Iceblade Ascendant

2: ARRIVAL

Soon she arrived at the entrance to the royal palace. Handmaidens clad in leather leggings and exquisitely detailed bronze breastplates and pauldrons flanked a leaf-shaped doorway lined with wall-clinging fungi that pulsated with fiery light. Upon the handmaidens' brows they wore hawk-winged circlets, glinting in the fungi's phosphorescent glow. Their armour was decorated with shining gemstones and bronze rings, each one indicating a victory in battle or successful mission. Jaewyn nodded curtly at them as she passed, knowing that many such adornments embellished her own outfit.

From the entrance hall she did not walk towards the giant, starwood and bronze-rimmed double doors. She flicked her gaze momentarily up at the huge, carved Phoenix bust fixed to the wall above the doors. Instead she took the passage on the left, a curving corridor paved with blood red terrazzo and lit by glowing, crimson amaranthine plants. At the end of the corridor she pushed opened a leaf-shaped door into a small, round chamber filled with mirrors and polished wood cupboards. Snatching her exquisite, crimson cloak from where it lay on a sideboard, she quickly donned it, feeling the soft, black fur around her neck. Then, with a quick glance in one of the many mirrors, she crossed the carpeted floor and exited via the opposite doorway. Important business was at hand and as the right hand of the protector of the Beltharin, Jaewyn took her job very seriously.

The throne room was vast, the wooden walls curving upwards in pear-shaped elegance and encrusted with amaranthines and glowing fungi, giving the whole room a magical and fiery ambience. From high above hung numerous plant tendrils, alive with brightly coloured bulbs that shone yellow-orange light around the chamber. Even the air itself was filled with tiny, magical sparkles – the bioluminescent lights of fireflies. The throne itself, a monstrous beast of writhing, upward reaching vines, was both beautiful and bizarre. It crouched atop a platform reach by a short flight of steps, flanked on either side by spear-wielding handmaidens. When Jaewyn had first seen it long ago, she had thought it a sentient creature, ready and waiting to reach out with plant tendrils to embrace all who dared approach. It was indeed alive, to an extent, created by the natural forces that had given birth to the trelacylon. For the throne was its heart, the organ that drove the lifeblood of Anarys and therefore making this chamber a fitting place from which to rule. This was the seat of Esmeraedyn, Queen of the Beltharin, immortal ruler of Lightwood Forest and direct descendent of the ancient Atlantyans.

The queen reclined luxuriously upon her throne, with one leg up over the arm, her narrow eyes like chips of hardened ruby as they watched Jaewyn approach. She wore a delicate crown of bronze flames set with oval bloodstones, her russet hair tumbling out from beneath. Her clothes demanded attention, sexual and aesthetic: leather breeches, a cropped red and yellow silk halter top, a scarlet fur cloak over bare shoulders. She did not wear shoes: the hot climate of Lightwood forest caused such things to be unnecessary in daily affairs. In one hand she was holding a golden, ruby-encrusted goblet. A stack of parchments lay on a nearby side table, alongside an open bottle of Sunlight Special.

To an outsider, Jaewyn knew Esmeraedyn's presence would certainly be quite intimidating, such was the power the queen had at her disposal. She had been chosen long ago at the birth-time of the Beltharin, when the Atlantyans had ceased to exist as a race and had been transformed into the Prime Races. For a thousand cycles Esmeraedyn had overseen the development of the Beltharin. But Jaewyn was used to the intimidating but awesome atmosphere in the throne room, having gained Esmeraedyn's respect and love, on many occasions.

"Finally, a distraction from these mundane, boring tasks," the queen declared. She set aside her goblet and swung her leg down.

"What is it this time?" Jaewyn raised an eyebrow.

"I'm commissioning a new college for the spell-weavers of Arilock." Esmeraedyn stood up and descended the steps. "Basically just gotta sign a few things, make sure everything is in order for them to start construction."