The Art Of Queens

ERICA

ERICA

Erica laid by her husband’s side barely asleep in the dark. Her eyes were closed but her mind was open. She laid a hand on Samwell’s chest as he drew ragged breaths. He had been suffering from an incurable sickness with causes unknown for months and he was only getting worse by the days. At nights Erica ensured he had whatever he needed for his comfort as she prayed to the three for his health to return. On many nights like this one, she slept for only moments. Samwell was the best man in the world to her and she was dedicated to him, after all he was her husband and king, and she loved him very much. Caring for him was a heartwarming duty.
The welcoming doze of sleep opened up to her, and she almost took its hand, but her eyes awoke. Samwell had turned by her and she carefully examined his face to see if he was still asleep. The many candles that stood by their heads danced a yellow light over his paling face and her heart broke. She touched his cheek, it was warm and soft. His peppered beard was growing long like his black hair with silver strands. He never looked more hansom to her, and she feared he would die soon.
Samwell choked on his own breath, he coughed a cough that lingered in his throat and Erica fled to the medicine box Medicinel Tennant left with them. She hurried through it and found Essence of the moon plant. She unplugged the cork and fled to Samwell. The cough was choking him badly and intended not to leave. She held his chin firmly with her left hand as she attempted to drip a single drop of the potion down his throat with the right.
It relieved him of his painful coughs the moment it met his tongue and he relaxed into his pillow on calming breaths. Erica wiped sweat from his forehead as his eyes closed for sleep. Essence of the moon plant was the best reliever of all pain, but it made its patients sleep their lives away. Admiring his face, she noticed his eyes were trying to see as his lips trembled to speak. She brought an ear by them.
“Thank you.” His words barely left his breath.
Erica nodded and her eyes smiled . She pulled his sheets up to his neck and tucked him in, then she snuggled up beside him again. In her heart she prayed to Flayten to bless her husband with health and she prayed to Nyreter especially to not fulfill his promise anytime soon. She needed him, their daughters needed him, and if the hawks that arrived not long ago were right, his kingdom would need him too.
Six hawks had flown from the kings spies in the east and one from Lord Tomas Grayne, the Warden of Division Grain Field south of the kingdom. All six hawks from different sources brought the same news in different forms. News of a coming war, the Kings of the east were uniting against the west for they believed if they annihilated them all, then the gods they served would enter the realm and live among them in peace for eternity.
The Far East was always a savaged people. They believed that the Phoenix of Bezaly was a curse of the night and that the dragons of Grithantis were gods. Samwell told her a couple of times in the past that the fanatics of the east would seek the life of he and his family through bloodshed, but she never actually expected it to really happen during her lifetime. The savaged Far East despised him for what he did, for slaying the Grithansas and their dragons and becoming king of this continent. The leaders of this coming war from the east were only seeking revenge and needed a better excuse coming here; Erica thought.
One thought lead to another, then a next, but she could never sleep still. Samwell’s health was already a burden heavy enough to snap her neck if she was not careful and now the Far East weight on top of it too. The advisors and lords would now look to her for devising a plan to defend Volryvansys, but she was not a queen with that knowledge. Perhaps Samwell’s first wife, the deceased Queen Kereen might have been that one. But Duragoseth burned her to ashes after Samwell’s first daughter Princess Sauna Fyrstone was born, a child that had grown with such an evil mind towards Erica and her five daughters over the years.
She did not speak much to Erica but whenever she did, her words were poison. The last time Erica spoke to her, a girl of ten and seven, she scared the five month old child inside Erica’s belly. Sauna told her that the child inside her was just another girl who would become a slut before her eleventh year of life, and that she would die in a ditch somewhere with a cock in her mouth. Erica knew not what to make of this, but the heir of Samwell’s throne would definitely murder her and her children if Nyreter claimed his life before theirs. Erica knew deep down in herself that Sauna was under pressure since the announcement of her pregnancy. Sauna was next in line for the throne as she was the first child of Samwell, but the throne could easily pass to the unborn child if it were a boy. If this was not the case, then Erica knew not what else to believe.
A gentle knock met the chamber door, it was so soft and careful, like a cat. Erica peeked over her long and straight river of gold flowing over her shoulders to see if someone was coming. The door opened softly and Koryann quietly entered and closed it. Koryann was her daughter, the most brilliant of the five, and the first they pulled from her before Lily, Koryann’s twin.
Long black curls swirled from her crown down her back. Her young face of ten and five was powder soft to the eyes and her white night gown glowed brightly over her thin body as she approached Erica’s bed.
“Did I wake you mother?” She whispered.
“No my sweet child.” Erica replied as she eased herself from Samwell’s side.
“I had a bad dream, of father and a war in the kingdom.”
“Oh my, come here.” Erica reached out and hugged her.
“It’s those books you read. They give you nightmares, don’t worry about the kingdom.” Erica comforted her. She looked at Koryann’s face. It was so serious and straight, unlike hers or Samwell’s.
“But Medicinel Tennant told the advisors of a coming war, the greatest war of all time, and they said that we are more likely to be defeated if the hawk was true.” Koryann said. Tears came to Erica’s eyes, she just hugged her child again. The Medicinel and the advisors were to keep this information secret for now.
“It’s only the words of a bird, and if they are right, no one can ever hurt any of us up here. Not on this mountain range crowned by snow. Not even if it were a thousand thousand enemies. I will keep you safe.” She kissed her daughters head. Koryann looked confused, but she always did whenever she tried to understand what made more sense to believe.
“You can sleep with us if you’d like, come.”
“Thank you, but I don’t like the candles, they scare the shadows away.” Koryann replied. She turned and walked to the door. Erica could tell she would not sleep tonight either just by the confused way she did.
“Good night.”
“Good night my love.” Erica replied and Koryann closed it.
Koryann was a remarkable child, the strangest of her lot. Maybe she inherited that trait from her real father? Maybe… Erica would never know. She crept under Samwell’s sheets and cuddled up into his warmth to try at sleep before the night ended.
Before the break of dawn, Erica awoke. Medicinel Tennant, the healer of house Fyrstone came to do his duty, it was now a daily routine for him to wake her from Samwell’s bed in the mornings. The freezing winds of the White Castle blew away from the windows by the bed. The candles were still alive though they had lost their height. Erica did not mind for the Medicinel would replace them for the coming night. She turned to her husband and placed a palm over his heart and an ear at his mouth. He was still alive, and she thanked the gods for sparing his life again.
“All well with your grace?” Medicinel Tennant bowed as he found himself in the medicine box beside their bed.
He was an old man of fifty and seven with a shiny scalp yet his long beard down his chest was as black as the lava stone floor. His potion for slowing down the rate at which the body aged was to be thanked or blamed, while others said he was just very good at dyeing the flow of beard. He wore a cherry red robe, the color of the house he served with its sigil of a serpent wrapped around a mountain embroidered in gold over his heart. He had been serving Samwell well since the earliest days of his reign. He even pulled Sauna from Queen Kereen as he did with all of Erica’s children.
Tennant Synon was as smart as the slave master he worked for in his early years. Slave master Vyred Grithansas, the ruler of the most powerful dragon that ever lived. Tennant’s father was the healer of house Grithansas at the time and he taught his son all he knew. Tennant was the best at what he did and was a great asset to have as he had proven over thirty years. Whatever the ailment was, he fixed. Some soldiers of the king’s guard even said they died and Medicinel Tennant brought them back to life. Many believed he was a wizard, but he was no wizard, just an ordinary man with a great gift.
“I think so, he only awoke once from a cough.” Erica replied. The Medicinel smiled at her.
“I meant you.”
“Oh, yes, I think so too.” She said as she climbed from the bed. Her belly was perfectly round like a half moon Dyara always said. She walked over by the window and saw the night clouds were stretching away thinly for the light of day to enter the world. Flayten promised light upon the world every day, and he was a god of honor for he kept his word.
“How is the baby doing inside there? Excited to get out?” Medicinel Tennant asked.
“Excited? No. Dyara was excited to get out, but this one…this one is different, he is calm.”
“He shall be a king of peace your grace.” Medicinel Tennant said as he exchanged potions from the medicine box. She prayed her unborn child was a son, it was hope for her children if Princess Sauna was true.
Erica gazed through her window again, this time she looked down low at the snowy capital. Men were up already going about their business. Motherless children wandered about and the maids and servants of the White Castle were already preparing for the day as they lined up by the castle gates awaiting identity confirmation. The great white frosted wall around the entire capital was lined with snow at the far end that she could see from where she stood and it granted her assurance of their safety here. No one could breach the ten feet thick and two hundred feet tall wall of Lava stone, no one, unless they could fly. Twenty men could defend the entire capital and five good men could defend the castle.
“His diet is helping him.” Erica looked to see what the Medicinel spoke of.
“See the rash on his chest had disappeared.” He showed her. She had not noticed, it must have disappeared over night; she thought.
“Yes it has disappeared and impressively well.” She smiled.
“Very well. Extraordinary. It could also be this new potion I made, it can cure leprosy and what is a rash compared to that.” Medicinel Tennant chuckled.
“Good medicines are of no use to a hungry patient. I will go do my duty as a mother and a wife.” She grabbed her cherry red robe from her wardrobe immediately to leave.
“Aye.” Medicinel Tennant chuckled.
Through a torch lit hall and down steps of lava stone Erica walked and turned until she was at where her true talent was discovered. She cooked pumpkin stew for her husband, cabbages, rice and mutton for her children and sliced apples for herself. The cooks admired her for this, as no other queen or noble woman cooked for their house. For the past fort night she had been at this in the mornings, and finally it was paying off. Samwell’s rash disappeared and this meant to her more than anyone could imagine.
Her servants brought the meals to the table and she personally carried her husband’s dish to him. He was still asleep, and so she sat there after Medicinel Tennant had left, waiting for him to awake before long.