Thread: Allegiant [MRAZ and Domovoi]

The queen was so sure of the traitors involvement in Vereiters death. It was mostly sure that they had found the corpse of her mentor in one of the nearby caves of the Lords lands, or so Meike thought, the Under Roamers had gone away, the corpses in the land of Davorick had been left there though, those who had fought were mostly left half devoured, the intruders from other kingdom had been buried in their own camps, just outside the castles grounds. Sir Leandro had been given a quick burial in the cave where he had passed, along the allies that had fallen in battle. The idea of the knights opening, profaning, the older knights already meager grave hurt Meike, physically hurt her, but there was nothing to do now, and it was the price she had to pay, right? Still, it felt as if her heart was shattering, to the point where she was sure that, when this was over, she would be dead way before they decided to execute her for desertion. Lenara went on with her speech, and the brunette warrior wanted to hit the woman before her more than ever in her life. It took all of the teal eyed traitors will to keep herself down and not to shout at Lenara, not to tell her that she was shaming her fathers memory, that it had been the kings will, that more lives than she could even imagine had been cut short because of that. That it had all been in order to shield her shield her from the oncoming try of coup detat orchestrated by her uncle protect her from the prepared hit from the neighboring kingdom which had declared war to them in order to steal part of their lands, specially their forests and rivers avoid the outrage that would come from the common folk if the crime of kin-slaying was known to be committed by the royal family. The teal eyed girl opened her mouth but could not say anything and, instead, snapped her teeth in a dangerous gesture. She could not hurt her queen anymore, not even when she wanted to slap her across the face at the moment, or bite her, or shout at her, anything, absolutely anything in exchange of shutting the daughter of the King up, of stopping that self-doubt, of showing her some way, any way, that she was able to handle the responsibility that had fallen on her shoulders, that her father had picked her for a reason, that there was no one, in the whole kingdom that could lift the kingdom back up but her, no matter what some weak witted fools said while they demanded to be protected by the same queen they were attacking. Meikes thoughts were, however, cut short when Lenara began to accuse her of maybe her worst crime of them all leaving her liege alone, of leaving without even a word, without a warning. Killing, maiming, torturing, deserting, feeding on corpses, letting the brother of the king crawling on his elbows and knees as he begged for mercy, none of that was important, she would do it all over again if ordered to but the heir of Sir Leandro would have given her soul just in exchange of managing to return one day, just one day, to be near her queen when Lenara needed her the most. Both of them had buried their fathers, all by themselves, and the sword user still remembered the scent of death in that cave, the effort of digging, the snow entering her clothes making her shiver even when she felt numb, the realization that he would not be there tomorrow, the fear that grasped her and had not left her, instead said fear had become anger, hatred and fury, all directed at the owner of those lands. There was a bump on her shoulder, it made the traitor return to the moment the warmth and the queens scent made her give out a strangled whimper of pain, a whimper of built up loneliness and hurt that the hardened warrior had not shown in two years, two years? Two decades? Two centuries? It felt more, much more. It had all been gone in a second, with just a couple of words her best friend, her father and her mentor, her life, her mission, her very identity. They were gone, all gone. It was not fair, it was really not fair, Meike had not betrayed anyone, neither had Sir Leandro. She leaned her head against Lenaras, nuzzling her lightly as she whimpered, half mewling like a lost kitten that has been starved to the point where it did no longer have a voice. Princess The brunette fallen knight tried to say, just like when they were kids, just like when she ran to the blond royal girl in order to play with her, or to get some comfort. Princess, princess! A young squire would call back then, when running to her like an obedient puppy, happy to see her future ruler, happy to have the blue eyed young woman near, no matter their situation. The warrior remembered how she, still as a newcomer, would crawl onto the blond girls bed and ask her to read something for her, or would hide near her when she was beaten by one of the squires in a fight and needed time to recover so she could stand up again and get the rematch, how she would teach Lenara her wounds later on, or how they would roughhouse with for hours as they tried to determine who was stronger The then taller, older girl or the smaller and younger squire. Princess I never She clenched her teeth again before finishing that sentence and sighed painfully, just pushing against her queen. Her mouth tasted like oxide and she felt as if her veins were covered by ice, her heart was racing and it was as if she was drowning. The monarchs whimpers and squeaking finally made the younger fighter act. She moved fast, Lenara was stronger now, but Meike still had her agility like a cat, the renegade moved back, making the queen go forwards before pushing the sovereign in a swift motion that sent the queen back, making her fall onto her back. The betrayer immediately straddled Lenara in one swift motion, the shackles behind her making a clunk sound, and then, she stopped. The warrior gave out a grumble, she could not take this, and she could not do this. And what the blue-blooded woman thought it was what Meike thought too someone else would have been better in doing this, more specifically her master would have managed to do this. Staring deep into the womans icy gaze, Meike spoke, sounding defeated If you want to hate someone, hate me if you want to blame someone, blame me if you need a scapegoat then here I am. Lenara, I could not be there, I cant change that. Im a traitor I am a deserter and a murderer. The worst part, maybe, was that she felt no guilt to those last crimes instead, her whole guilt went to having left Lenaras side. I cant change that, just like you cant change who you are, what your father chose for you, or where you are now. Meike leaned her forehead against the queens and closed her eyes, feeling how they were too leaking, she was just so very tired, the warrior didnt want to die though, she didnt want to leave Lenara alone, even when she knew it would happen. Never in her life had the knight thought she would have to leave her liege alone, and it had hurt more than words could describe, Lenara was her reason to live, and the king had taken it away no, Vereiter had he, who poisoned the king with a cape of the finest pelts he, who had killed Meikes own master, her own father that bastard, who was welcoming enemies upon his land, preparing to strike when the princess was most vulnerable. The anger came back to the warriors tired self, her snarky attitude was mostly gone but the hatred was tangible. Vereiter he never deserved even the air he breathed do you really THINK that the idiot would have given you anything? He would have sent you to one of his servants to become a machine of producing bastards. A noticeable thing was how Meike systematically refused to say the Lords tittle. Your father raised you to be a queen while Vereiter was raised to feed from the content of the privy of more powerful men, that was all he could do, that was all he knew how to do. The warrior muttered and began to just give up, her body relaxed and Meike felt as if there was no way she could not even continue this charade. Lenara, the war is over they killed off the heads of the enemy army, their king was forced to retreat, its all over, and your enemies are all rotting in their icy graves. No matter how much you fail now, no matter what happens, times of peace are coming. The kingdom was saved in your time, so no matter how much they hate you, your people will learn that The warrior said, not daring to open her eyes yet. By reason or by blood , that is the decision they can make, not whether you rule them or not, not whether they like you or not. The traitor was dizzy, so dizzy, she let herself become less tense and lost foot, or maybe the queen pushed her off? It didnt really matter, she fell off from her once charge and just rested there. Ouch She muttered, but stayed in place, if the daughter of the king wanted to pick up the blade and drive it into the warriors heart as a revenge for both what she had just done or what she had done two years ago, Meike would not move, nothing would make her move from where she was. Instead of worrying about what would happen next, or anything at all, the betrayer sighed, still with the lingering fragrance of Lenaras scent tickling her senses, remembering, or trying to remember better days, better years. Lost memories, and shattered dreams.