then cleared her throat. "There is another issue," she said. "We need to continue our conquests. Princess Lorelei has offered an alliance with us, and we need to strike now, before word of her arrival gets out."

"Are we going to attack Masseig, my Queen?" asked Lord Denling.

She nodded. "We are. Princess Lorelei will sail her fleet down the Raeseri River and take the province from the South. We'll march east and take it by land." She nodded at Ellac, who raced over to the bookshelf and produced a map for her.

"When do you plan to leave, your Majesty?" Lord Nurtanden said.

Astna raised her eyebrows. "Why wait?" she said, unrolling the map. Old Skeynvald unfurled upon the table, as if her kingdom were calling her name. "If possible, we'll depart tonight."

~~

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