Dutchess of the End

I awoke. The first sensations to greet me after my dreamless sleep had been pain. A dull, aching, throbbing thing that emanated from my back, sending swaths of redness up and down my extremities with each slow beat of my heart. My eyelids felt heavy, my entire body sore, as though I had just run the entire length of the swamp of Wicsey. The boots I remembered to have been on my body last I were awake were gone, and my feet felt lighter for it. 

 

Fortunately for me, it wasn’t all pain and suffering. Though the dull throb had slowly arisen into a sharp sting going from the back of my right shoulder to nearly my waist, I found it was met with something soft beneath me. A cloud? No, clouds were far too airy to be laid in, and the Magic of the day could hardly force them to be such. A bed? Yes. A bed. It had to be.

 

I groaned, and slowly, painfully against the daylight surrounding me, opened my eyes. My vision was unclear at first, confronted with a blurry fog of what surrounded me. Two bright shapes against a dull stone background, pockmarked with other spurts of light.

 

“She’s awake!”

 

“You’re alive!”

 

Two cries rang out. Two voices I recognized, though neither I had been expecting. My arms moved slowly to rub clarity into my eyes, though in a sudden burst of movement and pressure, were forced onto my face, my arms pinned to my chest. I cried out in pain, the sudden shock rubbing the wound on my back- one now remembered in clear, vivid detail.

 

“Oh, sorry!” The voice called out. Stephanie, who I could now clearly see before me, wearing a worried expression on her face. She was just as beautiful as the day I left her behind in the Hinterwastes. Her face painted with a concerned frown, deep blue eyes shining down with mercy upon a soul who had changed her entire life for the sake of that beauty above. Fuck, I loved her. How it had come to be was still something of a mystery to me, but I did.

 

She parted from me, and returned to sitting on the stool that she had been when I first awoke. My first look at Stephanie had been one of joy, of elation, of relief that she was safe. The second had been of shock. Her belly had been growing a child all this time, ever since the night when I laid her down amidst the glow of my time as Resawn, but it had not been as blatantly apparent that she was pregnant before. Now, her belly curved outward proudly, a hand placed gingerly on it from her own arm, smiling down at me.

 

“Steph… when, how…” I started. I had so many questions that I knew not how to phrase them all, or truly, where to begin with them.

 

“You’ve been asleep for two months, Carla.” Stephanie said. “The doctors say I’m carrying twins.”

 

“Twins…” I repeated in a low whisper, my throat- as I found- was too hoarse to speak at a normal conversational tone. Instead, the rasp was all I had to communicate.

 

“Yeah. Ready for that?”

 

“Good thing Sires can help feed infants, I suppose.” I said, closing my eyes again, a smile on my face. Twins. Not one, but two children to give life to. Life that… wait.

 

The battle.

 

The Myn.

 

The fucking Castle!

 

“Where- how- when-” I said loudly. My throat complained with a violent rumble as I tried to talk. My back and midsection protested painfully as I tried to sit up quickly. I winced, closed my eyes, and felt a cold hand on my shoulder push down on me, guiding me once more to the bed.

 

“Hush now, Carla.” Alana said as I still recovered from the additional pain I had caused myself. “The battle is over and won. The Myn were extinguished. Ten thousand brutish corpses lay outside the castle walls, rotting amongst themselves.”

 

“Alana came back, and she brought some friends.” Steph said. “The battle here was almost lost, but the day was saved by all four Alihjn tribes.”

 

Stephanie’s explanation was enough to give a cursory explanation of what happened, but Alana quickly dove into a much more detailed account of everything. After leaving the Telbian expedition, Renai circled around to Tilajn and Folaj. There, she warned them of what I had been planning on unleashing. The Elders of both tribes agreed to rally to Castle Telbud to fight. So too did the Slajo and Proja Tribes after Alana and Prinna arrived there. 

 

There had indeed been much of the Alihjn people that we Telbians had been unable to know- for their Magic forbid them to tell us until now. The War of Estermul had proven catastrophic for the relationship between Telbud and Alihjn. After the Alihjn Tribes refused to assist Estermul in its dying days, the curse that had been cast had effects far longer lasting than what was previously known.

 

In addition to the prophecy that I had uncovered- the very one that had driven my actions and inadvertently caused me to unleash the Myn into the world- there was a third vision. An additional few stone tablets that had not been found at Site 3-F. It had said something to the effect of only being allowed to share such information with women at large after such events had come to pass. The moment the Myn arose, each and every Alihjn alive had felt it, had known what had happened. Alana, Prinna, and Renai hardly had to say more than the destination of the Myn before the Alihjn were spurred into action.

 

Now, without the barrier of the curse to prevent such things, Alihjn women were free to teach their writing, their history, their way of life to Telbians. It had set Telbian knowledge back a thousand years- its desired effect achieved tenfold, but was now no more. In the two months I had been asleep, recovering from my wounds, history books had been rewritten, new discoveries that shook the foundation of everything I knew to be true were happening daily.

 

I spoke with not only Alana, but also Prinna and Renai on the situation as well. They taught me much, and the moment I was strong enough to sit up- a week after first waking- I began to write down all they had told me. My own book on Alihjn history had been hastily composed, edited by Penelope Knass- who had thankfully survived the battle, though had lost an eye in the conflict.

 

“You’re a sight for- well, I’m glad to see you made it.” Sore eyes would have been an insult I had no intention of slinging at her- even on accident. She was wearing a red eyepatch with the crest of the Archives stitched into it. If it bothered her, she gave no notice of. Penelope sat next to my bed and held my hand lightly, smiling at me quickly. That kiss I had given her during the battle, it seemed, had more than its desired effect. Two eyes or one, Penelope was beautiful, and as I soon found, a joy to be around.

 

“Yeah, you too. I was worried about you, you know?”

 

“Didn’t have to be.” I said. “I made it.”

 

“Thankfully.”

 

“Sorry about your eye. My fault, really.” I said, grimacing. My sins had been atoned for according to all I spoke of it to. I was the only one left who thought I had anything to apologise for. My Alihjn friends said it was destiny that I had done what I did. Mona had forgiven me. Stephanie had found no fault in me to begin with.

 

“No, it’s not. My fault, really. Shouldn’t have tried to go one on one with the bastard. I was lucky to get away with just losing an eye. The Alihjn witches tell me they can heal it, though.”

 

“Oh?” I asked, thankful that it wouldn’t be permanent. She lifted the eyepatch for a moment. I saw a sunken in eyelid as well as a nasty scar that ran from the uppermost area of the bridge of her nose down past her cheekbone. It was still a glowing red of an unhealed scab. If not for the blood and gore I had witnessed during the battle, I feared the sight would have made me faint.

 

“They say the scar is permanent, but if I go to Proja once the Alihjn armies leave I can continue treatment. I met this doctor, she’s so funny, you’d love her.”

 

“Anyway.” I said, making a circular motion with my Gift Hand to hurry the point along.

 

“Anyway,” Penelope continued. “The scar will always be there which sucks, but by next winter I should have full vision in a new eye. They had to pluck this one out to keep me alive.”

 

“Ouch.”

 

“Hurt like a bitch.” She said, and I nodded. “I did what I had to do. I wasn’t going to sit in the Archives like a coward.”

 

“It was nice having companionship out there. And… speaking of,” I said, smirking at her. “I’m to be Queen soon. My King encourages me to build a harem of my own.”

 

“Go on…”

 

“I’ve recruited but one thus far, if she survived the battle. I want to keep being friends, Penelope. Will you join me?” Penelope licked her lips, looking up and folding her arms about her chest, considering the offer.

 

“I had ambitions of being Grand Archivist one day.” She said. I nodded slowly, understanding.

 

“Very well. Such a matter has always been up to the King. You’ll have to take it up with her. Once our book is finished, I’ll be resigning.” I said. I never had the intention of continuing as Grand Archivist once I became Queen. My successor had a mess to pick up, but I had faith whoever Mona chose would be up to the task.

 

“Though I do wonder,” Penelope said, looking back down at me. “Is there a way to retain my title of High Archivist and still accept your offer?”

 

“Unfortunately not. However, there exists no law past or present that forbids a Queen the company of whatever willing woman who has grown into maturity she desires, concubine or not.” I said. A smile crept up onto my face when Penelope winked at me. I was sure it was a wink.

 

Penelope leaned down to kiss me. We shared several long moments of slow, wet liplock before she parted from me. We exchanged pleasantries for a few more moments, our discussion of important matters over. She only left my company when- some minutes later- Stephanie arrived.

 

“Carla?” Stephanie asked once we were alone. I responded to her greeting, and she continued. “Sire says we’re to be wed the day you can stand.”

 

I sat there, pillows pressed into my back, eyes wide as I looked at her.

 

“She’s giving up the Throne?” I asked. If not for Stephanie’s pregnancy, it would not have been expected that she do so immediately. However, if my timeline is correct, our children were not to be born for another seven months, if not more. Tradition allowed her some small time as King yet, though it seemed it was being foregone.

 

“Happily, I might add. Had she more time I know she would come visit you, I will continue imploring her to. For the moment, I have a list of wedding details I’d like to discuss with you.”

 

She pulled out a scroll of parchment and began unfurling it. The chair she sat at was high enough to be level with the bed, yet the roll of paper extended down onto the floor where it curled up some still. We spent hours discussing the finer details of the wedding. The grand ball, the celebration of life we both knew it would be and both wanted it to be. The food, the music, the decorations. No detail was spared, nothing I had suggested was absent from Stephanie’s list. She had thought of everything.

 

“You’ve grown.” I said. While my tone was accusing, the tongue I stuck out at her after speaking and the giggle that accompanied it betrayed my jest.

 

“And you’ve changed.” Stephanie said back with much the same joy. “You’re not the scary hardass everybody always thought you were.”

 

“I was never a hardass to you.”

 

“I am the only person such a statement was true about before. Now, I see you kissing the woman who was your greatest rival.”

 

“We made up.” I said simply. Shrugging my shoulders no longer hurt. Perhaps the ceremony would happen sooner rather than later.

 

“I am glad for it.” Stephanie said.

 

“Me too. She’s a joy.”

 

“I’ve spoken to her at length, I promised her your position upon my Coronation.” I raised an eyebrow at that. Steph continued. “I know she’d break your record for the youngest Grand Archivist in history, but I also know you. I know you’d be happy with whatever decision I made.”

 

“You know me well, then.”

 

She laughed at that. During our talks earlier, Penelope made no comment about how her desired position was already promised to her. It would partially explain why she declined my offer. Though I hadn’t thought of it earlier, there were more Royal duties I could bestow upon a woman as Queen than just a concubine’s position.

 

The talks faded into things less personal, of how things were outside the infirmary. Prinna and Alana had been married under the Alihjn tradition the night before, at midnight. Alihjn weddings were small affairs, secret until the morning after, when they would begin spreading the word themselves. I was happy for them, though when I asked of Renai’s fate, Steph mentioned that she’d returned to Proja briefly, in order to seek a divorce from her wife.

 

“Is that necessary for her?” I asked.

 

“No, but she wants to devote herself completely to those two.” Stephanie had said.

 

Mona, it seemed, had also been injured in battle. Though she lost no limbs and her wounds were not nearly as severe as mine, she had been hurt more than could just be shrugged off. She’d walk with a cane to support her left leg the rest of her days if not for the help of Alihjn Mages. They had her running and jumping like a woman twenty years younger.

 

Rebuilding efforts were nearly done. The Myn hadn’t destroyed much of the castle, thankfully. What walls they’d broken down had been rebuilt, and the outer walls repaired of the holes ripped in during their initial assault. 

 

“How is Chloe?” I asked suddenly, remembering the woman who I had invited into my Harem. I didn’t know much of her, but I would like to follow through on my promise to her. Stephanie shook her head and frowned. I lowered my neck, a brief sorrow creeping into my body.

 

“She fell during the battle. I’m told she sacrificed herself to kill a Myn who was about to bring  a wall down atop an entire battalion.” Stephanie whispered. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Once I can stand, I’d like to pay my respects. I didn’t know her well, but she meant a lot to me.” I said truthfully. Chloe represented my change of heart, my understanding of what relationships were like in Telbud. She was the one through which I would grow deeper in love with Stephanie, through who I could further bond with my King. “I’d like to honor her, somehow.”

 

“I’ll speak with Sire about it.” Stephanie said. I shook my head.

 

“No. Once we’re able to do it ourselves. This is a duty I don’t want passed to another.”

 

“Very well.”

 

We were silent for a moment. I sat there twirling my ring about my finger, looking between it and the woman it bound me to. My sorrow subsided eventually. By then it was dark, and Stephanie appeared tired.

 

“You should go and rest.” I said. “I’ll be okay.”

 

“Alright. I love you.” Steph said as she stood up slowly.

 

“I love you, too.”