The Blood Thirst

I have always been the girl with everything in life and poised for even more. My father was the great king of the kingdom of Alfros. Alfros was a great Nation having conquered over twelve other kingdoms under my father’s reign. I looked up to my father with great pride and I saw myself taking over from him one day when he is old and couldn’t fight or defend the territory anymore.  However, my father did not want me anywhere near any weapons or soldiers because he wanted me to become a lady of the Kingdom like my mother. Of course, I didn't like this. I shared in the glory of the kingdom’s army marching back with songs of victory and with blood all over their shields and protective gear.  And even though, every time they came back the number was fewer and some had missing limbs, eyes gorged out, I still felt that the honor of a worrier was to die on the battlefield. My uncle; Sulphur was the second in command and was always taking over the army when dad was perhaps not feeling well or had diplomatic meetings. My uncle Sulpher who was my father’s eldest brother was vicious at war. but always brought me gifts from every war he went in. My father had to be crowned king in the absence of my uncle who had been poised to become the next king since at that time he was at war in a far land and during that time, my grandfather Adom; who was the reigning King mysteriously died in his sleep. The news of my father being crowned as king was not pleasant to Sulpher.  In fact, rumor has it that, he was not in his right mind and made careless mistakes that had his only son killed in the battle.  They had to retreat because they were being overpowered. And for the first time, Sulphur yielded in a battle and had to plead for mercy from the commander of the winning army who gave him a permanent scar which he carries to date. On returning to Alfros from the war, he did not talk to anyone for a whole six months. He was grieving his son’s death and the fact that he had to watch his son get burned alive before him added to his sorrows.  He became easily agitated when he saw me or my father. I did not understand why he had changed that much. We used to be best friends. I felt hurt that he did not like me. Four months later, he started talking to people again, and as odd as it was, I felt a deep reprieve.  They worked things out with my father and they could go to wars together again and come back victorious. They would celebrate all night together and formulate war strategies together which enhanced their domination in the region. The neighboring kingdoms feared Alfros and would not dare go to war with us for years and years. Since my dad didn't want me to join the army and only my two brothers made the cut. I secretly asked my uncle to train me on how to defend myself. Sulpher had no problem doing that, and the fact that it was done without my father’s permission, he enjoyed every bit of it. I became a master in archery and soon enough took on swordsmanship completed that too and started training myself on physical combat.