Queen of Blood

They arrived on the docks of the kingdom of Reiska right before the moon came out to adorn the night sky. The familiar smell of salt, fish and hay filled her nostrils and made it feel as a welcoming.

Merrick didn’t say a word to either of them and headed straight back to the castle, escorted by eight soldiers of his guard. That meant Aidan knew exactly what he had to do. He directed Arline to the House of the Order, settled at the entrance of the forest, where Lara Estro was waiting for them with a warrior stance.

“Good night, Lara.” Aidan greeted her and the Head of the Huntresses was standing still with an unreadable expression on her face. “Arline is yours to handle, the King’s orders.” He announced more for Arline than for Lara, who already knew and simply nodded to him.

Arline couldn’t even look into Lara’s eyes. She felt afraid and disappointed on herself for abandoning people that had cared for her so much. This feeling sank so much into her thoughts that the pain that the spirit was inducing on her body and mind almost faded.

Arline followed Lara inside after Aidan left. Before Arline could settle any kind of fearful thought on her mind, Lara embraced her in a tight hug and rubbed her back. “For the love of all gods, Arline.” She whispered to her, still holding the hug. “You have no idea how much we have missed you.”

She was in shock and didn’t know how to react. Arline thought Lara felt the same way she thought Merrick felt, angry and with stored hatred. But her superior looked close to tears and Arline just laid her head on her chest, considering Lara was almost a head taller than her. “I am so sorry.” That last word sounded like someone had grab it from her lips, and that inability to articulate an apology translated into tears, as she tried repeating herself.

“No, my young Huntress.” Lara cupped her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “I am, I overestimated how much you could handle and I left you alone to endure it.” Those were the words she would have wished came from her mother’s mouth. Lara was calming and welcomed her with open arms, as if she had never left. As if she hadn’t committed an idiocy.

“Arline? Is that you?” She would’ve recognized Michaela’s voice anywhere and she quickly turned around to run to her encounter. Her best friend almost knocked her to the wooden floor when she saw Arline’s figure approaching. “When did you come back? I missed you.” Michaela said to her and hugged her tightly.

“We just arrived.” Arline simply said, never letting go of her friend’s grip. Burying her face on Michaela’s shirt.

“Are you staying in the House? I will show you your bed.” Michaela was very excited to have Arline with them. To spend the entire time amongst the Order and living with the girls, teaching the youngest and training.

“Wait there, Michaela,” Lara stopped her “I need to talk to her.” Michaela nodded and left to gather the Huntresses for dinner and to break the news of Arline’s return. While Lara and Arline went to a shack behind the kitchens, the Armory, to talk privately.

“Is it true?” Lara asked her as they entered, surrounded by knives and swords.

“That I am Queen of Blood? Yes.” Arline let her body seat on the ground, she was in pain and tired. “I can’t do this Lara, I am not strong enough to do this.” She confessed in a whiny tone, trying to drown a whimper.

“You can do this, Arline. I know it’s a title filled with disgrace, but we will help you endure it.” Lara sat next to her and assured her that they were together in this. “Arline…he told me to chain you.” The Head of the Order’s tone absolutely changed and sounded angry. Lara hated the idea to put her best soldier in chains like a prisoner, but it was the King’s choice.

“You can’t disobey him.” Arline didn’t mind and grabbed her hands to let her know she understood. The last thing she wanted was for Lara to have a rocky relationship with Merrick because of her stupidity.

“It is a magic golden necklace to force you to stay in Reiska.” Lara explained as she put it on her neck. Which meant that if she even got close enough to the borders of the mountains without the King’s saying, it yanked her back with full force.

All of the Huntresses were terribly happy to have Arline back with them, and this time to share with them the experience of living in the house with her sisters. There were some new faces amongst the old ones she already knew, very young, probably fourteen or fifteen years of age.

“Is she training with us tomorrow?” One of the girls asked with excitement on her voice, a red headed girl named Eunice.

“Can I?” Arline wondered.

“The sooner the better.” Lara responded.

Before they began getting ready to sleep, Lara explained to the hoard about Arline’s new title and how they had to help her endure the pain. To begin with, Arline got changed and once she settled on her bed they adorned her wrists and ankles with silver shackles to keep her weak at night.

The silver chains burned Arline’s skin, but it was a bearable pain compared to the one she felt within her. To the whispering she heard on the back of her head that told her to start killing or to kill herself.

That night, Arline fell asleep counting the stars painted in gold implanted on the ceiling that formed different constellations. She fell so deep into her dreams, only meaningless whispers sounded on her mind for the entire night.

The next morning she was up and running as early as everybody else. The rhythm inside the House of the Order was absolutely perfect. Everyone had a specific chore or work to do before heading to the training grounds. For Arline, it was to cook breakfast for the entire week.

The training grounds where the same muddy and green as she remembered. The scent of pine trees and wet grass all around caressed her nostrils as she crossed the heavy wooden doors to begin her comeback as a Huntress.

Most soldiers and archers saw her and passed by to say hello and greet her back on her “mission on the mountains”. And she greeted each one with a hug and smile. Arline missed the people in the army and as she took a closer look, the Huntress noticed how much the training had changed. She assumed it was Merrick’s idea to have an almost perfect army in case the kingdom required it.

Arline’s excitement was noticeable as she approached the bow and arrow practice section, where dummies of different shapes and sizes were located. Her aim was intact and every part of her had missed this. But even in happiness, her tiredness was telling. She felt her muscles weaken every time she needed to make a move that required more strength than normal, and the sickness that had been creeping on Arline shone through her as she tried to regain her old style of fighting.

Her focus was entirely on her aim, on the hands holding the bow and the arrow. Arline’s position was perfect and was ready to shoot when a rough push hit her shoulder and made her lose balance. “Welcome back dragon whisperer.” Calix Lohs’s raspy voice acknowledged her, standing in front of the entire Order with a bright smile.

Without a second to waste she dropped her weapons and jumped on her friend, calling his name and hugging him.

“I am here too.” Zeroun stepped away from his gigantic friend and Arline rushed to his encounter as well.

These two men were few of the people that didn’t want her dead and that had a soft spot for her, swearing they would die for her if needed. And without admitting it too much, they missed her and worried every day for her safety.

Taking a step back, still with a smile on her face she noticed the changes of time on her friends. Calix had grown his hair since the last time she had seen him. He chose to tie it on a pony tail, adorned with few charms, making him look like a viking. With a thick, growing beard. And Zeroun was the same as always. Nothing on him had changed except for some scars earned on the last battle fought.

“We will leave you now, but when we are done, let’s go for a walk.” Calix suggested and Arline nodded in agreement while the viking sent a lovely smile to the Huntresses who blushed, except for Michaela who just rolled her eyes.

And so they did. Once the grounds closed, some soldiers headed back to the barricades, some went on shifts, the Huntresses headed to the forest, others to the kingdom market, and so and so. Everyone had lives outside weapons and strategy.

They walked around the city, making Arline taste some food and drinks she hadn’t been able to try when she was a guest on the castle. They laughed throughout their tour as Calix flirted with some girls around some shops and market stands. “If you do it to get something for free I will applaud you.” Arline mocked her friend after he winked an eye to a beautiful dark-skin gal with soft curls that fell on the side of her face, Jess, who was the owner of the flower shop of the kingdom and supplied anything needed for balls and festivals. Calix pushed her shoulder and Zeroun bursted out laughing.

“It’s nice to have friends, Arline.” Calix winked at her. “You almost remind me of one girl I used to know.”

“It doesn’t have the same effect, you know?” Arline laughed at him. “I’m sure she was incredible.”

“And stubborn. Just like you.”

They continued strolling through the cobblestone streets, savoring the fresh surroundings of the summer weather that was close to coming to an end. “We know by the way.” Zeroun mentioned out of the blue, earning a look of confusion on Arline’s part. “About your new title.” He whispered this last part. Zeroun wasn’t going to mention for the entirety of Reiska to know. The whole kingdom already knew how much of a heroine Arline turned out to be on the battle to help Merrick regain the throne.

“Oh… that thing.” She said with a flat voice. “Why would they?” Arline sounded frustrated and the pain that was nearly inexistent, made an unexpected appearance making her fold a little.

Zeroun grabbed her and let her rest on him. “We need you to see something.” Her friend said and she nodded, allowing them to guide her.

They went for a walk and went up to the top of Mount Suvlic. The mountain where the battle between the archers and Huntresses against the forces of Larsin took place. “I don’t want to be here.” Arline mumbled. Too many memories she wasn’t ready to face just yet.

Arline could still feel how her blade cut through flesh and joint. How it beheaded and took lives from people she knew and didn’t know. The smell of blood. How it had drowned the soil and painted the snow.

When she saw it clearly, the soil wasn’t brown. It didn’t look earthy. It was a dark maroon color that impregnated the entire peak of the mountain. Her stomach turned at the sight of it. She held onto Calix’s arm tighter, seeking protection from fictive danger.

The woods welcomed them as they walked in between the trees. Arline could hear the screams of her colleagues as they fought and she tried to protect as many as she could. Arline looked pale and almost as she could throw up on sight so Zeroun said calmly, helping her breathe. “I am sorry, Arline but you need to know the real reason of they naming you Queen of Blood.” He had to apologize for bringing their friend back to the battlefield of her nightmares.

“Arline this place is the reason they chose you as host.” Calix’s compelling voice changed. He was informing her with seriousness and care. “The amount of people you killed here is one of them. And the other is-”

Their friend came to a stop. She was back where Alastair Maridian had tortured her and almost took her life. The place where she thought she could have died but the water, her element, aided her, gave her strength and power.

She stood on the place he had marked her back with that silver knife. It was a distinguishable patch of burnt grass on the floor that hadn’t grown back in almost a year. “When Alastair…hurt you, your blood burnt the ground, Arline. They named you Queen of Blood because of that, being an ally of Merrick is just a political excuse.” Calix continued as he looked at his friend.

“Your blood is rare, not many people have it.” Zeroun continued.

“If it is rare it means it’s a threat to the High Council.” Arline talked to herself and Calix barely stroke her back. “I can’t remember any of it.” She let her friend know. “Only the pain.”

“It’s normal.” Zeroun assured her and began guiding her outside of the woods. Arline had shock dressing her dark eyes. Guilt.

The entirety of that battle felt like a fast paced dream and she didn’t even had the chance to feel remorse for the lives she took. But now every part of the fight snapped on her mind to make her remember. To curse her for her sins.

She didn’t speak a word on their way back to the House of the Order. Arline’s gaze was lost and sad when the door opened and tried to brush it away as she hugged her friends and waved them good bye.

Zeroun and Calix knew her well enough to understand that reaction. They were the ones who had seen her before and after her powers. They comprehended her need to take care of herself, to not bother anyone with her problems. But they made the promise to help her despite her wishes.