Addendum: The attempted assassination
Pre-pre-pre-quel to Xo's story:
"My cousins would fake a fawning if they saw you two, so let's use the secret staircase." Silluna recommended as her fingers gently pressed the jagged edge of sandstone. A small, narrow passage opened before the quartet of women and with a small blow, light entered the stairway.
"Do you use this staircase all of the time?" Lucille asked. The clunk-clunk of her heavy chain armor flapped against the solid stone on each side of the stairs. Being the host, Silluna led her trusted adviser High Priestess Minalia, the ruler of Creposcle Lucille Sorcerie and the de facto ruler of Wardred Desuynet Tzat to her personal office, where they could discuss a matter on their hands.
"Only when I don't want to be disturbed." Silluna replied. Arialei chuckled as she knew what Silluna implied by the statement- when someone was trying to seduce Silluna into marriage. Arialei turned her head back at a lingering Desuynet, whose eyes caught something out of the ordinary.
"What is keeping you, Tzat? We don't have all day." She scolded. Des' skeleton fingers carefully plucked a string that was ribbed along the wall. Kneeling down, her eyes followed the string to the ceiling where it disappeared past the stone horizon.
"Y'know, there's a particular little contraption-
"This entire palace is a contraption." Silluna preached. Lucille nudged her. "Don't start it with Des. Once she starts, she won't stop."
"And it leads up-"
"DES, you will just stop and hurry along, why don't you?"
"I thought this meeting was pretty dire." Arialei started. "For you two to come down from your own countries in a haste..." Lucille darted her eyes to Arialei.
"Dierdre's got another tyrant on the loose again." She muttered as Arialei's eyes widened.
"WHAT?" She gasped. "But-but-but-"
"Oh, you did a number on the Grand Two, Priestess, but tyranny runs rampant in that country. Supposedly a cousin of Morthue and Salazaar has declared himself the rightful ruler and he keeps talking about other powers and a "portal"." Arialei blankly stared at Lucille. Silluna's steps slowed while she listened into the conversation.
"Sources indicate it is to the west of where we currently are and-"
"The Mystic Isles." Silluna finished. "It is possible." Lucille snickered.
"What is with that country, anyway? Pretty isolationist like your own country." She commented. Silluna gazed further down the hall, envisioning herself in the tropical paradise. It wasn't as hot nor humid as Kunona but it didn't suffer from cold, wet winters either.
"According to history, the Mystic people separated themselves from the Southern Continent several thousand years ago because they felt that we lived too apart from nature and powerfully corrupt. You and I may call them simple folk, but the truth is- they live a life in complete peace. To get them involved in a war, particularly with Dierdre would be devastating to their population." She explained.
"Surely you don't mean that they're not magically equipped?" Lucille inquired as Silluna shook her head.
"No, on my visits, they have a high level of magic competency- so much that it rivals any of our own powers. No...save for the chief and his wife, their people have not left the islands and nothing foreign has washed on their shores. The things our people are immune to- diseases, lifestyles, infections- would wipe one of their islands out in a day. It is a strategic advantage anyone who wants to conquer their lands."
"Pondering annexation, your Majesty?" Arialei stated. "You would be able to put a barrier around the islands." Silluna froze in her footsteps. It was the 22nd time in the week she had been asked that question- a record considering usually she was asked at least 75 times. Everyone from her own father to her prideful cousins down to the street beggars asked the Silver Queen the same question: Would she annex the Mystic Islands?
The answer: Not sure. Possibly not. It depends. I have to keep all options open.
The response was always scornful no matter the answer: The Queen is too weak to make such a decision. She needs to be married off. International politics and war is not suited for a female monarch.
It did not matter that since she had become Crown Princess, she had expanded the Empire by a third of its original lands, absorbing oppressive tribes. Nor that she had stepped foot on the undiscovered Eastern Continent with only a handful of soldiers. It did not matter that she could wield two swords, manipulate water with a single movement of her fingers, or condemn a person to death without blinking an eye. All eyes, thoughts, and ears were on the Mystic Question and her past chivalry meant nothing to her indecisive over the future of a nation struggling to keep their way of life.
At this point, it is either Kunona or Dierdre that will swallow them whole...Am I prepared for the whiplash from the natives? More importantly-HIM?
"DES, will you please stop traipsing all over the place and hurry UP?" Lucille nagged. Not paying attention to the conversation between the three women, Des' eyes skimmed the surroundings- loose rocks sporadically connected by tight string, an unnaturally sharp edge sticking out of the wall- all of it fascinated her.
"Oh, oh, it's just this-" Her fingernail scratched the surface of the stone, causing a loud scrape to echo throughout the staircase. Lucille gritted her teeth as Silluna and Arialei covered their ears.
"DES, we don't have ALL DAY-"
"FINE, FINE, I'm coming along!" Desuynet brushed past Arialei and sidestepped Lucille before bumping into Silluna. "Poopers." She pushed herself in front of Silluna and marched forward down the secret staircase. With the brisk press of her metallic boots on a loose cobblestone, Desuynet almost lost her balance.
The loose cobblestone snapped the tightly strung cord from the ground to the ceiling, which triggered the opening of another cobblestone. The pointed edge unveiled itself as a barbed spear which flew down several feet before piercing Desuynet's chest. Her limp, skeletal body swung for a couple of seconds before Arialei, Lucille, and Silluna all cried out.
"TZAT!" Lucille withdrew her sword to cut the remaining string as Arialei and Silluna held Desuynet's body. The three women gingerly carried Desuynet down the rest of the staircase and into Silluna's private chambers where they laid her on a bed.
"Ah, isn't this a lovely meeting-" Desuynet's eyes whirled between consciousness and unconsciousness.
"Stay still." Arialei ordered as her fingers danced around the wound. Barbed wire. Spear. Poison. The cousins were serious this time.. She thought.
Silluna sighed deeply as she watched Desuynet struggle with Arialei and Lucille over her physical condition. She would have to settle the question once and for all, she knew the outcome already. If Dierdre's new ruler was looking for a portal, it was in the Mystic Isles and she wasn't going to let an entire population die out for one man's ambition.
To the High Chief Gevurah of Manista Island...
It has occurred to me that the treaty between our ancestors are no longer valid.
I am coming to the Mystic Isles to draw a new treaty....
"My cousins would fake a fawning if they saw you two, so let's use the secret staircase." Silluna recommended as her fingers gently pressed the jagged edge of sandstone. A small, narrow passage opened before the quartet of women and with a small blow, light entered the stairway.
"Do you use this staircase all of the time?" Lucille asked. The clunk-clunk of her heavy chain armor flapped against the solid stone on each side of the stairs. Being the host, Silluna led her trusted adviser High Priestess Minalia, the ruler of Creposcle Lucille Sorcerie and the de facto ruler of Wardred Desuynet Tzat to her personal office, where they could discuss a matter on their hands.
"Only when I don't want to be disturbed." Silluna replied. Arialei chuckled as she knew what Silluna implied by the statement- when someone was trying to seduce Silluna into marriage. Arialei turned her head back at a lingering Desuynet, whose eyes caught something out of the ordinary.
"What is keeping you, Tzat? We don't have all day." She scolded. Des' skeleton fingers carefully plucked a string that was ribbed along the wall. Kneeling down, her eyes followed the string to the ceiling where it disappeared past the stone horizon.
"Y'know, there's a particular little contraption-
"This entire palace is a contraption." Silluna preached. Lucille nudged her. "Don't start it with Des. Once she starts, she won't stop."
"And it leads up-"
"DES, you will just stop and hurry along, why don't you?"
"I thought this meeting was pretty dire." Arialei started. "For you two to come down from your own countries in a haste..." Lucille darted her eyes to Arialei.
"Dierdre's got another tyrant on the loose again." She muttered as Arialei's eyes widened.
"WHAT?" She gasped. "But-but-but-"
"Oh, you did a number on the Grand Two, Priestess, but tyranny runs rampant in that country. Supposedly a cousin of Morthue and Salazaar has declared himself the rightful ruler and he keeps talking about other powers and a "portal"." Arialei blankly stared at Lucille. Silluna's steps slowed while she listened into the conversation.
"Sources indicate it is to the west of where we currently are and-"
"The Mystic Isles." Silluna finished. "It is possible." Lucille snickered.
"What is with that country, anyway? Pretty isolationist like your own country." She commented. Silluna gazed further down the hall, envisioning herself in the tropical paradise. It wasn't as hot nor humid as Kunona but it didn't suffer from cold, wet winters either.
"According to history, the Mystic people separated themselves from the Southern Continent several thousand years ago because they felt that we lived too apart from nature and powerfully corrupt. You and I may call them simple folk, but the truth is- they live a life in complete peace. To get them involved in a war, particularly with Dierdre would be devastating to their population." She explained.
"Surely you don't mean that they're not magically equipped?" Lucille inquired as Silluna shook her head.
"No, on my visits, they have a high level of magic competency- so much that it rivals any of our own powers. No...save for the chief and his wife, their people have not left the islands and nothing foreign has washed on their shores. The things our people are immune to- diseases, lifestyles, infections- would wipe one of their islands out in a day. It is a strategic advantage anyone who wants to conquer their lands."
"Pondering annexation, your Majesty?" Arialei stated. "You would be able to put a barrier around the islands." Silluna froze in her footsteps. It was the 22nd time in the week she had been asked that question- a record considering usually she was asked at least 75 times. Everyone from her own father to her prideful cousins down to the street beggars asked the Silver Queen the same question: Would she annex the Mystic Islands?
The answer: Not sure. Possibly not. It depends. I have to keep all options open.
The response was always scornful no matter the answer: The Queen is too weak to make such a decision. She needs to be married off. International politics and war is not suited for a female monarch.
It did not matter that since she had become Crown Princess, she had expanded the Empire by a third of its original lands, absorbing oppressive tribes. Nor that she had stepped foot on the undiscovered Eastern Continent with only a handful of soldiers. It did not matter that she could wield two swords, manipulate water with a single movement of her fingers, or condemn a person to death without blinking an eye. All eyes, thoughts, and ears were on the Mystic Question and her past chivalry meant nothing to her indecisive over the future of a nation struggling to keep their way of life.
At this point, it is either Kunona or Dierdre that will swallow them whole...Am I prepared for the whiplash from the natives? More importantly-HIM?
"DES, will you please stop traipsing all over the place and hurry UP?" Lucille nagged. Not paying attention to the conversation between the three women, Des' eyes skimmed the surroundings- loose rocks sporadically connected by tight string, an unnaturally sharp edge sticking out of the wall- all of it fascinated her.
"Oh, oh, it's just this-" Her fingernail scratched the surface of the stone, causing a loud scrape to echo throughout the staircase. Lucille gritted her teeth as Silluna and Arialei covered their ears.
"DES, we don't have ALL DAY-"
"FINE, FINE, I'm coming along!" Desuynet brushed past Arialei and sidestepped Lucille before bumping into Silluna. "Poopers." She pushed herself in front of Silluna and marched forward down the secret staircase. With the brisk press of her metallic boots on a loose cobblestone, Desuynet almost lost her balance.
The loose cobblestone snapped the tightly strung cord from the ground to the ceiling, which triggered the opening of another cobblestone. The pointed edge unveiled itself as a barbed spear which flew down several feet before piercing Desuynet's chest. Her limp, skeletal body swung for a couple of seconds before Arialei, Lucille, and Silluna all cried out.
"TZAT!" Lucille withdrew her sword to cut the remaining string as Arialei and Silluna held Desuynet's body. The three women gingerly carried Desuynet down the rest of the staircase and into Silluna's private chambers where they laid her on a bed.
"Ah, isn't this a lovely meeting-" Desuynet's eyes whirled between consciousness and unconsciousness.
"Stay still." Arialei ordered as her fingers danced around the wound. Barbed wire. Spear. Poison. The cousins were serious this time.. She thought.
Silluna sighed deeply as she watched Desuynet struggle with Arialei and Lucille over her physical condition. She would have to settle the question once and for all, she knew the outcome already. If Dierdre's new ruler was looking for a portal, it was in the Mystic Isles and she wasn't going to let an entire population die out for one man's ambition.
To the High Chief Gevurah of Manista Island...
It has occurred to me that the treaty between our ancestors are no longer valid.
I am coming to the Mystic Isles to draw a new treaty....