The Queen Of Grado. Part 1 of 3
Amelia was ecstatic about the news she had just been given. Due to the complete annihilation of the Grado royal family, a new ruler would need to be chosen. L'arachel, Eirika, Innes, Ephraim and Joshua had all agreed that one of the volunteer army that slew Fomortiis should take the throne. Duessel vehemently declined, Knoll had vanished and Cormag and Natasha were married to other rulers, leaving only the young girl from Silva to take over the monarchy. Amelia paled at the thought, but was at the time silently overjoyed. She had achieved her goal of Grado's finest warrior, as had been told to her multiple times during the war, and now she would be queen of Grado to boot.
The reconstruction of Grado Keep was finished, and the rest of the country was almost restored, so Amelia moved in quickly. She had very few possessions, so there was no baggage to carry. She took only her armour and a few clothes sets, as well as some money sent by the other nations. On her first day on the throne, she was met by Duessel, the only surviving general of the war. She was one of his only friends, and, despite her affections for Franz, she could enjoy his company too. She had considered marrying Franz, but preferred to remain single until Grado was back on its feet.
Duessel was kneeling in front of her.
"Milady Amelia."
"Duessel, please stand."
"But your majesty, it is proper for you to have people bow to you."
"But you're a good friend of mine! It makes me feel uncomfortable!"
"As you command. Now, I have some matters to discuss. Firstly, the people want to know who you are going to appoint as your generals. It is tradition for at least three generals to be appointed, and they must all take the name of one of Grado's precious stones."
"You mean like Glen, Serena and yourself?"
"And Valter, Riev and Caellach, yes."
"Okey-doke, Duessel, are you willing to continue your services as Obsidian, to me instead of Vigarde?"
"I am, your highness."
"Do I have to give you anything? Say some magic words? Hit you with a sword?"
"No. I was already dubbed Obsidian, and words alone will suffice."
"Okay, I say Cormag can be the new Sunstone, Natasha the new Flourspar and Knoll the new Moonstone."
"Not possible, my lady Amelia. Cormag is engaged to Tana, and currently in the service of the Frelian knights. Natasha is Queen of Jehanna, and Knoll disappeared two months ago. The search is still on for him, but he is proving...elusive, to say the last."
"In that case we shall need to find new talent. It's a pity, because I really wanted one of my friends to be a general. Sorry! I meant besides you, Duessel. Of course you're my friend!"
"Thank you, milady. However, if you remember Caellach's nationality was Jehannan, and still he was made a general, if only for his battle prowess rather than his...personality. I suggest at least one more should be from another nation, if only to increase our relations."
"In that case I pick Seth."
"Rather difficult, your highness, as Seth is a sworn knight of Renais, and is currently in line to wed Eirika. I doubt he would throw that away to move to Grado."
"Franz then."
"If I may, I wonder if having two great knights is a good decision. Vigarde had two mages, two dedicated weapon-users and two flyers. Across them, he could use every weapon and magic available, except the bow and dark magic."
"Then how about Artur? Or Saleh? Or Ewan? Maybe Saleh and Ewan? Maybe Artur and Ewan?"
"Milady, you will need to ask these people if they consent."
"In that case, we'll have a party when we've finished. Should I call it a banquet now I'm queen?"
"Lady-"Duessel was cut off as Amelia continued to talk to herself.
"I'll invite them all. All of the friends. Then we can pick the best people to be generals."
"Your highness, it would not be wise to have the generals mostly from outside Grado. With your permission I will go and scour the country for talented people to recruit as Generals."
"Of course."
Duessel left without a word. Amelia, still light-headed and dizzy from her sudden ascension to royalty, went into her chambers. She decided to play a practical joke. She summoned a few of her maids, and discussed the plan with them.
A general left the castle that day, clad not in the reddish-pink armour Amelia had got so used to wearing, but in a strange greenish colour. The general went down into the nearby village, heavily oversized word slung across its back. The general went into the tavern, and sat down at one of the tables. A man came over to her and asked her what she was doing.
"I'm a mercenary looking for a job," She lied, "and I heard there were some people around here who needed one." Amelia had faked a gruff voice to disguise her own, timid voice. She was trembling, and terrified the armour would start to clang together, but she continued her show of confidence. She had in fact heard nothing of the sort, but made an educated guess.
"You've heard wrong, your highness," said the man in a hushed tone, "and people like you really should remain in the castles." Amelia's face flickered under the helmet, but she tried to maintain the rapidly crumbling facade.
"You've got me confused with somebody else."
"Definitely not, miss Amelia. I know that armour anywhere, colour irrelevant. That dent in the left shoulder. I made that dent at Bethroen."
"I'm sorry, but Amelia threw out this armour when she rose to become queen. I found it and repainted it."
"Oh. Go on then, let's see your face."
Amelia knew she was in a corner, but she was saved by a commotion from upstairs. A man came through the banister and landed on her table. The wood crunched underneath him, and he clutched the broken remains of what had once been a killing edge. His hair was an orangey colour, but Amelia realised it was actually blonde, streaked with blood. She looked up to see who had thrown this man. A tanned fighter stood up there, a devil axe slung across his shoulder. He wore a tunic that was ripped in multiple places, and a freshly made scar ran down his cheek. Amelia stood up and pulled her sword out.
"Leave." She said in her nastiest voice possible.
The fighter responded by leaping down. Amelia grabbed the fallen man and twisted him out of the way. She dodged the devil axe and tried to swing with her sword, but she was rusty and out of practice, so the sword fell from her grip. She pulled a second, much smaller one out and threw it to the fallen man and picked her larger one up. The fighter swung again, but there was suddenly a dark aura in the air and he sustained a near-fatal wound to the chest. As was common, the devil axe backfired and injured its wielder. Amelia snatched the axe and, with strength she had mustered during the war, threw it out of the window and into the nearby river.
As she did so, she felt a hand in her pocket. She spun round to see a man in a black cape sprinting for the door. She took a step forward, and then the sword she had passed to the fallen man was sticking out of his back, having been thrown with incredible accuracy. She turned, and helped him up. The thief was still alive, just badly injured. She helped the fallen man to the door and left without a word.
She helped him all the way back to Grado Keep, where she took off her armour to show the guards at the door who she was. A cleric came running out to heal the wounded man, and Amelia stayed by him.
"What's your name?" She asked in the softest tone she could manage.
"Thomas. Thomas Friend."
Then he sagged back into the bed, asleep.
Duessel returned with three possible candidates for the job. The first was applying for the name Sunstone, she was a Valkyrie by the name of Gelera. She had short pink hair, contrasting sharply with her olive-green armour and her chestnut horse. The second, a large man by the name of Antilles, was a warrior going for the title of Moonstone. He was excessively tall, six feet bordering on seven, had long, shoulder-length black hair and a mask, iron, with fake golden scars. His armour was made of the same, with a golden insignia of a Wyvern and Rider hovering over Magvel. The wyvern was that of a Wyvern Knight, the protruding tooth and the two hind limbs, as well as the rider's pointed helm and spear. Magvel was made of the six regions, each made of a separate metal. Grado was fashioned from Gold, Renais from Iron, Frelia copper, Jehanna a strange bluish alloy, and Rausten a white metal. Carcino was also made of iron, but the iron coloured to be red. If inspected closely, you could see that the mountains, lakes, and forests were all preserved in intricate detail. Below it was inscribed the words 'Pugnato ist Esternalis' in an old Grado language. (Combat is eternal)
The final candidate was a tall, black woman by the name of Leah. She was a Falcoknight who rode on Oedipus, her dark horse. She wore armour of a deep green colour, and carried with her a lance that was ornately decorated. She was the only one not to bow before Amelia, but instead stood, a defiant fire blazing in her eyes. Amelia was wearing a dress she had bought in town earlier that day, and it suited her child-like features well.
"Lady 'melia, I is 'onored to be summuned 'ere to this magnificen' castle. I 'opes to do me very bes' for Grado an' its peoples." Boomed Antilles.
"Your divine majesty, it is such an honour to be called here to this place with the chance of becoming a general in our fine nation. I hope to do you proud, your ladyship."
"…" Leah remained silent. She had said nothing since their arrival in Grado Keep, and she was glaring distastefully, and with contempt at Gelera and Antilles. Duessel cleared his throat as a signal to Leah, but she continued not to speak.
"Leah? Why ain't you speakin'?" said Antilles, uncomfortable with the awkward silence in the room.
"I won't speak to some stuck-up commoner who pretends to be a queen. I was born to a noble family of Grado who are very proper and much higher up than this little filth-bag who prances around pretending to be royalty."
"Remove her from this room. Throw her in jail." Duessel made the decision for Amelia, who was staring in shock.
"I mean, look at her, the little bitch. She's just sat there gawking after I insulted her, peasant…" Her rant continued as she was dragged from the throne room.
"May I put an arrow in 'er, your 'ighness? I've 'eard 'er family is very proud of their status at the top of the food chain, so to put it. They're opp… they don't like you pushin' past them to be queen."
"I didn't push past anyone! I was appointed as queen by the monarchs of the other nations!"
Amelia was on the verge of tears, but Duessel came up to her and managed to calm her down before she embarrassed herself.
"The both of you may have accommodation in this castle for as long as it takes to choose the general. To make things clear, there are multiple spots open, so we're going to pick both of you if you are both good enough. Therefore it is not in your best interests to sabotage each other. My good friends Arctus and Ursal will show you to your rooms. Arctus! Ursal! Come here!"
Arctus, a hero in black armour and Ursal, a berserker with an almost comically oversized axe, stepped forward. Ursal led Antilles to his room in the western corridor, and Arctus led Gelera to her room in the north-east wing.
"Why don't we hire those two as generals?"
"Because," said Duessel, without using her title, "Arctus and Ursal are not to be trusted. They are not… strictly human. Lyon brought the two of them back as an experiment with the dark stone, then gave them to me as servants. I lied to our two recruits. They follow orders, but they are incapable of rational thought. If they weren't given orders, they would make their own. A dangerous thing, when they are, in effect, entombed with weapons. I told them to always stand still unless summoned and then given an order, in that case they would carry it out and then stand still again. I fear that if they became generals they would not see me as one to give orders, as I am their peer. They would divert to the next power, Leon, their deceased creator, then the emperor."
"Me?"
"No, Vigarde. They would see you as a peasant, as they saw you when they were resurrected. In the lack of any authority higher than themselves, they would run amok."
"What about Thomas Friend?"
"He's making a speedy recovery. I shall bring him in to see you as soon as possible."
Somewhere in the dungeons of Grado Keep, Leah sat bound in chains, a smile on her face.