The Sword Saints

3. The Princess of Vengeance

(Yuna)

"Seek not out vengeance, for no matter the crime, great or small, Justice shall find them and do unto them according to the eyes of Order and Justice and all will be appeased and at harmony. Justice will always prevail for all things."

- The Book of Justice: Ch. 1: verse 3.

"Go to Daath, find Judar, and bring him back here to face Justice. But, if you see no other way, then you may kill him."

Those words made the crowned princess of the Queendom – Yuna Gaedal, Third of Her Name – go numb with shock, and on some level, anticipation. Yuna loved to sneak around the palace, in and out of it, and she often eavesdropped on her sister's political meetings. But few involved two Sword Saints, and none were as important to her as the one she just heard.

Kill Judar. Yuna rocked back and sat against the cold stone wall behind her. She was in a secret tunnel that led from the Queen's council chamber to a siege bunker deep beneath the Glacier Palace. Her sister was aware of it, but only because Yuna delighted in scaring her. Yuna only knew of it because the tunnel had several offshoots that ran all over the palace: to every room in the royal wing, to the library, courtyards, kitchen, and even to the dungeons. She stumbled upon the entrance in the courtyard as a child when she was hiding from her stewardess.

She hoped that she was the only one who knew of their existence, for the tunnels were where she went when she wanted to be alone and left undisturbed by her handlers, which was quite often. Now more than ever she needed to be alone, to be able to digest all that she'd just learned in solitude, surrounded only by peace and quiet.

Kill Judar. Kill the man that had killed the previous Queen and royal consort, Yuna and Yuelle's parents.

Her sister and the Sword Saints continued to talk, but Yuna tuned them out as she relived the death of her parents. The returned to the events of that night often, as it invaded her sleeping mind almost weekly. It was a nightmare to say the least.

It had been eight years prior, three days before the start of the Festival of the Virtues, which was held all throughout the six realms. The Glacier Palace had been near deserted. Yuelle and many other political advisors were in Angriva Court for some stupid party and half of the palace guards were out in the city helping police the capital with the influx of tourists and revelers.

No one had been there to defend the royal family, though Yuna knew that it wouldn't have made any difference if the entire palace had been full of guards. For one thing, Judar was a devil and would've killed anyone in his way if he had to. More guards would have simply meant more bodies to bury.

Up until that night, Judar had been a trusted servant of the Queen, a loyal weapon to be used at her whim. Yuna remembered him as once a kind and gentle man, stern at times, but never forceful or strict. The few times that he had interacted with her, he had treated her as a loving uncle would treat his favorite niece.

But then everything changed that night.

Yuna had been with her parents in their private sitting room where her mother, the Queen, received special guests. She had been playing in the corner with a doll given to her as a gift by the late Duke of Angriva. Her parents were talking about the Festival and about the possibility of raising the tariffs on goods imported from Port Avra. Yuna hadn't thought much of it, being an eight-year-old princess and all.

That was when Judar knocked and came in.

No one had thought to stop him at the door. As he gingerly walked in, Yuna and her parents immediately knew that something was different. Gone was his curly black hair that had been so thick and silky soft. Gone was his kind smile and handsome features, his once beautiful blue eyes too; He was scarred and different. No, he was not the same Judar of old, but a changed man.