Bituin: Queen of Aourterde

ONE

“And then what happened?” I asked Tala

“And then it was time for the babes to retire. Off to your beds now little ones” Nimuel and I tried to protest but she would hear none of it. Lifting the both of us off the ground Tala walked to our beds.

“Tala I promise I will train extra hard tomorrow if you let us stay awake for a little while longer.” Nimuel tried once more, he knows it would not work for he has tried it plenty of times previously.

“Should I rather cast a sleeping spell on the both of you to sleep for eternity?” we cowered back in fear.

“Perhaps that would keep them silent for more than the hour.” A voice came from the entrance. I was overjoyed by the sight of Anatalia and moved past Tala running to embrace her.

“Anatalia!” I quickly embraced her. She had been gone for almost a year and I had missed her dearly. She kneeled down and pulled me in closer to her, holding on to me.

“How fair our little princess?” She asked while playing with my hair.

“Always the best as can be.” I say proudly because just as I had promised her I was on my best behaviour and kept to my training. Which I proceeded to explain to her about it. I told her of my progress in combatting and the new training that Tala had me doing.

“Nimuel and I have been training ever since you left.”

“You did not skip a day?”

“Not a single day wasted” I smiled proudly at her.

She patted my head and turned to Nimuel. He stood behind me not speaking.

“Nimeul” he stepped forward looking down his hands placed behind him.

“How fair you child?”

“I am well mother” he didn’t move closer to her. I could see the fear in his eyes and knew what would happen. If Anatalia saw his bruised ankle we would be in a lot of trouble.

She merely gave him a smile, patted his head and stood up, she gestured for Tala to follow her out.

Tala took us both back to retire and before we could protest she whispered under her breath and everything went dark.

~~~

We grabbed on to the rocks and climbed higher. My hand slid down and I almost fell but Nimuel was fast enough to catch me. He held on to my clothing and pulled me up to him. “Hold on to me!” I held on to his wollen to keep me steady.

“Give up and we shall not torture you as harshly as intended.” One of the town boys yelled from below, the rest of them began to laugh. We could not let them win this fight. We had to retrieve the flower from the top of the mountain to win their ridiculous challenge. I pulled myself up and held on to a rock reaching higher up. My foot found a hold, using that I pushed higher and kept going.

“Throw the rock at them, Ret” Seeing that we almost reached up the small mountain the boys decided to throw rocks at us. Trying to not get hit Nimuel stepped on an unsteady rock and lost his grip. I reached my hand out to him but he missed it and landed on the hard ground.

“El!” I shouted and loosened my grip, causing me to fall too landing right next to him. The town boys found our fall quiet hilarious and made fun of us. They continued to mock and laugh despite our state. “Pesty royals!”

“Consarn it!” Nimuel swore out when he tried to get up but failed and tried again successfully lifting himself up. “Daisy? Did you get hurt?” Nimuel gave me his hand to hold onto. I slowly stood up leaning on him for support.

“I am alright El, are you hurt?” he stood up from the ground with a bruised knee and the left side of his face was swollen but he seemed to be okay. Tala would not be happy about us gaining more bruises.

Nimuel moved slowly towards the boys building the courage to face them. The boys were from the nearby villages and towns from the outskirts of the palace grounds. The walls of the palace were surrounded by mountains and trees and since the war long before the walls had crumbled creating pathways for the outsiders to come through. The village boys always visited us and it was never a pleasant visit.

“Enough! Give the dragon back to us.” He commanded. They merely laughed at him once more, the elder boys found fun in torturing Nimuel and I. Every other day they would climb past the mountains or sneak through the town to come closer to the palace and toy with us , for some unfathomable reason they hated us, called us names and treated us unkindly. Today, the boys decided to steal my little dragon and challenged us to retrieve a flower from the mountain top in exchange for him but one flower wasn’t enough. With each flower we retrieved they would request for another on a different mountain. Jedidiah my little dragon squirmed and huffed little clouds of smoke but he could not free himself.

Nimuel ran towards the leader of the town boys and tackled him to the ground, it seems that he has had enough of their games. He punched him over and over again the boy screamed and his followers came to his aid.

“Ret!”

“Get off him!”

“How dare you hit Ret!”

They bellowed and fought to get him off of their leader. I pushed them aside but two boys came to hold me back from helping El.

“Don’t touch her! Get your filthy hands off her!” Nimuel roared. He pushed past the boys that were holding him to get to me.

“Don’t, El no!” I tried to stop him but it was too late. One of the big boys held a stick up and hit Nimuel on the chest and another on his head. They continued to hit him again and again, I couldn’t take it. The sight of the blood trickling down his face was a trigger. I kicked the first boy in front of me, he stumbles backwards and falls on the ground. My dragon cried in encouragement and hope.

I broke free from the clutches of the boys holding me back and kicked right and then left leaving the boys shocked at my sudden attack, but I was only one against them all and they soon surrounded me again. More hands held me back and Ret the leader came forward in front me, smiling he wiped the blood from his lips.

“I have told you before haven’t I Daisy you pesty royals are nothing in this Kingdome” I spit onto his face, the anger clearly drawn onto his face. He wiped away the saliva then raised his foot ready to kick me, I braced myself for the impact closing my eyes and waiting but nothing came instead I heard the sound of a forceful wind and Ret was flying across the field landing roughly next to a bolder. I turned to my right to see who had come to our rescue and my heart dropped. Tala and Anatalia walked quickly towards us.

We were in trouble, we were in so much trouble, Anatalia did not look pleased and I knew she would make us pay for being weak.

“If you boys want to live long enough to one day feel the breasts of a women you best pick up your trash and leave this place. If I ever see you or even your shadows near the palace, the palace grounds or even the palace’s sh*t areas I will cut off your d*cks and shove ‘em up your a**es , am I clear”

The boys sensing the honesty in Anatalia’s voice visibly gulped and ran to get their leader before running back home.

I fell to the ground from the exhaustion but before I could breathe a sigh of relief I ran towards Nimuel. He lay still on the ground barely breathing he was badly wounded. A soft sob escaped me when I tried to stop some of the bleeding.

“Little Daisy. Let me” Tala said crouching down to touch Nimuel. She placed her palm on his forehead she chanted a few spells and suddenly a light glowed from her palm. Nimuel coughed and began to wake up, his wounds were closing and the colour on his face was coming back. I couldn’t hold back the joy I felt and quickly hugged him toppling both of us to the ground.

“El! You are alright.”

“Daisy!” he laughed trying to get back up. My little dragon screeched then took to the sky happy to be flying again. We both laughed at his joy but stopped abruptly when Anatalia cleared her throat.

“Clean yourselves up then meet me in the garden.” She said and walked away.

“We are in a lot of trouble aren’t we?” Nimuel asked and I nodded.

---

“Who are you?” Anatalia asked us. She walked back and forth, her hands behind her back her face contorted in a stern look.

We didn’t answer. She stopped walking and turned to us.

“I shall ask again, who are you?” she stood in front of Nimuel. He was visibly shaken by her presence, he placed his hands behind him and then brought them forward repeating the motion to try and calm himself down.

“I-I am Nimuel Bayani” he squeaked out.

“And what is your status in this palace?”

“I am the Queen’s future guard-d-”

Tears formed in his eyes, before he could complete his sentence Anatalia attacked him kicked his shin then she immediately crouched down brought her leg forward and flipped him to the ground. He got up charging towards her but she merely slapped him across the face and he fell to the ground. “Stand up.” Anatalia tossed a sword to him. Nimuel stood up again confused by what his mother wanted. “Future guard you say. Show me how you will protect your queen.” She charged at him again and Nimuel swerved avoiding her blade but only slightly. She kicked his middle and he fell to the ground. She then stood over him keeping him down with her one leg Nimeul struggling to get up.

“Anatalia, Anatalia enough!” Tala tried but she was stopped by the raise of Anatalia’s hand.

“Is this how you will be guarding the queen? By getting beaten up and lay bleeding on the ground while they kick and beat your Queen to her death! Is this what you will be doing?” She looked down at him in disappointment.

“What do you teach them Tala? Maps, books, big words and speaking fancy will not bring this kingdom back to its former glory. We are still at war Tala you may not see nor hear the kind of slander that is being said about Aourterde but I do. I see the enemies, and I come back to children who cannot even defend themselves against impotent town boys!?” she heaved, “They are supposed to be the future, the saviours of this kingdom and they need to start acting like it.”

“I understand your concerns Anatalia but they are just children, they are only seven years of age give them more time. They will be who they need to be when the time is right.”

“Is that what you see? Did your stars tell you that?” Tala kept silent.

“Exactly as I had thought.” Anatalia then turned back to us. “Every day before sunrise you will train, you will study and you will not leave until sunset. I do not care if you are sick or crippled you fight like it is your last.”

She walked up to me and lifted my chin with her finger.

“This is your kingdom, these are your lands and these are your people. When you come of age thousands will depend on your rule while thousands will try to kill you or await for your fall. You are the Queen and no one should treat you less than the queen that you are. Now, who are you?”

“I am Bituin Delisay, Queen of Aourterde” she nodded faintly then gestured for me to pick up the sword

“Show me how you would protect your people”

I lowered myself carefully to pick up the sword and just as I bent my head down she charged at me without warning but I was quick to lift the sword and stop her attack just in time.

The sound of the two metals clashing vibrated throughout the entire kingdom and that was the beginning of it all.