❝Always be courteous, smart, polite and diplomatic but also always have a plan to kill everyone in the room.❞
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THE sovereign's hands gripped the edge of the window sill – the polished wood providing a soothing feeling against her scarred palms – in her room as she gazed at the sun slowly going down the horizon. The pinks and oranges streaks blended together as the stars twinkled weakly. It felt surreal to see so much peace in the midst of such a politically intoxicating situation.
Akira had just finished practicing sword-fighting and had just come up to rest for a while before dinner was served. The armor on her body weighed nothing more than a piece of paper as she let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair, pushing back the strands that had fallen out of her braid behind her ears. She felt a slight pain in her muscles – courtesy of the amount of training she had been doing the past few days.
It had been almost a week since the queen had recruited women and their practice and training was going as great as it could have. Over the course of the week, Aziza, Shree and Akira had helped the new-comers learn basic moves which can make all the difference during a life threatening situation and much to their surprise, almost all the recruits were picking up pretty quickly. While some of them were learning the basics of sword-fighting, the others were learning archery and other forms of fighting they felt comfortable with. Some of them even had the novel idea to use normal products like chilli powder and other spices to create a diversion and escape. It was an abnormal idea, alright, but any means to win the war was welcome.
The three girls had completely immersed themselves in the process of teaching the new arrivals because even though none of them actually admitted it, it was a great way to avoid thinking about what was going in their lives. The tension had persisted between them and neither of them knew how to turn it back to normal.
It was better to hide behind armors and swords and fight in real life rather than confront the demons lurking inside their own heads and hearts.
The gate of her room creaked open and hurried steps came from behind her. Akira turned around in time to see a tensed Aziza. Beads of sweat were travelling down her face which was understandable as she had been training for the past hour or so and ragged small puffs of breath left her mouth as she looked at the sovereign in a vague sense of panic.
"Akira, we're under attack."
The queen inhaled sharply, nodding rapidly and started walking along with Aziza out of her room. She took out her sword from the sheath - which was fastened against her waist - and her palm fastened against the embellished hilt, finding comfort in the way the jagged gem sat against her skin familiarly. Her eyes darted from place to place and corridor to corridor for any enemy as they proceeded to walk down to the throne room, hoping that the war would come to them.
Akira held her sword harder in anger, causing the gold and emerald hilt to leave red markings on her palms, "How many people?"
The commander didn't meet the sovereign's eyes, way too focused on her surroundings, "Enough to make this a tough fight to win. It's like they already knew about the recruits."
"I expected them to find out about it somehow. How did they get in?" They kept walking, looking out for any ambush in the hallways as the queen raised her doubts, "The security has been doubled and I have eyes everywhere."
Aziza shrugged and answered uncertainly, "From what I heard, they came in from the back door. I was coming back from the training when a handmaiden ran towards me and informed me."
The monarch's eyebrows shot upward in an instant, "The garden passage?" The question caused the commander to nod.
"But," Akira continued, "Nobody knows about it-" Other than me, Aziza and Shree. "other than some close friends."
The sovereign's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the girl walking next to her but she tried to keep a level-head, "Somebody from the inside did it."
Aziza halted ever so slightly and looked back at Akira, her breath hitching in her throat at the thought of betrayal, "Who do you think did it?"
The sound of swords and yells became more and more prominent as they walked down towards the throne room causing Akira to dismiss the commander's question in a haste, "It doesn't matter right now. They are already in. Let's focus on the problem at hand. Tell me, is everything and everyone is at their given positions?"
"Yes, they are." As Aziza answered a group of about three men came into view in front of them.
Akira sighed and her gaze met Aziza's. The commander smirked even though her eyes held sincerity and a small amount of guilt, "Finally, some action."
Akira said nothing, her eyes holding the men accountable for their actions as all three of them ran towards the two girls. Swords high, heads higher, the two parties dived into battle.
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Akira slashed through another man with a small huff as Aziza covered her back, fighting the people who showed up from the back. Both of them worked like they were the same people, two sides of the same coin - their swords defended together and struck down at the enemies together.
As the evening had progressed and the hallways around the two girls were bathed in the subtle luminescence of the moon, their armors and surroundings were doused in red. They kept walking ahead, slashing and cutting through anyone who dared to challenge them.
After passing corridors of fighting men and women, red oozing and painting the walls, abandoned swords and shields, unconscious bodies and strings of battle cries, they both reached the throne room where the ministers and other soldiers fought against the rioters.
It was just like any other place of the castle - bodies on the ground, red all around, shouts of pain and grunts of victory. The throne room which had held so much royal allure had been transformed into a battleground charged with pain, regret and malice.
Shree was caught defending against three men and Akira and Aziza rushed to her rescue. While Akira dealt with one of the three threats, Aziza precisely slayed the other one before he could harm Shree and the curly-haired girl cut through the last one.
The three girls exchanged a brief glance, laced with a small smile as the three rivals dropped down to the ground with a loud thuds. They proceeded to fight, forgetting about the tension that had lingered between them. Soon enough, more and more splashes of blood decorated their armors and floor while yells and screams rung through the palace, piercing their ears with horrible cries.
Two more rivals rounded up around Akira as she skillfully kicked one square in his chest, causing him to fall back while she focused to defend against the other one. She finally managed to disarm the man and slash through him while Aziza looked after the fallen man.
From the corner of her eyes, the sovereign found herself look out of the humongous doors of the throne room and spotted someone which made her eyes widen in pleasant surprise.
"Veer" Akira suddenly called after her brother as she ducked and dodged swings and hits and managed to run out of the throne room to the hallway where the prince fought off a guy, eventually killing him.
"Veer!" The monarch managed to yell out as she hugged her brother for a split second, her eyes were watery and a few tears managed to roll down her dirty, bloody skin. A huge grin adorned her face to see her only family alive, "I thought you were dead!" She hugged him again before breaking away and wiping the tears, "I've never been more glad to see your pathetic face."
"It's good to see you too Akira although you look... like something" The prince managed to say through a smile but the smile quickly faded as he saw two men running towards them, ready to attack, "But we are in the middle of a battle."
He nodded towards the incoming threat and smirked, "So, let's do the re-union later, alright? We'll have plenty of time then."
The queen just smiled and nodded, raising her bloodied sword and dueling one of the man while her brother dealt with the other one.
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The battle raged on as the night went on. The usually eerie and silent moonlight was accompanied by cries and clangs of sword against sword tonight. At last, the war was almost over. As the amount rivals lessened and the queen found a moment to breathe, she stopped for a moment and glanced around - the number of bodies littering the hallways and rooms was intoxicating. She could almost feel the aftermath of this war - shattered families, heartbroken lovers and even more destroyed hearts.
Bloodied bodies loaded with gashes, clothes soaking with blood and tainted marble all around was a scene that the monarch wasn't too fond of but the number of rivals on the ground were far more in number than the people on the Maharani's side and at the moment, that is all that mattered to the queen – to win.
Just as she was done with her little inspection, Veer – who had been fighting alongside her in the hallway – interrupted her thought process, "Earth to Akira?" He waved her hand and managed to conjure up a little smile on his face, "I think there are some people on the terrace."
The prince pointed to the terrace – which was visible from the hallway – where surely enough there were a few more shadows under the moonlight fighting. He continued with a small shrug, "We should go help them out. I mean we should just finish the job, shouldn't we?"
Akira glanced around the corridor one more time, making sure there were no more threats to face and finally nodded, "You're right. Aziza, Shree and the others can look after themselves, we should go on the terrace. Finish it off."
And with that they set off to the terrace, finding very less resistance on the way up. On the last step, passing the countless bodies on the stairs, a certain something stopped Akira in her path.
Crouching down, she turned the bloodied body to find the lifeless body of Zara. Her eyes were open, looking up at the ceiling endlessly as the red on her stomach caught the queen's attention. Akira bit back a curse as she looked away from the young girl and to Veer, who just gave her a sympathetic smile.
Another one lost to the war. Another person down fighting.
The monarch realized she didn't even know the number of fallen warriors from her side and a part of her blamed her for their deaths. Putting her hand on Zara's eyes, she shut her eyes, silently muttering a prayer and commanding herself to not think too much.
As soon as they reached the terrace, they found a small group of people still fighting and it seemed like the rivals were winning as slowly and slowly, the soldiers dropped on the ground with loud thuds.
With a small glance of mutual understanding, the two siblings set off into the battleground, fighting and defending against the remaining men and after a while, almost all the enemies were on the ground – dead.
Akira fought against one of the last two men - the other one being handled by Veer - but this time, she could feel her moves getting slow and sloppy. Her usually agile and quick moves were now getting off-track as she could feel all her energy draining out. The entire day of training, the entire night of fighting the actual war and no breaks sure took a toll on the sovereign's body.
As she fought against him, one of his quick jabs caused a harsh and deep gash in the left side of her stomach – just where her armor had a small but important opening, causing her to fall on her knees in agony and her sword to skid off into a distance.
'Baba it hurts.' The memory of a young Akira crying out for her baba from decades ago flooded in her mind.
'Yes, yes, it does but you know how strong you are right?' Her baba's voice echoed in her ears as a sick burn overtook her side and she doubled over in pain. She kept her hand on the wound, trying her best to keep the blood from oozing out. 'Stand back up and fight, you can do it Akira.'
'You can do it Akira. Stand up and finish the fight you started.' Her mind repeated her father's words and she put her left hand on the dust-coated ground, trying to stand back up but failed miserably, ultimately failing to stand back up.
The monarch looked up, the man stood in front of her with his sword raised, a maniacal look was on his face as he looked down at her, ready to strike.
'This is the end.'
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