Chapter 18 Warrior Queen

Empress Minerva issues the death warrant for Prince Linos’s and Princess Mae’s executions. Her lover General Aiken sharpened his blades as his soldiers mourn the death of an infant prince. The guards who took Linos down to the dungeon strangely alter their course towards the barracks where a soldier’s wife tends a baby named Oskar.


“My boy. How is this possible? The guard I spoke to say the general dropped him down a well in a basket.” inquires Linos.

“He did. But he forgot baskets float so we were able to climb down to Oskar before he drowned. We brought him here. The general rarely comes to the kitchens where the wives cook and wash. My wife has been feeding him and our son.” explains a guard.

“You will be greatly rewarded,” blesses the grateful Linos.

He kisses his son before entering the dungeon where his wife weeps.

“Do not cry, my love. Eurick will save us.”

In the moonlight on the eve before the glorified executions of royalty, a ship full of soldiers enter Illium’s harbor. Under cover of darkness, General Felix scouts the area for loyal soldiers. The long awaited Princess Kia had arrived. She walks straight to the gates of the palace to stir her nemesis. Every guard they met bow to Her Highness until they reach the floor where the empress sleeps. Her bodyguard drew his sword to be slashed with Kia’s vengeance.

“That is for my cousin Dion, you filth.” declares the angry princess. She quietly slips into Her Majesty’s bed chamber. With a harsh tap from the broad side of her sword, she wakes up Minerva.

“It is time to get up, dear.”

Minerva screeched and grabbed for her robes. A guard helps her into her royal regalia. Kia places Minerva’s crown upon her head and declares it fits her perfectly. Minerva follows the guards down to the dungeon to meet her lover Felix has arrested.

“You never expected to see me,” asserts General Felix to Her Majesty.

Minerva gasps at Linos and Mae standing behind Felix.

“Looks like you don’t get to execute me after all, Your Majesty.” bows Linos to Minerva. The new queen rests herself in Minerva’s bed until morning.

At sunrise, all the palace guards and servants come to the courtyard where General Aiken set up a platform to execute Linos and Mae. Kia and Felix step first onto the platform followed by Linos and Mae. Kia heartily embraces her daughter-in-law in front of the crowd. Empress Nalia and her maidservant walk out to stop short of the platform steps and pose next to it. Minerva and Aiken are brought out and marched to the platform. General Felix recites Kia’s orders.

“For high crimes of voiding a treaty with Kadacia, murdering Emperor Dion, neglect of troops in a foreign land, allowing Queen Boudicca to burn Illium, fighting against allies, losing her heir during battle, and attempting to execute a banished prince and his family: Empress Minerva is guilty of treason and shall be punished by beheading under the order of General Queen Kia.”

“For high crimes of murdering Emperor Dion, unlawful acts of punishment and neglecting troops, whipping and murdering innocent subjects, allowing Queen Boudicca to burn Illium, fighting against allies, and dropping Prince Oskar down a well: General Aiken is guilty of treason and shall be punished by beheading under the order of General Queen Kia.”

General Aiken refuses a blindfold and kneels to his death. Prince Linos raises his axe and buries it Aiken’s neck. He lifts the bloodied head to present to the guards standing still as stone. Great cheers are shouted by the servants. Empress Minerva trembles as her blindfold is placed over her eyes. Linos pushes her down with the handle of the axe. The empress searches for the wood block with her hands and bows her head in whimpering cries. A soldier shouts from the crowd:

“Have you the courage to do this yourself, Queen Kia!”

Linos lowers his raised axe and hands it to Kia. She beheads Minerva and lifts up her head to the cheering servants. She then looks up to an opened window where a horrified small boy stares at her.

“Linos, Jason is watching us up there.” turns Kia.

“Kiss his grandmother, he will hate you less.” suggests Linos.

Kia steps down the platform to embrace Nalia. She lightly touches Nalia’s cheeks in her awkward gesture. Surprised she is not kneeling at the execution block, Nalia nervously returns the hug. The servants and army dismissed, Eurick guides the new queen and Nalia to Grand Prince Jason. Eurick finds the weeping prince terrified he will be beheaded next.

“No Jason, Kia is not beheading you. Her son guarded and rescued you, remember? She loves you. See Grandmother Nalia is here.” comforts Eurick.

Jason smiles at his grandmother extending her arms to him. He clinches her tight enough to make sure she is real and breathes a sigh of relief.

“I was so scared when I woke up and you were not here. The guards were gone. The servants were gone. I thought the palace was under attack again. I heard noises outside and opened the shutters. I saw a red-haired woman kneeling and I knew it was mother crying. Then a dark haired woman with a crown chopped her head off and then took off the blindfold before lifting up my mother’s face. How could the great Kia do that to us?” stammers Jason.

“Jason,” begins Kia from the doorway. “Your mother was planning to kill my son, Mae, and little Oskar. Would you like to have lost Linos instead?”

“No,” whimpers Jason.

“I promise to take care of you and your grandmother, Jason.

“Will you give me a chance to love you?” beckons Kia.

“Alright, cousin Kia. If Grandmother, Linos, and Eurick trust you, I can to.” declares Jason.

“Your grandfather Rurick would have loved to meet you.” said Kia.

Queen Kia spent the morning organizing her coronation, summoning her husband and Felix’s wife to Illium, and making other kingdom decisions. Most importantly, she decided that Blythe was no longer the great empire Rurick inherited. Boudicca took back their Conquered Lands Athena achieved, Kadacia was stripping them of Anasazi villages, and Rurick’s conquered Anaki and Helos were loss causes now. She requested Hadrian the Great come to tutor Jason. He respectfully declined to allow Eurick to bask in the sunlight of his notoriety. Eurick remained as Jason’s bodyguard and teacher. Linos and Mae joined the household with Oskar to take administrative roles. General Vim arrived with the last of Blythan troops and was appointed to retire as the High Priest of Rosewood Ravine near the Olin Mountains. General Felix retired himself in the Olin Mountains to live in a comfortable house with his wife Kaitlyn.

Kia sent Linos out to Lotan to strike a deal with King Xerxes and Queen Boudicca for the cease of attacks on Blythe. They settled on a border to the south of the Olin Mountains. Grand Prince Rodric and Grand Princess Persephone were invited to attend Queen Kia’s crowning ceremony. Soon Darius came back with to be crowned king and the celebrations began. Rodric and Persephone enjoy dancing in the streets with city dwellers. Many parties of the nobles were attended by the royal visitors. Kia was glad Hadrian the Great and General Vim agreed to crown her a queen. Queen Anamosa of Kadacia sent her congratulations with an emissary and a gold necklace with embedded diamonds. She also sent a treaty ceasing the attacks upon Blythe in exchange for ten cities in the Anasazi Mountains. Queen Kia accepted the terms and declared Rurick’s War over. She announced a Kingdom of Blythe shall be reborn and Rurick’s heir will inherit the throne when he reaches adulthood. Hadrian the Great then

returned home where he always wanted to be.

The parade took the queen and king to the Temple of Athena. Flower blooms are placed near the statues of Emperor Olic, Empress Athena, Emperor Rurick, and Emperor Dion. Hadrian thought Kia nearly shed a tear as she approached Rurick’s statue, but gazing at Empress Nalia weeping front of his statue, held her tear back. Prayers were sung, incense burned, and honey and milk anointed the new monarchs. Candles praying for Athena’s wisdom were held by the temple’s orphans as they sang praises to the wisdom goddess. Hadrian placed the gold crowns on the heads of Kia and Darius, then a crown upon Grand Prince Jason. Sure, Prince Linos had rights to become heir to the throne, but decided like King Rychan to become the monarch’s sword instead of a sheltered king who is dependent on his officials to maintain his power. Prince Linos proved to be an excellent financial administrator and gave the smaller Blythan kingdom another age of prosperity. Queen Kia granted a grand estate for his family to live in outside the city walls. Jason’s street urchin friends grew to be street entertainers, thieves, soldiers, merchants, and sailors. As time passed and childhood transforms into a distant memory, Jason’s friends became distant strangers he no longer knew anymore. Even though many people asked for favors from Kia and Jason, the former street urchins never asked for anything.

Adolescence hit Jason like Emperor Rurick and Jason soon found himself in a parade of beautiful fair maidens. Queen Kia kept an eye out for this mischievous sprite and selected a betrothal to a princess in a faraway land. She was educated, wrote poetry, and embroiders. Eurick one day discovered a common situation that also plagued his father. He found a maidservant in Jason’s bed. Soon she claimed to be carrying Jason’s child. At the queen’s request, the maidservant was banished from Illium. Linos escorted the maiden to Princess Dyna’s residence in Ronace. The maidservant helped and cared for Dyna’s daughter until she married a peasant farmer on the estate near Princess Tatiana in Sarai. Dyna wrote Jason’s son was well tended to and later had a half-sister as well. Princess Tatiana and her husband erected forts along the Anasazi border to protect travelers and traders. Princess Sophia and her husband Damon hired sailors to explore trading posts faraway from Blythe. The city Kara expanded and Sophia erected grand buildings that rivaled Illium. In these prosperous times King Darius died of fever and was buried by his first wife in Atalissa. His sons erect a statue of their parents at the fortress gates. Hadrian’s niece Pippi also died in Tenochtilan and was buried next to her father near Brightsburg. He attended Pippi’s funeral and met her sons.

Princess Jopria arrived on a ship to marry Grand Prince Jason. Her younger brother escorted her from their father’s kingdom. The fantastic celebration rumored all the way to the Haunted Forest. Jopria’s brother was given an estate on the east coast. He became a rich lord raising livestock and wheat. Jason figured out the first evening that this sister and brother were not close as first assumed. They fought like werewolves whenever they disagreed. Jason saw much relief when Kia granted an estate for the pesky brother. Soon, Queen Boudicca and Queen Anamosa sent their congratulations and wedding presents. Empress Nalia was pleased the princess gave birth to a son months later. After Princess Dyna’s husband died of fever, she came asking for a post in Kia’s government and left Princess Tatiana to watch over Jason’s son. She discovered Kia very ill with a coughing illness. The strong general fought her fatigue and carried on. Jason soon took more responsibilities after he married Jopria. The Grand Princess took an instant dislike to Dyna. Some think she was upset by the fact of Dyna knowing the whereabouts of Jason’s first child. Dyna’s daughter also had a godly betrothed, Jopria protested out of jealousy. The betrothed daughter was also apprenticed to The Wizard. Jopria is believed to have feared this princess using magic to curse Jason’s reign.

When Queen Kia died, King Jason appointed his cousin Dyna a governess for his son. Then Empress Nalia died suddenly of fever and represented the ending of a golden age of prosperity. King Jason tried to encourage economic growth with projects of building stone roads, larger ships, and inviting foreign merchants to settle in Illium. Many disapproved of the monopoly the foreign merchants had in trade with foreign kingdoms. Few spent money on Illium products and weapons. Weavers, potters, stone carvers, jewelers, and other craftsmen prayed to the craftsmen god Talin to improve their standing with foreign traders. The merchants protested to King Jason of the common practice of having one price for Blythans and another for foreigners in all merchandise. Jason tried to negotiate better terms with the foreigners to be given empty promises and little hope. Jason eventually became unpopular with both his subjects and his guests. After an assassination attempt, King Jason gave Dyna his son to care for away from his dangerous capital. He insisted on less regal environment for his heir.