20.
Queen Clarity confronted the
King on her request to invade King Bannion for the return of her lands. He had
refused, citing that he had a new issue on his other borders.
"The Picts are invading
the borders, and my armies are sent over there." King Thaddeus explained
to her. He then grabbed the cloak of his and walked to the door. Queen Clarity
wanted to stop him, but she did not push at it. It was a mild disagreement
between them, and their first. She saw him closing the door and then the door
opened again. Her heart jumped a beat hoping that he had reconsidered.
"Clare?" It was
Snow White dressed in the new dress commissioned by the Queen. She looked sweet
in it and with her fair skin, it radiates like a star.
"I saw the King leave.
Can I come in?" Snow White asked the Queen. The other motioned to the
young girl to come in. In the last season, they had grown closer, and with the
King most times involved with the Queen, or the Lords.
"I want to play."
Snow White told the new Queen but the later declined. She cited she was not
feeling well, but the younger Princess was adamant. The new Queen consented and
soon they were in the garden. They walked there and played with the dogs, over
watched by the huntsmen retained by her. She had Gareth be their leader, while
Alan had returned to the castle.
It was there, Queen Clarity
came across Queen Morgana seated by the table near the porch. She was called by
the one who was her grandmother.
"Sit down, Clarity or
was it Clare you preferred to be called." Queen Morgana asked her.
"Tell me your
intentions." Queen Clarity asked.
"I am offering you my
army to fight your brother." Queen Morgana asked. "I have friends
among the Lords that would assist me. You may take over your brother' lands. I
do not want it."
"Why are you assisting
me?" Queen Clarity asked.
"Because I like you,
Clare." The older Queen replied. "We are ladies of the Court. We have
our peers among the women outside."
"You knew this. I could
tell from your expression." Queen Morgana continued on. "Your
thoughts are open to me. I am a witch. You knew that too."
"Enough!" Queen
Clarity stood up from her seat, but the older Queen told her to sit down.
"You need me to win back
your lands. The same reason you wed the King here, to safeguard the lands from
me. Or was it assumed that I would invade it. But had you considered that I
could had influenced you to think that way. I wanted you here more for my
reason."
"You achieved it,
Clarity." Queen Morgana told the young Queen.
"How? And why?"
Queen Clarity asked.
"As what you learned
from the Huntsman. We are all bystander in the world of Man. Unless we dictate
our own existence." Queen Morgana replied. "I wed Lord Falstof to be
one in the Courts. Then on his demise, I made myself Queen to quell any
dissatisfied Lords. I had fought many battles to be where I am, but with you, I
have found my equal. Or more my successor."
"You are mad, Queen
Morgana." Queen Clarity had enough and told off the older Queen. She
walked over to re-join her care and forgot all about the older Queen. Soon
after she rests herself by the porch, a servant came with a message.
"Meet me tonight at my
chamber. Morgana."
Queen Clarity did on her own
inquisitive.
Queen Morgana was in a dark
gown and seated at her chamber when Clarity arrived.
"Close the door, my
dear." Queen Morgana motioned to her granddaughter. "Seat yourself
ion the chair there."
Queen Clarity did as she was
told. Once she was seated, an image formed over her head; a misty form that
sailed down her head and over her back towards the older Queen. It then formed
over to show her an image of three dwarfs in their mining suits complete with
the picks. They all stood there next to her and bowed.
"Clarity, meet the
Dwarfs of Smorg." Queen Morgana introduces the newly arrived forms.
"The dwarfs are wizards themselves, although they dig a lot in their spare
times. Their real names are difficult to speak in our tongue, but they are also
known as Greed, Influence and Killer."
"Do not be alarmed by
it." Queen Morgana continued on seeing the expression of the other Queen's
expression. "They are nicknamed after the characteristics of Man."
"My Queen," The
three dwarfs replied in unison and bowed to the young Queen.
"They obviously like
you. They are already switching alliance now." Queen Morgana sighed, and
then laughed. "You half wits are mercenaries in your loyalty."
"Pardon us, Queen
Morgana, but your reign may soon end." The dwarf named Influence told her
off. "So shall we do the deed now?"
The three dwarfs in unison
called on the spells which soon engulfed the new Queen. It restrained her to
the chair and then formed a cocoon over her. She soon find herself in a dream
state with fleeting images, from her birth to her recent wedding. She heard
conversations, discussions where she was an audience, and then the relationship
with her caretaker, her twin brother, and then Gareth and King Thaddeus. Then
she saw the future; a limited future of her coming life.
She woke up in a start, and
sank back on the chair. She looked up with her weary eyes at the older Queen.
"Why did you do that?
And how?" Queen Clarity asked her.
"All of us have a role
to play, and a journey that was laid out for us. It very certain we can change
it but each time we changed the course, we end up in new a journey. But the end
result would still remain the same." Queen Morgana told the young Queen.
"I saw mine, and tried to change it, but I could not. So I live it and
went ahead with it. We are the selected line of ladies who are to continue on
this track. Our destiny lined up for us and our fate determined."
Queen Clarity sighed. All of
her life, she had never thought why her mind was so wrapped up on the lands.
Then she understood; she was destined to live with it.
It’s her legacy.
As the Queen.
Not of any lands, but of any
land within the realm.
She was the Queen of the
realm and she would prove it to them.
The line of the Iron Ladies.
She would be the one to live
her destiny.
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