The Other Queen

Chapter 4

Reflections don't sound alarming

But the flame seemed to be more frightening

The scales divided the sorrows

Regained a life non-perishable

****

Demetrius

The clanging of the iron horseshoe was brought by a half battalion of bloodsucker soldiers coming out of the Kingdom of Santerri, one of the governments in our world where the bloodsuckers live and reigned peacefully. The striding legs of the horses battled the thick snowy pathways as the winter storm began to whip the trees and the bushes.

I was one of the leading soldiers in front of the rummaging bloodsuckers on their horses. We wore our titanium alloy helmets in sharp gothic designs comfortably suited for a bloodsucker's head.

Those horsesuckers behind me have pale skin with dark veins showing up on their faces. They have clean and sharp fangs as they hissed their gnarls with anger. They have long and white hair.

We headed up to the mountain of Zendur, a provincial part of Santerri where there were rumors of sick bloodsuckers hiding in the woods.

We crossed the bloody streams of Zendur river, almost being iced, and the rocky pathways until we reached the feet of the mountain.

We saw that the mountain has gone through thick snow since a week of the winter season.

I got off the horse and faced the soldiers. "Where is the tracker that we placed?"

A soldier named Felonus came closer to me with a flat iron platform the size of a plate was placed on his hand. He brought his other hand in mid-air and moved it along with his fingers. Suddenly, a blue neon light started to gradually appear from the iron tablet. Blinking, until it became bigger as it elevated and formed new images.

Images of woods began to arise from it. The soldier dragged his finger and the image moved as he pleased. A blue blinking dot appeared as he dragged the image to show the northern part of the map of Zendur.

"Your highness, this blue dot corresponds to the tracker we have embedded to a Santerrian villager. For quite some time, about two hours ago, the movement was stagnant," Felonus reported with his light and calm voice.

I nodded at his words. "I assume the sucker is already dead or has been held captive by the sick villagers." I brought my hand unto the tablet and dragged the image heavenwards. I pinched out the map and pointed at a rock formation. "We head out here to clear the spot. I need three suckers with me. Others will enter the southeast and southwest parts. We meet at the rock formation and cease the sick suckers.

"Keep an eye on your weapons. Conserve your vayors, and remember... no biting. We must be vigilant. They should not attack us with claws or fangs or else we will not return to the kingdom, understood?"

"Yes, your highness!" They all answered in chorus.

We started to execute the plan as I told them. Two of my soldiers signaled others to scatter in three groups.

The soldiers namely York and Mallador stayed at my side. York was the first to come forward as soon as I gave them my signal. He held out his hobon and led the way. Hobon is an arm-length weapon that releases a small-looking bullet called vayor. Its velocity to hit a target is in lightspeed, almost unseen in the naked eyes of a basic creature. It gravely wounds the target since vayor is made out of micromirrors which is the weakness of a bloodsucker.

Mallador advanced at the right side of York while holding his own weapon. I just followed them and used my highly sensitive smell.

I sniffed and closed my eyes. I could smell the hostility of the villager's presence about 15 feet away from our location.

I could also sense my soldiers approaching our location. About two feet away, we have located the rock formation where we should meet. It was a smooth gigantic rock about the size of the queen's throne, 9 feet long and 1 foot wide. Its shape is oval, quite rough in other parts but it is flat. A discolored full of moss rock was also beside it like it was put there to support the throne-like formation.

When Mallador signaled us, we came in position and hid behind the rock formation.

York, on the other hand, brought his iron tablet and waved his hand in front of it. Afterward, he showed me the images shown on it.

I dragged and dragged and pinched the image and found what I was looking for. I breathed deeply and gave the tablet back to York. I was about to come out when he held onto my arm.

"Your Highness!" York hissed. His bluish mesmerizing eyes glowed in fear as I gazed upon him. "You stay here and do the job. You're not supposed to do this," he demanded.

"My apologies, soldier, but as much as I would like to remind myself about the dangers, I want you to know that what you're looking at is also a soldier like you," I refused.

York sighed. "It's not that I don't see you as a mighty soldier, your Highness. If we fail this mission and you end up being bitten, I would consider killing myself right away. I will no longer please your family for letting your demise..."

He is one of the comrades that are close to me in the army. He was raised and taught to look after me as his royal subject. For about 4,000 years ago, he was given to our family as a slave and eventually had been tasked to be my personal servant.

I slowly removed his hand from my arm and nodded. "Then, I suppose when I fail, you will do as planned." I turned away and gathered my weapons.

"What plan?"

I looked at him again and smirked. "To kill yourself..." I responded and quickly left using my speed.

The soldiers coming from the southeast and southwest came to the rock formation.

During my run, I saw the distorted faces of the sick villagers. Some of them have big blisters on their skins. They created low and terrible growls. Some of them are eating their own flesh.

The soldiers started to aim their weapons at the sick villagers. The ill suckers violently reacted to the pain they received from the vayors.

They tried to come from different directions, aiming to bite and claw the soldiers targeting them one by one. But the soldiers with me were too strong and intelligent to ever miss one single sucker about to attack them.

I suddenly stopped looking at them when I heard a low growl behind me. It was faint and almost unnoticed. I quickly made a huge leap until I reached the tips of the tallest trees.

Everything went slow as the sick villagers tried to jump and catch my feet but they couldn't seem to leap higher.

With all my strength, I collided against the wind and dived back to the ground. But before I could do the touchdown, I shifted my weight back to my feet and swung my arms violently to the group of ill suckers.

A strong collision followed with clouds of dust, mud, and snow scattered in mid-air. The loud swoosh of their claws tried to wound one of the soldiers. Luckily, York was there to save his comrade's life and aimed the hobon at the monster.

I saw how these wounded suckers cry in pain as the vayor's poison dominated their whole system. The one who was hit on his shoulder stopped and shook its body tremendously while the venom was gradually covering his whole arm and neck until it reached its eyes. Its former bright red eyes became dark and then became all white. It means the sucker is already dead, fully consumed by the vayor.

"Enough!" someone shouted behind the trees until a huge collision was made again. This time, it was at the center of the battlefield.

It made us flinch a few yards away from the collision, not enabling us to see through a thick mixture of mud and snow. The collision created a huge barrier between the soldiers and the sick villagers.

A few moments later, we heard loud, high-pitched cries. Slashes and dripping of blood were heard everywhere. By the time the barrier went down and the dust slowly faded, I saw who was the reason for it.

A tall woman in her skintight black bodysuit from the neck to her lower torso was standing there with her crescent moon blade purely made of a mirror. She also has black leather arm gauntlets, a black leather corset lace-up at the back. She also wore a pair of calf-high black leather platform boots and her velvety black cloak behind her. Her long jet-black wavy hair glided with the wind as her bright hazelnut eyes changed into black.

I eyed her ruefully and ordered my suckers to stand down.

All of them paid royal respect to the new sucker who showed up. They all used their right arms and crossed them on their chests while bowing their heads. It is a sign of royal respect for the royal family of Derevia, especially for the royals of Santerri.

The woman confidently walked towards us and stopped in my direction. She eyed me in a spiteful look. "Who told you to order our soldiers to ambush them?" she'd asked.

I breathed deeply and returned a mean look at her. "Soldiers, return to Saūr at once and leave us," I ordered them.

"But, your Highness—" York was about to protest when I butted in.

"Do not attempt to question my word or I'll make you pay for it. Leave!"

The soldiers readied their things and started to swiftly run back downhill. I could still hear them saddling on their own horses and took off.

I returned my gaze back to Elizabeth who's still waiting for me to respond. "You don't have the right to meddle with my mission, Beth."

Elizabeth laughed sarcastically. "You and your disrespectfulness, your Highness. I'm your future Queen in Derevia. You should start practicing by calling me your Queen," she wickedly said.

I balled my fists and started to crack my knuckles in anger. I wanted to wring her neck right now but I prevent myself from doing so. I wouldn't do my childish acts in front of her again when I first strangled her to death and yet she was still smiling. She even called herself a queen.

Elizabeth V is my sister. There was Adolf II who perished a long time ago and the rest of my other two sisters. A long story of ancient history has passed the reason why we're still alive.

My memories from my early life were vague and long forgotten. This was the case for all the Santerris who were brought here in Derevia, the peaceful world available to creatures like us.

The feud between me and my sister started 3,000 years ago. The Sixth called us to prove our abilities. Though I have proven a lot for him, he eventually chose Elizabeth over me to take over Santerris and the whole of Derevia once the pact of unification has already begun between Santerri and Hexa, the two main regions of Derevia.

Just two days ago, the Sixth decided to announce the coronation of the next ruler of Santerri and the first ruler of Derevia. He announced Elizabeth's name and all I felt was resentment and anger.

I promised my father, Adolf I, that I would be his King when the time comes, I would find him. But the odds seemed to take their final course to my journey. I know I should accept my own defeat but there was something within me that says I need to stop Elizabeth's upcoming coronation.

My thoughts drifted too far that I was startled by how I heard a low growl behind me. I automatically swung my arms and turned to see another sick villager about to attack me with his fangs.

The blade I am holding was released from my hand and it landed and slashed its neck until he demised. I looked up again and saw Elizabeth's figure a few yards away from me.

She was wincing in pain. I hurried to look but she was too swift to get away.

That's when my fears began to come out into the open. There's something wrong with the incoming Queen.

-to-be-continued-