Chapter 2
The old man came into my tent aware that I was watching him.
“Why have you sent for me?” He asked.
“I feel that you know these men better then I ever will. I want to know which ones to watch. I don’t want a mutiny.” I said.
“You don’t need to watch any of them…not even Elijah. He meant you no harm, in fact he didn’t even want to be a part of this job but the General made him.”
“Then why, may I ask, was he trying to get you to fight me?” I asked unbelieving.
“Because he is scared of you. He knows that you had something to do with the turn back of time and he knows that you have a power that not many can see. He fears you and it’s because of this fear that he seeks to destroy you. He doesn’t take kindly to things he fears.”
“And that’s the way it should be. Tell me, how do you know or even think that I turned back time?”
“It is a feeling I get when I am near you, you bring a sense of peace and yet at the same time you bring a sense of danger. You have a power that you can use for good or evil. I am…”
“You are that soothsayer aren’t you? I have heard about you. It is said that you can tame anything or anyone. You have seen this haven’t you. You knew exactly when to try to get me to be your Queen. Why? Why do you want me to be this Queen that I don’t know how to be? I will never be able to bring peace to the nations, there is too much hate. Why have you chosen me?”
As I asked this, the old man began to glow. He went as bright as the sun in the summer with a cloud not in the sky. He made the lanterns in the tent seem like they were nothing but a firefly in broad daylight. He changed into the shape and image of Hope.
As I watched this transformation, I felt numb and I couldn’t feel anything. All of a sudden he turned to me, his light dimmed to a bearable degree, and said, “fear not. I will not hurt you. I am sure that you recognize me.”
As I tried to answer he out his finger to my lips in a gesture to stay silent.
“Listen to me, I will tell you about me. I am Elijah’s brother. I was killed at the age that he is now. I was killed by the General who had led this army to you. He used me to get Elijah’s allegiance. Elijah now feels that since the General is dead that it is his job to find the Queen of legend. He feels that you are not her. He is wrong. When you have mastered your powers you will be the Queen of legend and more. Since you have a history of battle, you will be the Queen of peace, You will ensure peace in the land for as long as you live…”
“How am I to learn? I don’t want to be this Queen you and your people talk of. I have never wanted to be a Queen. I was always planning to hand it down to someone more worth while. My heart is in fighting, not in sitting in a palace all day determining who gets what, where. I only agreed to be Queen until I found someone better.”
“I will teach you the basics of this magic you seek and need. There is no one better, you will soon find this true. If you don’t become the Queen of Farnin and Stlespa, then the world will never know peace and you will be killed here and now. The people of both countries will live without rule and they will die as other nations come to seek these lands. The future of the world is in you hands, and only you can control what happens from now on.”
He vanished. Just like that, he vanished. I never saw the old man again, and hoped I would never see this ghost again, but my wish wasn’t given to me by the gods.
* * *


I found Elijah by himself by the fiver we had settled by. He was looking at the water without blinking.
“You seem deep in thought, I’m sorry to bother you.” I said as politely as I could.
He stood up and bowed. I went over to him, put two fingers under his chin and pulled him up. “Don’t do that. I hate that. I get it everywhere I go.”
“Forgive me Your Majesty,” He said trying to hold back his distrust, “Are you going to lock me up in a tent alone with ropes or cords binding my hands and feet?”
“No,” I said, taken aback, “I wanted your opinion actually. I am told that you had a brother. I to, had a brother. He was killed in your raid of Alantan.”
“How do you know about Nurtas?” He asked shocked.
“I have a very good source,” I smiled, “How’d he die?”
“He was killed by the General to gain my allegiance. But from the look on your face, you already knew that. Look, my feet hurt, can we sit?”
“Oh, yes please.”
We sat on the bank of the river far enough to make sure that the other knew that we didn’t trust each other but close enough to show that we wanted a truce between the two of us.
A space of time went by, I’m not sure how long for sure but it was enough time to make the sun set.
“I’m sorry about your brother.” Elijah finally said, breaking the silence I had grown accustomed to.
“It’s fine. I wanted to pass the role as heir to him when he became old enough, but I have been told that if I don’t assume the throne of both countries then…” I stopped, suddenly realizing what I was saying.
“Then what?” He asked curiously.
“Nothing. I have said to much of the matter.”
Another long pause sat between us like a we were enemies that had could barely stand the presence of the other.
“What was his name?”
“Merruc. He was the only child of my foster parents. But, obviously, I was considered their daughter since I became their heir. It is usually forbidden for non-blood to assume the throne. Do you know why my parents were forced out of Farnin?” I asked.
“From the stories that I have heard, they were cast out because the people thought that they were going to turn them into the neighboring nations. They were cast out by the people, and to keep the peace and the Queen being heavy with child, they went. They were said to have walked in the direction of Stlespa. Their bodies were found and they thought that the Queen died while still bearing her child, but for reasons that are in front of me, that assumption has been proven false.”
“What makes everyone so sure that the people will except me after my family’s supposed bad name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me about yourself and your home.”
“Is that a command or a request?” He asked with a smile.
I smiled back shyly, “I didn’t mean for it to sound like a demand. It’s a request. Please, tell me about yourself.”
“I grew up on a farm in Farnin and grew up being a farmer. That was all I wanted to do. Unfortunately, when I was ten, I got into a fight at school and I showed ‘raw skill,’ as my teacher told me. The army came for me two days later. This one fight had put me in the army. I had no say in the matter. My brother was training to be a wizard, he wanted so much to be a wielder of magic,” He paused, “I admired my brother, I looked up to him. Anyway, I went through training thinking that I would have a choice afterwards, but I graduated top of my class and they wouldn’t let me go. I was military from then on. I have killed many because the General said to. Being my superior officer, I couldn’t object.
“When he came up with this plan to take his personal revenge on the people of Stlespa, he asked me first to do it. When I refused, he went to my home, which wasn’t uncommon mind you, and he took my brother captive. My brother had learned enough magic to have saved himself, but for some reason he felt that he would be of more use dead. To this day I don’t understand what he meant.”
I dropped my head to hide the fact hat I knew what his brother meant. I didn’t know if Nurtas wanted his brother to know, so until I was told other wise, I didn’t want to say anything.
Elijah seemed to have missed the gesture and went on with his story.
“When I went to the house of the General to get my brother back, Nurtas spoke to me with his mind which takes a great amount of energy, and told me that no matter what, I was not to trade for his life. It was the hardest thing I could ever have done, but I agreed. I would have cried like a baby if I wasn’t in present company. The General killed my brother right before my eyes and said he would kill more of my family if I didn’t agree to follow him. Ashamed of what I was about to do, I agreed. I couldn’t go home after that promise, so I stayed in the streets acting as if I was a guard. After that, I’m sure you know the rest.
“What about you?” He asked, as if he wasn’t even curious, just trying to be polite.
“I don’t know much about my youth, just a bunch of memory’s that seem more like vague images of a past life. I grew up in the palace at Alantan. I was adopted by the royal family. I didn’t know that I was adopted until I was sixteen. When I found out, I was crushed. The only family I knew wasn’t even mine. I began to hate my real parents for leaving me or not wanting me enough to keep me. I was hurt with a hurt that I would not soon forget.
“That was when I joined the army. I denied my adoptive family’s name and title. I refused to go and see them when they requested my presence. I couldn’t face the people that weren’t mine to have.
“One month ago, I went to them when they called. We had just settled everything, and I was leaving the palace when you came.” I said, careful not to sound as if I was blaming him.
“My Lady?” A young man came to me.
“Yes, what is it?”
“There are people from the nearby village that would like a word with our leader.”
“I’m coming.” I said.
Elijah and I both got up and started walking towards the villagers. I thought that Elijah was just going to his tent, but he surprised me when he went with me to meet the villagers.
“Good evening. What can we do for you?” I asked.
“You can leave. You are under the Farnin flag. We don’t want you here.” The leader said.
“I’m sorry, but do you know who I am?” I asked.
“No, are we.”
“I am Vilana of the House of Strapling and of the House of Spectra. I am the rightful Queen of both Farnin and Stlespa, so you had better get used to Farninian’s walking these lands. For it is theirs to walk on as much as it is yours.”
“You are not our Queen, Actrum of the House of Spectra is.”
“You obviously haven’t been to Alantan as of late, have you? The people and buildings of Alantan are destroyed. My men and I are the only survivors.”
“You can’t possibly be the Queen, we would have heard about Alantan’s demise. You must be lying.”
“I am of the royal families of both Stlespa and Farnin, I am in no position to lie to you or anybody else. Now, hold your tongue before I cut it out in treason.”
“You wouldn’t do that. I have heard about you, you are the female warrior, the greatest warrior in all Stlespa. I have heard of you greatness and your kindness to your people. You wouldn’t hurt any of us.”
“You may have heard about the female warrior, but the rest of it sounds pretty far fetched. I am not a great person, and I would hurt anybody who dared get in my way, I have always been this way.”
“I came to your party, the one that the Queen announced you as the Princess and heir to the crown. You were announced as the Great Vilana that had a path that she wouldn’t be able to chose in front of her.”
“You must have me mistaken with another. I know my path and I will stand to it. I have a choice and I have made it. As far as the Great part, I will leave you to your delusions. I am no greater than any other man that has had a few years in the military.” I said in defense.
“I challenge your skill then. I challenge you here and now.”
“So be it.”
As I go to my tent to get my sword, Elijah pulls me aside and hands me a dagger.
“Take this. I know this man, he is a fugitive from Farnin. He is very dangerous and very tactful. He knows every play in the book. Many have said that he once was in the army. We don’t know for certain.” He whispered.
“Why do you tell me this? I never asked for your help.”
“I may not approve of you being Queen, but you are and I am still the Captain of the Farninian army, so therefore it is my job to keep you safe and to inform you of anything that may be of some use.” He said with a smile.
After a while, I smiled back, but only a half smile that told him that I didn’t trust him but I appreciate the help. I walked to me tent thinking about what Elijah had told me. I picked up my sword from my bed and thought how stupid I was for not having it with me the whole time. I shook my head, trying to remove the criticisms I had floating in my head about myself.
“How stupid you are for thinking that you could rule these people. You have no right, you are but a child.” I out loud, more to myself then anyone else.
I was a child when all this started. I was an eighteen, self confident child. I grew up in the city walls with the belief that I was invincible so long as I remained behind those walls. Now those walls were burned and I had no protection, not from myself or the man who may be a hardened criminal. I felt alone for the first time in my life and I felt young.
“Who am I to rule? I have nothing, no knowledge about anything but war, no understanding of what keeps a nation at its feet. I knew I should have listened to my teacher. Oh well, lets get this over with, so either I’ll be dead and not have to worry about it or I will win and gain a respect that I don’t deserve.”
I walked out of the tent with my head held high but my mind being far away. I thought of my life before this and how simple it was. I thought of me now, I have grown in this past month. I feel vulnerable and an easy target.
“Breathe.” Elijah said out of no where.
With a jump, I replied “I am, if I breathe any more I am going to faint from to much oxygen going to my brain.”
He smiled, “I didn’t think that you had a sense of humor.”
“Excuse me?”
“That was funny.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny, I was stating the obvious.” I forced.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to break your concentration.”
I took a deep breath, realizing how close I was to the villager, “Promise me one thing, If I fall…”
“Don’t say such a thing. If you think that you are going to fall, you will.”
“Just listen. Put away the Captain and be a human for a second. Look, if I fall, promise me that you will not let them ravage my body and I will get the proper burial.” I said with sweat on my forehead.
“Listen to me, you will not fall. You have the skill, I have seen you. No body had been able to beat General Gler until you fought him. You crushed him like he was an ant eating your bait for fishing.”
I looked at him with a question on my tongue.
“Forget about it. I’ll explain later. Until then, you need to think about fighting.” He said.
“Yeah, the fight.” I replied out of breath.
I entered the circle the men had created and stood in front of the villager.
“Do you have any last requests?” He asked.
“Yes, I have two. Your name and how you want to be remembered, you know for the history books.”
“My name is Tolup. And the real question is how do you want to be remembered?”
“I guess we will soon find out who is to be remembered today or tomorrow.”
I raised my sword in a defensive position and held it there as steady as any human could.
“I see that you are going with defense. A wise choice, lets see if you can handle me as the offense.” Tolup stated.
“You are the one that challenged me, remember? It is my place to be on the defensive. Just beware, I have a tendency to switch from one to the other without word.”
“I don’t need your warnings woman.”
“I gave it to you anyway and there appears to be nothing that you can do about it.”
He brought up his sword at the same level as mine and tried to lunge. I blocked. He pushed on his sword which brought ours into the shape of an “X” and brought himself close to me.
“You have strength Young One.”
“I was about to say the same about you. It seems that this will be a fair fight. I was afraid that the favor would be mine, with you being up in your years.”
“You have a sharp tongue. This could be your undoing.”
“You have no emotion, this could be yours.”
I pushed away with my sword and took the offensive. I lunged at him and nicked his arm. He howled in pain. He looked at me and I saw nothing but rage in his now blood-shot eyes.
The next move was his. He dropped his sword and pulled out a dagger from his boot and held it by the tip of the blade. Unexpectedly, he threw the dagger at me and hit me square in the chest, just missing my heart.
“Nice throw.” I said weakly.
“Yes, it was wasn’t it?” He smirked.
I fell to my knees, fearing this was it. Seeing that I had fallen, the Farninian’s took up their arms and stood between me and Tolup. I blinked my eyes a couple of times to clear them and shook my head to clear it, to my dismay, it didn’t work. I was getting weaker and had lost this battle. As my mind went foggy and I went dizzy, I was able to see the Farninian’s bring down the villagers.
“Don’t hurt them,” I tried to yell but the only sound that came out was a squawk that should have originated from a hawk.
As everything went black, I felt strong callused hands pick me up and carry me into a direction I should have recognized. Then I went limp and knew no more.
* * *