‘Sara, do you think I was too strong with them? The Fallen Angels deserve the best treatment and for my sins I allowed their creation when I was caught full of power and politics. The numbers that...I’m sorry. The memories must be painful for you. Out of all them you alone became a viable test subject. Still, I am grateful for your presence. I don’t keep you around out a sense of penance you know! I’m not a flagellant. Goddess, I keep talking. I’m getting old.’ said Queen Averill.

The guard which Sara had knocked unconscious had regained it to find his comrade and the Queen standing in front of him along with a host of other servants who had been tasked, well-paid and suitably punished for not fulfilling their entire duties.

Both of them had left the ornately decorated room with additional guards drawn from her personal group. The fact that she had taken so long to actually realise that one of those under her direct care was going unwashed and had been steadily losing weight was entirely her fault she knew but there was only so much time in the day for her to attend duties.

‘You will directly inform me if the servants appointed to this room do not live up to standards. Sara here will guard my personal safety and on no account are any nobility or any from the priesthood allowed to enter this room without my direct permission. I do not care if they claim the blessed Goddess Aliza gave them a holy mission. None will enter this room except for me and Sara alone and you will need to organise a guard rotation. Current standards have dropped a little in my eyes. I know that neither of you will disappoint me.’ said Queen Averill.

Behind the guards inside the room she saw one of her Fallen Angels, Ursula, happily chatting with the mechanical bird which had been a gift from the Celestial Empire. The expression on her face was well worth the miracle of the gift. They had tried giving the Fallen Angels small animals, dogs and cats but all of them had died, flash frozen and turned into white dust due to their inability to control their power. She would eventually break the bird or what was powering it would stop and e would be upset but it gave her someone to talk to and maintain her integrity as a human being for just a little bit longer. Animals were scared of those with Light Magic, at least when it had been boosted to levels which no human could bear. Horses had been adapted of course but other smaller animals displayed open hostility or fear.

Humans were a different affair. They were not as affected directly unless they remained in direct contact or had been sufficiently corrupted that they would catch fire and burn. Or their bodies would simply break apart in chunks as the deep ingrained Light Magic built into the very cells of the Fallen Angels would remove all traces of corruption.

‘To be scared is understandable but these rumours that my Fallen Angels can kill with a single glance are wrong. Well, they’re not for those who have been corrupted beyond redemption but for ordinary folk, for those under the protection of the Goddess Aliza and myself they have little to fear aside from headaches and nosebleeds as most. I do not demand obedience, I ask for clarity and understanding even to you, my most loyal. Will you instruct the servants and take pity on those who sacrifice their minds to keep our city safe and cleansed from within?’ said the Queen.

Both of the guards dressed entirely in white armour, not as ornate or as expensive as the type which the Queen’s bodyguard, Sara Lightborne, wore but still imbued with the power of the Goddess simply bowed their heads and as one turned and entered the room.

With a smile on her face Queen Averill saw one of the guards approach the table with food and took a small plate with a piece of bread and spoke softly to Ursula before placing it on the floor and bowing.

Those who are truly faithful will believe in the plan of the Goddess. They will believe in my plan. All I do is for the sake of this kingdom.

The Queen turned her attention to her bodyguard as they left the secure room behind them and walked through the corridors of her palace keeping her bearing regal and her footsteps slow and precise as passing servants bowed to them and she responded with a bright smile.

‘Sara. Do you have an idea exactly why the servants were so hesitant? They should have been paid a fine wage and their families supported with housing within the halls of the palace itself. Those two guards as well, their lack of understanding is a failure on my part but also for those who employed them in the first place.’ said Queen Averill.

Her bodyguard was deep in though, although her facial expressions had taken time to decipher when the Queen had first rescued her from a single child alive in piles of corpses which were due to be incinerated to hide the experiments which the early form of the Church of Light had been conducting.

Over time, the Queen had tried her best to both befriend and raise her. What she saw on her face at the present was anger mixed in with other emotions. Likely, when she had first seen Ursula singing it had brought back traumatic memories. Old, unrepressed ones which the Queen had encouraged her bodyguard to talk about but never for her own interest. Only when she had felt entirely prepared to discuss.

‘I’m so sorry Sara. I didn’t think. Next time you can wait outside the entrance or if you need to just take some time alone. I can have other guards supporting me. I love and appreciate you but never at the cost of your own happiness. Please. Your thoughts on the matter.’

The original fake orphanages that used to gather in children who had lost their parents and family during the first days when the final attack on the Dark Lord was deemed both a success and failure and subjected them to effectively magical torture.

The Queen had ordered all traces of them destroyed and any evidence had been secured by herself and swept through for valuable clues and information on how better to combat the corruption magic which had infected so many in her kingdom. Shoving the grievous actions committed more than a decade ago she focused her immediate attention on Sara. The young woman had never showed the same signs of deterioration which Ursula had but at the same time her physical form was closer to that of the Queen. Increased strength, ability and the ability to heal as well as corruption being unable to afflict her soul.

‘Never mind. We will have a quick bite to eat and drink on our way to Kirkbride Castle. I don’t believe that I ever told you about my family history regarding it. All pleasant though. Not as though one of my ancient ancestors was a vampire and used the place as a charnel house to rule over the surrounding kingdoms. Be a bit of a bloody mess wouldn't it? That was my attempt at a joke Sara. No need to laugh. My husband certainly doesn’t. Come, we’ll be at the entrance to the palace soon.’ said Queen Averill.

As they continued walking through the halls of her palace, the Queen saw more than a few guards who operated in the city stationed in different corridors. Not all of them were directly answerable to herself as she didn’t pay them out of her own pocket but belonged to the Lords and Ladies who balanced her own position of ruling monarch and head of the state church.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

‘Your Majesty. Lady Lightborne. Word has spread of your imminent departure. A plain carriage with horses is being prepared as we speak. Bless the Goddess Aliza.’ said one guard who simply took a step forward in their path causing the pair to halt for a moment before he bowed and took his previous position outside one of the dining rooms.

Sara bristled as her armoured gloved hands flexed on the sheathed sword at her waist but she saw the Queen had taken no offence and showed no signs of reaction so relaxed her grip but gave the guard a strong look and watched him flinch a little.

‘Thank you. Your name please?’ said the Queen as she held up a hand to signal to her bodyguard to hold their position.

She didn’t want to question the guard too closely but word of her movements had spread faster than she was aware of even given her status. Besides. She had given no direct order to have a carriage prepared for her and if they also knew her final destination then she was either being spied upon or one of her own personal guards was a talkative sort or worse.

The stationed guard looked down at her feet, he had never dared to look either of them directly in the eyes and when he had spoken it had been at the ground. He showed her respect of her station at least but his actions were another matter. To directly enter and block their path as they were walking through the corridors of her own palace, her place of residence and power outside of the main temple dedicated to the Goddess Aliza was a punishable offence.

Seeing as how the guard had kept silent and not responded immediately with his name the Queen considered a few options, she could ignore his rudeness and carry on. She could enforce her authority or delegate another to do so. In less than a heartbeat with a single movement of her finger, Sara would force the guardsman to his knees or lift him into the air. She could even take his head with her sword in less time than it took him to blink.

All of these options were violent and necessitated a reaction. There were servants around, even if the other nobles liked to consider them as less than furniture. Her own actions with the room guards for her Fallen Angels had been another matter.

Sadly, reputation mattered and once tarnished would be harder to achieve. To act out of consideration for the suffering of another human being was one, to act because of her ego was another. She would not fall into a political trap of sorts designed to portray as a vicious warrior ruler whose husband would head out weekly for the sake of his own entertainment and bloodlust.

‘Ser Guard. As you can see my bodyguard Sara is by herself today and I had to station two of my personal soldiers to the room of the Fallen Angels. You will accompany me and tell me your name. Are we clear?’ said the Queen as she pushed part of the power of the Goddess into her voice.

Nor would she allow the reputation of her bodyguard to be tarnished as a barely restrained killer who showed little traces of emotion and acted as an attack cat with vicious claws on her word.

Interesting. He’s sweating. Badly. I can sense his heartbeating rapidly. There is no major trace of corruption in him though, not much as all. This is no attempt by a cult group to cause me harm with a poison blade.

‘I see. Which Lord or Lady do you belong to Ser Guardsman with No Name?’ said the Queen as she casually watch the body of the man struggle as his own presence became overwritten with her own.

Out of the corner of her eye Queen Averill saw a corner of Sara’s mouth turn up a little. She’d need to keep an eye on the young woman so that she didn’t confuse bullying those weaker than her with amusement. Perhaps she was simply suffering in a different way.

The guard faltered before he fell onto one knee and bowed his head. He spoke rapidly, either through fear or the power of the Goddess made real in his presence.

‘I best apologise your Majesty. I need apologise to the Lady Lightborne. I was named Willi by my father and mother and hail from one of the outer districts closer to the walls of the city. The one I served was the Lady of Guidance. I serve my Majesty through my failure to recognise the failure of my actions! I am Ser Spiess at your disposal.’ said the guard.

The Queen smiled but was unsurprised. The lack of sufficient treatment and care for her Fallen Angels was an expensive affair. Given the fact that none of them were nobility and to the large majority of the population they were simply those gifted by the Goddess Aliza at a young age who would undertake missions to cleanse certain areas of the city where corruption magic endured or had been imposed by cultists.

They were used mostly by her primary agent within the city Lady Joanne Dee Mawr, widely known as an unknown figure as a mistress of disguise and misdirection who acted on behalf of the Queen in the shadows.

‘Thank you Guardmen Spiess. From this point onwards you will enter my service. Show me loyalty and capability and you will become one of my personal guards. But I will see your family moved from the edge of the city to a more secure location under my protection. Sara here will be your immediate superior. I would suggest that you stay close to her and also remain outside when we enter our destination. Would you perhaps know where we are heading before you interrupted us?’ said the Queen.

There had been political interference from the Council of Six who saw the cost of taking care of the remaining Fallen Angels and their high standard of living as an unnecessary expense. This cheapened attempt to provoke her into violence or a display of power within the walls of her own palace was a reminder surely. One or more of them wished to say that she was able to rule in accordance with their efforts despire her exhalted position.

They could easily have been housed within the Temple of the Goddess Aliza, one of the vacant ones for the other vanished gods or even inside Kirkbride Castle or it’s more common name of the Asylum of Light and True Health. But it was her royal decision and it would not be interfered with.

‘Your Majesty. Lady Lightborne, I was given clear instructions see, to stand in your path and wait for your reaction. I was told you would take a carriage after seeing the captive Angels you keep locked up in your private rooms in your palace. No offence your Majesty. I do as told but I will follow your, no, Lady Lightborne. I will follow her instructions. Clear as the skies from the Goddess, bless her light.’

The Queen simply gestured to her bodyguard as she carried on walking. She knew that Sara would instruct the man how to behave in her presence, when to listen, when to talk and when he needed to shut up and stay silent and wait for her orders.

‘Onwards then. We are heading to the one place inside this beloved city of mine which everyone knows about but none easily want to enter for fear of never leaving. A shame really, all of the good works of the Goddess Aliza are enabled there. She does so much for us so we should return her favour as much as we can. We head to Kirkbride Castle.’

‘Your..actions are just. My Queen. I live to serve.’ said her bodyguard Sara as she grabbed the arm of the guard and half-lifted, half-pulled him along as the trio began walking again to the palace stables.