Chapter 12: The art of fair play
The queen sat at the marble tableas she had days before. Her sisters sat on either side of her. Kim and Bana stood at attention at the other end of the table.
"We don't even know who we're up against." Melanippe proclaimed.
"That's not true. I'm told the men who attacked you bore the same symbol as the messenger who arrived some days ago." Antiope corrected. "We know this so called king is trying to force our allegiance with idle threats such as that attack. We have to find out who this king is and retaliate with full force. He'll learn never to cross the Amazon nation again."
"You are always the one to jump to a fight without thinking. We know nothing about our attackers and you want to go galloping in and fight them. There is no words that can describe how foolish that is." Melanippe debated.
"Oh so you just want to be a submissive little dog while they rape and enslave us all?" Antiope asked in a dangerous tone.
Melanippe squared her shoulders, her eyes darkened and the room suddenly felt cold. "How dare you ask such a question? You of all people should know that each one of us in this room would rather die than allow such a horrible thing to happen to our people."
Antiope returned her sister's glare with an unflinching gaze. "If we do what you suggest then we'll all have to open our vains for the good of our nation. I can't believe you would roll over so easily. You, Hippolyte…me…we were all raised to feel the same passion for our nation. We are all trained warriors, sworn to protect our nation from anyone and anything that may threaten it. If I have to die for that belief then I would rather it be from bravery on the battle field and not cowardice behind the protective walls of my palace. You as a fellow warrior should feel the same, unless we have lost you to the teachings of peace and passivism."
"I cannot believe this. You assume that because I refuse to risk the lives of not only the soldiers but innocent citizens, that I am a coward? This coming from the one who hides in her forest, you call me a coward? That certainly is the pot calling the kettle black."
"Enough!" The queen declared. Everyone jerked at her sudden outburst. She slammed her firsts on the table making the cups vibrate. "I have had enough of this useless bickering. We are not children anymore! We are grown women thrust into a dilemma neither of us can deal with alone. We have to come together as one nation or parish one by one!" She looked at both her sisters. Antiope stared at her with her usual unemotional gaze; Melanippe gave her a stony glare. "You both make a fair point. On one hand we cannot let this insult to our nation go unpunished." Antiope nodded in agreement. "However we cannot go in blindly, we have no idea who this king is, what is numbers are or who his allies are. We need the information before we can strike with our full force. As queen of this nation I will not stand for threats or insults but, I will not be so foolish as to attack without knowing my target."
Both Antiope and Melanippe stared at the queen with silent awe. She was right, now they turned to one another. "Our dear babe is right sister." Melanippe said with hesitant pride.
"Yes, I suppose that she has grown well into her role as queen. But how will we gain our information? All we have is a symbol." Antiope said with a shrug.
Kim stepped forward. "Permission to speak majesty?" The queen nodded. "I've seen this symbol once before. Long before I came here, if I'm right the symbol belongs to no king but a man who calms kingship. I don't recall his real name but they call him Dion."
The queen pursed her lips. "Do you know anything else about him?"
Kim gulped. "No. I only know the symbol."
The queen eyed her suspiciously for a moment then nodded. "Every well, if you think of anything else about this man inform me immediately."
Kim nodded and backed out of the room. Bana stepped forward now with a determined gaze. "Majesty?" The queen nodded. "I…I'd be willing to go on a mission for information of this…Dion. That is, if you wish it done."
The queen sighed. "I'll have to think on your offer. Right now, it is late and we will get nothing resolved without a goodnight's rest." She stood from the table. Her sisters followed suit and walked out of the room. Bana escorted Antiope to her apartments and Kim escorted Melanippe to hers. The queen was left alone for a moment until Shego rounded the corner. "Shego." The queen called.
Shego stopped suddenly in her path and raised a brow. "You never use my name." Shego said as she slowly made her way to the queen.
"Will you walk with me?" The queen asked ignoring Shego's statement. Shego shrugged in response and they began to walk toward the queen's apartments. "What do you know of the symbol we found on the men?"
"Oh I'm no good with history, you'd have to ask Kimmie."
"Yes, she only said the symbol belongs to a self proclaimed king who goes by the name of Dion."
"She didn't have anything else to say on that?"
"No."
"Then she's either gotten very good at lying or she hit her head at some point."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I know that name. I read it in a book about this ring." Shego raised her hand to show the Ruby Lion on her finger. "I'm sure you know the story behind this ring."
The queen gave her a puzzled look. "The only thing I know about the Ruby Lion is that it was forged by the Aries. How it came to the hands of mortals I know not, and how you can handle the ring without your instantaneous demise amazes me and terrifies me. However, if you know something I don't about that ring or this man I do wish you would share this with me."
Shego blinked. How could they not know about the story? "I'm sure Kimmie wants to speak with me about this before I tell you any further." Shego said after a long silence.
The queen frowned deeply. "I really don't approve of either of you keeping things from me."
"Look, I'm sure Kimmie has a good reason for keeping her secrets. Just let me talk to her, when we have all our facts straight we'll come to you."
They stopped at the queen's door. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "You two are the only ones who know my nation's future, and neither of you will tell me anymore than a peek of that. It's like speaking with the oracle." With that she turned on a heel and slipped into her room. Shego stood there for a moment, entranced by the situation at hand. Then she ran toward Kim's room, she needed to find out what was going on.
The turned a corner and slammed into the very girl she was looking for. She struggled to her feet and began, literally, dragging Kim down the hall. Kim struggled to get to her feet but failed as Shego picked up her pace. Kim was thrown into her bed before she had the chance to climb to her feet. Shego closed the door behind her and stormed over to Kim.
"What the hell are you doing?" Shego demanded. She pinned Kim to the bed to keep her from escaping.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Kim said struggling under Shego's grasp.
"Kim, don't make me hurt you." Her tone was serious, Kim suddenly stopped struggling.
"I don't know what you're talking about Shego." Kim said. Shego clenched her jaw. Kim had gotten good at lying; Shego stared down at Kim with a cold stare. She didn't want to do this.
"Kimmie, I don't want to do this." Shego said as she positioned herself over Kim. One keen was placed gingerly on Kim's chest. "You can either tell me what you're hiding or I can start torturing you. I would much rather do this the easy way Kim."
Kim began to breathe heavily as her eyes widened. "I can't tell you what I don't know Shego."
Shego gave her a pained look and began to heat up her hands. She could feel Kim's breathing become labored, she kept herself from applying too much heat so Kim wouldn't be burned. Kim gritted her teeth and stared up at Shego with a stony silence. "Kimmie please." Kim remained silent. Shego could smell the flesh on Kim's wrists start to burn; her eyes began to well up with tears. "Kimmie." She whispered.
Kim remained silent for a long moment before murmuring an inaudible sentence. Shego immediately cooled her hands. "What did you say?"
Kim pursed her lips and looked away. "I said they're doomed. Is that what you want to know? The entire nation is doomed and if we don't get the hell out of her we'll be dead along with the rest of them."
Shego shook her head and slipped off of Kim to get the bowl of water and the cloth on the table. "I shouldn't have had to burn you just to get that out of you." Shego asked as she soaked the cloth in the water.
"Well I don't want to abandon them. They're about to go to war and we just pack up and leave? That's disgraceful and you know it."
Shego couldn't help but agree, neither of them were the type to run from a fight. She wrapped the cloth around Kim's wrist and bit her lip as the hiss of pain from the red head. "So how do you know they're doomed?"
"Because this is how the Ruby Lion's story came to be. Dion was the name of Aries' pet lion but the story of the lion didn't come about until a hundred years after the Amazon's fell. Dion, the man, was a self proclaimed king who challenged every nation he could. History tells that he rode all over attacking nations if they didn't submit to him. He is the one who will destroy the Amazons, they'll be nothing but a myth by the time he's done with them."
"So what? We're just going to run scared because history claims this jerk killed them off? Kimmie that is the biggest load I've ever heard and last I checked history is written by the victorious."
"Exactly, we get our asses kicked."
"No, I think he gets his ass handed to him. I say we stay and fight this guy kick his ass and write history the way it's supposed to be written. I'm not about to deal with the embarrassment of getting my ass kicked by some wanna be king. That is just an insult all together if you ask me."
"Do you have any idea how many men he attacked the Amazons with?"
"What like two hundred?"
"Try three thousand. We'd be outnumbered by two thousand soldiers."
"Well then, we'll just have to have our wits about us then won't we?" Shego said as she wrapped Kim's wrists.
"How do you purpose we do that?"
Shego laughed and shook her head. "It's the art of fair play Kimmie. If you're out numbered then you even the score. In this case, instead of using force why not just use the home field advantage?"