Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

38. The Queen's Authority

Shayley measured her steps and took four precise ones until she was standing between Cal and Selene.

"Do you desire to war on us after we did you a service? If so, I'm sure that we can figure out how to reinstate the blockade Ghosts. Guildmaster, how much control do you have over the ghost crew now that you've completed all the requirements of the Segaro raid?" Shayley threatened not giving Selene enough room to breathe or talk.

Cal shook himself from his stupor enough to answer a question and regretted his answer. "Complete, they were mine to begin with, before Lamphere's mutiny. I can send them anywhere any time and with my guidance they'll be an asset in the coming war."

Shayley knew that she had Selene by the tresses when the blue haired woman paled. Cal was about to stutter something, but this was in Shayley's hands now.

"For 250 years you were unable to break through a blockade of wisps. How well do you think you can hold out against an entire kingdom's coordinated assault, that same group of wisps, and the man who single handedly cleared the raid on his own? If you are trying to make enemies of us, then you have done a spectacular job at enticing my wrath. I came with designs to investigate the lost Western Shore, establish an alliance and begin trade with whomever we found. But if you greet me with your fangs, I will show you just how easily we tore out the throats of the Great Ones in the Age of Raids. You have two choices, take us to your king so that we can clear up this debacle or we go home and come back with a fleet the likes of which you can't possibly imagine."

Threaten, yes it was crude, rude, and dramatic. But if there was one thing Shayley was good at it was battle. Looking her enemy in the face was a war she could fight easily any day over the shadow war Cal fought in the streets of her own country. Shayley knew her greatest weakness as a ruler was that was she was rough around the edges. When she met the nobles, she was embarrassed until she realized that establishing dominance was a thing among nobles too, it was just a game of who could be more offended. And she had every right to be angry.

"We got rid of the blockade, yet the first thing out of the mouth of the person that greeted us was that we were under arrest. Then without a crime to speak of your 'Daughter' in all of her eloquence and wisdom drew her blade on my peace-seeking Guildmaster, the representative of my kingdom. Then you have the nerve to start assuming everything is just okay because you think you recognize him?" Shayley reprimanded Selene until her face turned a satisfactory shade of pale fear.

"Priestess Selene, I hope you understand the gravity of the situation. I am a Warrior Queen unlike any elven royalty known on any continent past or present. A nomadic God slayer of the Profane Hunters made princess by a Great One in a city unraidable by the strongest guilds gathered against our walls. Now the Queen of the dangerous clans of the notorious Dark Forest stands before you ready to speak and ready to war. The fate of everything you know rests on this moment."

Shayley watched as the cold mask of formality washed over Selene's face. She bowed, "My apologizes, your highness. We have not had visitors for hundreds of years, my daughter was born after the blockade, she cares deeply and is as brash as she is hard headed. Please forgive her ignorance this once."

Shayley looked at Cal for a brief moment and realized he was still uselessly gaping. She rolled her eyes and punched him in the gut with the back of her hand.

"He plays the fool, but as you've seen he is sturdier than most. She would have tired herself long before he would have finished with his jokes." Shayley smiled for a second as Cal coughed in pain while grabbing where she hit him. "As it stands we are steeped in matters that leave us pressed for time in a way that leaves little room for Cal's games. It took him the better part of an afternoon to finish off the pirates, we cannot tarry any longer. Make your choice now priestess or my blade will make it for you."

Shayley dropped that bomb on the Priestess and walked passed her and toward the crowd of guards. Specifically, toward Achilles whose face was full of defiance all the while her knees were shaking.

"Well child, will you start a war and have the blood of your kin on your conscience. Or will you step aside?" Shayley's eyes glowed with power. Her huntress marks glowed. "Maybe you wish to test your mettle against the Huntress who killed her own God of War and stole his power." She grinned wickedly, then she leaned in and whispered threateningly. "After taking the life of that arrogant whoreson, I always wondered if I gained his power, I've yet to test it in a legitimate war against another kingdom. One wrong move and I'll have no choice but to start experimenting earlier than I had planned."

Achilles felt the weight of her words. She had known that both of them were holding back now. They were monsters. She had fought the ghost pirates and had been steadily gaining strength over the years. She was the best and could easily take on several hundred of them in a day. But she couldn't imagine completely eliminating them in an afternoon. Nor could she imagine killing a god and speaking about it so casually.

There was a haunting chill behind Cal's essence and a wild feral hunger that lingered behind the huntress's eyes.

Achilles was too proud to show that she was scared, she clicked her tongue and stepped aside anyway. She didn't want to risk a war. She stepped aside for the sake of her people.

"Guildmaster, Priestess, shall we go decide which war we are to face?" Shayley waited for Cal to finally move. And they walked through the parting crowd to the city.