Ruthless

↠ Barah ↞

❝Men fight wars. Women win them.❞ 
Queen Elizabeth I

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THE nightfall came sooner than she wanted it to. The subtle hues of pink and blues merged together creating an atmosphere of unwanted nostalgia as the sun went down and far away and the moon slowly came to life.

The queen had bid her goodbyes to everyone other than her mother and the Yuvraj. Her mother had refused to show up and she couldn't look at the Yuvraj without guilt gushing through her veins, so, she simply decided not to talk to him before leaving.

As the monarch mounted her horse, her armor felt heavier than it had ever before - weighing her down and launching an uneasy feeling in her chest. She watched Aziza nod one last time at her and then lead the last troop past her and out of the huge palatial gates.

She casted one last look back at the castle corridors - the dirt on the ground was suspended in the air and horses galloped past her away to the horizon - hoping that that one familiar face of the obnoxious imposter would meet her. 

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TWO DAYS LATER

Akira jabbed her sword in the crack of his armor-plate and pulled it back. The once clean sword was now colored in hues of red as the soldier in front of her dropped down like the numerous others before.

Passing men and men battling in the foreign corridor of the Ekam nagar palace, the queen walked past the limestone hallways which were now covered in blood at some places – both from her men and the foreign defenders. She kept walking, slashing through the defending army as their blood decorated her armor and skin, tainting the once clean body and soul with a thousand little cuts and gashes of sins.

She reached her destination – The queen Of Ekam nagar and her son. The Queen and her son were kept in a room, situated far away from all the bloodshed and war and the sovereign knew that they were the key to winning the war.

Akira stood outside the door and put a gentle hand on it. The door creaked open under the light weight of her palms and the queen realized that the door, to her surprise, wasn't bolted shut.

'That's suspicious', the Maharani thought as she raised her painted sword up high and slowly opened the huge doors. Her guard was high - her sword raised and her foot planted firmly on the ground as to not lose her balance - as she took slow steps inside.

She enjoyed a strange peace for about 1/6th of  second until as expected, a figure jumped upon the queen from her left, almost knocking the wind out of her lungs but Akira stood her ground. Akira shoved back the figure – which she now realized was the Queen of Ekam Nagar, Rani Rukmini – and the woman fell to the ground, her sword skidding off to Akira's foot.

A small boy – about seven or eight years old – came running from a hidden left corner of the room to the fallen figure as Akira quickly picked up the sword on the floor and raised them both at the lying figure and the small kid. The sovereign eyes quickly swept over the room for any hidden guards or weapons but to her astonishment, there were none.

The King of Ekam Nagar hadn't expected someone to come after his beloved family and that one mistake would be the one thing that caused his downfall, disarming him and letting the kingdom slip away from his grasp into the palms of another.

Keeping a sly eye on the room, Akira looked back at the woman on the floor but before the Maharani could do anything, the woman lying in front of her broke into a hysterical fit. The kohl in her eyes ran down her face as she joined her hands in front of the authority, "Pl-" sobs after sobs racked through her body as she held the small boy near to her, "Please don't do," sniff, "an- anything to Nikhil."