Kill The War

What We Fight For (Me)

  Light filled the court, making it seem peaceful, quiet even. The light bounced off the walls and onto the floor, creating different shades of color with the stained glass.  

The day had started normal, well, as far as planning the attack on Leria went. The queen had been bunching her hair in her fists, sighing every time she disapproved of her own plan. She shut her eyes tight, and let out a shaky breath when she became panicked.

"Lady Pond?" a guardsman knocked on the heavy door, his eyes glued to the chestnut floor. A soft red dusted his cheeks. "Ah, Steven. Good to see you." She got up from the comfortable chair and walked to him. "At times like these, I wish my horrid brothers would still be alive so that they could take the throne."

Pond was dressed in her casual attire. She had a cotton white shirt on and sweatpants, her hair was a loose ponytail on her head, the curls in her hair flowing down her back regaly, even if she looked like she had just woken up. But on the contrary, she had stayed up all night. "Hello, Lady Pond." He kneeled in front of the queen, his eyes still looking down. "None of that "Lady" nonsense. We both know that I am no proper woman." She kneeled down, too. Her hand lifted and raised his chin, forcing him to look at the strong woman's face. "How is the wife?" She asked lightly, her smile melting the tension in the air. He smiled back. "Lovely. She is actually training our boys, right this second." He said, standing up tall.

Ah, yes. Meranda. Meranda had been an old colleague of the queens when she had fought in the army. She married Steven after the war had settled, but, of course, her rival kingdom, Leria, had started to attack the city walls, yet again. Meranda had had 3 kids, all boys. When Pond met with her, she looked as tired as a dog. Deep circles pulled at the bottom of her eyes, her smile weary as if she hadn't stopped scowling for at least three years.

The queen was standing now, too. She walked back to her seat at a giant table in the middle of the courtroom, ruffling a couple of papers when she leaned across the table to turn on her computer.

When the browser turned on, she clicked on a file and ushered the guardsman to come and see what plan she had created.

It was a blueprint, it explained the giant plan to build a bigger wall around the city. Only this time, she added a few cannons and self-defense mechanics to the mix of barbed wire fences. The wall was going to be at least 60 meters tall, and it's only gates where at the North, South, East, and West ends of the kingdom.

Pond prided herself on the fact that, besides the war, her kingdom was thriving. She wasn't just rich, her people were too. No one was living on the streets, and she had lots of extra money in her government to build new homes and other needed things. She poured her heart and soul into her people, never taking a vacation or a break. Her body proved it.

Her eyes were dark, her lips chapped from licking them too much, and her clothes were rumpled from wearing them for multiple weeks. She almost never ate, and as a result, she had a thin waist.

Steven leaned down and added something. When he finished and stood straight again his face blank.

He had added guards at the top, standing tall.

"You want the royal guard there?" She asked, her eyebrow cocking in question.

"If you would allow us."

"Why."

Her eyes looked something that people rarely saw. Anger.

"You do understand that would include Lady Gyasi, correct?" She said, her voice full of malice. "Y-yes, I do." His face had turned to fear. She rubbed her temples. "She killed half of the guardsman because she was in love with some boy. Do you know what might happen if we let her out?" She looked at him, the worry was all she could show. Her brows were knitted together, her lips turned into a slight pucker. "I don't think something like that would happen again. And, he wasn't some boy. He was my brother."

And with that, he stormed out.

Pond walked down the cold steps, her bed-wrangled hair covering half the side of her face. She kept walking, each step she made making her more nervous. She the held herself high.

This is my duty as queen. To consider others freedom, to judge fairly, to bring justice forth to people who demand it.

Her hands shook as she grabbed the handle to the dungeon. When she walked inside, a hall of cells threaten to consume her, to gobble her up. "Hello?" her voice cracked, nervousness laced in with fear. "Yes? My queen?" A soft voice bounced off the walls, making echoes. "How are you?" Pond asked. "Well, how you would imagine it. I drink water, I eat food, nothing much. Why do you let me live? Why make me suff-"

"You know what you did."

Anger was coursing through the queen's veins.

"Have you forgotten? That I loved someone too? That he was the only thing that I took time out of my day to be with?" Ponds voice was calm, but her tone expressed the malice of someone who wanted to murder. "Do you remember? His screams? His cries to see me again? You know, I had to watch the security footage of each killing, each person who had someone to go home to. Just to judge you fairly! I remember!" Tears were running down the usual regal woman's face. Her teeth bared, her head bowed as she gripped the jail bars. "Why! Why did you take him too?" She crumpled to the floor, her shoulders shaking out of a silent cry.

"Because I wanted people to know my pain."

The simplest answer meant the world to the sobbing woman. She lifted her tear streaked face to the ceiling. "Would you do it again?" Was what came from Pond. Her gaze landed on Gyasi. "I would kill you if I wasn't a queen. Make you feel what they felt. It would be only justified. So, that's why I'm putting you in the army." She stood, her emotions partially composed. "In the front lines. Where there is no justice. Where terror is mostly known. But, to be fair, I'll hire Lady Kaelyn to train you. She'll come here in a couple of days to collect you. Good day." Pond turned on her heel and walked back up the dungeon stairs.

She planned to sleep for at least a couple of hours. She needed it, after all.