Aurora Rising
by the March Hare
They called her the Mad Queen. It was true, even she knew that, but power truly was the greatest test of man's will, and for her it was the sweetest of dishes. Many of the nobles said that being raised like a peasant had affected her so, and that it was her common upbringing that made her the monster she was. Others said that it was the loss of her father-in-law, husband, mother, and father to the plague. "Such burden could not be borne by a woman", they said amongst each other. They rallied against her, but they were too slow. By then the madness had long set in.
By the dawn they were all food for the ravens.
The ravens. They seemed to gather around her, like some unholy force had called them to serve. Ironic, as the first person that wanted her to suffer were the birds' original patron…
Some, of estates, cried witchcraft. The fairies had taught her knowledge unmeant for man's ears. If told, she would have laughed them off. "They would be wrong," she would say, "I taught the fairies."
A lesson in pain.
She was cruel, but her people soon lost their fear of her when she cracked the other kingdoms like an oyster and offered them to the people who served her. Yes, they soon developed "selective" hearing when gold was flashed in their eyes.
She was crafty, too. She saw where the kingdoms were going. She was an innovator in the middle class, and even if the peasants did not love her methods, they loved the freedom and tax cuts they were getting.
Oh, that. Yes, she wore full-plate wherever she went. And a sword on her side, with the words "The Will of God" inscribed in Latin on the blade. It was ironic, that she had Latin written on her sword, when she was the reason the Church no longer held power in her domain. Like the greedy lords of her realm she scoured the abusers of power and the perverse from the face of the earth.
Her favorite method was burning alive.
Oh, her sword! She used it often, and no army of hers was complete without her in the lead. The troops came to love her for her skill and bravery, even if the look in her eyes (a savage, cold, calculating lunacy) did put them off a bit. Still, when the Kingdoms shivered at her approach, her own subjects could handle a little "eccentricity".
Once, the cynical remarked, they had called her "The Morning Star", for she was a face of love and kindness in the times of darkness. No evil could break her; she had shoulders to bear the world.
Perhaps it had taken her down, the darkness. Perhaps it had left a smoldering core, that could still be revived liked the Rising Sun.
Or, perhaps, she was the Eclipse, feared, respected, for the power she bore. All that saw her were blinded, all that stood before her felt fear, and all that heard her voice obeyed.
And the children of no longer sang praises, but psalms of war and death…
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story but the original ideas.
