Fire from the East (2)

click here for Fire from the East (1)

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"What message from your Queen?" I remember him ask. His back firm from my vantage.

"I am not here to send a message." My courage oozing like fire from a blacksmith's cottage. His minions scoff from behind as if marveling at his divine splendor over my weakened posture. I was just a dagger toss away from pinning revenge on Al Rodog's chest. Death will surely welcome me once I did but death I will welcome just so I could avenge Lerion's demise.

Pride, my dear Myne. I could hear my father whispering in my ear. Pride will lose you battles. Lerion's lust for victory and pride has always been his downfall. I couldn't let the same be mine.

"Then perhaps you can send your majesty a message for me." The Al added, now facing for familiarity, pacing ever careful steps towards me. For a moment there I was an ounce close to accepting decapitation. Only a true phoenix is ever capable of taming the flame. And like the zephyr itself, Al Rogod unsheathed his sword with a light swift of hand. I blink and for that very second, I could feel death, reaching for my neck, calling me as if it was home.

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I haven't heard from my people in months. Could they have retreated back East, I don't know. General Bulsagad has always been adamant to retreat. But news of apparent disappearance of my camps have left me a pint close to hopeless. I have always trusted my people, I could not give up on them now.

The sun has left its last light from dusk when I heard a knock on the door. 

"My lady, dinner has been sent from the Al". A familiar voice informed, as if in a whisper, from behind.

"Thank you, Marieta." My usual reply.

The tray was already laid on the only wooden table in the cell when Marieta added, "The Al wanted you to know that the message has been sent to your people. Though no response have been confirmed, he still does not think your Queen has retreated." Sigh.

"Thank you, Marieta."

"I have no say in this war, my lady, but if you..."

"I doesn't matter. The war has been on since my birth. My Queen will never retreat, tell him that. And that if he as much as think that my Queen will, then his demise will be met in another way. Leave me, Marieta. Please."

She gave me a slight genuflect for eventual departure. 

The zephyrs roared like war horns from the south. Like the war that has been on since my birth, the winds bore piercing bellows from my window. The moment my generals receive the Al's message, I know they'll imbue selfless commitment to victory. A mere wad of my hair does not define power from the enemy. For if it was much as a finger from my metacarpals or an ear to signal the absence of peace negotiations, I know my people will not give up and back down. 

We will win this war and if my army cannot do it in extramural, I will, by the blood of my forefathers, do it from inside.

Only a true phoenix is ever capable of taming the flame.