To Dethrone The Tyrant Queen

Chapter 2: The Final Request

The heavy iron door slammed shut, locking my grandmother and me inside the dark cage. The air was thick with the smell of old blood and rusting iron. I gripped my grandmother's forearms, my tears soaking right through her worn sleeves. My body vibrates with terror, as I stare at the guards through the iron bars. They stood like stone statues, holding king spears with polished tips.

“Grandmother, please," I gasped, my voice cracking from crying. “We have to do something. They are going to cut off your head”.

“Be quiet, Nyxara," she whispered gently. Her palms were freezing against my cheeks, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. “There is no way out of these walls.

The castle is fully guarded. Our time has run out”.

I squeezed her tightly, holding her against my chest, desperately trying to shield her from the coming darkness. Deep within my instincts, I knew our plea would be a waste. The tyrant Queen’s judgment could never be reversed. Once Veylith marked a soul for death, she always collected.

I closed my eyes, desperately wishing the Hour of the Crimson Dawn would just stretch forever. If the sacred hour never ended, the guards couldn’t touch us. We could return to our hidden den in the valley, isolated from the cruelty of the high court. But I knew it was impossible.

The morning light was already shifting. Sounding like thunder, armored footsteps echoed down the stone steps. The heavy wooden doors at the end of the hall swung open with a resounding crash. Veylith stepped into the dungeon first. Alpha King Xandrel behind her, his towering silhouette swallowing what little light remained in the cell.

“The sacred hour is over,” Queen Veylith growled, pointing a sharp fingernail at our cage. “Take the old witch to the block."

Two heavily armored guards marched forward. They unlocked the iron bars and clamped their hands onto my grandmother's weak arms, tearing her away from me.

“No! Take me instead!” I screamed, lunging forward, but the guard threw me backward onto the hard cell floor. They pulled her up the stairs, and I scrambled to my feet, running wildly behind them.

The guards did not stop me from entering the courtyard. There I was staring at my grandmother. The blinding morning sun hit the stone yard, lighting up the heavy wooden execution block in the center. Guard Captain Jerek stood right beside it, holding a massive broadsword that gleaned in the daylight.

The guards forced my grandmother down onto her knees, her knees scraping against the rough stone. She stared up at the royal balcony where the King and Queen stood watching.

“Mercy!” My grandmother gasped, her throat burning as she fought the guards holding her down. Alpha King Xandrel! Please! Let me touch my granddaughter one last time before the blade claims my neck.”

Jared stood forward, his eyes cold as he raised his sword. “We do not waste time on dying traitors. Move her head to the block”.

“Let them speak,” Alpha King Xandrel commanded from the balcony.

The crushing authority of his tone sliced through the courtyard, instantly stopping Jarek’s hands. His dark eyes watched us coldly. “It changes nothing. The execution will happen immediately after.”

The guards relaxed their heavy boots for a brief second. I rushed forward throwing my hands around my grandmother's neck, my tears bleeding directly into the fabric of her traveling cloak.

“Listen to me,” she whispered against my neck, her body vibrating with fear as she hugged me back with the last of her strength. Slipping her fingers into mine, she pressed a small, hard elixir against my skin.

“Take my gift. Swallow it now. It will keep you safe.”

My survival instincts took over. Keeping my face buried completely in her shoulder, I slipped the elixir into my mouth and swallowed it whole. It burned like liquid fire down my throat.

A strange, icy numbness immediately spread through my veins. I stepped back, couching slightly as the elixir settled in my stomach.

“Wait,” Queen Veylith yelled from the balcony, her tone rising in suspicion.

Her calculating eyes locked directly onto my face, having tracked the movement of my throat. “What did she just give you? Jared, check her hands!”

“Nothing,” I choked out, wiping tears from my face as Jarek violently grabbed my hands, finding nothing but an empty palm. Queen Veylith descended the stairs quickly. She walked right up to me and leaned down, her nose sniffing my neck. Her shoulders dropped in relief, as she sneered, exposing her fangs in a cruel smirk.

“Nothing but a powerless stray,” Veylith growled, turning her away from me. “The old witch is playing games. She passed her sight to the girl. Do not let her leave the castle.” “Lock her up in the servant interrogation rooms.

Two guards immediately grabbed my forearms, pinning them brutally behind my back. They made me stand directly beside the royal execution platform.

Jarek returned to the block, roughly pressing my grandmother’s throat against the execution block. He raised his massive broadsword high into the air, the polished steel catching the blinding rays of the sun.

A heavy impact rattled the courtyard floor. I never imagined a day would come where I would look down to see my grandmother's head separated from her body. Her blood bled across the stone toward my boots, as the guards tightly gripped my arms, the cold truth sank in.

The world went entirely silent, the roaring crowd turning into a distant muffled echo. I wanted to scream, to tear my own flesh apart, but my throat was entirely paralyzed by the shock. The brutal scene burned into my eyes. The horrific image of her final sacrifice and anchoring itself deep in my soul. I couldn't breathe under the suffocating weight of my grief, my knees buckling as the guards held my breaking frame upright.

She was gone. I was completely alone, trapped in the hands of a ruthless King and his tyrant Queen.