The Legend Of The Five Queens : Arabella's tale

Chapter 33: Taking Revenge

   Later that night Arabella stares at the world map with Severus at her side within the confinement of her war room.
   "I wanted to prevent something like this from happening. Perhaps my ways were flawed," Arabella says as she rubs her bandaged stomach.
   "Well, if I may be bold. You rushed your grand plan. After you became bonded with the stone you made very quick dangerous choices in a means to becoming dictator quickly," Severus takes a few steps back as if he is afraid of what he has just said.

   Arabella's heart slowly breaks and sinks within her chest as she hears Severus's words. she knows deep down that he is right. The Queen has lost her ways.
   "You are right Severus. Instead of taking my time to not only understand this stone but most importantly to build trust with the Kings and Queens of our neighboring kingdoms. I was so blinded by my craving for power that I allowed myself to get sidetracked. My biggest mistake was having my mother killed," Her words are soft and come out broken as she looks down at the ground allowing her hair to hide her face. Tears well up in her eyes as the feeling of self-disappointment fills her body.
"Arabella, I believe that stone has been influencing your decision-making. I do not think that you would have killed your mother in any other scenario. Not to mention the drastic mood swings that you have been having lately and of course the whole thing with your father," Arabella's eyes rise from looking at the map to the wall. Her blood boils at the mention of her father. She slowly turns her head to look at Severus with a look of anger, "Do not ever mention my father again,"
"Right, my apologies Arabella," Severus bows his head slowly to her. "Now then, you told me to prepare for war. You are not serious about going to war with King Dietrich now, are you?"
Arabella turns around and faces Severus with a hand on her stomach where the wound is.
"Severus, His attack on us made our kingdom looks like fools. More importantly, he made me look like an incompetent Queen. I should have had our guards ready in case King Dietrich planned on invading. There is one other mistake that I have made. I used too much power during the attack" Arabella puts her hand on the stone gently.
"I do not understand. Will that harm you in any way," Severus asks as he looks at the stone? Queen Arabella contemplates answering his question. She knows that she may as well be honest with him.
"By using as much power as I did during the battle. I ended up shaving off probably years if not decades off of my life. This stone exchanges the users' age for power and there is no way to reverse the aging. I have to drink a potion to keep my appearance looking young,"
   "So then why do you plan on going to war with him where you could potentially die? Are you ready to make such a sacrifice?" Severus takes a few steps towards her. His face is covered with a look of sadness.
   "Once I kill King Dietrich, the battle will be over. His kingdom will be the first that I will conquer. I do not intend on using my abilities when invading his kingdom," Arabella looks down at the map and finds the route that her army will take to King Detrich's kingdom. She quickly turns around to face Severus.
   "No more talking. Gather my entire army together. I want to give them a speech before we attack. The time is now!" Severus reluctantly nods his head.
   Arabella makes her way to the door when Severus speaks up from behind her. 
    "Arabella, if you do this there is a chance that you will die. If that dies, who will tale the mantle of King or Queen for that matter?" Severus asks.
   "If I die then you will have crowed asking. As for the next Queen well, that will be my sister for when the time comes. Now gather the troops. I want to be at King Dietrich's kingdom in 3 days," Arabella leaves the room.
   Some time passes as Severus rounds us their entire army. Arabella stands at the podium above her army.
"Men, as you all know we were attacked last night by King Dietrich. Well, we will not allow him to humiliate us like that again. I am declaring that we take our revenge and invade his kingdom just like he did to us!" Arabella clears her throat before continuing to speak. "I know that this is a lot of ask after such a battle and I know that I have not done much as your Queen. Once we kill King Dietrich then the kingdom will be ours. After that, we will continue to conquer the other kingdoms one at a time if we have to. Are you men with me till the end?!" Arabella shouts as loud as she can with her arm high in the air. Every man in her army cheers at the same time.
   Arabella smiles as she stands tall in front of her army.
   "Now ready your gear and horses! We will ride out when the sun is at its highest point in the sky!" The soldiers cheer once more at her commands and split up from the area.
Queen Arabella makes her way down to the small barn where Equidor has been staying. When she approaches the stall Equidor comes galloping up to her. He puts his nose to her to which the Queen gently pets him. She gives him a gentle smile as he looks up at her.
"Well someone is happy to see me. I know it has been a while. We have some excitement coming our way," she says as she gently pets his head more.
"You may not like what we are about to do but it is for the best of all of us. You, my friend, will be going to war,"
   "Than I suppose it was a good idea for me to have our blacksmith repair your suit," Severus's voice comes from behind Arabella. The Queen turns her head and gives him a smirk.
   "How sweet of you to do such a thing. I am starting to think that you finally understand how I think Severus," Arabella says as she stops petting Equidor so that she can turn her body fully to Severus.
   "I had a feeling that you would have asked me to have it fixed. There is no sense in waiting anyways. The army is preparing themselves and their horses. Some of the men are very much wanting to get their revenge on King Dietrich," Severus explains as he leans against a wooded beam with his arms crossed.
"The men will get their fill of revenge then," Arabella responds. She turns away and looks down at Equidor. The Queen quickly realizes that Severus has not taken his eyes off of her yet. With this speculation, she turns around to face her bodyguard once more.
   "What is it that you are hiding from me, Severus?" She takes a few slow steps towards Severus.
   "If you kill King Dietrich, what will happen to his daughter? After all, she is about the same age as you,"
   "His daughter will lose her royal status and be of poorer status. She will not be allowed to the confinements of the castle," Arabella can only imagine how evil she must sound right now based on Severus's facial expression. "We will absorb his people into our kingdom just as we will with the other kingdoms," She continues to speak.
Severus furrows his eyebrows as he squints his eyes at her.
   "I may not agree with how to choose to go about your plan but your mother made me promise to help you no matter what,"
   "Good. Then make sure that everything is ready. This battle may be a bloody one," With that said Arabella leaves the barn and heads down the road within the kingdom.
   She watches as her knights run around in groups back and forth as they carry supplies around. The Queen walks up to the large wooden building and lets out a sigh. The building holds the dead bodies of all the royal family members that came before Arabella.
Arabella lets out another sigh before entering the building and into the narrow hallway. She walks by several wooden caskets that sit on both sides of the walls. A small wooden door sits at the edge of the hallway. The door leads to a small fenced-in graveyard that holds more royal members.
   At the edge of the grave sits a special cross that is only for the most recent person who has passed away. Arabella approaches the cross and reads the epithet that is engraved on the tombstone in front of it.
   "Here lies Queen Elena, loving mother, and Queen" The words bring a tear to Arabella's eyes. Her heart slowly falls apart in her chest as she looks at her mother's grave. Arabella's heart still aches from her mother's death even though she was the one who orchestrated it.
"Mother, I will cut right to it. I miss you and I made a mistake by having you killed," Arabella's words are soft and quiet. She slowly drops to her knees in front of the tombstone. She lets out a sigh.
"I bet you are probably looking down on me right now. I can assure you that I am doing the right thing," Arabella lets out a low sigh as she looks at her mother's tombstone.
"Let's not lie to ourselves mom, you would have done the same thing if you were in my situation. Although, I do wish that things did not have to get so violent. You can't blame me for my actions though, King Dietrich forced my hand," Her hands naturally clench into a ball. Her hands then quickly release from the fist as she takes a deep breath.
"I know that I need to control the way I react to certain situations. I have been feeling a sense of anger that comes from this stone," Arabella quickly checks her surrounding to ensure her privacy. "Perhaps after I conquer the world I will try to remove this stone but I am sure about that yet," Arabella's gaze changes to look at the slow-moving clouds across the sky. She changes her attention back to her mothers' tombstone.
"Once I have taken control of the other 4 kingdoms peace will be restored across the world. For the first time in centuries, Earth will have true peace,"
   "My Queen, I apologize for the interruption but the men are ready. Your suit has been repaired and improved as well. It is where you first found it," Severus says from within the wooden building behind his Queen.
Arabella turns her head halfway so that she can see Severus with her right eye.
   "Thank you, Severus, I will be there in a few moments," Arabella quietly responds. Severus nods his head and turns around to leave the room.  Arabella turns her full attention back to her mothers' tombstone.
   "After this battle, I will return to see you mother," Arabella turns away and leaves the graveyard.
   She returns to the Well of Truth where her suit of armor stays. Her eyes immediately catch the small upgrades that have been added to the suit.
  Her suit now covers more than her body than it did before. She now has a thick sturdy helmet that leaves her face open. The armor that covers her stomach has been replaced with a thicker piece of sturdy iron. The suit has more padding underneath the armored pieces for further comfort.
   Arabella changes into the suit and adjusts it to fit her comfort. The thick layer of padding that hugs her meshes around various parts of her body as it blocks the metal from coming into contact with her skin.
   Queen Arabella walks out of the room and through her castle feeling ready for the battle. She walks out of the Castle where Severus awaits with their entire army behind him. The army stands at attention in their full armor along with the horse that is grown to go to war.
   Severus comes into full view of Arabella as he shows her the army. His armor is bulky and very shiny with the kingdom's logo on his right shoulder. The logo is the face of a Boar which was chosen by the first King- King Gravestone.
"My queen, it seems like the armor fits you well," Severus says as he takes a few steps towards Arabella. Arabella smiles at him as she approaches him.
"The armor does indeed fit well. I think my mother would be proud to see me in this," She tells him as she walks past him towards Equidor. Arabella climbs her way on top of Equidors' back and stabilizes herself.
"That's it Equidor. Good boy," Arabella says softly as she gently pats him on his side. She lets out a sigh and looks outwards away from the castle nod into the horizon. She turns her gaze back to Severus.
   "It's time Severus. Let's visit King Dietrich!" The queen takes her place in the front of the army and leads them into the sunset.
   The army travels for 3 days as they travel through the Forest of Solitude. Queen Arabella tries to keep her mind calm as she slowly converts the sunlight into energy through the use of the Fire Stone. On this journey, the young Queen has concluded that her stone allows her to be photosynthetic which explains why she rarely feels the need to eat anymore. It is one of the strangest things side effects of the stone that Arabella has had to deal with while having the fire stone.
   Severus has chosen to stay silent during their trip. Arabella wonders if he is doubting her current choices.
Nightfall of day four approaches and Arabella and her army stand 3 miles from King Dietrich's castle. The light that is being emitted from the full moon is enough for the queen to see the castle.
"This is it Severus, the moment I have been waiting for. With how dark it is his men should not be able to see us coming, "Arabella tells Severus as they look at the castle.
"We may as well act now while it is still dark out my queen," Severus quietly says while keeping his eyes looking forward.
   "Then no more talking. Let's just do it," Arabella keeps her voice low. Severus raises his hand in the air to signal the army to get ready.
   Now, Arabella's plan can start.