Chapter 39: The Mother Of The Tribe
Reynold kept flipping through the book pages. His brow was suddenly starting to furrow as his eyes shifted to the diagrams of mana control emotions that made absolutely no sense to him.
He was getting more and more frustrated that he did not know when a low voltage hum started his chest and he was feeling some energy moving inside him. His fingers were starting to shake against the desk.
Then his leg started to drum against the floor and made tap, tap, tap, tap sound.
"No... not in here," Reynold stammered, his voice suddenly breaking.
He looked down to his shaking hand in horror. It was vibrating more and the pages of the book began to crinkle
"Okay, Reynold," he hissed through gritted teeth. "You have survived a knife stab. You have survived the first set of the rider training. So you’ve got this. Just... breathe."
He shut his eyes tight.
"Okay Inhale. One, two, three, four and hold."
The pressure suddenly started to throb.
"Now exhale slowly."
Almost instantly the leg and hand shaking stopped. He breathed out heavily, his arms suddenly collapsing on the table.
"Actually... not bad," he muttered. "But I am done here and I need to eat," he muttered.
With a soft sound, he flapped the book shut and then made his way out of the library.
Once he was outside, he let out a deep breath he did not know he was holding all this time.
He walked straight to the cafeteria and made his order. He took the tray to a corner and then scanned the cafeteria but no sight of Gwyn.
He pushed the thought away and then started to eat his food.
...
Location: Aether Kingdom.
The water in the royal bath was looking like a crushed amethysts in colour. The water was also scented with luxurious and expensive oils.
Queen Hadassah of the Aether Tribe was inside the bathtub, her long and dark hair was floating on the bathtub. She was under the water for some minutes before she finally raised her head from the water and then she used her hand to wipe her face.
A maid was already there, holding a tray of honeyed wine.
Hadassah took the wine glass from the tray and sipped from it as she rested her leg on the edge of the tub.
Another maid knelt down immediately as her hands were shaking as she used a silver tool to clean Hadassah’s feet. Hadassah did not say a word. She just kept taking a sip from the glass.
The Aether Tribe is a tribe that has thrived under monarchical government for six centuries.
Hadassah’s mother and her mother before had died to keep the crown gold and Hadassah was following in their footsteps.
Hadassah had taken the throne when she was eighteen years after the death of her mother in childbirth.
Once the maids were done, Hadassah stepped out from the water as water was dripping from her body. One of the maids brought out a white wool towel and dried her body with it before she wore her a gown. She sat in the chair and looking at the mirror as the maid
As she sat before the mirror, the head maid applied a red lipstick to her lip.
Hadassah stared at herself in the mirror. She looked beautiful, but she was also looking like a dangerous Queen.
She walked out of her room and down the long hallway. Every guard she passed stopped and bowed low. When she reached the massive doors of the throne room, they swung open with a loud bang.
"Presenting Her Majesty, Queen Hadassah III of House Baruch!" a man shouted, hitting a wooden staff against the floor. "Mother of the Tribe! Protector of the Eternal Hearth and the lady of the Skreel!"
The doors were pushed opened and the assembly of every high-ranking lords and advisors in the throne room stood up as one as Hadassah entered. Hadassah did not look at them, she just walked straight with an elegant look, her eyes fixed on the high-backed throne.
She got the high-backed throne and she sat and every body person followed suit with most of them letting out sigh of relief.
"The agenda," Hadassah commanded and immediately the Royal Chancellor stepped forward, unrolling a scroll. "First, the declining yield of the Glimmer-Mines. Second, the report at Wyrmwood Academy: the boy, Reynold Starweaver."
"The mines first," she said.
Immediately, the room turned into murmur.
"The deeper we dig, the more the earth-spirits revolt!" A lord shouted, slamming a fist on the table. "We need more Magic Users to stabilize the shafts, not more miners!"
"And where do we get them?" another retorted. "Our cover at the North has been blown and we are losing gold by the hour!"
"The quotas must be met!"
Hadassah watched them with her chin resting on her hand as they barked like street dogs over a bone.
Queen Hadassah let them argue for a moment before she spoke a single word.
"Silence."
The word was not that loud enough but it sounded through the entire throne room, making everybody to freeze.
"The mines stay open," she stated. "We will use the prisoners from the southern raids for the deep digging. If the spirits want blood, they shall have it. We do not stop the flow of gold for the sake of ghosts. Next on the agenda."
The room shifted and the atmosphere became cold.
"Reynold Starweaver," the Chancellor read, his voice trembling slightly. "Our informants confirm he has successfully bonded with the three dragons. It is no longer a theory. And now that he has his dragons, his powers will manifest in no time."
A man stood up from the front row. He is prince Malachi, Hadassah’s only brother. He did not even bow to the Queen.
"This is nonsense," Malachi sneered, his voice lacing with anger or maybe frustration. "We are in this mess because of your weakness, sister. If you had not insisted the boy be brought in alive, we could have ended this threat in a long ago. But no, you wanted your ’asset.’ Or perhaps you just wanted a new toy for your collection?"
Hadassah let out a soft chuckle that did not reach her eyes. "What point are you trying to make, brother?"
Malachi turned to the assembly as he spread his arm wide open. "The point is that you are not competent, sister or perhaps you are weak. You are just risking the safety of the Aether Tribe for a whim." His eyes shifted from his sister and back to the assembly... " I call for a vote of No Confidence now. The crown belongs to someone who who can actually.."
He did not even finish his sentence before Hadassah’s hand moved quickly to the back of her neck.. She reached into the high-piled coils of her hair and took out a needle-thin throwing knife, and flicked her wrist straight at her brother.
Thwack.
The blade landed deep in Malachi’s throat and his eyes widened with shock.
He held his neck, the place the the silver knife is buried, and a gurgling sound was leaving his lips.. The blood rushing out stained his white shirt. He suddenly slumped to the floor.
Low gasps sounded in the entire room. One lord looked like he might even faint.
Hadassah stood, smoothing her skirts. "Let this be a reminder," she said, her voice echoing in the room which is now silent. "I am your Queen. I am the mother of this kingdom and if anyone else feels they can wear this crown better than I, please... step forward."
No one moved.
"Ver good. This meeting is adjourned."
Hadassah walked out of the throne room but she did not go back to her chambers.
Instead, she was followed by her personal maid named Cassie. They headed to the garden at the back of the palace.
Inside the glass-domed garden with a roof top, a Skreel with a wing that looked like a reptilian beast was inside. Hadassah reached into a pouch on her belt and brought out a glowing raw mana-stone, and tossed it at the Skreel.
The Skreel rushed towards it and crushed it into her mouth and crunching it with her teeth.
Yeah, Skreel feed off Magic mana-stone
"My Queen" a voice sounded from the back.
A man in a black cloak who is the Master of Whispers to Hadassah walked past Cassie and into the garden and bowed low to Queen Hadassah.
"Report," Hadassah said, her back to him as she stroked the Skreel’s snout.
"The boy is from Terraverde City," he reported. "He had a lover but the two are no longer together. But at the academy, he has grown very close to a student. She is a Magic User named Gwyn."
Hadassah’s hand stilled on the beast. With a smile spread across her lips.
"A Magic User? Interesting." She turned her head slightly. "Stop watching the boy for a moment. Put every eye we have on this Gwyn. Since he is very close to her, she might be the way to get to him."