Queen Yavara Ch. 49

Hannah flushed to the roots of her hair, and her face twisted.

I smiled companionably, and patted her shoulder. "Did you bring me here to impress her? Were you hoping I'd be your ticket into the dashing rogue leader's bed chambers? Take it from someone who's been that rogue leader; we're not worth it. We're self-centered, self-righteous shits, and we'll disappoint you every time."

Hannah snorted, and shook her head. "You think I'm that easy to read, huh?"

"You're an open book."

She ran her hand through her blonde mane, and let out a sigh. "Maybe you're right, Adrianna. Maybe this whole thing is doomed. Maybe I'll die horrifically for nothing." She gave me a furtive look, "But you're wrong about one thing: I've already fucked Esmerelda."

My brows went up.

"Oh, yes." Hannah chuckled, "I've fucked her in her bed, I've fucked her in the kitchen, I've fucked her in the barn, and I've fucked her in the closet." She brought her fingers to her nose, and smelled them dramatically, "Do you want to know an even dirtier secret, Adrianna?" Esmerelda asked me with a wicked grin, "While you were asleep right next to me, I was fucking her all, night, long."

ELENA

I was never religious, but I always believed that death was not the end. There had to be more to consciousness than the neurons and synapses that fired through my brain, but between my impact in the Bentius Bay, and my awakening in the dark cellar, there was nothing. When I opened my eyes, I could feel the passage of time, an awareness that there had been space between my last moment and my rebirth, but that space was empty for me. Nothing.

"Maybe you just weren't aware of it." Huntiata said.

"There was nothing to be aware of." I croaked; my voice shot.

He washed my shoulders carefully with a sponge. My limbs floated lifelessly in the bathtub; the veins pocked with marks for where Lady Jonias had stuck me with needles. I could feel my arms and legs, but the only movement I could manage was a slight wiggling of my fingers and toes, and that seemed to take all the effort of my being.

"Time is for the living." Huntiata said.

"What?"

"Time. When you're dead, time doesn't matter to you." He planted a gentle kiss on my head, "Something had to come back when Catherine performed her witchcraft. You went away, and now you're here again. It's not a miracle; it's proof of the eternal soul."

"I sometimes forget you're an old man." I groaned.

"Sometimes you made me forget it." He chuckled gently.

Catherine Jonias's heels clicked against the stones as she made her way into view. She was always so uptight in court; her face pinched and rigid, her posture stiff and jerking, her clothes and hair seemingly bound together with such intricacy that cutting a strand from her dress might cause her to collapse like a failed ball of yarn. Now she wore a filthy hospital apron covered in my blood and awful, her hair was loose and unkempt, and her face was relaxed in satisfied exhaustion, the tight flesh now eased into subtle age-lines that framed the contours of her cheeks and the corners of her eyes in pleasant smiles. It was like I was seeing her for the first time, and she was quite pretty.

"Did Sherman fill in the blanks to your satisfaction?" She asked, sitting beside me. I could tell that she still detested me as a person, but her eyes also carried a fondness for me as her patient.

"Yes."

"And...?"

I swallowed. "I'll do it."

Her brows went up. "You will?"

I smiled with cracked lips. "It was my evil plan all along to gain the throne."

She sneered. "Ah yes. You meticulously planned for your hated rival to fish your near-dead body out of the water during the midst of a coup, drag you into a warehouse, and perform dark magic that you had no idea she possessed. Such a grand schemer you are; I never had a chance."

I coughed a little blood with my laughter. "You were just my pawn all along!"

She gently blotted the blood from my chin. "You really were in love with Leveria, weren't you?"

I could only nod.

She smiled pitiably at me. "You poor fool, Lady Straltaira."

"That makes two of us, Lady Jonias."

She offered me a small smile, and went about inspecting the puncture wounds in my arms. "Sherman was sure you wouldn't agree to it." She gave him a furtive look, "He said you were adamant about only supporting peace. Well, now peace is at hand. Ternias has secured it for a generation at least. You risk upsetting the balance by going for his crown."

"There is no balance. Ternias's kingdom is built on a lie. Too many people know what he did to gain power, and that will kill his legitimacy. If there's no justice, then there's just anarchy, and the Highlands will fracture into civil war."

"Still a selfless patriot, huh?" Jonias chuckled, "Why don't you tell me the real reason?"

I hacked up another throatful of blood. "Because that rat piece of shit had Leveria raped and sent to die, and I am going to feed him his severed balls!"

Lady Jonias snorted, and gave Sherman a look. "I told you she'd be perfect."

ADRIANNA

Hannah—or, Esmerelda as I now knew her—was a crafty commander. The shoddy encampment I'd walked into had been a charade. Royal scouts had been tracking her movements for weeks, and so she'd strategically shed away pieces of her army, making it look like they were deserting in mass until only thirty soldiers remained to guard a run-down barn. In secret, the deserters had all rendezvoused to an abandoned mining village off the coast of the Western Sea, a mere twenty miles from Bentius. Esmerelda had a unique portal in her tent that she used to transit to the village. If the barn was ever attacked by the army, it would take no time at all for the thirty soldiers to disappear into the tent, and reappear hundreds of miles away.

"It wasn't a coincidence that you found me at that estate." I said from the window of her house, watching the gentry walk past us. No one yet knew of our arrival, and I dreaded the introduction.

She thumbed the portal in her hand, an ancient gemstone glowing with astral power. "This is an imperial weapon from before the age of kingdoms, when the mages threatened to take over the Highlands."

"Where did you get it?"

Her brow furrowed. "I pulled it from the cloak of the man who raped me."

I inspected the stone, my eyes running over the intricate knotwork and calligraphy. It wasn't ancient Highland at all; it was old Alkandran. Zander, I thought bitterly, and a piece of the puzzle fell right into place.

"It tells me if someone has used magic within the vicinity, and it transports me to them," Esmerelda explained. "Royal mages are our greatest threat now, and this gives us the edge."

"Why did you feign weakness when you ambushed me in that estate? Why let me capture you?"

She smiled. "I didn't need to feign anything. I was expecting some feckless old man to be dusting off his robes when I rounded the corner. When I saw a full-blooded Alkandran instead, well... I guess I wasn't as brave as I thought I was."

"You're a general, and you can't even properly string a bow."

"I was a baker, Adrianna. Our best markswomen were huntresses, our best swordswomen were sugar-cane farmers, and our best calvary were cowgirls." She gave me a stern look, "When it comes to killing, it doesn't really matter what you were."

"Any maniac can justify murder."

"Is that what you did when you raided orc villages?"

"Are you a rebel or a bandit?" I snapped. "What's your endgame? To sit on the throne yourself? To tear it all down and start over? It's been done. It's a cliché."

"I don't have a plan."

"What?"

"After I was raped, the town formed a mob, and we killed the taxman that came a day later. Once the wrath cleared, we knew we could not go back, so we kept going forward."

"Holy shit." I groaned, rubbing at my head.

"Yeah..." She sighed.

I leaned back into the couch, and watched the rebels pass us by on the village walkway. It would've seemed like paradise to a younger, male version of me. Hundreds of capable, beautiful, young high-elf women, all dressed in makeshift armor and standing proud in their newfound empowerment. Many of them obviously had eyes for each other, though they were very subtle—just not subtle enough for my Alkandran senses to miss. Though they were rebels, their Highland traditionalism still ran deep, and homosexuality was very taboo. Still, there was love here, yes, and fear. Esmerelda might've been a very crafty and charismatic leader, but a directionless leader was no leader at all, and it was clear that her troops were beginning to question the cause they were following. Fracture lines were forming in the army; women huddled in groups and looking over their shoulders, women staring out at the fields over the village walls, women pacing erratically without looking where they were walking. They knew there was no going back home after what they'd done. Once the army came back, there would be inquisitions, arrests, torture and executions. The new king would make certain that every rebel was made an example of. They were trapped, and I could sense the undertone of fear beginning to boil into panic.

"Tell me what you want from me." I said.

"To become the battle commander of this outfit, and lead my people to victory."

"I can lead you to safety. There is no victory to be had."

"You said the same thing at the camp. Haven't I proved to you yet that we are more than capable?"

"When the army gets here, you'll be outnumbered a hundred to one, and those will be seasoned fighters."

"Our sons, brothers and fathers."

"A few of them, yes. To the rest, you're all just uppity, murderous whores, and they've been getting their asses kicked for months by an uppity, murderous whore."

"Victory is my only condition."

"I don't care."

"You don't have a choice, Adrianna." She laughed harshly, "You're a traitor of two nations, and you have nowhere to go. Do you believe it was coincidence that brought you here? It was fate." She reached out, and touched my hand with her fingertips. "You're easy to read, Adrianna. You'll do as I ask, because you think it's your ticket back to Alkandra. There must be a woman waiting for you there, perhaps one of the famed hermaphrodites of the court. Will she wait for long?"

"She'll put a blade in my eye if she ever sees me again."

"But at least you'll get to see her one last time."

I laughed bitterly, and ran my hands through my hair, my mind working. Being a battle commander of a woefully outnumbered and outclassed unit was actually rather simple. There was one path to victory, and it was probably suicide, but it was the only choice.

"Well...?" Esmerelda asked.

I looked at her, studying her face carefully. "You'll give me full command?"

"Yes."

"You'll never question my orders?"

"No."

I nodded. "Ok then. Come daybreak tomorrow morning, we're moving out."

"Why? The army is marching a hundred miles in the wrong direction to find us. No one will know we're here for weeks at least."

"The army will be at Bentius in five days, Esmerelda." I said, "If you want to win, then we need to get there first."

ELENA

I was in one of Lady Jonias's plush bathrobes, seated at the head of the long table of her mansion in the Noble District. After I'd been cleaned and properly evaluated, they'd stuffed me in a shipping box full of hay, tossed fifty pounds of women's clothing atop me, and nailed it shut with a hundred more nails than necessary. I'd been tossed unceremoniously into a gondola, and transported by canal back to the noble district. Lady Jonias's cargo had been inspected lazily by some disinterested guards who'd likely been drafted for the job. They gave up with my container after three minutes, and let us go on our way. From there, I was hauled upright, wheeled into the house, then dumped into a wheel chair. I now sat in that chair, and contemplated the people sitting at the long table with me.

There was Sherman Huntiata and Catherine Jonias, of course, and one other man: Lord Harold Feractian.

"Your Highness," he said, dipping his head, "I came as soon as I got Lady Jonias's message."

Your Highness? I thought, and struggled to keep my face composed. There would be no getting used to that, ever. There was only one queen of the Highlands, and she was either already dead, or wishing she was. I immediately silenced that part of my mind.

"I thought you were in the country, fighting a rebellion?" I asked Lord Feractian.

He smiled. "Once word got out from my barons that the city watch would soon be coming, the rebellion splintered to nothing. I know I have you to thank for that, and since Ternias was content with letting my province burn, there is only one royal I now recognize."

"I thank you for your loyalty. I know it was well-earned." I said, then looked to the other two. They looked expectantly back at me, and I sighed. "We don't have a plan, do we?"

"That's why we're here right now, isn't it?" Feractian asked, looking around the table.

Jonias nodded. "I have twenty-one bannermen in town, and one mage—two including me."

"I have ten bannermen in town." Huntiata said.

"And I have fourteen." Feractian finished, "So together, we are forty-five strong."

"Forty-six." Sherman said gruffly, laying a scarred fist on the table.

"Forty-seven." I answered, flopped my lifeless hand beside his fist, and dared anyone to challenge my proclamation.

Feractian laughed, and pounded his hand on the table. "Forty-eight then!"

Jonias twisted her lips, and daintily placed her finger on the table. "Forty-nine, if it comes to that. I imagine I'll be a dead woman if it fails anyway, and I rather die in the streets than in the dungeons. Still, there must be a better way than violence. Forty-nine leaves us outnumbered more than ten to one."

"It will most-certainly come to violence, Lady Jonias," I said calmly. "It is the application of violence that we must now concern ourselves with. We will only get one shot."

"Ternias is a paranoid man," Huntiata said. "If he didn't think us all wholly defeated, he would've had us executed or assassinated already. Still, he barricades himself in the castle, fearing a revolt from the lower wards. He will only present himself to the people after the army has arrived, and his power is secure."

"He fears a revolt from the lower wards?" I queried.

"The war was unpopular with the farmers and villagers, as they felt its effects most keenly, but the metropolitans were in full support of it." Jonias answered.

"The metropolitans can't much distinguish between orcs and farmers as it is." Huntiata said with a wry smile, "If you don't wear lace and raise your pinky when you drink, you might as well be an ape to them. They're high-class, no-substance people, but make no mistake, they're just itching to get the guillotine out."

I glanced at Jonias, who was giving Huntiata an angry look. "You disagree, my lady?"

"With the lord's assessment of high-minded forward-thinking individuals, yes. Rolling in manure and mud doesn't make you 'down to earth;' it just makes you smell like shit."

"You can roll in the pig shit and mud with me anytime, sweetheart." Huntiata sneered at her, then glanced side-eyed at me.

I scowled at him with one side of my face, and gave an imperceptible wink with the other, then turned to Lady Jonias. "I take it you have investments in the lower wards, my lady?"

"I am well-connected with high-society," she said with an imperious tilt to her chin.

"Find me allies then. Not artisans and craftsmen, my lady; dangerous allies."

She huffed. "You underestimate the danger artisans and craftsmen pose, Lady Straltaira—"

"Your Highness." I interrupted. I may not have liked the title, but if anyone was going to call me it, it would be her.

"Not yet, you're not, you Alkandran whore!" She snapped, "And as I was saying, a good propaganda poster can do more damage to a tyrant than a thousand swords. I know just the man for the job."

"Then I'll leave you to it." I said grumpily, admiring her a little for her persistent bitchiness. I turned to Feractian. "Besides your men at arms, what kind of support can you bring?"

He stroked his blonde beard. "What little money I had after Leveria emptied our coffers is now gone. I don't know what support I can get you within the city that doesn't require my wallet."

"What of your barons?"

He raised his brows. "What of them?"

"Yes, Your Highness, what of them?" Lady Jonias sneered, her blue eyes swimming with mirth. Of course she knew.

"Your barons are quite... friendly... with me." I said carefully, "If they have connections within the city that can be leveraged, I'm sure they would do it for me."

The oblivious lord seemed quite surprised. "I'll have to contact them then. I'm sure they have resources at their disposal."

"Tell them who sent you." I said.

"Is that wise?"

"Tell them my secrets won't die with me."

Fraction's brows went up even more, but he did not object. I turned to Sherman Huntiata. "My lord?"

He opened his hands helplessly. "My only power was the city watch, and that has been stripped from me."

"Totally? Completely?" I asked, "There's not one man in the watch who would, say, give details on patrol schedules and guard changes? Not a single one of your 'loyal boys' who betrayed you the moment Ternias took power?"

His face fell in shame. "If I knew... if I—"

"I'm not blaming you, my lord; I'm making a point. Money bought your men's loyalty, which means it is for sale. We only need to fill one man's pockets—the right man, whoever that may be. I'm sure you know who that man is."

He nodded. "I'm sure I do too."

"Good." I smiled, "Very good. All of you, keep low profiles. Lady Jonias has transformation potions that can be used for when you need to leave your homes. You'll be disguised as one of your servants, and you'll leave when their shifts change. Make sure you're not being followed, and if you are, don't do anything to attract attention. If Ternias gets even a whiff of a conspiracy, he'll kill you all just for peace of mind. This is the most dangerous time for him, and so it is the most dangerous time for us."

"Aye." Huntiata said grimly.

"You are dismissed." I said. The nobles stood up, bowed, and left the room—except for Lady Jonias, as it was her room. When the others were done giving their salutations, and the door closed behind them, it was only her and I.

I shifted awkwardly in my wheelchair. "I uh... I think I need your help to get around."

"I know."

"When will I get better?"

"With my help, in a week." She said, watching me expectantly.

"What?"

"My services aren't free, Lady Straltaira—can I call you Elena? Of course I can. I saved you, I brought you back to life, and now I am putting you on the throne of the Highlands. I am owed a queen's ransom, if I do say so myself."

"What do you want?"

She tilted her head, studying me. "The Tiadoanas province, the Terninianas province, and the Droughtianas province."

I practically choked. "No!"

She smiled cruelly. "Yes."

"That's nearly half the kingdom! The Noble Court—"

"I have no interest in the Noble Court, Elena." She said gently, raising her hand to silence me. "I never have. It's a game I detest, but it was one I had to play. No longer. You can appoint your lackies to represent those provinces, I don't care, but I will ultimately rule over their interests. Give me a title, something innocuous enough that it doesn't draw too much attention. 'Royal Consultant' should be good."

"And then?" I growled.

"And then, I'm free. My family will no longer own me, I'll be richer than god herself, and I'll leave this worthless nobility to pursue avenues of actual worth." She spat on the table, "Politicians. Has there ever been anything so useless?"