Irony of Elements

“I heard that the queen almost doesn’t leave her chambers these days.”

“I am sure she is sick. Her skin is very pale.”

“And I think she is scared.”

“The queen?”

“Last time when I saw her, she followed that cursed child.”

Silence reigned among the guards. The service has been tough, especially under Lord Lavese, who’s rules were harsh and almost cruel. They were paid well though, as the safety in Karmala was an imperative. The king, leading the politics of the conquest, knew how many enemies are against him – and how many would use every crevice to slip inside the well guarded castle.

The king surrounded the city with a cordon of army. Many conquered lands didn’t agree with their rightful rulers. Army was guarding the outer terrains and was sent to keep these kingdoms in check. It wasn’t even needed to add that this army was powerful as a blast from the cannon. Nothing could stop them.

The queen was, though, another case.

She married Savras in the late age of thirty but she managed to bring three children – two boys and a girl. The oldest one, prince Dussen, was already a very insufferable teenager. She was always fragile and guards thought that sometimes stupid. But half a year ago, her behavior started to be strange. She didn’t want to take part in celebrations, didn’t want even to share her bedchambers with Savras, which was widely known, as the king wasn’t hiding his frustration.

Queen Rabra seemed a frightened couch puppy, witnessing her very first thunderstorm.

And there was someone who opened the window, to let the rain and lightning in.

“If you asked me, that elf is involved in everything bad that happens here.”

“But even he can’t endanger the queen. If he ever tried, Savras would tear his stomach up and order him to eat his own entrails.”

One of the guards, who till now didn’t take part in the conversation, laughed nastily.

“And you, what do you think about it, Rog?”

Rog scoffed, amused. His face, bearing a similar scar as the king, spread in an awful wide grin.

“I think we all dance to his music.” he just said. “If that depended on me, I would kill him. Not sending some stupid refined assassin, which he could easily take of with his cursed magic. We should go and stab him as he sleeps, overpowering him with our mass.”

“Hmmm…”

“This is risky to speak so. He has ears everywhere. And I somehow think, he would be prepared for this. The magic he surrounds himself with…”

“Better to have him on our side” said an older, white haired soldier. “Who knows what he plans. How all shifts.”

“Yeah, and soon, the pigs will start to fly and elves will rule Karmala. He is an easy target. He looks like a kid, for Anit’s sake! He is weak and small.”

The old soldier looked at him like he just found a very fat specimen of a cockroach on his pillow.

“Just shut up, Rog. This kind of talking won’t take you far.”

“Yes?” the guard in question gazed at him with anger. “You all are already lost to him. This is what he wants. Soon you will all wake up with a leash on your necks, with those filthy pointy-eared bastards holding its other end!”

Rog didn’t want to talk and the last hours passed with a stern atmosphere and hostility. The other guards never liked Rog, he was searching for conflict wherever he went. Searching for problems and putting others – purposefully – against each other.

When they were changed, the sun still was hidden behind the horizon. Rog, annoyed, decided to cool his head outside, clear his mind. They were such fools! He suspected since elvin boy appeared in the castle, that he plans something against this kingdom. The way he coiled Savras around his finger, the way he used his privileges to help the slaves. He plotted, oh he plotted, for sure! If all were seeing it as clear as he, Rog. But they were too cautious. They should blow him up in an explosion of blue fire, the quicker, the better.

He took a slug and lighting it up, he inhaled a big swig of the smoke.

He felt this, as soon as the herb reached his lungs.

It felt like he found himself in the water, he couldn’t take a breath, feelling how fluid fills him. His eyes opened wildly, in sheer panic, he tossed the cigarette and supported himself on the stone wall, trying all the time to catch a breath.

“It feels like you are burning. But you are, in fact, drowning. What an irony of elements” he heard an amused voice and at once, he knew who speaks. This… this…

“I would say that in every court, in every place led by aristocrats, keeping your mouth shut and minding your own business is profitable” said Raithea, approaching Rog slowly and patting him friendly on the bent back. “Court is a dangerous place and is built by… dangerous people.”

Water, bubbly, in his nose, his lungs… his cursed lungs!… he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t take air in!

“You… khhhh… you… bast—-“

Raithea just forced more of the magic into the guard’s throat. Rog’s eyes almost left their sockets, he tossed, until he fell on the ground, cut under his knees with a power of death. The water started to slowly trickle from his nose and mouth, sinking immediately into the ground.

“I actually showed you a lot of mercy,” he said to the dead body, still focusing on keeping a magical bubble around them both, aware that if someone saw them, his plans would have to change… drastically. He knew that the spell inside Rog’s body would utilize his corpse in an hour or more. He decided to stay, safely concealed and watch as the guard’s body changed into dust.

Now he had a face that he could use for weaving Arialin’s mask. Not a perfect face, as he will have to hire a human guard, so Arialin was always close.

Possibly that will be more problematic than giving him the face of a human washerwoman. But easier and connected with much less of a loss.

And he was sure that Arialin would have better things to do, than washing dirty underwear for spoiled nobles.

Much better.

He felt though that usage of magic drained him, his already tired body almost collapsed when a certain dose of elation evaporated.. This was an especially powerful spell and taking a life never was coming without consequences.

Magic takes and gives. Now he took, swallowed it, just as Rog. What he will have to give, will reveal itself in the morning.

He felt an itching in his left hand. And he guessed, even if that knowledge couldn’t stop it from happening.