The Sapphire Tiger

Chapter 2: The Evil Queen Sila

In the royal court, the queen of Moonstone sat on her almighty throne with one leg resting over the other. The scornful black tiger wore a long black dress, slit at the left side and hemmed with golden trim and adorned with long golden markings on the right side that resembled a tiger's stripes. She was pure evil, having murdered her own mother, father and older sister in order to secure the throne. It was common knowledge that she wanted nothing more than to have control over every kingdom there was and by so doing, rule the entire world. And she was well prepared to eliminate anyone who would be so much as a nuisance to her. 

A long line of armoured soldiers, men and women of varying species all stood on either side of the court, facing each other, still and silent as statues with identical armour, swords and shields. Each soldier stood over a small round hole in the floor, of which the purpose was no mystery to the queen's men and women. A lone warrior, a tall and muscular wolf with a long scar running down his right eye, wearing sandals similar to the other soldiers', considerably more decorated armour and a crimson cape walked between the two lines of soldiers and approached the queen, kneeling before her. 
"You wanted to see me, your viciousness?" The grey wolf asked. 
"Yes, General. " She answered. "And I believe you know the reason." He nodded, still bowing his head. 
"Your army is still inadequate, your majesty. Despite our best efforts, our number of new recruits each month is steadily falling." 
"Indeed. Please rise, General." She said calmly and the wolf stood, meeting her gaze as she beckoned him with a finger. He stepped closer to her and was met with a sharp slap from the palm of her hand, followed by an equally unpleasant backhand as she brought her hand back again, prompting surprised grunts from the armoured soldier. "I won't bother asking to hear what your excuse is this time. All I want is for you to rectify this unpardonable lapse. But as for now..." Everyone in the two lines of soldiers stayed silent, some of them shaking, every muscle in their body tensing as they saw the queen move her left foot over to a small square pressure-activated switch on the floor next to the throne. She pressed it into the floor and held her foot on it for several seconds while a hidden mechanism activated and, seconds later, a loud metallic 'ching!' was heard as a long spear shot out of one of the holes beneath the soldiers, piercing an unfortunate male otter through his middle and standing still and upright, the impaled victim dropping his shield and twitching and gagging weakly with the spear tip poking out of his wide open mouth. 

The rest of the soldiers remained perfectly still and silent, trying to avert their gaze from the gory display. 
"Do not continue to disappoint me, General," Sila said coldly. "It would truly be a waste if I had to turn my lovely toy on my finest soldier." The wolf nodded, his calm expression unchanged. "Fortunately for you, General, I may have a solution. A new approach." The wolf remained silent still, waiting to hear her proposal. "I want you to take every available soldier onto the streets and conduct a massacre. Simply start killing everyone in sight and anyone who dares to raise a weapon against you, capture them alive if possible and have them trained immediately. Hopefully, this will unearth some worthwhile fighters." 
"Yes, your vileness." The general said. "I'll begin as soon as possible." 
"I know you will." Sila said, waving the wolf away with one hand and he walked back through the door through which he entered. 
"You 'eard the queen, move your hides! And someone bring me my war paint!" He barked and the statue-like guards came to life, following him as loyally as puppies. 

Clinging from a decorative grotesque, high above the queen's head, a young noctule bat eavesdropped on the entire conference between the queen and the general, undetected by all.
"How interesting," She thought to herself with an impish giggle. "Lady Moss would certainly pay for information like this. It could well mean an upcoming attack on her lovely castle. It has plenty of would-be soldiers for Sila's men to capture." Silently she fluttered out of an open window and disappeared with none the wiser.