The Serpentine's Revenge

Chapter One

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered here today for the execution of Alice Janadexiand.” I stood behind the crowd, trying to push through the tall bodies in front of me. I knew who they were looking at, I knew because she wasn’t at home this morning.

“She is guilty of treachery, and sorcery.” I reached the front of the crowd, and the woman looked down at me. Her body, which was once full but now a thin frame. She was scratched and bloodied. Her wrists bound with steel shackles. Her eyes were full of sadness, tears begging to be spilled.

“She has broken the marriage laws, by bewitching the heart of my esteemed Captain of the Royal Guard, The King’s Warrior, Peter Janadexiand, with magik. Punishment for this: death by beheading. This is the only way to rid the magikal enchantment you placed on The King’s Warrior.” The woman was forced onto her knees, her teeth clenched down as if to bite away the pain. A hooded figure stepped up to her, axe in hand.

“No!” I shouted. I stepped onto the platform, and I felt the shock rippled across the crowd behind me. “You cannot kill this woman, she is innocent. Please, I am begging you.”

The man in the silver crown and fine clothing, knelt down to look at me. “Do you have any proof that this woman is free of sins?” I didn’t respond. I didn’t have anything. I slowly shook my head. “Who are you?” My voice began lost in my throat. “Who are you?” He said, this time louder.

I took in a deep breath, and forced strength into my voice. “I am her daughter.” He circled me, sending fear to shiver down my legs. I refused for my knees to give out from under me.

“Aah, yes. I see the resemblance now. You certainly have your father’s bravery, and your mother’s wit. How old are you?”

I straightened my back, and looked into the king’s eyes. “Nine.”

He scoffed lightly. “You are quite fearless for your age.” He knelt down to my mother. “Tell your daughter to go. I am not going to let a child watch her mother be executed.”

Before my mother could respond, I spoke up. “Is it because you believe that if I do not watch, I will not know that she is dead? You may think you are a fair and loving king, but if you are about to kill a mother, knowing that her child is standing next to her, you are as evil as the witches and warlocks you so despise.” The crowd gasped. No one spoke to the king like that, especially not a scrawny nine year old.

The man merely stood up, and looked at me. “Alice Janadexiand. Tell your witch of a daughter to get out of my sight, before I decide to execute her as well.” My mother stood up, and walked to me.

“My dear daughter. You know you cannot save me, the king has his mind made up. Please leave, before he takes anything else from you. Here, take this,” She unclasped the locket around her neck, and clasped it around mine. “I will always be with you as long as you wear this, and even without it. I love you, my darling. Go.” She crushed me in a hug, and let me go. I took one last look at my beautiful and loving mother, and jumped off the stage. With my back to her, I heard the shing of the axe against it’s sheathe, and then…

There was a sharp thud across the stage. I heard gasps throughout the crowd, and I closed my eyes, holding onto the locket that my mother, Alice Janadexiand, has left me. I finally let my knees give way.

I landed on the cobblestoned roads. My knees barked in genuine pain. I stayed there for a long while. Watching the wretched king called soldiers to dispose of my mother’s body. I watched them take apart the stage, and burn the wood stained with blood. I watched as they took apart every part of my mother’s death, as if it has never happened. As if a life was not taken. I stood there until the sky began to turn reddish orange, then to complete darkness. I walked home in the dark, following the familiar signs. The shouting in the tavern, the scurrying of rats, and the whimpering of children. I pushed open the door to my small little cottage, and saw my father, The King’s Warrior. He sat, back slouched, at the dining table we were barely able to buy.

“Father?” He turned, his hair disheveled.

“Oh, my baby.” He wrapped his strong arms around me, and I sobbed into his arm.

“He killed her. The King, Crimson. He killed her.”

He hugged me even tighter. “I know it hurts, baby. But your mother will always be with you. I too will never leave you.”

I breathed out shakily. “I know. I love you. I never want to lose you.”

He kissed the top of my head. “You never will. I will always be right by your side.”

~

The next few years have been difficult. I left school to help my father around the house, and try to gather enough money for food for the both of us. It didn’t help that King Crimson decided to continue to tax our village. I was happy, well, as happy as a daughter could be without her mother. One day, we received a knock on our door. I answered it, and I saw the man who ordered my mother’s execution.

He didn’t seem to recognize me as he said, “Hello, little one. I’d like to speak with your father, Peter Janadexiand.”

I didn’t budge. No way in hell would I welcome him into my home. “I am not little. I am fourteen. Besides, my father isn’t home. He went to go trade for some food.”

“Ah, yes. I remember you. The Janadexiand daughter. You have inherited your mother’s wit and sharp tongue.” He thought I forgot. Forgot about her death, about his orders. But I remembered. I remembered everything.

I stepped out of our little cottage, and puffed out my chest. “Don’t talk about my mother. You murdered her as if her life meant nothing. Nothing compared to yours. You left me motherless, you left my father a widower.”

He stepped closer to me. Until his body trapped me against the door. His hot breath brushed my ear. “I can see why your father was attracted to your mother’s wit. What a lovely trait. How about you, my sweet, come live with me in the palace.” He reached out and pulled my waist into him. “Wouldn’t it be nice if you were the King’s Ward? A guest at my royal court?” I reached out, and grabbed the dagger hanging at his belt.

I held it out in front of me. Crimson took a step back, afraid of the dagger in my hand. “Not if I become a s*x slave to you. You can take your empty words and promises to someone who might actually believe them. I will not become anything of your property.”

He stepped away, and fixed his uniform. “Watch your words, girl. You have no idea what I can do.” With that, he turned and strutted like the peacock he was back to his carriage. I sighed, and looked down at the dagger. The beautiful blade had diamonds and rubies encrusted into the handle, and the edge was sharp. I watched at the carriage ran through the bumpy streets.

“No, Crimson.” I said. “You have no idea what I can do.” I stared at where the carriage had disappeared into the horizon. I walked back into the cottage, and place the dagger underneath my pillow. I knew I would use it again. Someday.

It was my fifteenth birthday when Crimson decided to pay us another visit. I was walking back from the marketplace, just traded a few of my mother’s possessions. The money that was earned was barely enough for the next few weeks. I was approaching my house when I heard yelling. Guards were posted at the front door. Worried, I raced to the back door, where I slipped in quietly. I heard my father.

“For the last time, I will not rejoin your army. You killed my wife.”

“That witch is already dead. It’s been years. Why is the enchantment still in effect? You will join my army. You were the strongest leader for it. They need you again, Peter. We will lose the next war without you. Our neighbouring country, Emerasia is threatening us.”

“It is not my fault that you refuse to shut up when you should have. Have you ever thought that maybe there was no enchantment? I loved Alice, with all my heart. There was no magik involved in that. I married her because I loved her. Why else would people marry?”

“Peter, if you do not join my army again, you will regret it.”

My father scoffed. “Threats? I really hoped we were far from that. Besides, I live with no regrets.” I heard the scraping of the chair against the floor, and footsteps that mellowed out. Sighing, my father stood up as well. “I know you’re there, my sweet.”

I stepped out of the shadows and looked into my father’s eyes. There was only peace in his eyes. “He wants you back.” My father nodded. “Will you join him again?”

He smiled. “Of course not. I can never forgive him for what he has done to our family. For what he has done to you.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, breathing in his scent.

“Good.”

“No matter what, I will always be in your heart. Nothing can separate us as a family. That is the strongest bond.”

That was the last thing my father ever said to me. He told me he was leaving to the marketplace to buy some food. I sat at home, waiting, until the sun had set. My father was always home before that. I grabbed my cloak and the dagger, and opened the door to the awaiting darkness.

I trekked through the village. I didn’t want to disturb anyone, so I didn’t knock on any doors. I heard men in taverns, but I wasn’t going to waste my time on an unreliable drunkard. I walked through the market, where my father said he was going. All the stands were closed, and the road was silent. I called my father’s name until my voice was lost. My throat was dry, my feet were throbbing, and my eyes were heavy.

I only found him when the sun rose. Tired and hungry, I trudged into the last part I haven’t looked. The forest. Before I stepped over the border between my village and the forest, I felt a hand on my shoulder. His hand was firm and warm, refreshing to my freezing body.

“Are you alright, miss?” I turned around to face him. He stepped back. I knew him. His name was Arian. He was bullied, and I tried to stop them, but those children didn’t listen to me. Why would they? I straightened my back, and looked Arian in the eye.

“I’m fine.” I said. Strands of my black hair was hanging in my eyes, but I didn’t brush it aside.

“You don’t seem fine,” He paused. “What happened?”

“I’m looking for my father.” I said.

He held out his hand. “I didn’t catch your name.”

I thought. I couldn’t give him my real name. I’m a nobody right now, and it should stay that way.“Azrellyn Dryaia.”

“Azrellyn. Would you like help?”

“No. Thank you. I can do it myself.”

His blue eyes would not stop staring at me. “I never got to thank you for what you did for me. Thank you for helping me.”

“Now you did.” I turned on my heel and walked towards the forest. He ran up to me, gripping me by my shoulders.

“I want to help, please. As a thank you.” I shot him a look.

“Not a chance.” He tilted his head. “Not. A. Chance.”

“Why not?”

I hesitated. Why wouldn’t I let him? Help would be nice. “Fine. But you have to promise you won’t ever bother me again.” He simply nodded. We cautiously tiptoed into the forest, afraid of any beast or man decided to come and maim us. I turned my head from right to left, and I saw him.

I saw him lying on his side, and when I approached him, he smelled of ale. Turning him over, I gasped.

A dagger protruded out of his chest, the blood already rusting on the blade. Streams of blood poured down his sides into a puddle. I reached out, hands trembling, and put my hand over his heart.

Nothing.

There was nothing. No thump. No beat.

Nothing.

My father is dead.

My vision blurred. I felt my heart shrivel up. The world stopped turning. Time stopped moving. Everything just stopped. I sat there, next to my father for a long while. Arian, stood there patiently. Standing up, I hooked my arms underneath his, and dragged him through the forest, to a clearing he once took me to. Arian gathered rocks, and flowers. He handed them to me. I pulled the dagger out of his chest, and wiped it clean on the grass beneath me.

I placed the flowers and rocks around my father, chanting a prayer he had said at my mother’s grave every time we would visit. I stood up, finally completed my work. Arian handed me two flints, and I sparked the flame.

The flames engulfed his body, bringing him to the life after death. “Goodbye, father. I love you.” I sniffed, and wiped my running nose on my hand. Arian wrapped an arm around me, as we watched the flames died down into embers. I gathered the ashes, and placed them into the locket. It was night fall, when I finally left the forest alone. Wrapping my hand around the dagger found in my father’s chest, I vowed that I will use that dagger to avenge my father. Whoever had made you want to leave this world, I will find them and make them pay.

The cruel world just turned into a nightmare. Every night I would cry myself to sleep, in a cold lonely house. Only to wake up in tears and drenched in sweat, playing back my father’s death. I would see the knife in his chest, and his lifeless eyes staring up at me. The pool of blood around him. His last words etched into my mind.

Everyday I would walk by the Square, seeing the ax come down on my mother’s neck. The sound of the sharp blade never left my ears. It haunted me for months until I’ve decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t bear to even look at my village and my home.

Every time I did, I thought I saw my parents standing at the entrance of our home, waiting to welcome me in their loving arms. But I knew it was all fake, like the rest of the world. Everything was a mirage, once thought to be there, but never really was. I forgot what it felt like to be loved, to be happy, and to feel safe. My parents left me an orphan, alone in the dark world.

‘How could they?’ I asked myself. ‘Was I not good enough? Of course, you’re not good enough. You’re a selfish, cowardly little girl.’ I don’t remember a time when I didn’t feel so alone.

I left my village. I took refuge in the Dark Forest, somewhere I thought Crimson wouldn’t dare look. I spent years in the Forest, regretting what I could’ve had with my parents. They were gone, and I had no one, I could’ve had a life, a marriage, a child.

Everything I could’ve had was gone. I wanted to erase the terrible past, forget the pain.

~

I turned sixteen. With no one to celebrate it with me. It had been a year since my father died. I was paid another visit from the king, and he told me that it was suicide. Seems like I wasn’t the only one telling lies. So, I spend my birthday alone, but I had plan. On my birthday, and I dressed in my mother’s best gown. It was made of silk, with gossamer and chiffon encasing the bodice. The corset pushed my waist in and my breasts up. I hate wearing this. What could I do wearing a dress? It turns out I could do a lot. The minute I stepped into the marketplace, heads turned. The eyes of men fell up and down my body, and suddenly I found myself very self conscious. However, I refused to cover up. I needed their attention. I needed to meet Karlen Belleran. It’s said that he comes to the tavern every week to drink. I straightened my back, held my shoulders back. I strolled into the closest tavern and, once again, heads snapped into my direction. I untied the top laces to my corset, and sat down at a table full of men.

“That’s not how you play.” I pushed my arms inward, making my breasts seem bigger. I grabbed the nearest glass of ale, not caring who it belonged to and threw it down.

One of the men smirked. He looked around twenty years of age, with stubble running across his face. Some would say he is roguishly handsome. Quite handsome in fact. “What would you know of this game, sweetheart?” In front of me, sat a board with seven pieces on one side, and seven pieces on the other. My father taught me how to play this game when I was younger. The objective was to stop your opponent from reaching the other side.

I c****d an eyebrow. “I know that if you moved your piece to this square,” I picked up the piece and placed it in the square I indicated. “Your opponent would have no place to go, but you would be able to jump over them to the other side.”

The man looked at me funny. “You’re a smart girl. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

I scoffed lightly. As if I was going to tell him what my real name was. “My name is Anna, Anna Marez. You are?”

The man slid over to my side of the table. “Well, Anna Marez, I’m Karlen Belleran. A pleasure to meet you. I hope to see you here more often.”

“Karlen Belleran? As in the king’s general?” Crimson’s own general. Excellent. Just who I needed to find.

He nodded ever so slightly. “You catch on fast.” His hand slid up my thigh. I placed my hand over his to stop it from going higher.

“Don’t go too fast, Karlen Belleran.”

He smiled elusively. “Why don’t we share a drink?” He called over a barmaid and ordered a bottle of whiskey. “So, Anna Marez. I have never heard of your family name; where are you from?”

“Far away. I suppose. My parents refused to ever speak of it.” The barmaid came back and placed Karlen’s order on the table, along with two glasses.

Karlen poured the whiskey into the two glasses and handed me one. “You don’t know your own heritage?”

I downed the whiskey, and fought the urge of cough. “No. I know my heritage, but was made to forget it. The king doesn’t like our heritage.”

“Your family is Meridrian?”

“I suppose so. I’ve been told that being who I am was unheard of. Many of the Meridrians were made to forget what we practice.”

“I’ve heard of that, but never believed it. I’m so sorry.”

I shuffled closer to him. “It’s not your fault, I had to leave Meridria when I was young. The trip was long and tiring, with little reward. My sister died on our trip.”

“I’m so sorry. My condolences.” I shrugged. “The king ordered the Meridrian deaths.”

I poured another shot. “I know. But you followed his orders.”

He breathed in the strong aroma of the whiskey. “I didn’t want to. So, I—in theory— have no sins.” He smirked with his dashing smile. If you follow the Devil, you have sins. I thought.

I raised my eyebrows. “Is that suppose to impress me?”

He grinned, his stubble crinkling slightly. “Maybe.”

We sat and talked in that tavern for hours, until the only light illuminating the tavern were flickering candles. “Well, Karlen, it’s been, um, great talking to you, but it’s getting late. I should be going home.”

He stood up. “What? You can’t go home in the darkness. The night is a dangerous time for a pretty girl like you to be roaming around.” I blushed slightly.

I c****d my head to the side. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re worried. Sad, even that I’m leaving.”

“Of course I’m worried.” He sighed out through his nose, and placed his hands on my sides. “Look. I really like you. You are one of the only girls I’ve met that care more than just who they bed and how they look. You care about what’s in your heart. What’s in your mind. Please, I want you to stay here at the tavern for the night. I’ll pay for the room, but I just want you to be safe.”

I breathed out loudly. “Fine. But you might have to convince me some more.” His eyes darkened.

He was my summer lover. We shared a bed for months, and I felt like I was loved. We were an item for a while, and soon enough, my birthday rolled around the corner. I was turning seventeen. He walked into our room at the tavern, the same one we have been living in for the past weeks. He knelt at the base of the bed, where I was sitting. Karlen pulled a cloth wrapped object out from behind his back.

“Happy Birthday, Anna.”

I took the object in my hand, and tested the weight. I unwrapped the cloth from the object, to reveal a long, sleek sword. A golden serpent was engraved into the metal handle. My father’s insignia, my family’s coat of arms. The metal shinged as I pulled it out. It balanced perfectly between my fingers. I slid my finger down the blade, testing the sharpness. The sword’s blade was sharp enough to decapitate. I smiled at the thought. “Thank you, Karlen. I love it.”

He smiled, and kissed my lips. “I’m glad you like it. I wanted to make sure you could defend yourself, even when I’m not around.” I smiled, nodded and thanked him again. He kissed me again. That was the last day he would ever touch me like that.

Karlen’s back was to me. The shadows in the room stopped at the candle flickering on the table in the room. This is what Crimson gets for giving me the life I never wanted. I took the sword Karlen gifted to me only hours before. He will pay for what his king has done to my family. He followed the commands of Crimson.

He is Crimson’s General. The person who obeyed the damned orders of that vile, evil man without hesitation. He probably followed the order of my parents’ murders. I sat up, and unsheathed the sword. The metal blade sang against the steel scabbard. He shifted at the sound, and I plunged the sword into his back. There wasn’t even a scream. I scribbled a note on a parchment. I pulled out the sword. Karlen moaned in pain.

“A-Anna. Help. Please, get help.” He was still alive. “Staunch the bleeding.”

I smiled. “Asking me for help? Of course I’ll help, sweetheart. That’s what lovers do.” I grasped the handle of his own dagger. I speared it through the note and his back once more. “Be careful who you love, it could be someone deadly.”

There was nothing in the room but…

Silence.

I kissed him on the cheek. “Goodbye, Karlen Bellaren. Save a spot for me, will you?” I said to his limp corpse.

The sword Karlen gifted me had my family’s coat of arms; The House of Janadexiand. It was my father’s sword, and my ancestors before me. It was a family heirloom. The magik in the sword was unlike any other. I’ve heard my father tell me the story of it. It was a sword that was made by Elves, enchanted with a powerful witch’s spell. Fused with the blood of a phoenix, it had the power to carry skills from generation to generation. I had inherited skills of every ancestor who ever used this sword. I had the experience of an ancient warrior.