The Elven Queen

CHAPTER 1

“You stand before the 98th Queen and high Monarch of the proud Nation of Sylphorren, 5th of her name, warrior Queen and Arc mage, Her Majesty, Queen Eztli Morgo Sophia”

It’s all about the titles with these people, no matter how many times I’ve been to

and conducted these hearings I will never get used to the small biography of my life that comes whenever I am introduced, I myself feel slightly nervous attending these things so I can’t begin to imagine how his Lordship the Earl of Raiens must feel being in such a tight knit situation under the scrutinizing gazes of some of the most powerful people in all of Sylphorren, I’d be nervous myself of course if I wasn’t already Queen, I am seated on my throne at the head of the Sylphorren castle’s audience hall to my right is my best friend Itotia, Head of The Shadows, the Queen’s personal assault force that receive instructions directly from the Queen herself, my own personal League of assassins, Every Queen over the years has always had her own reasons for choosing her shadows, as do I, and to my Left the chief commander of the Sylphorren army Captain Desmond Cadmael Sophia, who also happens to be my Uncle, two of my most trusted, the Earl is kneeled in front of me, to his left and right are rows of councilmen, knights and their squires and of course citizens present for one reason or the other, the Earl must definitely be feeling an immense amount of pressure, but he composed himself well

“You may approach, Your Lordship”

“Long live the Queen, may your reign be prosperous” he said when he finally got to his feet

“Likewise and may you also find prosperity” as I recited the traditional greeting of my people, I’m slightly impressed, clearly the Earl did his research, I’m also impressed with Arya, I told her to organize this meeting within a week and she got him here in three days, her diligence is something I will praise at every given opportunity

“Your Grace, the beasts of the border have grown ravenous due to the rain killing their prey they’ve turned to hunting our people and neighboring towns, I beseech you, please help us Your Radiance”He definitely has a sugar coated tongue I’ll give him that much

“That sounds terribly unfortunate, my condolence goes to you and my heart bleeds for your families, But my soldiers also have families and homes, partners and parent whose hearts also bleed whenever their sons and daughters go off to battle, so tell me Earl Andros, why

should I risk the lives of my men to help you?” I hate that I have to do this, I truly sympathize for these people, the people of Raeins are a small village of Gnomes, Gnomes are similar to elves in a way but also different, distant cousins of sort, unlike Elves who live in Nations due to their large populations, Gnomes are a fleeting race who exist in villages like Raeins spread all over the globe, the biggest being the merchant country of Kartook on the far East which is actually a Dwarven Colony, no matter how

much I want to help them out of the goodness of my heart, sadly I can’t afford to be so generous, this is politics after all

“Forgive me Your Grace, we are a small town, I wish I came on better circumstances to meet Her Majesty but our resources are scarce, most of our gems went to trade for food and repairs, we can barely afford to feed our own people”

“My my, that is dreadful to hear, truly dreadful, but Gems won’t be necessary"

Gnomes are well known for many things one of which is their mastery of alchemy,

they could quite literarily turn lead to gold “I’m sure we could reach some sort of agreement”

“Like what Your Grace?”

“A treaty, more specifically a colonization, make Raeins a Sylphorren colony and I will help you in any way I can, as you may know, we are good to our own”

“But Your Grace?!” He slipped, his poker face peeled off a bit, the fear and shock was clear as day, can’t say I blame him, “forgive me but the Village of Raeins has lived as free land for generations and….”

“And what?” I cut him off “What has that freedom done for you? You’ve been

reduced to scrapping land and begging for penance from neighboring kingdoms

because of magibeast, what will you do when faced with actual terror? Wars? Or

even internal conflict? Look your Lordship, I understand this is a big decision and it will surely not be an easy one but please consider this, I’m not suggesting this to take away your land, your home or even your gems, I genuinely want to help you, think

this over, we are willing to house you for however long you wish to stay till you make a decision and if you wish to leave then an escort can be prepared immediately”

“No, that won’t be necessary Your Grace, I will be taking my leave”

“Of course, I’m sorry if my words have offended His Lordship, if you’d like, I could put word out to the other Elven Nations to see if you’d get a more favorable response”

Sylphorren is not the only Elven Nation, There is Lumeris, Shadow elf country and then there is Eadins, Forest Elve country, Sylphorren is a moon Elf Country and we make up the Great powers of the modern world all with our areas of expertise, Good relations is maintained between us because the situation requires it, enemies to the south and enemies to the East, Sylphorren isn’t the only Nation of the three to worry about rivalling Nations, So we strive to protect our own, that’s not segregation, its reality. The title of Elven Queen is a nickname of sort, I’ve seen my fair share of battles and treaties, strives and falls out and despite it all, I still came out on top, I don’t even know where the nickname came from but it sort of stuck.

“Thank you Your Grace, that would be much appreciated, now If I may?” he gestured to the door

“You are excused, and I look forward to hearing from you”

I understand him I honestly do, I hate to put him in that situation but it is the only

way, immediately after the door closed on the exiting figure of the Earl I asked

“Who else will be presenting their case?” no one came forward, quit honestly at

times I wonder why there is always a big crowd for these things, “If no one has

anything they’d like to say that will be all for today you may all….”

“WAIT!!! WAIT!!!! STOP HER!!” screamed my guards as the doors of the audience

hall burst open, 8 or so guards rushed in chasing after a woman who looked like she had seen better days, running towards me till she was within an inch of me her hand nearly grazing the hairs in front of my face when four guards managed to catch up to her, grabbing her and pinning her down at my feet, this elven female was clearly hysterical, clothes distorted, hair a mess, eyes baggy and screaming murder

“What is the meaning of this?” I asked, the question coming out colder than expected because the hall was instantly silenced, even the woman grew meek, I watched this entire scene unfold without so much as batting an eyelash even when she grew close I didn’t so much as flinch, why?, because I knew from looking at her that she was weak she couldn’t harm me even if she tried, but the state she was in was clearly a cause for concern, my calm response must’ve shocked everyone because I am still yet to receive an answer

“I don’t like repeating myself”

“Forgive us My Queen, your servants deserve death for letting this woman get this close to……”

“That isn’t what I asked you” I cut him off, my eyes burning holes through his helmet, I could clearly see he was distraught

“This woman is crazy Your Grace”

“Crazy? On what grounds do you call this woman crazy?” as if on cue she

immediately started trashing once more, the entire hall still silent, her voice being the only thing bouncing off the marble walls

“THE DEVIL!!!!!!, THE DEVIL!!!! THE DEVIL!!!!! THE DEVIL!!!! She’s coming for us, she’s coming for me!! She’s coming, she’s coming, she's coming for you!!!! she’s comin……..g” this woman was trashing under these men, tossing, turning, with a strength like nothing I've ever seen, our guards were trained by Desmond himself, and each guard is held to the same standard as he was, difficult as it may be, yet currently she alone was wrestling under 4 guards and giving them a hard time, I couldn’t make sense of anything she was saying nor the scene I was witnessing the entire situation left me at a loss for words silently staring at this woman on the floor murmuring to herself, a thousand thoughts racing through my head, at that moment she stopped and looked up to me as if peering into my soul with those dark sunken eyes, tear stained and hollow cheeks, messy strands of hair all over her face, stark white skin covered in gashes most likely caused by herself the most prominent being the claw marks going down both sides of her face, bloody nails digging into the carpet, she looked like someone who had really seen the devil and the devil showed her no mercy, her whited cracked and bleeding lips parted and let out a whisper so low had I skipped even the slightest I would’ve missed it “Save us”