Against the Crown

Chapter Two

The king's death cast a pall over the entire kingdom of Sansia. Not particularly loved, he was a fair, wise king. He had built Sansia's military to be the most formidable in the Southern World, and agriculture and trade had flourished under his rule. He had been tough on crime, with even petty thefts by minors earning them 6 months in prison. King Dorian may have been a harsh ruler, but the kingdom mourned him mainly for one reason: Queen Edna now ruled.

Years ago, as a prince, King Dorian sought a wife. As heir to the throne, everyone, from elite members of the court to the lowly beggar on the street, was interested in his choice of a wife. At that time, Edna had been notorious as the scion of the Daan family of sorcerers. Sorcerers were those who practiced the forbidden Black magic, which involved using humans in their practices, and, since the dawn of time, the mages had been waging war against them. Mages were those who worshipped The Creator of Light, whose religion forbade the use of humans in their rituals: not their blood, eyes, fingers, nothing.

Not even when freely given.

The Daan family, at the time, were the strongest sorcerers in Sansia and were rumored to be the rulers of all sorcerers in the Southern World. Sorcery wasn't banned outright by the king, so the war the mages fought was more of an intellectual one than physical. The mages fought against any political appointments intended for sorcerers; all top positions in any of the institutions; anything that would put them in a strong position of influence in the kingdom.

Then, Prince Dorian said he wanted to marry Edna Daan.

Dhara's family, the Torner clan, fought against this with all they had and more. Having a Daan sorceress as queen meant harm for the people of Sansia, because not only were their practices corrupt, but their very beings were filled with Darkness.

Prince Dorian would have none but her.

When the wedding was officially announced, the hostilities escalated. Mages and sorcerers were ambushed and maimed. Females were raped and left for dead. The mages, who resorted to violence only as a last effort, proved to scarily efficient in targeting and hurting sorcerers.

It got to a point that the heads of the Daan and Torner families called for a duel.

Edna Daan then did the unexpected: she declared that she had renounced sorcery and was fully committed to being a non-magic wielder of the Light.

No one believed her.

She publicly burned her books, charm-making kits, and regalia; and knelt right on the site and took an oath to never practice any form of magic again, and to become an ardent disciple of the Light.

The duel was called off. Both families doubted her sincerity, but the attacks halted, and life returned to normal. Edna married the prince, and immediately Dorian was crowned king, her first queenly edict was to banish her own family from Sansia.

Everybody was shocked, to say the least. The Daans, all generations of them, left Sansia under the cover of night, and the mages breathed a little easier.

However, in secret, the mages prepared for their return and warned every citizen never to relax their guard but to be wary of their queen.

And now King Dorian was dead. The unease was tangible in the air, and Dhara could almost choke on it on her way home from the vet, Owl's cage in hand. She wondered how those who lived in the capital felt, when she, as far from the royal seat as she could get, felt so tense.

It was five days after the king was announced dead and buried, and Queen Edna, mandated to undergo a period of silent mourning for two weeks, hadn't addressed the people yet. Dhara reached her house, walked up the porch, and opened the door.

"Your mother's been calling like crazy!" Brynn yelled from the dining area. Dhara rolled her eyes and closed the door, and walked to where her best friend sat, doodling something on a sketchpad, the large crystal ball on the center of the table flashing hot pink every 3 seconds.

"I had to silence it: the humming was driving me nuts," Brynn said, gesturing at the ball. Dhara set Owl's cage on the floor and pulled out the chair at the head of their oblong dining table. Brynn nodded sagely at that and got up from her perch, which was closer to the ball, and went to the living room.

"Answer," Dhara murmured, and her parents' worried faces filled the orb.

"Where have you been, child? I thought you were dead!" her mother screeched.

"Why are you so far away, child, come closer!" her father ordered. Dhara shook her head in amusement.

"Hello Mother, Father. I went to pick Owl up from the vet's. She's been given a clean bill of health."

"What does that have to do with anything? His Royal Highness the King is dead, which means we should band together to protect ourselves before that usurper begins to rage!"

"Mother, my bird's health is important to me. So the king is dead, so what? If the queen is going to kill us, banding together would make us an easier target, no?"

Her parents mumbled under their breaths.

"What was that?"

"Look, Dhara, honey, you are a single woman, living alone in some faraway town..."

"She lives with me!" Brynn yelled from the living room.

"And I am still in Sansia. You make it sound like I am thousands of miles away," Dhara added.

"You know what your mother means, Dhara. If you are going to insist on being away from family, at least get yourself a nice young man to take care of you..."

"I have to go, Mother, Father," Dhara said, pushing back her chair and getting up. "Owl hasn't eaten properly since she was at the vet. I need to feed her." Owl hooted in agreement.

"Young lady, you will sit down and have a civil conversation with your parents!"

"I will do no such thing. Goodbye, and I love you both greatly. End it," and the ball was opaque once more.

"And some say you have no nerve," Brynn laughed. Dhara picked up the cage and went to the hallway.

"They haven't met me, obviously."