A golden light pierced the darkness over the horizon, where the everlasting heavens met the mortal earth, illuminating ground and sky alike. For a moment, earth and sky were united in a single flash of light, the intense fire of Sol. A bright, fiery ball slowly began its long arduous ascent into the heavens, casting the darkness into shadows trapped in recessed corners and behind their owners, so scared of the burning light. Silvery Luna finished relinquishing command of the earth and hid her beautiful face as Sol forced her away, giving morning to the world and pushing away night temporarily. Slowly, the world of Lucenia stirred, beginning to awake and throw off its covers of darkness to greet the light.
The golden beams struck the Plain of Arsen, and silhouetted the form of a girl on horseback who was silently watching Sol rise. A plain brown traveling cloak did little to hide her radiance, her flawless facial features seeming to shine with their own light, framed by golden hair under a dark hood. Behind her stood her two bodyguards, knights in full armor, both on black mares. Squinting into the morning light and seeing her destination, a small town at the top of the highest hill on the Plain of Arsen, Rayne called out, "Let's go," to her followers, never one to stay in one place for long. She cried out and kicked her golden stallion, Lightning Bolt, and over the plain into the sunrise.
Sol had risen completely by the time the pounding of Bolt's hooves had brought Rayne to the top of the hill and the town gates of Pelo, a once enormous city diminished to a small town. The girl ground to a halt before the wooden walls, her long cloak billowing out for a moment then settling on her back. Her hood had blown off, revealing a gorgeous face and unearthly beauty as well as hair sparkling with tiny jewels and precious stones to make it even more appealing. She reset her hood as a sickly old man leaning on a cane hobbled out of the town and smiled, his mouth containing about two and a half black, rotten teeth. Oh god Sol, isn't he dead yet? Rayne's cynical mind mused. Indeed the creature she saw looked it. Stringy white hair in three thin braids fell down his hunched back, his eyes were slits among so many wrinkles, and his whole body looked shriveled and tiny, as if he had spent a little too much time bathing. Two guards, armored and bearing the crest of Pelo, followed.
Though Rayne had always been taught to respect the old for their wisdom, she saw little wisdom in this man. To her he was simply an old fool, who had driven his once thriving city into financial ruin and it's wealthy population into small huts. Rayne wondered how the idiot could find either the strength or cause to smile, and had to force one across her lips as he approached.
"Well met. Princess Rayne of the House of Arasyn, I presume?" The man's voice was feeble, yet still cheerful.
"Well met indeed, Lord Tolmin. I come bearing peace greetings and a proposal of alliance from my father, his Highness King Midrian Arasyn." Rayne hid he scorn with a mask of diplomacy, something she had long since acquired as a habit. One of her soldier bodyguards approached the side of her horse and held out his hand.
"My lady, please allow me to aid you off of your steed."
"No need, Shantar, I am perfectly capable of it myself." Rayne skillfully swung her long leg over the saddle and easily leapt to the ground, and the knight put his hand back down. Rayne snickered and a patronizing smile flitted across her lips, hidden from the others. She knew the fool had just been hoping to touch the hand of whom she was sure was the most beautiful maiden he had seen in his life. She wasn't going to get his hopes up, not when she had just left the castle partly to get away from the suitors she so despised, and even they were more likely to gain her than this ridiculous guard.
Throughout her life, Rayne had seen the dominance of men in her society. Her mother, before she died, had promised Rayne who was only a child then that she would grow up and be married to a great and powerful husband whom she could serve until death darkened Rayne's beauty. Rayne was repulsed at the idea of herself being a servant and second to anybody, and from then on swore to never allow a man dominance over her. She grew arrogant, eventually despising all men and their constant lust by the time she gained her current age of seventeen. Thus, she turned away from all the idiot suitors scumming up her palace, drooling on their armor every time she walked by.
"My lady, allow me to guide you to my humble dwelling." Lord Tolmin smiled again and began to head back into the town, Rayne following, brown cloak swishing around her ankles. My, aren't men anxious to serve me today, she thought cynically. She saw a few stable boys immediately step forward to take Bolt and the black mares as they passed the gates and stepped onto the streets.
As the six of them made their way through the streets, Rayne marveled at the destructive effects of a combination of terrible leadership by a lord and war on even those not directly affected by the fighting. For countless years a war had raged over the lands of Lucenia, with no end visible yet even through several peace actions by King Midrian.
The buildings of Pelo were no more than small one-room huts, separated only by piles of mud and sewage dumped from their windows. The dirty streets were lined with homeless beggars, who stared at the people passing. Humble is right, Rayne thought as they stopped in front of the only building even remotely sanitary. It was hardly bigger than the rest of them, but it would be a better place for a meeting then the rest of this…….."town" if you could call it that. She looked around again as she pulled her hood farther over her head, for even with it she was getting looks from the beggar men, who apparently saw nothing wrong with gawking at a princess.
Rayne was led inside to a meeting room, or least what she might consider as such, by one of Tolmin's servants who had been waiting fro his return. Tolmin was called off to some important business, but sent Rayne on. Rayne surveyed the room. It was rather small, consisting of a circle of straw and wood chairs around a smooth, small, circular table. A bare square window let in sunshine in the far wall. Simple, but rather pathetic when you considered what it used to be.
Rayne slipped pushed back the hood, and slipped off her cloak, noting with a touch of amusement the servant's sluggish movement to take it from her due to his fascination with the way her sparkling golden hair tumbled down her back. The golden locks shimmered like that because of a magic spell that had been cast upon it by a Magi in Rayne's younger years. He had been under orders from Rayne's perfectionist of a mother, who sought to augment her daughter's physical beauty still further, beyond the boundaries of the natural.
Rayne sat elegantly in a surprisingly comfortable chair, now alone in the room and awaiting the lord's arrival. Now that her cloak was off, she was revealed to be wearing a pure white, thin, extremely flexible fabric made by the best tailor in the castle. The suit covered from just above her breasts, leaving her shoulders and arms bare, down to the soles of her feet where elegant but tough animal hide soles protected the bottoms of her feet from the rocky Lucenian soil. A black, low-slung belt hung on her hips. Rayne also wore the shimmering. fur of a Lucenian Starcat, so named because of the luminous insects that made their home in it's fur. The fur was in a sort of blanket wrapped around her upper body, as a final touch of her royalty.
"Princess Rayne, I am eternally sorry to have kept u waiting. There was, er, precious business that I was obligated to attend to upon my arrival."
Rayne was startled awake, automatically sitting up straight like a proper princess. She had dozed of while waiting. She quickly stammered out an answer, "Yes, um, of course my lord…" As soon as they left her mouth she was repulsed. It sounded as if he ruled her, which she could not allow. She scowled inwardly at Tolmin's smile toward her half-unconscious response.
"Now then, my lady, King Midrian wishes to form an alliance with Pelo?" The ancient lord took a seat several feet away from the princess, in a chair across the round table. Rayne hid a yawn and sigh. She wanted this over quickly. Though she didn't look forward to retuning to a group of idiotic suitors all desperately trying to impress her, it was better than staying with this fossil in his disgusting town longer than she was forced to.
"Well, certainly there are advantages to such a….liaison." Rayne scowled to herself again as she noticed that Tolmin was looking at her strangely, differently than before. She wondered what "business" the lord could have had that made an ancient man like him look at her that way.
"Hmmmm…of course…but you see…his highness' predecessors and the people of the castle itself have been…shall we say…disloyal…to the up-and-coming town of Pelo in the past. What's to say that has ceased for good?" Tolmin leaned forward in his chair, folding his hands on the table, showing that he wanted to get down to business.
Up and coming he says? Ha! The idiot. I had thought a pathetic jumble of buildings such as Pelo would jump at the chance to form an alliance with the higher power and gain military protection from Father. Perhaps I would need to resort to…different means besides diplomacy to get these negotiations to go my way…Rayne considered her options as she spoke.
"But you must understand, Lord Tolmin, that my father is bringing an end to the constant war in our world as well as revolutionizing our economy and military exploits. In other words, Father is far superior to those tyrants." As Rayne said this, she let out a dazzling smile, revealing a full spectrum of sparkling white teeth, flipped her hair so that it caught the sunshine coming through the open window, and crossed her long legs smoothly. Tolmin quickly became disoriented, and noticed her legs, as of course she had intended.
"Of course…princess…perhaps you are right…" Tolmin stammered out these words, still gazing at Rayne and falling for her seductive misleading.
"Then we have an agreement? Just say the word and I shall immediately spirit away at first opportunity and commend you to my father." Rayne unleashed another irresistible smile, pleased with her own cunning.
"Er…yes of course, certainly…you are quite the diplomat, my dear, I mean, princess!" He broke into another strange smile.
"Excellent!" Rayne got to her feet quickly, anxious to escape this room and this old fool who had intentions she was sure she would not find in the least bit pleasant. "Then I shall depart at once. The day is still young and time waits for no one."
"No, no, my dear, you must stay with us one night! After all, what would our kind king think of his subjects if they did not even give his daughter lodging for one night? " He laughed, but soon started a forceful, hacking cough that wracked his old body. Rayne found herself longing hopefully that he might keel over any second. Soon one of his soldier knights stepped forward and helped the ancient man up, still coughing. The other approached Rayne.
"My lady, I will now show you to your room. Lord Tolmin requires rest, he will tend to him." The knight gestured at his companion, who was helping Tolmin out of the room. Like I care at all Rayne thought.
Rayne pursed her lips at being forced to stay but followed the soldier through the hallways without comment. As the princess walked, she mused over the previous conversation. Initially, in her preteen years, she had regarded her beauty as a terrible curse, causing men o fawn over her and frankly annoy her every second of every day. More recently, however, she had used it to get her way. In every single case, such as this, she had succeeded. Rayne giggled softly. Men. So predictable and open to manipulation. Just because she allowed no men to touch her didn't mean she couldn't toy with their minds and desires like a child with a toy. Rayne ruled men, not the other way around.