Queen by accident

Chapter I: the Unlikely Successor

                                                - First Part: King Lutz -

  An old proverb from the region around the Sea of Onur says that peace is followed by war just like the daylight is followed by the darkness of the night. Whether this old say is true or not can be argued either ways. Of course, some may argue looking at the blue sky and the apparently endless plains that war is only for the foolish and that people can coexist without bloodshed. This very idea is far from the mind of a young man who walks the streets of the capital of the Kingdom of Krupniz, the town of Buchen. He glares at everything and everyone around trying to hide his anger, always looking around to be sure he does not get lost in the maze of narrow and crowded streets. The name is Hans Heck and, unlike most of the people he comes across, he isn't here to cheer the national day of the kingdom. After all, it's not even his country. But unlike the others, he has nothing but hate for the country's inhabitants. He finally stops in the middle of a deserted street and rises his head to read a wooden sign: "The dead man's tavern". Without any hesitation, he gets inside, passes through a large room, full of round, short, wooden tables where all sorts of people are drinking and talking, and makes for the stairway, while looking around. On the second floor, he walks on the old and rotten red carpet to the eight room on the right, knocks twice, fast and short, and bumps in:

  -Everything is ready. The king is going to address the crowd at four in the afternoon.

  -That leaves us six hours to get ready. Any last wishes? A tall man, with a scar on his right cheek asks everyone.

  In the small, square room, with only two beds and a short wooden table with two chairs, five men were now thinking about the same thing: today they are going to kill a king. They gather their weapons, put on their long, dark cloaks. Some of them smile, others feel their stomach getting smaller and smaller. Just two weeks ago, a five-month long war ended with the total victory of the aggressor. The Kingdom of Krupniz successfully annexed the Principality of Nehdor. They are here to show the world that, even with their country occupied, the people will continue to fight against the invader. If not on the battlefield, at least in the streets of the invader's capital, by murdering the men who started everything.

  Their target is the same person who guaranteed their independence just three years ago, King Lutz Frederik von Krupniz. It should be pointed out that the king agreed to guarantee them because he was a friend of the Nehdorian ruling family, the Buznetzovs. When the people revolted and killed their prince, Vasyli Buznetzov, and forced his family to flee, the king had no choice but to invade before anyone else would've taken the chance to put on the throne one of his enemies. Because despite his energic and charismatic personality and kindness, his reforms and unwillingness to back down before his neighbors' attempts of expansion earned him lots of enemies. Much to the despair of these enemies, their aggressive behavior forced King Lutz to expand and reform his army. His reforms combined with the decisiveness of his generals kept any expansionist neighbor at bay.

  Despite those five men ready to die for what the find a righteous cause, most people saw the annexation as nothing more than a land exchange, as nothing changed. The nobles remained in place, the peasants were not killed or robbed when the royal army passed through their villages and their new master was promising more freedom. Another reason behind our assassins' decision is the king moving away from the old ways and separating the state from the Cult of Sobu, the main god in the Onur region. Therefore, killing him is not only a matter of revenge, but also of pleasing God.

  They leave the tavern and move towards the main plaza on the shady alleys, avoiding local militia patrols. They have been planning this for more than a week now. Three of them are to slip through the crowd and come as close as possible to the place from where the king will speak. They will shoot the target from three different direction with pistols, but the other two will open fire with their muskets from the balcony of a nearby building, just to be sure. Hans smiles, the plaza is already crowded. It's already three and a half. The king is already there, waiting for his turn to address the people. The Duke von Fodzner is talking now, praising the farmers for their work this year and announcing the construction of a new paved road from the former border to the town of Werdorf, the capital of the former Principality of Nehdor. A thing Hans is not aware of is that today, 3rd of December 2134 AF (After the Fall – it's about the fall of the Necromancer Empire), he will go down in history along his friends. He comes as close as is humanly possible and waits patiently for the king to move from his place to the front part of the stage from which he's going to make the address. Finally, the time arrives. The thirty-five years old man, dressed in a red suit, with the Iron Cross of Bravery on his chest, finally speaks to the crowd. His dark playful eyes jump from one part of the crowd to the other, trying to see everyone at the same time. Everyone could feel the joy in his voice:

  -Today, our great nation grows one year older. It was one more year during which we showed our neighbors we are a proud nation, a proud people, which will never back down before unprovoked aggression and will always fight to protect the weak...

  He stops, his eyes turn to the sky as the wooden floor of the stage begins to shake. Just a moment before, a shoot has been fired towards him from one of the first rows of the crowd. Before anyone could do anything, four more shots are fired. Two hit the king, one in the leg and one in the chest, near his heart. Some of the nobles, dressed in their military uniforms, being the people closer to him, come around the king, try to form a wall and to get him to a doctor. In the crowd, Hans smirks. His dream is done and his people is revenged, but his joy lasts just a moment, as one his colleagues shakes him:

  -Run!

  But they can't move. In just mere seconds, the mob around them turns and hits begin raining from everywhere. He tries to point his pistol towards someone in the crowd, but a few hands grab the pistol, force him to fire in the air and others punch him in the face and chest.

  -I want them alive! Capture them alive! Someone shouts above the crowd.

  After another shot is being fired, the mob finally complies. The man who orders the assassins to be captured alive is Count Nikolay Ghebor, one of the king's generals. The people comply and bring them before the general. As they are handed over to the royal guards, the assassins try to act defiant, to look the general in the eyes - or, in the case of Count Ghebor, in the eye as he lost an eye and his left arm while leading his division to victory during the Battle of Nur, six years ago – but the soldiers immediately bring them on their knees. With his nose broken and barely being able to see around, Hans is taken alongside his friends to the town's prison. All the way, the only sound they can hear are the shouts of the crowd that follows them:

  -Burn them at stake! Boil them! Break their bones!

  Hans looks at them and tries to spit in their faces, but a rock hits his mouth. The soldiers try to keep the crowd away from the prisoners, promising that they'll pay, that the judge will decide their fate. Even when such a crime is committed, the law remains and must be applied by those who wields it. But let's leave our assassins for now and take a moment to breath, because although the king won't live to see the light of tomorrow, many things lie before us and our story is just beginning.