A Queen's Champion

A Scaly Surprise

Tryndamere felt more comfortable with the weight of the blades on either side of him as he walked with Henrietta towards the Palace entrance. Being a First Warrior, he was of course trained in hand-to-hand combat, but it was in his opinion far better to have a blade in your hand than to use fists. The new boots he wore also felt far more comfortable than his old ones, particularly because they were not damaged, and he walked easier thanks to them.

Walking through the many corridors and hallways of the Royal Palace of Tristain, he looked around and studied the innards of the stone structure.

He noted that the main part of the Palace was well-designed for defense. The Palace itself must have been round, or at least somewhat round, as the hallways spiraled around the place. Each floor was horseshoe-shaped, with one end of it having the stairway to the upper floor while the other end had stairs that led to the floor beneath it. While this made it rather tedious to go up and down the Palace, in the event of a siege it would be very difficult to root out the defenders and capture the structure.

He made a note of this to Henrietta as they made their way to the lowest floor of the Palace after several minutes of brisk walking.

"You're very observant," she replied, looking at him as they strode through the entrance hall, a long and wide hallway with a high-ceiling. "The Kingdom of Tristain is... not very strong militarily, but what soldiers we do have are well-trained. That said, we use whatever means we can to make ourselves as strong as we possibly can be given our limited resources, and this Palace was designed exactly for that."

"And has the Palace ever been attacked before?" asked Tryndamere, curious.

"Once. Many, many decades ago."

"How did that battle turn out?"

Henrietta smiled at him as they neared the main entrance of the Palace. "The Royal Palace of Tristain has never been captured by enemy forces."

Tryndamere noted the six soldiers who stood at guard by the large set of wooden doors reinforced by steel. As they approached, the doors began to open wide with a low rumble, letting in a lot of sunlight that momentarily blinded the two. They kept walking though, and soon were outside just as their eyes adjusted to the change in luminosity.

Before them was an enormous staircase that led down to a roundabout with a fountain in the middle. One horse-drawn carriage awaited them along with a contingent of soldiers, some of whom Tryndamere realized were women. He thought it interesting that the women of Tristain would be willing to take up the life of a soldier. Even though he had seen Agnes earlier, he thought that perhaps she was unique in that regard.

Valoran had its fair share of female warriors, but most of them were exceptionally-talented and unique individuals who some consider to be heroines. The vast majority of the regular armies were male though. He guessed that Tristain being relatively weak militarily, as their own queen had mentioned, might have had something to do with there being women in the army here. Although it was entirely possible that it was also simply the culture and society here, which he still knew very little about.

He noticed that some of the soldiers gave him appraising looks and he wondered what Agnes had told them about him. The woman had said she would take care of it, but what that meant he did not know. He only hoped it was something believable and not too outlandish, though it was entirely a possibility that she simply told them the truth. He figured he would probably find out soon enough.

Nearing the carriage, Agnes approached on her horse. She dismounted with the ease of someone who had done it thousands of times before and knelt before the queen, placing her right hand over her left breast and bowing her head respectfully as her white cape fell around her.

"Your highness," she greeted the purple-haired young woman.

"Rise, Captain Agnes. Are we ready to depart?"

Tryndamere was rather impressed that she had attained the rank of captain, though he had suspected she was an officer the way she had come into the queen's bed chambers like that, not to mention the way she handled herself.

The blonde nodded, rising to her feet and meeting the queen's gaze. "Yes, ma'am. The Musketeer Squadron is ready and waiting."

"Then let us go. We have many miles to cover before we get to Cholet," said the queen as she glanced at Tryndamere.

Agnes walked closer, her tone lowering. "I explained to the soldiers that a prominent mercenary was joining our group, hired specifically by the queen for secret missions." She then looked at Tryndamere. "I did not tell them your name, so you're responsible for informing them of who you are if they happen to ask, though I doubt anyone will talk to you for most if not all of the trip. Speaking of the trip, I did get you a horse," she pointed behind her with her thumb to the horse she had been using.

The First Warrior of the northern tribes looked at her questioningly. "What about yourself?"

"I'll be driving the carriage," replied the captain curtly. "Now if there's nothing else, we should get going."

Henrietta reached out and lightly touched Agnes' upper left arm with her right hand. "Thank you, Agnes."

Within the next minute, Queen Henrietta of Tristain boarded her Royal Carriage with Agnes getting into the driver's seat. Tryndamere got onto the horse, a lot less gracefully than how Agnes had gotten off of it, but it worked. He had not been on a horse in a long time, mostly because there were not a lot of horses up north. There was also the fact that he preferred to walk everywhere anyway, unless needing to cover many leagues quickly.

Agnes waited for him to get settled before putting two fingers in her mouth and letting out a loud whistle, which was apparently the signal to begin the journey. The five soldiers ahead of the carriage and five behind were all on horseback as well, and the front five began to move with the Royal Carriage close behind at the behest of Agnes.

Tryndamere was off to the side and a little behind the carriage, not really in the formation and sticking out rather obviously. He did not care though, and neither did the Musketeer Squadron, which apparently only consisted of ten musketeers. Eleven, including Agnes. With him, that made it an even twelve guarding the queen, and he wondered if that was really enough of a bodyguard detachment. Not that it really mattered since he was there, as her familiar, and would defend her should an entire army happen to cross their path anyway. He only hoped there were more than enough of them, because he would not be taking it easy should that time ever come to pass.

-xxxxxx-

They watched closely as the Royal Carriage and its guards rolled through the city of Tristania. The path had been cleared for them by the soldiers and guards in the city, many of them lining up along the sides of the road as the people gathered behind the lines they had formed. They cried out with admiration and happiness towards the queen, some even going so far as to throw some flowers onto the road in an attempt to get them into the carriage.

When the din got particularly loud, it was because the queen had extended her hand and part of her head out as she waved to the crowds as they passed through the city. The information they received from their sources was usually excellent, if not perfect, but there was one big omission in the information they were given. That omission was the twelfth guard, someone they had never seen before and yet who wore a white cloak similar to the musketeers so they assumed it must be a new recruit. Still, they found it very odd that this newcomer was not in proper formation and nobody seemed to be yelling at him about it. Not that it mattered much to them, they were only there to observe after all.

Once the group cleared the city gates and entered into the countryside heading northward, there was a marked difference as the loud sounds of cheering and people talking gave way to the tweeting of the occasional bird and the light blowing of the wind. It was harder to keep track of the target outside the city, but they managed. And so far, they had not been discovered, and they had no intention of letting on that the target was being followed at all. This was not the first time they were following a target after all, particularly one so important.

-xxxxxx-

Henrietta brought one of the two flowers that managed to get into her carriage, taking a good whiff of its sweet scent. Her heart began to slow down to a more restive pace, the excitement of seeing her people cheering her on beginning to fade. She remembered the first time that she had experienced the drowning noise of the cheering crowds, and how frightened she had been. Now she soaked it up, basking in the love of her people. A love that she wholeheartedly returned as their monarch.

She placed the flower down next to the other on the seat across from her in the carriage, eyeing them for a little while before switching her gaze to look outside through the windows. The lush green fields, the multitude of trees, and the smooth rolling hills greeted her eyes. She always loved taking trips into the beautiful countryside of her kingdom, reveling the beauty of nature and the harmony of her people with the land.

There were many farms out in the countryside, the biggest pillar of the economy of Tristania being agriculture. The land was very fertile and ideal for growing all manner of crops, as well as for supporting many herds of different animals. There was more than enough sunlight to go around and the climate was very appealing for farming, though wintertime often brought snows and the occasional stretch of days where the sun would be hidden behind a gray blanket of clouds. Still, the wintertime in the plains of the kingdom was light and did not compare to the winters that Albion or Germania faced.

Germania. Vastly superior in military strength to any other country, the German Empire also held the largest amount of land among the five main kingdoms of Halkeginia. Their military might came from a combination of political emphasis, having the largest population, and excellent equipment. Their current Emperor, Emperor Albert the Third, was actually at one point betrothed to Henrietta.

Thankfully, though also unfortunately, the marriage had been cancelled when Henrietta adamantly refused and her parents relented. She was thankful that it had happened, but it was unfortunate in that it led to rather chilled relations with the German Empire from then on. Had Albert been truly angry about it though, he no doubt would have gone to war with Tristain. The fact that he did not implied that it was not something he had wanted to go through either.

Henrietta sighed, her hands resting softly on her lap as she thought of the young Emperor, Albert III.

He was several years older than her, but still quite young. Similar to what happened to Henrietta, his father died. Unlike her father, however, Albert's father was killed while fighting a rebellious uprising in the far eastern reaches of the Empire. Because of that tragedy, Albert was swiftly crowned Emperor of Germania and proceeded to lead the loyal armies against the rebels. Within a week, he had utterly crushed the rebellion, exhibiting exemplary leadership, strategic thinking and resourcefulness - a fact not lost on Henrietta, who admired his proven skills and accomplishments. He was praised and heralded as a great leader almost immediately afterwards and ushered in a few years of peace until the incidents involving King Joseph of Gallia and later on the ancient dragon that sought to destroy them all.

Now, months later, they were to meet again. This time at the small town of Cholet, only a few miles away from the Tristain-Germania border. She had not spoken to him much other than for business at the Council of Nations, and in truth both of them seemed only interested in formal interactions. Still, she hoped that this peace treaty could be the start of a renewed friendship between them, and their two countries, especially now that they were truly entering an age of peace.

She was brought back to the present when the carriage jolted to a halt. Looking out the window, she noted that there was still a lot of light out and they were not due for a rest period yet.

"Agnes! What's happened?" she called out, a little uneasy. Something had to be wrong if they were stopping prematurely.

-xxxxxx-

Tryndamere brought his horse up right next to the carriage, a few feet away from the female captain who held the reins. His eyes never left the sight before them, however, and it was quite the sight indeed.

The thing reminded him of the giant lizards usually found on the eastern banks of the Serpentine River back in Valoran. This lizard-looking creature had a torso that was as wide as three horses put side-by-side and as long as four, at its rear was a long tail with a thick mass of bone at the end that looked like it could break a man if it were to hit one. It's neck was not as long as the tail and at the end of it was a short-snouted head similar in shape to a lizard. Dark red scales were splashed with some orange ones in a random pattern, and the ridge of its back was lined with spikes.

"What's your plan?" he asked, eyeing the lizard with interest.

Agnes thought for a moment, her grip tight on the reins. "It might be best to wait for it to move along," she said.

"Agnes! What's happened?" the voice of the queen called from within the carriage.

"It's okay, your highness. We've got everything under control," replied the captain, still staring at the creature that seemed to be snacking on some kind of wildlife it managed to capture.

Tryndamere raised an eyebrow at that. "What is it?"

"A Molten Salamander. Thankfully a juvenile," she replied grimly, "But still... I don't know what it's doing here of all places, so far from the mountains where they reside." The suspicion in her voice was evident, and he noted that she did look around the area once in a passing manner that hid the fact that she was checking to see if they were being watched.

Truthfully, he had gotten the feeling they were being observed since they left the Royal Palace. Initially he figured it was simply a little paranoia coupled with the fact that throngs of people had apparently come to see the queen as she traveled through the city. When he still had the feeling even after they left Tristania, that was when he knew that his gut feeling might be right after all.

"Molten Salamander, eh?" he repeated the name. He shared her suspicions after learning that they were not supposed to be around these parts, but he was not the most patient of men, particularly when it came to traveling somewhere. He dismounted, still a bit clumsy but better than earlier, and was given a confused and then indignant look by the captain.

"What are you doing?" she asked, knowing full well what he intended to do but wanting to ask him anyway.

He smirked. "Well, this, ah... Molten Salamander, you call it? Rather coincidental that it happened to be here in the middle of the road we're traveling, far away from its normal territory as you've mentioned. Seems that someone was intending to delay us... but I'm not a fan of being delayed to my destination."

"But..."

"Don't bother helping me," he said sharply, "I wish to deal with this on my own terms."

She was about to say something again when he cut her off once more.

"Besides," he turned away from her and began to walk towards the big reptile as it munched on the carcass of whatever animal it had caught in its jaws. "I'm in a fighting mood."

"Hey, wait! You don't even-" cried Agnes, but he was already far ahead and ignoring her.

He was not lying when he said that he was itching for a fight. He had not even been able to train or practice any of his fighting skills due to the lack of weaponry as well as time, but here was a chance for him to let loose and to get loose. He traversed the distance between the group and the salamander, stopping about fifteen feet away from the thing, which had its back to them and its tail swinging idly back and forth behind it.

He clapped his hands once, loudly, to get the creature's attention and the salamander immediately froze at the sound, its entire body going rigid. He felt the adrenaline rushing through him as he readied himself for the fight to come, his fingers tingling a little as they readied to draw the Phantom Dancer blades at a moment's notice.

The red-orange reptile slowly turned, head and neck first, to face the black-haired warrior. It hissed, forked tongue flitting out into the air as its eyes locked on to his own, causing him to smile. It took a step closer, hissing again, rows of tiny but razor sharp teeth revealing themselves.

Yes, he could tell the thing wanted to kill him and eat him next. Too bad it was not going to work out for the reptile. He tensed his legs, bending down ever so slightly so as to be able to move once the thing attacked, which he knew was coming soon. Sure enough, the salamander leaped into the air with surprising speed for its size, but Tryndamere moved faster.

He strafed to the right, the salamander's large left front claw slashing into the dirt where he had stood only a moment earlier. A red sword was in each of his hands, seeming to gleam in the sunlight, and he brought his arms up and then down across his body, slashing in an X. He was surprised when the blades barely cut through the hard scales. He had enough time to follow that up with two more slashes before jumping back as the salamander snarled at him, eyeing where he had struck and noting that there was only a little damage.

This thing had a tougher outer shell than he had expected. He dodged again as the salamander swiped at him, this time moving to the left. Anticipating this movement, the salamander's tail suddenly whipped towards him, and reacting purely on reflexes he jumped up and placed his feet onto the small boulder-like bone at the end of the tail. The force of the tail and his own jumping motion as he kicked off of it launched him several dozen feet away as he tumbled in mid-air before landing, a bit roughly, on his feet as he plunged the swords into the earth to help stop his momentum.

He smirked again as the salamander let out a hiss that could have been loud enough to be a low roar. This was turning out to be a better fight than he had expected. Now he did not have to hold back as much.

-xxxxxx-

Henrietta stuck her head out of the window after she heard the ground rumble a little as well as the familiar noises of fighting. To say she was surprised to see a Molten Salamander on the road before them would have been describing it lightly. She was even more surprised to see that her familiar was battling it all by himself. The idiot was going to get himself killed if he kept this up, and she was not going to let him die like that.

"Agnes! Why aren't you helping him?" she demanded, noticing that none of her guards had moved from their saddles.

The captain turned her head to look at the young monarch and replied with a shrug, "He said he could handle it on his own, your highness. He looks to be handling it well."

Henrietta didn't care if he looked like he was doing well or not. "And you believed him? He's fighting a Molten Salamander, Agnes!" They knew full well what that meant, and they should have helped him anyway despite what he had told them.

"He's actually doing better than I expected. He's quick, he's strong, and he's smart, though a bit arrogant," Agnes commented with a touch of respect as they both turned back to watch the fighting.

The salamander took a deep breath, large slashes all over its body, though only a few of the strikes managed to actually cut its skin underneath the rock hard scaly exterior. Tryndamere launched himself towards the right flank of the creature as a jet of flames shot out from the reptile's mouth. He ran all the way down the length of the salamander, dragging one of the blades along the creature's entire right flank and jumping over the tail that had whipped back to try and get him.

He was not able to completely evade it, however, as it clipped his heel as he arched over it. This caused him to spin and fall to the ground, only barely managing to catch himself to prevent a harder fall. Henrietta shook her head, opening the door to the carriage and stepping out, getting worried and furious at the same time.

"Your highness!" cried Agnes with wide eyes, letting go of the reins and jumping off from her perch at the driver's seat. She barred the way forward with an outstretched hand as she looked at the queen with a hard expression. "I'm sorry, your highness. I cannot allow you to endanger yourself!"

"Agnes, please stand aside. I must help my fa... friend," she said as she gripped her wand tightly in her right hand.

The captain of the Musketeer Squadron merely shook her head as she stood her ground, unyielding. "No. If you truly want us to help him, then we will do it. But please, do not get involved yourself."

Typical of Agnes to act so stubbornly and dutifully. Even though she wanted to help her familiar personally, she understood that doing so would be embarrassing to the guards that had come along with her. The Musketeer Squadron would be more than able to handle this lone Molten Salamander. She nodded her head in assent and Agnes in turn lowered her arm before turning to bark out her orders.

She did not finish, however, as a short and sudden roar interrupted her.

-xxxxxx-

Tryndamere was done playing with the Salamander. He could have ended it earlier, but he had been using it as an excuse to train and sharpen his battle senses for the first time since arriving in this strange land.

Picking himself up from the ground, he gripped the swords tightly in his hands as he waited for the salamander to turn and face him once more. At first he had been excited at the prospect of a decent battle, but after a while it became evident that although this creature was tough, it was not good enough to handle him at his best. It had proven to be a nice distraction and a good chance to practice wielding the Phantom Dancer blades though, helping him to realize that even though the short swords allowed for rapid strikes with decent power, they were not very effective against heavily shielded and armored opponents.

For that, he truly missed his heavy broadsword. Had he been wielding his mighty weapon, he would have cleaved through the salamander with ease. Well, at least he knew the Berserker's Greaves worked as he noted that his agility and speed were much increased.

The salamander was heavily wounded from the strike he executed a moment earlier, the long slash across its right flank cutting deep as he had concentrated a lot of force into the strike. He had also made sure to target lower, cutting at a weaker point in the scaly armor as well as through parts of its right legs in the process. Limping, the salamander let loose a plume of flame again and he once more dodged it by moving off to the side.

The reptile surprised him a little when it leaped again into the air, this time not bothering to slash at him and instead trying to catch him in its jaws, its mouth wide open. Thinking quickly, he dove towards and underneath it as its jaws snapped closed a few inches above him. It landed on top of him, but there was enough clearance underneath the beast that he was not crushed.

He noted that the underbelly of the salamander was completely soft, and he grinned in triumph. He stabbed the blades deep into the reptile's underbelly and twisted them, causing it to rear back and convulse. Wasting no time, he rolled to his feet and pushed against the handles of the blades, ripping through more of the underbelly as the weight of the salamander fell on his back.

His momentum had stopped after going about a foot forward, the salamander's blood drenching him as the large gashes in its underbelly flowed with the red liquid. His legs strained under the sudden burden as the life began to leave the reptile, his legs threatening to buckle. Realizing this, he focused and channeled some of the energy he had been saving deep within him that had been accumulating as the battle continued on. The energy spread into his limbs and he found renewed vigor.

Letting out a mighty roar, he tensed and then straightened as he threw the salamander off of him. The limp body of the red and orange reptile tumbled a few feet away off the road, coming to a rest on its side as it stained the grass red with its blood.

The Negatron Cloak Tryndamere wore was soaked red with blood and his red blades looked an even deeper shade of crimson with the reptile's blood on them, dripping from the edges. He turned and looked at the guards and the queen, who he realized had stepped out of the carriage. They all had looks of shock and disbelief on their faces and he could not help but smile a little at that. He figured they had not expected him to win out like that, and it always gave him pleasure to exceed the expectations set upon him by others.

He flicked his swords, causing the blood flying away from them, and then walked over to the salamander while ignoring the looks given to him by the musketeers and the queen. He needed some better armor and he believed he found the right ingredients for a blacksmith to make him a new set.

Studying it for a second to determine where best to begin, he proceeded to stab into the creature and began to tear away chunks of its scale armor, much to the horror of the musketeers and the queen.

-xxxxxx-

After the fight with the juvenile Molten Salamander, Tryndamere looted chunks of its scaly armor, making an effort to take as much of it intact as possible. Placing them into some empty sacks that were packed onto his horse, he then found a nearby creek and washed as much of the blood off of himself as he could at the behest of the queen. She did not want him to go around soaked in blood, particularly when traveling with her. People might be suspicious and get the wrong idea.

He was somewhat amused as she fussed over him at first, wondering if he was hurt anywhere. Other than a few scrapes and bruises though, he was perfectly fine. He was used to fighting far more capable opponents after all, plus he was used to far more severe injuries than the ones he sustained against the salamander.

"That was impressive," Agnes remarked in a neutral tone as she leaned against a nearby oak tree, facing away from the creek where Tryndamere was knee-deep and quickly bathing. He had his undergarments on, but other than that he was naked. "Not many can face a Molten Salamander alone and best it."

"You said it was a juvenile," replied Tryndamere, scrubbing over a second time with his open hands to make sure he had gotten most of the blood off. The way he said the statement made it seem as if because it was a juvenile she should have expected him to beat it.

"Juvenile or not, a Molten Salamander is extremely dangerous," she answered evenly.

He grinned even though he knew she was not looking. "I'm far more dangerous than that scaly reptile."

The captain of the musketeers did not respond to the boast as she simply stood straight and walked away in silence.

When he returned to the group, they were already set to head out. They had initially rested while he went to bathe, but apparently when Agnes got back before he did she ordered them to saddle up. Queen Henrietta stood by her carriage, looking at Tryndamere while she held her wand loosely in front of her with both hands.

"Are you sure you got it all off?" She wanted to make sure he was clean of blood before they continued on.

"Yes... your highness," he was about to call her by her first name and then realized that there were others present who still did not know the true nature of his presence there.

"Good. Now let's get moving," she stepped into her carriage and, turning around to close the door, added softly, "I'm glad you were unharmed." She gave him a pointed look before sitting down and drawing the curtains across the windows. As soon as she was settled, the group began to move.

Sighing, Tryndamere easily got onto his horse. Checking to make sure his saddlebags were secure, he kicked the steed a little with his heels to get moving and catch up to the group as they had already moved a ways ahead.

A little after sunset, they finally caught sight of the tiny village of Authon, where they planned to rest for the night.

Author's notes: Thanks for the support! Read on, you readers you.