Queen's Reign

Chapter 9

In the dead of night, Ravenna and her court arrived before the Aevirian kingdom gate, a large army following behind them. Astride a majestic black stallion, she dismounted and walked to the front, and Aldare split the army up to prepare for the attack. 

Ravenna laughed, Ethelina smiling at her side. “Don’t worry, princess. We have come to claim what is rightfully ours,” she watched as her ladies arranged everything. The princess joined her, awaiting the doom of her once beautiful kingdom.

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The deafening sound of a horn woke Adelyn up, followed by sounds of shouting and fighting. Frantically, she stumbled out of her bed and went to the balcony, which gave her a direct view of the palace gates. The guards were gone from their posts, the battlements empty. The palace hallways started filling with sounds of running and shouting. An attack. She ran into her room to retrieve her cloak, but was halted by a voice from the balcony. 

“Stop right there,” a steely, commanding voice spread through the dark chambers of the queen’s room. Her back stiffened, turning to the direction of it. 

A woman stood at the entrance of the balcony, with a hooded figure beside her. Squinting, Adelyn could only make out the glistening of the little gems embroidered onto her dress in the moonlight. The figure lowered her cloak and conjured a purplish light from her palm, revealing the very face of Myranda's sister, the once pretty, rounded face of Ethelina.

"Ethelina?" the queen backed up slowly, trying to buy herself time and get hold of any weapon she could get her hands on. 

The princess, now hard-edged, raised a finger and pointed at her. "You, you impostor!" She said to the woman beside her: "She is the one who stole my throne, Ravenna."

"Anyone who messes with my court will pay the price, Queen Adelyn of Aeviria. Now, you will taste my wrath!" Ravenna fired a blast of red light at Adelyn, baring her teeth as she missed. The queen prepared to dodge the next blow, sliding behind the settee in the sitting area by the fire. The next few blasts hit the couch, the unpleasant smell of burnt wood drifted about her. 

Frustrated, Ethelina took out a vial from her cloak and uncorked it, spilling its contents onto the floor. The liquid slowly evaporated, steaming and bubbling into a thick purple mist. 

Ravenna continued firing, blasts of light and sparks flying around the room. Adelyn fired back, mingling the blue and the red powers together. A blast hit her leg, sending her limping to hide behind another piece of furniture, which was broken during the battle. 

Eventually, the longer she breathed in the mist, the weaker her muscles became. It wasn't long before she slumped to the ground, weak from the stunning mist. Ethelina made sure she could not move, completely succumbed to the spell and grabbed her neck, the effort she inflicted a sliver from strangling Adelyn.

"Now, now Ethelina. We have not planned to kill her yet." Ravenna said while walking behind the queen and touched her wrists, two metal cuffs appearing beneath her touch. The princess let go of her neck and shoved Adelyn in the back, making her fall face down onto the cold floor. Ravenna smiled contentedly and called for her guards to come and escort their prisoner.

"W-What is h-happening?" the queen shivered as she asked, the winter air blowing through her thin nightgown. Her right leg was uncontrollably bleeding, dark blood pooling on the floor beneath it. Ethelina pressed her foot down on her back, snatching the cloak away. "We're here for revenge, Adelyn. And this time, I will not fail."

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"Unhand me you filthy-", Desiric shouted at his captor who cuffed his wrists with a metal chain. Two guards flanked his side and made him kneel on the ground to prevent him from escaping, jeering down at the general. "Keep quiet, boy. Who made you general? You don't look a day over 17, haha!" they laughed.

The rest of the court was held and bound as he was on both sides of the vast throne room. They were either kneeling like he is, or lying prostrate before their guards. Beside him, the queen's chambermaid, Rosa was also pushed on her knees, her ripped maid's dress was stained with blood. Desiric stretched behind him and picked up a stone which was wedged between the soles of his boot, throwing it at her. Rosa glared at him, mouthing "What?"

He mouthed back. "Where is the queen?" Rosa's face darkened at the thought, lightly shrugging. Desiric was about to shout at her before a loud bang was heard.

The sound of opening doors hushed whole commotion in the throne room. Ravenna gracefully entered, her ladies following behind her. They held their heads high, strutting like peacocks. Isanta and Norwine wrung their hands as they meekly followed behind, heads bowed low. 

What came after them shocked the captured Aevirians. 

Queen Adelyn stumbled through the doorway, roughly shoved by two guards behind her. Her hair was unraveled from her braid, nightgown a b****y mess and ripped. Blood trickled in streams from her leg to the floor, staining the gold carpet bright red. She limped weakly to the steps of the throne, where Ravenna stood and was pushed down to the floor. Her nose bled from the impact of hitting the hard stone.

Desiric shouted as he sprang up. "No!" He tried wrestling himself free to run to Adelyn's side, but was delivered a swift punch in the face instead. Glowering at the guards, he swung his chains that bound the cuffs at them, hitting one in the face. 

"Enough of that!" Ravenna shouted, her voice echoing in the throne room. She used her powers to suspend Desiric in the air, just shy of choking and lowered him back down as new chains appeared on his wrists. 

The duchess walked down to where Adelyn was on the steps and delivered a swift kick to her face. The queen winced in pain, tears visible on her reddened cheek where she was struck. Crouching down, she tilted Adelyn's chin with motherly tenderness, grinning at her demise. 

Ravenna slowly tucked a piece of her wayward hair from her bruised forehead to behind Adelyn's ear, as Queen Myranda had done and whispered. "I am Queen now, and nobody will ever stop me." The queen was bleeding and bruised. She didn't have any remaining strength in her to fight, so she lay where she was and looked at her kingdom being taken away.