My Dark Queen (girlxgirl) (OnHold)

Chapter Twelve

"Are you ready General?"

"I should be asking you that your highness, there's more pressure on you than me."

"Of course I am."

"Excellent," he placed his arm on her back and led her out to the balcony to her awaiting people. The chatter stopped as people were eager to here what she was going to say. She had been so busy the past few months, she had barley been able to speak to her people.

"Hello," she stared out into the crowd, there were so many people. Her stomach churned a little, she had forgotten how speeches made her feel so nervous. She was able to talk to people individually or in groups with no problem but this was different.

"With the wars currently going on in this country, it's been difficult to find the time to speak with all of you. The war efforts with the rebellion has been going well but with a new threat arising, we have needed to balance our troops between the two wars so that has set back our original plan to end the rebellion immediately. They are no longer the largest threat here."

She nodded towards the General, "I'll be handing over the leadership over to General Jorpah for the time being while I go join my troops by the border in a week. He'll work with my trusted group if elected advisors and do his best to for this country. I believe he would like to say a few words."

The queen stepped aside to let him speak, she kept her hands to her side an looked out to the crowd with a dignified expression. Her mind wandered, completely ignoring whatever the general was  saying. She was sure it was good, he had always been a good speaker.

He was a charismatic man, a great warrior and had a great mind for war, he would have made a great king. But there were many factors at hand of the queen being crowned queen.

"Your highness? It's time to go."

She waved towards the crowd once more and turned away from the crowd, going inside.

"Della is pushing to throw a dinner before you leave," General Joraph informed her.

The queen rolled her eyes, "of course she is, tell her it's a waste of funding, there are two wars going on. We don't have time for it."

"I said that but I was overruled, Kenneth convinced the others that it would be good, they want it to seem like we have everything over control. Like we aren't worried."

"Technically I don't have to listen to any of you."

"Then technically, you'd be a dictator and no body likes a dictator except themselves. These a reason why the last king is so hated."

"I'd say canceling a ball is far less worse then anything that man did."

He nodded, "that's true but you should go along with it, you haven't had the opportunity to speak with your court in a long time, it's good to keep them occupied."

"Della is doing a lot of things, should I be worried?"

"Della is mostly harmless. Beside, we may need Yhon's help, a stronger alliance is good. Just don't scare the poor lad off."

"I'm not that scary am I?"

"I'm choosing not to answer that question as your general."

"That-" the queen stopped, she heard a commotion around the corner. The general hadn't noticed when all of a sudden a man came running towards them, he threw a knife at the queen, she didn't have time to react. The knife grazed her shoulder, his aim wasn't too good. He took out another knife and impaled himself with it.

The general jumped to action, stepping in front of the queen to protect her, a few guards chased after him. But he was too fast.

The queen pushed in front towards the dying man, he didn't seem too sad that he was about to die for his cause. The queen kneeled down in front of him and began to heal him, not letting him get the mercy of death.

"Ny queen, what are you doing?"

The man's life returned to his eyes, when he was dying he seemed fearless but to see who was kneeling in front of him perfectly alive he looked scared to death.

"I want to integrate him, I haven't had an assassin get in here in months." She nodded towards the guards, "take him to a cell, I'll be down in a minute."

The man didn't believe what was happen to him, he stayed silent as he was dragged away.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just a little scratch. Get me some bandages."

"That is more than a scratch, look at your shoulder, that is a lot of blood."

"I'm fine, just do what I told you."

"Very well." He fetched a servant to gather some first aid for her.

General Joraph came back with the servant, she silently cleaned and dressed her wound for her. She had to get it stitched up, it took much longer than she had hoped it would.

When the servant finished she curtsied to the queen and left them in the hallway alone. They started to walk towards the dungeon in the basement level.

"Should I punish those guards?" He asked.

"For what?"

"For letting that man get up here."

"I don't think that was there fault but I think we need to question the guards in charge of the gate, he had to get in here somehow. Though we may have to question all the guards eventually, I thought we weeded out the spies in the guard but I guess not."

"I'll take care of it, you know you're very calm about this. You used to be very angry about assassins."

"I am angry but I am used to it by now, though I can't say I am not about to torture the truth out of that man. He killed himself after he took his shot at me, he must be dedicated. I don't think he'll speak to easily, but I alway make them eventually."

"That you do, I'll work in the guards while you deal with the assassin. If you can even call him that, he didn't do a very good job." 

"It's not the worst attempt, remember the one whose arrow hit about ten feet above my head?"

He chuckled, "They weren't even trying at that point."

"My queen." The captain of her guard greeted her when he saw her coming.

"Captain." She began to walk past him but he followed.

"May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Speak."

"I really think you should let us guard you, what is the point of a royal guard if they don't do anything?"

"You do plenty." She waved him off.

"There was an assassin in the palace and there was only one person there to protect you."

"I wasn't harmed too badly, any further comments you can discuss with Della, though I'm sure she hears it from you everyday. Though she hasn't mentioned it to me yet, strange, you two usually advocate for each other."

He blushed when she mentioned his wife, they were both in notably high positions, yet they were just as much in love with each other than they were twenty years ago.

"Captain, may I speak with you for a moment." General Joraph knew the queen had made up her mind with this topic and it would not be changed. At this point the captain was just wasting all three of their time.

"Of course." The queen shot the general a grateful look, he always understood her and had her back.

The queen unlocked the occupied integration room, the assassin was in chains, sitting in the corner of the room. He looked disappointed in himself, after all he failed both of his attempts.

The queen smiled at him, "hello, are you planning on talking or should I give you some encouragement."

He didn't answer.

"Tsk tsk, you're going to regret that," she picked up a knife from the wall of weapons by the door and walked over to him. She drove it into his shoulder, twisting it from side to side, the man screamed in pain.

"You want to know a secret? I can hurt you, drive you to the brink of death as many times as it takes, I can always heal you. Let's see how long it takes you to break."