The Moonstone Blade : Revenge of the Abused Princess

The sky was painted in a violent shade of red mingling with orange and yellow hues, reflecting the chaos and screaming of  the people below. The capital was set ablaze, flames higher than ever, and indiscriminate s*******r of young and old followed. Children were snatched from mothers, women were r***d and beaten. Cruel laughter gradually overpowered the screaming of innocents. The once alive streets were bathed in the red blood of dead people. It was a terror like history had never seen before.  The royal palace was no different.  He stalked through the large hallways, dragging her by hair, grinning as she stumbled and fell, showing no mercy as he violently yanked her up on her feet laughing maniacally at the pained yelp that escaped her lips. The dread clawed at her throat when she realized the destination he was taking her to.  The royal throne room. The place where her father had sat, ruled the country and had sold her to this madman for the safety and security of the people. To save his own hide and protect his beloved sons. But in the end, it hadn’t mattered. The insane tyrant had still done the slaughtering he wanted. She vividly remembered how the heads of her father and brother had rolled and how the blood had splattered across her face, staining her vision with red.  The doors to the room opened, the large golden throne that sat atop the stairs was glowing red drenched in blood to her eyes.  “You see that? My dear wife?” The man sneered at her, “The throne I’ve been waiting for so long is finally mine!” His grin sharpened at her glare of vengeful hatred. “I'm a kind and generous husband. I am not shameless enough to ascend the throne of your kingdom without you by my side.”  Her once shining silver hair was matted with dirt and blood and her dress was in tatters. The bare minimum jewelry on her person had never seemed as heavier as it did now. He hauled her up like a ragdoll on the stairs and dropped himself on the throne with a grand gesture and forced her on her knees in front of him.  Her heart burned with humiliation.  “My lovely Ayana,” he cooed at her, “I have one more gift for you.”  Oh god, she hated how it made a shiver of absolute terror run down her spine. It must have shown on her face because he smiled gleefully before announcing, "Bring him in!” The man his soldiers brought in was already half dead, naked. His skin was marked with uncountable cuts and slashes. Bruises and burns littered his ashen skin and his red hair seemed to clump together due to blood. She could see that a deep gash on his side was deeply infected, skin looked a sick purple color and swollen with infection. It looked beyond painful. But she didn’t recognize the man.  The devil behind her laughed, “How do you like my gift? I heard you were extremely close as children, Ayana?” As soon as her name was uttered and the man looked up with absolute fury shining in his blue eyes. She had no control over the gasp that escaped her lips because this was not how she had ever wanted to see him. His gaze flew to her and his face morphed into one displaying an identical horror to hers. She could hear the tyrant laughing at her back but somehow the all she could stare at was him.  “Ryan?” she whispered to herself, her senses going numb.  The emperor leaned in, his lips almost touching her ear, “You know, he was my greatest adversary. He was the reason I had to wait so much to give you your absolute misery Ayana. It was all his fault.”  It was the only warning before kicked her in the back and as she was about to tumble down the stairs, he got a hold of her hair and jerked her back closer to him and bit the nape of her neck like an animal, hard enough to draw blood. A pained cry escaped her lips. “Get your f*****g hands off her! You bastard!” Ryan screamed and snarled and thrashed against the ten knights holding him back.  The tears that she had so valiantly held back, the screams she had bit her tongue for, were all threatening to break out of her. The absolute fury he was showing on her behalf clashed against the relief that she had seen on her family’s faces when they had sold her out to save their skins. Ryan had been the one fighting for her since the beginning.  Ayana, once upon a time, was the esteemed and beloved Princess of the Kingdom of Ruvesta and now, she was a broken and humiliated concubine of a monster. Everything she had ever known had changed. Her country was burnt down to ashes. Her family and people were dead. But the only thing that remained the same was Ryan. He had fought for her even when her world was right and he was fighting for even now when nothing was.  She watched as he struggled, only coming to senses when a soldier whipped him with a spiked whip. She whimpered for him as he refused to react, his blue eyes on her.  Everything will be alright. They seemed to say but Ayana was not the same naïve princess who had once lived in her own world.  “Please...please stop! Don’t hurt him anymore!” She begged, unable to bear him suffering more.  “Oh?” The emperor taunted, “You’re begging for him? You didn’t make a sound when I killed your family. You want him spared?”  “Yes. yes, please.” As much as it killed her to beg the man she hated the most in this world, she was not above bearing all kinds of humiliation if it meant keeping Ryan safe.  “Then why don’t you start off by licking clean my shoe?” The deafening silence that followed his words broken by Ryan’s scream of rage as she trembled on the floor in absolute defeat.   “I will do it, just please...spare him.” It took everything in her to choke these words, eyes burning in shame as she lowered herself in front of this man.  “No! Oh god, no, please! Don’t do it!” She ignored Ryan and his cries as she offered this man the last bit of her dignity. “Please, your majesty…” “Hm…I didn’t think you would be really willing to stoop so low for him. But since I’m a man of my word, so I’ll give you two options, dear wife. And you have two days to make your decision. First is, I spare his life but he spends the rest of his life in captivity with all kinds of tortures and punishments to entertain me. Since he is your dear friend he deserves all the special treatment I could get him.” He smirked at horror dawning on her face and leaned in. “Second is, he is lucky if you love him enough to put him out of his misery.” Those words were like a slap to her face and she felt her already shattered heart breaking into million pieces.   She doesn’t remember what happened after that. Everything was a smudge of her senses whirling together in a mess that she couldn’t sort out. When she finally came back, she realized she had been locked up inside her old bedroom in the castle.  She had two days to decide Ryan’s fate. If she let him live, she’d be condemning him to a life of nothing but torture and pain and if she.... Oh god, how was she supposed to kill the most important person in her life? She collapsed on the floor again, breathing hard.  Nothing felt real. She didn’t want it to be anything more than a nightmare.  She wished it to be over soon. … She loathed to admit it but she knew what should be done. There was never another option. The Emperor had always played his cards right. He knew what he had to do to rip her being into shreds impossible to salvage. But she decided, if she had to lose, then she was not going to let that monster win either.  … The insane crowd's cheer was deafening when she stepped beside her devil of a husband as his royal consort.  Dressed in the most exquisite royal dress, decked in ornaments and the crown atop her head that she hated.  The Emperor wanted her to condemn the loyal citizen of Ruvesta, as his wife. If she refused, she was aware that she might be executed for treason. But Ayana knew what she had to do.  The announcer shouted, “Today, we gather here to witness the execution of his majesty’s, Our esteemed  Emperor’s greatest adversary in conquering the country of Ruvesta. The former swordsmaster and Duke of Ednaq - Ryan Lucas Ednaq.”  She had tuned the man out when Ryan was dragged to the grounds of execution and she could see he was in a worse shape than he had been before. There were more cuts and bruises, deeper and darker. He was slouching heavily, his chin resting on his chest and Ayana absolutely wished death upon these animals The emperor called soldiers as jeered and taunted the man they had tortured for weeks.  “Are you prepared, dear wife? His fate now rests in your hands.” The Emperor slithered his hand over hers, gave her a raucous smile and she felt absolutely revolted, wanting nothing more to run away to some far, far place and never return to this nightmarish reality. Just a little more, she assured herself. It will be all over soon.   She gracefully accepted the sword the Emperor offered to her. She did not think it was possible to hate the monster more but her fury knew no bounds when she realized the sword was deliberately blunt ended.  The Emperor wanted Ryan to suffer a slow and painful death and God, how much she wished to use this very same sword and cut off the bastard’s head in the most agonizing way possible.  But Ayana was not stupid, as she as she had hated for this to happen, she had come prepared.  Ryan looked up to watch her approaching, his blue eyes shined, so full of fire and life that Ayana faltered. As soon as she was near him enough to hear him whisper, he smiled.  The enchantingly familiar small upward quirk of lips, shy almost, that most people did not even realize was a smile was the brightest thing she had fortune to see in a very long time.  “It’s good to see you, your highness.”  “Oh, is it?” She could not help but quip.  The execution grounds did not seem like a place for happy reunions.  The silence returned the somberness and morbidity of the situation. She finally broke down, "Do y-you want to d-die?"  He gave her a sad smile. "You already know the answer, don't you? Ayana, you're saving me. I am grateful that you are the one doing this. This is the best way it could have all ended."  "Why didn't you run? You had the chance! You could have lived! You could have made a life for yourself…" She hated the way her voice trembled.  "Yes, I could have run away. But I didn't."  "Why?"  His eyes shined with an intensity that made her breathless. He was looking straight at her, his eyes reflecting a myriad of emotions, each one stronger than the next. It hurt. It hurt to look at him straight. And it made her heart full.  "Would you believe me if I said...I love you."  That was not a question, but a statement. He looked so incredibly sure of himself that Ayana could not help but nod.  "I do. I really do…" His sad smile upturned into a small, genuine one filled with absolute joy.  "That's why."  She wanted to return his words, desperately, she wanted to place a kiss on his cheek, she wanted to thank him for his loyalty, for his love, for his friendship. For every bit of second he spent thinking of her.  "Do you have any last wishes? Can I do something for you?" “Yes, I do.”  She nodded to urge him to say it.  He stayed silent for a few seconds, his blue eyes boring deep into her soul, as if he could read her like an open book. “Save yourself.” Her eyes widened. Huh? “Do not hesitate. Save yourself. Please. Ayana, you must not live like this." His words, at that instant, made all her doubts vanish in thin air. She could not help but smile. Emperor Bekadna and his cruelty had not destroyed Ryan. Not even close. And he was giving her strength of fight. “Thank you. Your words have provided me with the courage I needed to pull this off.” As she unsheathed the sword, her heart pounded in her ears as she was haunted by how real everything around her was seeming in that particular instant when the dull blade reflected the sunlight. It took everything in her to not let her hands shake. She stepped towards him, standing close enough to touch him if she extended her arm.  She turned to the Emperor, sending one last look of pleading to spare them for this pain but the bastard was smirking like it was all fun and games for him. And her heart twisted over the fact that probably it was. He was enjoying every bit of their misery and Ayana's hatred for him raged and screamed and writhed.  "Look at me, not him."  Ryan's voice cut through all the loud jeering like a clear, cold stream of purest water washing over her burning and blistering wounds. Ayana took a deep breath and turned to him, letting his courage overwhelm her weak self.  There was too much for them to say and too much to listen, but here she was, waiting for the sign from the man she hated the most in this world to kill the man she adored the most.  How utterly tragic the fate was for her.  They stared at each other and no one else mattered in that moment.  When the screaming suddenly increased tenfold, Ayana closed her eyes and exhaled a shaky breath. “My lady,” The executioner addressed her, “His majesty has signaled for you to proceed.” “I understand.” Her reply was clipped and she gestured to them to tie the black strap over Ryan’s eyes. His brilliant blue gaze still did not leave hers till they were hidden behind the wretched piece of cloth and she immediately missed their warmth.  She willed her hands to not shake as she raised the sword to strike, loathing how the screams and excitement grew louder. She hated their joy over the murder of a loyal citizen. A man who should have been hailed as a Hero.  He did not deserve to have his head cut off. He did not deserve a traitor’s death. He did not deserve a criminal’s death.  He did not deserve a painful death by a blunt sword.  He did not deserve to die for a man who would only derive pleasure at holding these small mercies. He deserved better.  And Ayana was going to give him that. Everything happened in a matter of seconds.  She threw the sword in her hands on the knights gathered behind her, startling them badly. The confusion was all it took for her to pull out the poisoned dagger that she had hidden inside her sleeve. She dropped to her knees in front of Ryan, grabbed the back of his neck, yanked him forward and whispered in his ear, “Forgive me. This is the only better I could give you.” Before he could utter out a single word in reply, she thrusted the knife deep in his chest, exactly where his heart is supposed to be and whimpered at the choked out sound that escaped his lips.  And before the knights reached her to pull her away from Ryan, she plunged the same dagger, coated with Ryan’s blood, deep into her own chest. The raw iron taste of blood that blubbered out of her mouth was the only thing she had the luxury of tasting in the past few years.  Her vision wavered for a moment, but her eyes still found the Emperor's shocked ones. She could feel Ryan going limp in her arms and she knew she was not going to survive, if not the wound, then at least, the rare, painless poison would end her.  The devil was standing on the balcony. His eyes still wide in surprise, and Ayana could not hold back the bitter laugh that escaped her lips and the blood dripped down her chin and her pure white dress stained red with her own and Ryan’s blood.  Even though she did not have the energy to make sounds, her lips moved on their own accord. She let all the disdain and hatred she felt for this man shine in her eyes. She let her lips curl into a manic smile. “You lost.” You lost Varq Alastor Bekadna. The last thing she saw was his enraged face when he realized that she had bested him in her final moments. That for all his power and glory, he was defeated by a woman he believed he had broken.  Oh, it must have been an insignificant victory on his legacy, but it made the blood in her mouth taste sweeter.  She let out a last shuddering breath, gripping Ryan tightly to her bleeding chest and let her lips ghost over the crown of his blood caked hair. Oh lord above, I wish we could have lived and died better. Those were her last thoughts as darkness claimed her. Oh my little one, this is a gift. Use it to protect yourself and your loved ones. Live, live long and live happy. That’s all I wish, my sweetheart.