14 June 2012
"Only to the Queen will I deliver my message ! Let me go ! Let me talk to her !" screamed the stranger outside. One of the guards, breathless, came into the vast room and kneeled before the beautiful lady sitting gracefully on the silver throne. That woman was Thalassa, Queen of the Greylight kingdom. "- My lady, there is a stranger... - Bring him in" answered the queen, before the guard had even finished his sentence. Her voice was as clear as the waters of the river Galahel, and as soft as a mother's lullaby, but there was something in the way she talked, even about the most unimportant matters, that left a feeling of authority and superiority on her audience since she was 8. Now that she was a young woman, and the queen of her natal lands, that confidence and serenity that was in everything she said I did had amplified, making of her a widely respected and cherished ruler in the 4 kingdoms. the guard nodded and left the room running. A few moments later, the stranger's pleas had ceased, and several footsteps were rhythmically approaching the entrance of the room. The stranger was a very young man, and the courage that had him shouting inside the place had left him at the site of the Queen. With a mesmerized look up that he couldn't take off of her, he kneeled and passed his fingers through his shoulder-long hair. "- Who are you, boy ? -My queen, I come from the lands of Sleipnir, I have carried to you my king's words on a most serious matter. - Be then relieved of your burden. What are those words that weigh on your shoulders ? - My queen, they are to be said to you in secrecy and privacy. May I have the permission to approach ? - Come." the guards all tensed up as the messenger walked towards the Queen, until he was in whispering range. He then hid his lips behind his hand and murmured to the Queen. "- The Levokians have been attacking our frontier territories for weeks. Yesterday, one of them has infiltrated into the castle and has massacred princess Tonkin and her servants. The King is devastated but has no desire to get involved in a war, so he has forbidden all kinds of revenge on the Levokians. Prince Sethalio is convinced that his father is too old to rule, and he wishes to form an alliance with you, to make the Levokians pay for what they have done to her sister and many others before. He is in one of your border cities with a minor army. He wishes to talk with you personally to discuss of our kingdoms' future." - Where is he ? - In Elsatia, near your late father's tomb. He thought that it would be easier for you to go unnoticed there than anywhere else. What should I tell him ? - Tell him that I understand his pain, and that I will be there by tomorrow night. - My queen." the messenger bowed and took a few steps back with an expression of relief and hope on his face. The queen nodded and the guards left the room with the messenger. She dismissed her two permanent guards too. When she was completely alone, she left the throne room for her own bedroom, shaking like a leaf as she did so. Hadn't her own mother died by the hands of the same Levokians ? She was little, but she remembered the agonizing face of her father when he had heard the news. The worst for him had been that he was incapable of doing anything about it, since war was for him unacceptable under all kinds of circumstances. She knew what she would tell the prince. She wanted more than anything to have her mother's revenge on the Levokians, and she was ready to pay a price like being allies with the uncivilized Sleipnirs.
As she had promised, the next night, she ordered her stables master to ready her horse, saying that she needed to pay a visit to her father's tomb because of a nightmare she had seen the night before. When she arrived to Elsatia of her destination, she galloped directly to the graveyard, trying to go unnoticed by the people in the streets. She had no time and no nerves to accomplish her duty of loving queen. As she approached her father's mausoleum, she noticed a little group of 15-20 men. Was that all ? The messenger had talked of a minor army, and she was now hoping that the rest of the army was hiding in the near woods or elsewhere. She galloped to them, not bothering to get off her horse. They turned and looked at her, as she lowered freed her hair and face from the heavy velvet hood, and stared at them. They were all impressed by her beauty and grace, except one of them, who was literally bedazzled by her. That young man was prince Sethalio himself. He had been raised believing that the Greylights were nothing but malicious tree-lovers. When he had asked to talk with lady Thalassa, he had imagined a dwarf-like woman, with a wicked eye and an arrogant posture, but there she was, glimmering in the moonlight, with her emerald eyes, charcoal hair, and graceful and mesmerizing. "-Which one of you is the prince Sethalio ?", asked the angel with her voice that sounded like the warm spring wind, with a hint of authority and superiority though.
Thalassa galopped back home, feeling on the edge of glory. The talk she had had with prince Sethalio had been very constructive, and the alliances he had wished for had been sealed. The prince himself had been incredibly gallant and enthusiast. She had felt, through the whole night, the warm smile of the young man on her. The other knights -"the best ones of Sleipnir that could slaughter a whole army in less than 10 minutes"' as had said the prince- seemed to be very interested with her too. They were surprised, as if they had expected something completely else. They had decided that they wouldn't go on an open war, since it was too risky and would cause many deaths on their side. Instead, Thalassa would choose 15 of her best soldiers, and the prince, the queen, and their men would do what the Levokians had done to them: slaughter the royal family, in the name of revenge and future peace.
She had gathered her best men and women, and was on the road towards Elsatia again. She had asked her little brother to take her place while she was absent, not knowing if she would ever return to the land and people she loved the most. Now, with ten archers, 3 blade dancers and 7 assassins, she galloped towards the beginning of a perilous adventure.
Sethalio couldn't hold the tears as he stared into the azure of the young greylight's eyes. "Where is Thalé ?" he had asked. How could the tired prince tell him that she had died in his arms trying to protect a small child that was trapped in the middle of the battlefield. Or how could he tell him that she never got to see her father's revenge being take, or that she would never know that since that first night in Elsatia, the young prince had been deeply infatuated with her. He couldn't say any of these. He actually couldn't say a single word or take a single deep breath since that moment because of the heavy burden of Thalassa's death weighing heavily on his chest. He fell on his knees in front of the boy, tears falling down his cheeks but with a comforting smile. The only thing he could mutter was "She's gone to see mommy and she sent me to take care of you, little man.". The boy smiled back and walked away from Sethalio, knowing that her sister was somewhere she sure enjoyed. She would be remembered for many centuries to come as the savior of the three kingdoms.
Legend of Thalassa • Opuss № I