Written for the TPE Halloween Challenge. Set during the luarin conquest of the Kyprish isles. Disclaimer – Tamora Pierce owns the isles, the queen and the event. The main characters are mine.
The throne room was known as the most beautiful in the known lands. All artwork and nature and light. But all Myrai could see in her mind was death. They could hear the screams and the roar of battle from the city. Other girls were crying, the queen and her ladies fiercely composed, her sister Lorea clinging to their mothers tunic. Myrai's mind was racing, visions of everyone lying still on the floor, a white barbarian standing with a bloodied sword, the jungle burning and oceans swallowing their home.
A young messenger tore into the room, sweat streaking his face and a nameless horror making his eyes seem dead. "You Majesty, they are killing everyone and the first line is gone! Just beaten, gone, dead. They will murder us all!" He stopped for breath and a desperate look flashed across his face. "Garonim says if you have any chance of making an escape you are to take it now, they will be here within the hour."
Panicked voices immediately began to clamour and Myrai felt as though her heart had stopped. The invaders were past the first line. The first line was the strongest of the three, designed to wipe out most of an enemy force and any survivors who got past could easily be killed by the guards of the second line, the third line was here in the throne room - the queen's personal guard. The other words of the messenger swirled in the confused realm that was her mind. 'killing everyone' 'beaten, gone, dead' 'here within the hour'. Until then it hadn't seemed real, but now it was crushingly so. The luarin were too strong for the guards to fight against, and once they got here they would murder every single living person. Myrai's vision swum, she would be dead within the hour and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Queen Dilsubai stood on the throne; fear was plain in her face although she was trying to hide it. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her chief lady in waiting, Jaranai sister of the former queen Imiary, stepped up. She looked the queen in the face and Dilsubai nodded. Jaranai knelt and Dilsubai lifted her crown and placed it upon Jaranai's head. The ladies and guards of the court knelt as they recognised a strong warrior taking the place of the weak queen. Jaranai lifted her head and her eyes were fierce. Her voice cut across the room as she spoke.
"All the young children must leave through the hidden passages, along with any afraid to fight. As your queen I will stay here and lead you in this final defence of our kingdom. We know all the other isles have been taken, and the crown has been betrayed by its own people. The hour is dark but notice they have left Rajmuat, and the palace to last. They know how strong we are and they seek to crush us. But I am of the house of Haiming and I will not fall so easily. Let the foreigners come, we will show them the heart of the Kyprish people!"
Myrai turned to look at her mother pleadingly as her sister Lorea caught her hand. Her mother stood tall with her sword in one hand and spear resting against her leg.
"Mother come with us, if you stay you will surely die!"
"And if I leave my sisters and cousins to fight I will live in guilt or die anyway. I would rather end my life as a warrior Myrai. You will understand, for now look after your sister, here take this." Her mother slid her prized dagger from its sheath and placed in in Myrai's belt. Then she pulled Myrai's sword from its sheath with a hiss of metal and placed it in her hand.
"You are a warrior my dear, don't hesitate to kill as many as you can to get out. You have to get out, and get as many other Haimings out too, the house must live on."
"But mother why does it matter, the time of our people is over."
"All times come again, now run!" There was an almighty crash at the front of the palace and a few girls began to cry as they farewelled their mothers and ran.
Myrai caught her sister's hand and kept her sword in the other, then she ducked around a tapestry and took off down the hallway like the spears were already flying at her back.
The hallways ran in circles like a labyrinth and every corner Myrai turned she braced for the excruciating pain of a sword entering her body. The sounds of swords clashing, raka battle cries and the screams of the dying echoed through the walls. There were also closer sounds, boots thudding on concrete and her sisters pitiful weeping. Lorea had been looking behind them as the first warriors entered the throne room, Myrai didn't want to know who she was weeping for. Concrete turned to grass as she tore out an archway and through a garden; the pavilion lay on the other side and so to their escape. They were so close, so of course it was then she would hear a shout and metal clearing its sheath.
She spun and pushed Lorea behind her as the white man loomed in front of her, his sword was as enormous as the powerful arms holding it and he leered at her desperate stance.
"Well ain't you a pretty little thing."
"Begone!" she shouted and spun her sword in a sideways cut. He jumped slightly as it grazed his skin, clearly not realising she could wield a sword. Desperately she began to jab and twirl but he blocked every manoeuvre. A few other men who were searching the garden and waiting for escapees came over to watch. Then she heard footsteps and knew some of the other girls were running for the pavilion, 'No!' she wanted to scream, 'Go back!', but before she could yell a cold sword was pressing on her voice box and she couldn't get the words out. A group of three ran out onto the grass and screamed in terror as the four soldiers ran at them and attacked with brutality. Myrai tried to close her eyes as they were each cut down and blood stained the grass bright red. One was only young and her final pleas gurgled as they came too late.
Myrai's limbs felt like they had frozen with the deep shock she was feeling, but as more footsteps echoed in the distance a kind of craze entered her eyes. With a huge battle scream she swung her sword and felt a slight resistance as it passed through her captor's neck, his eyes widened at the scream and then went dull as his head fell to the floor. Her breathing came harshly as other soldiers turned at the noise and came running, pure rage lighting their faces. She turned and pulled Lorea up off the ground, the girl was slumped in horror and fear, and ran blindly through the trees. Screams were all she could hear and the air seemed stained red with all the death.
The pavilion was just there, she could see it. The fear was so thick she could smell it in the air and feel it in the sluggish way Lorea was moving. Her thoughts were becoming hazy as the trees seemed to bend. It was because of this she heard the hiss of throwing knives slicing through the air too late. A scream, from Lorea, and then twin bursts of excruciating pain in her thigh and shoulder. Myrai fell to the ground screaming and as she rolled over she saw her sisters frozen face and the knife lodged in her back. Footsteps thundered in the undergrowth, her mother's words echoed in her mind. "You have to get out." A figure dashed into the path and Myrai recognised the face. It was a friend sprinting for the pavilion.
She stopped and gaped in horror as Myrai panicked and thrust Lorea toward her, "Take her go!" The girl had tears streaming down her face and distantly Myrai remembered she had been running off with her two brothers. She knelt on the ground and grasped Myrai's hand and pulled her to her feet then lifted Lorea in her arms. The world was swimming in front of Myrai as her friend pulled them into the pavilion. They were almost at the passage entrance when a thud came from near them and the woman who had been guarding the passage slid to the floor with an arrow in her throat. Myrai didn't think, she lunged forward and threw her sword; it flew through the air and killed the archer just as the bolt hit her in the stomach.
It was all consuming, the pain, and as Lorea and her friends faces hovered over her face she felt sounds beginning to fade. Her sister was barely conscious as she stared through tears at Myrai. But she would survive, she had to. Myrai felt this solid belief in her heart as she desperately fumbled in her belt for the dagger. She found it and pressed it into Lorea's hand; the girl had seen her mother give it to her and so knew what it was. "Go, quickly." Murmured Myrai. "You have to get out." She didn't realise her dying words echoed her mothers, but as Lorea and her guide slipped into the passage and away to safety Myrai felt a deep peace come over her. Then all the screams and death and blood just faded softly away.