The Nameless Queen

Before the start

The Nameless Queen

The forever cold floor cobbles dug in to my exposed knees, the pain barely registering. The women in front me sneered at me, the weak, useless child before her. Her gaze drilling a hole in my head.

"I'm sorry" my voice was raw, cracked and thick with fear. "I couldn't.. I couldn't do it... I couldn't just kill him," my eyes still casted down "I...I couldn't."

"Silence" shrieked the women. "I don't want your excuses girl, I want to know why you came empty handed. When I ask you to retrieve someone, it's a order not a request." Her voice rippled across the stone walls. I willed my eyes to not betray my fear.

"I'm sorry," terror reeling inside me. I am helpless as silent tears find their way to my face, smudging the dust and dirt on my bruised cheek. The tears, the weakness of me now visible. Her rage consumes the room and she sees the tears slide down my face. Her hand wraps around my skin, her nails dig into my cheek, my pain flaring.

"Stop it" her voice dangerously quiet. "Stop crying you wretch, before I claw out your eyes and stop it myself." My lip trembles as her voice bites down on my skin. "I made you a weapon and you dare insult me by crying. I thought I taught you never to cry. Your tears are your weakness."

"Why." I can barely hear myself, so it's a miracle that she does. "Why can't I cry" I knew that I was walking on a wire, a wire that at any moment could snap but if I could only get to the end of it, then maybe I would survive this beating

"Because my dear...." I could feel the blood sliding down my face and she tightened her hand on my chin. Her voice slow and deadly reflecting the women in front of me. "...You are a weapon, and weapons do not weep." And just like that, the hilt of her sword made contact with my head making the world go black.