Cloak of Royalty

Chapter 1

I walked down the bustling streets of Perdition, I kept my head downcast with my cloak acting as a shield of secrecy. I paused in tracks to allow a horse drawn wagon to pass.

I felt a pull on my cloak, I turned to face the source of the tug. I came to face an old man, well not terribly old he looked to be 60 years of age. Not too close to death, but close enough to be wise and experienced in life's most brutal lessons.

"Please, I just need a few rupees" He pleaded desperately.

I stared at him for a moment, his eyes. They looked kind, like those of a father, or at least what I imagined they would look like. The man had turned, taking my silence as rejection.

"Wait," I breathed out gently, like an unintentional whisper.

"Come with me." I said firmly

"Why?" He questioned before turning to face me once again.

"Just come,please" I uttered the last part much quieter than the first.

"I am afraid I need a much better reason than that." He told me, he gave me a soft smile the lines around his eyes and mouth softly creasing as he did so.

"To be on my court of council," I said, he looked at me up and down.

"I didn't know you were a king," he said gently as he scoffed, the same way you would tell a child that had dressed up.

" I am not, I am a queen, you should be flattered" I said to combat his remark.

" The queen doesn't need a council, for she is not a true ruler." He said as if he were telling me a beloved family pet had passed. 

" Besides, we have a king." He continued.

"Not for long." I said to him as I began to walk in the direction of the castle, he trailed behind me muttering things under his breath.

When we finally closed in of the castle gates, a guard stopped us.

"There is no entry beyond this point." He said to me, his voice like gravel.

"A queen can enter her own castle." I said to him.

"We are without a queen, do not provoke me." He said clearly annoyed.

"Not for long." I replied shortly, as I quickly grabbed my dagger from its sheath and lodged it between the small skin that showed between his helmet and chest plate. He gasped as his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground escaping my dagger.

I turned to the man behind me, he didn't look at me as if he was surprised, he seemed intrigued.

"You lied to me" he said, yet nothing about his tone seemed accusatory.

"No, I just didn't tell you the entirety of the truth."I said calmly

"You are not a queen—" he said with a pause, just as I was about to inform him, he said "You are about to make yourself self one."

I smirked at him and turned on my heel to walk further to the gates. I took out an apple I had bought at the market and threw it above where the guards stood I shouted "look out above!" With urgency.

They both looked up, and as they did; I withdrew another dagger, wielding both, one in each hand. Simultaneously I threw both with perfect aim at the same gap revealed as they looked up, right between the helmet and chest plate of both guards standing on either side of the gate.

All you could hear was the soft sound of the wooden hilt of my dagger colliding with the  metal of the helmet, and the small thud that came from the apple falling to the ground.