Prologue: The Robotic Monarch of Inaria Part 2
Krishna and Quote looked out of her window in shock. The entire skyline had changed from peaceful summer sunset to a dark cloudy winter's night. Most worrying of all, the darkness seemed to be spreading quickly and in blotches, like ink.
"Look- it all seems to be coming from that point." Krishna pointed vaguely to the west. Quote followed her finger and her mouth dropped open.
Impossible as it seemed, the Queen was right. The blackness was definitely at its most dark and foreboding around a certain spot, no more than a couple of miles wide. It stretched across the skyline like the smear from a quill pen, ragged at the edges and bleeding more of the unnatural darkness that was now engulfing the kingdom.
Quote absentmindedly turned on the main light, as shadows filled Krishna's room. "I'll go and turn on the rest of the lights in the castle. We may have to make a public announcement." she said, slipping quickly out of the door.
Krishna nodded, not really listening. She was entranced by how quickly the sky had changed, and her mind replayed the violence of the bang over and over. She was enthralled, and quite excited- she had never heard anything as loud, nor seen any sky as dark, before! This wasn't nature- this was magic!
"Perhaps this is from an alternate realm!" she whispered to herself. "Maybe they DO exist!"
This was all she needed. This would probably never happen again- so she decided that, while she still had the opportunity, she should take a closer look at this phenomenon and see who was right- her or Quote!
"By heck, am I going to gloat if I was right." she said cheerfully to herself as she unlatched the window. The thought of lording it over Quote spurred her on, and she swung it open and clambered out. She was very agile, especially for a robot, and so the journey down the side of the castle posed no real problem to her except when she was almost caught by a servant glancing through the third- floor window. She quickly slipped out of sight, and they passed on by.
Sliding down the drainpipe for the last part of her journey, she kept a close eye on the darkness that was now almost completely covering the sky. She could see lights flickering on all through the castle, and used these to gauge Quote' location. She managed to stay out of sight, and landed on the floor with a dainty WHUMP.
Getting her bearings back, she got to her feet and looked once more at the sky in disbelief. She made her way into the castle courtyard, having to feel where she was as the darkness became overbearing. There were voices in the distance as servants came out to light the torches outside the castle, so she had no choice but to run and avoid their light.
She crashed through the neatly- pruned bushes and slipped behind a thick oak tree, panting slightly. Suddenly- she noticed movement in the sky.
Whipping round, she could not believe what she saw.
A massive winged beast, the likes of which she had never seen before and thus could not recognise, was beginning to circle dangerously low to a small hamlet just over the hill. Deciding to try and get a better view, she grabbed the bottom branch of the tree and proceeded to clamber up it, grazing her delicate skin on the wood but not caring.
From her towering viewpoint, she had a much better view of what was happening, and it didn't look good. The creature circled closer and closer, the tips of its wings almost grazing the rooftops. It seemed to inhale, rearing up powerfully and opening its gaping maw. In one convulsive movement, it threw its top half down so that it was bent almost double and set the whole place alight with one breath.
The flames went up violently, like a massive light had been turned on over the village. They lit up the mountain with a flickering rage, making their violent way across the plains and whooshing up into massive spiralling tornadoes of fire. Krishna recoiled, mouth open to scream but no sound coming out. With a jolt she realised that the dragon was inhaling again, rising up into the sky in an ominous display of threat. It seemed to be still, but beating its wings as if it were moving. As its silhouette, blackened against the light of the flames, drew closer, she realised that the castle was an easy target and they were probably the next to be torched. She jumped down from the tree, smashing through the branches and nicking her skin on the trunk several times. Landing on her back, she scrambled to her feet and set off at a sprint back towards the castle, breath coming in ragged gasps.
"Quote!" she screamed, voice rough and raspy. "Quote! Quote! Quick! QUOOOOOOTE!"
She glanced back behind her several times, as if to confirm the terrifying reality that they were all going to die. But the next thing she saw made her skid to a halt, whirling round and staring in shock.
The dragon veered to the left, seeming to fly away. Krishna wasted no time in changing direction again and hurtling out of the grounds, hurdling fences and bushes as if she hadn't even noticed they were there. She slowed to a run when she was out in the field outside the castle, where she had an unobstructed view of the creature. To her horror, she realised too late that it had simply seen another town before them- in fact, no, that wasn't the town, that was the capital city!
In the burning brightness of the flames now spreading down the mountains and from the city centre, she could see the creature as if it was illuminated in daylight. Her eyes travelled quickly over its small head, long slender neck and powerful flanks, before stopping dead on a figure sat upon it. No, wait- they weren't sat, they were stood! in a perfect display of acrobatic balance as the creature curved and spiralled across the sky. A long cloak billowed out behind them as they commanded the dragon to do their bidding.
"I knew something like that wouldn't just torch things on their own." she muttered darkly. "It's going to set the whole kingdom alight!"
The kingdom was her child, the only one she could ever have or love. Like a mother, she felt an uncontrollable urge to protect it, or if she could not do that, then at least destroy whatever was harming it. The fires were spreading quickly now, the suffocating screams of her people loud in her ears as she searched desperately for some sort of weapon. The emergency services were supposed to be coming by now-!
With a gasp she realised, as more urgent data was fed of its own accord by failing computers into her servers, that there WERE no emergency services. All routes to the kingdom had been blocked by some unknown force, some unspeakable energy cast upon the realm like a dome. She did not need to think hard to guess that this was the work of the figure stood upon the dragon, ordering it to shoot yet more flames which this time very nearly hit her. They shot up into the night sky, the unbearable heat causing her to stagger away, hand over her mouth to stop herself inhaling any smoke fumes.
What was she to do? She was trapped here- everyone was trapped here- in a kingdom where nobody could get out and no help could get in. They were all perishing, bit by bit, in the dome.
This was from another world, all right. Suddenly, gloating over Quote didn't seem that important anymore.
Making a snap decison, and one she would quickly regret, she sprinted for one last time back to her castle. This time she just plunged straight through everything, terror harsh and overbearing. Being a robot, she did not get tired like humans did. She had almost boundless energy in normal day- to- day situations, and this restlessness was finally given release in the heady heat of adrenaline.
Scaling the drainpipe as if she was swarming a tree and then, when it veered off across the walls, jumping up the windowsills one by one, she needed no time to rest and no time to think. It was only when she saw Quote, screaming frantically up the stairs for her, that she stopped.
"Quote!" she yelled through the small slit that was the tower window. "Quote! I'm by here!"
Quote, hearing her call, gave a shriek and stumbled over. Krishna leaned through the window as her retainer grabbed both her hands, sobbing.
"Krishna, whe- where have you been? We thought you- you-"
"Hush, now." Krishna replied in a useless attempt at comfort. "I'll be back soon. I'm just going to the top of the castle a minute."
"No! It's too dangerous!" Quote was yelling now, yanking fruitlessly at her. "Come back IN!"
Krishna had no choice but to pull her arm out of Quote' grasp, leaving her retainer leaning out of the window dangerously. Forcing herself to ignore her screams, the monarch continued to swing herself up to the castle's uppermost portions.
"I'll be back!" she called down. "And if I'm not, you better not ever forget me!"
Quote heard, and shook her head in despair. She fell to her knees and leaned her head against the wall, knowing there was nothing more she could do.
Krishna reached the top of the castle not long after, simple clothes soaked through and through by the rain that was beating a steady rhythm on her skin. With one final effort, she pulled herself up to the turret and stood atop it, holding onto the spike for balance and to stop herself falling off the slanted structure. A violent blast of wind threatened to knock her off balance, but she clung on grimly and looked into the distance. There, enshrouded in the eerie grey smoke rolling across the valley, hovered the dragon and its mysterious rider. They were not moving, she was sure of it; they were waiting for her to speak. She gathered her breath and her courage.
"Please!" she shouted across to them. The wind died down and the dragon edged a little closer. She could see the silhouette atop it sit down and cock its head in- interest? amusement? She couldn't tell. "Why are you doing this?"
No reply. Undeterred, she tried again.
"Is this your own motives? Or were you made to do this?"
Again, no response was forthcoming.
"Okay, fine. So you're not going to answer my questions. Hey, that's great by me! I don't particularly want to talk to you either!" Her anger mounted, and as she spoke she became bolder and more confident. "But that's life, isn't it?! Believe me, I'm only speaking at all because I'm not just anyone! I may not look like it, but I am the RULER OF THIS KINGDOM!"
The figure nodded. Krishna took this as encouragement to continue.
"So, as I'm sure ya figured, I am NOT IMPRESSED by this turn of events! I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you're not from around here and you're not welcome here either! I strongly recommend you TURN AROUND and push off back to your own realm before I get up there and beat the crap outta you!"
She didn't know why she said that. She supposed that in the heat of the moment, one was allowed to have a small slip of judgement. Anything to turn these intruders away- any stupid threat to make them scared. Not that she could carry out what she had threatened. What weapons did she have, except the power of persuasion?
"Yeah, I suppose you're thinking I don't pose much of a threat to ya. I'm just the Queen on the top of the castle yelling my lungs out. What good will that do? I'm hardly going to hurt you!"
Damn. Contradicting her previous statements. Not what one wanted when reasoning with evil alterdimensional beings.
"But nuh- uh! Believe me, I'm more powerful than you think. I've got an entire army at my beck and call! I assume there's only you, and I bet you'll just turn and run when you see what I've got up my sleeve! You COWARDS!
You're pathetic! I bet you wouldn't hurt me! I bet you're trembling up there, "OOOOH! NOOOO! I'M SCARED! BECAUSE SHE'S A POWERFUL MONARCH WITH A MASSIVE ARMY AND SHE'S GOING TO SMASH THE CRAP OUT OF ME!" Yeah! So, it's your choice, sissy boy! You either do the wise thing and turn back, or you DARE to threaten ME!"
She could never be sure of what happened next. All she remembered was the crack of a dragon's wing against the air, a blur of red and purple, and a searing pain hitting her like a bullet before she passed out.