A War of Queens

Scorpios & Verreas: Part 10: The Empress and her council

The day, as most days were these days, had been a troublesome one indeed. For Nailah, the Queen of Gunay, had sat from sunrise until it had set in the western horizon discussing the governing of her empire and the royal wedding for the princess and lord Verrea. One matter in particular which all had agreed needed paying attention to was the invasion of the Tyrish outlaws who styled themselves as the Black Hounds.

"My Empress," the young scribe Armanyrs had said in the council meeting that morning. "A letter from the nomarch Mustaf Vulbane of Bluestone arrived earlier today before the sun rose with a distressing message. The letter reads as follows: To our Sovereign Patryssa and Council of Yyqueta. Tyrish men and women who name themselves the Black Hounds have crossed over the Green River, raiding smaller villages and towns, raping and killing where they can. We pray to Grōzonoah for your help!"

"I have heard of the Black Hounds," said the man named Vandarion Verrea. He wore black leather garments that day with silver and red threads lining the shoulders and the collar and the neckline. His curly brown hair had been let down loosely and about his forehead was a golden band, as though he had already crowned himself a king. But the woman named Nailah would not allow it to give her feelings of distraught, even though the other great lords present began to seem fickle in their silence. Instead she had mockingly said: "A fellow royal in our midst I see. Come now, and sit yourself beside me, King Vandarion. Shall I fetch you a golden chalice as well?"

To that he had raised a hand and had told her as he grimaced: "The Patryssa honours me with her words, but I already have my queen." He then seated himself as was her wish.

He thinks himself royal because our children are wed? I ought to laugh.

"An appalling group of criminals from the kingdom of Tyr who behead large breeds of dogs and craft revolting masks out of them to shield their identity from the rest of the world," he continued with a voice like calm thunder if there was ever such a thing. "Even though their identity weighs nothing in the end, besides."

"I must agree with the Lord Verrea, my Queen. Worthless bags of horse dung who name themselves after muts should not go on living in the realm your husband and his father and his before have created. Your son will soon ascend the Marble Throne upon his coming of age. Should we let Gunay begin to fall into disarray, so that Ramses may inherit all the bad? An end to this folly must be made at once and justice should be served to those who reside in Bluestone Valley," Cyrus Veron urged with a sense of experience. It was well known that the lord of House Veron battled with fierce and mighty packs of bandits and foes from beyond the Sea of Sands and the Red Horns, and not without his victories and casualties.

Though, to Nailah it seemed not an issue that should be of much bother. "Lord Vulbane possesses a large host of well-trained soldiers who stood beside my husband on the Sea of Fields when they battled against Astereus Helioserys and the Golden Army. Lord Cyrus Veron, as all here in attendance would agree with me, has faced much greater as the Shield of the Sea of Sands against foes to the west and across the Stony Shores and the Green Ocean. To me this is an issue that might best remain a Bluestone Valley issue."

Her words were blunt that had an icy bite to it and to everyone seated at the table's dismay. No one dared argue with the Patryssa who sent hundreds of soldiers to their death after failing to bring victory to Gunay, but this much was well-known; the faces of Lords Zephyr Goldspyr, Cyrus Veron, Orion Krystalspear and Aarav Tygr did not seem pleased by this resolve one bit. But what could they do but remain still while men as large as bulls and fierce as hounds stood in the background with their spears and swords?

This is, however, not to say that Nailah did not take note of this, for nothing had gone unnoticed by the Lady of the Golden River. But in all the silence and awkward glances that spied the corners around the room, Vandarion Verrea seemed pleased by it all, and declared that Nailah's words, until the ascension of Ramses, were to be treated as law. For in the very same sense, they were.