Kavanagh suddenly felt his heart race; the queen once again surprised him with her eccentricity. He had thought her mostly harmless, even if her behavior turned utterly alien, such that he was complacent and listless when she declared she would go see the Snakemen immediately, he only understood what happened after she had already left and Miles hurriedly shook him, before exiting himself.

He was terrified. The queen had grown increasingly unpredictable, how could he have been so careless? A knight’s first and foremost vow to their liege is to always be by their side and to protect them from all harm, including harm they bring to themselves. He needed to stop her, right then and there. The Snakemen were dangerous, the path to Sarda took days and one needed supplies too, he thought she was going to die in the dead of night before even reaching Tristan.

They hurried out of the town hall and into the stable, an unwitting guard helped her upon a horse and she was already trotting towards the beaten path that led around the island.

Thankfully, as she hadn’t left the city yet, the queen did not start a full gallop. They got on their own horses and started pursuit. Before leaving, Kavanagh shouted to the guard that had helped Eriu to get another guard and quickly come assist him, and to inform the head maid Evie that the queen had gone out.

Kavanagh did not know what to think of the queen's new temperament, although she had completely stopped drinking, she now had very peculiar orders that made him weary. She took more of an interest in ruling the realm, but no other monarch would rule this way.

He was glad that she hadn’t ordered him to beat a single person since her change of heart, though. He trained for warfare and to serve royalty, roughing up people whose crime was no greater than beating her majesty at dice made his conscience ache. She did not even get angry all that much anymore since she stopped her habit of day drinking, it seemed that constant drinking really could affect a person's humours and change them for the worst.

She is acting more like a queen should. he thought for a brief second before shaking his head, her recklessness doesn’t befit royalty, I’m the one who trained to face adversity, not her.

While thinking about all this, they finally caught up to her Majesty. She was not the greatest of horse riders, so it wasn’t too difficult. She simply nodded to them and focused back on the road, clearly intent on still going.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Your majesty, this is utterly absurd!” exclaimed Miles in exasperation “Why do you want to see slaves? Snakemen are… maybe you do not know, as you have not seen one yourself before, but they are gigantic brutes, hardly smarter than a bull, they get angry easily too. There is no point in talking to them.”

“Whether there is no point is something I will judge for myself. Kavanagh is here to protect me and I'm sure he will do a good job, besides he already asked for backup, did he not? It should be fine.”

Although she guessed correctly, Kavanagh did not nod in agreement, he was intent on bringing Eriu back. “Your Majesty, we should go back to the palace, we will organize a party to Sarda to leave tomorrow morning…”

“If I let you stop me now, what’s the chance I will actually get to meet the Snakemen face to face? Your job is to protect me, you won’t let me do as I wish for fear of me dying.”

“I swear you will get to talk to them.”

“Behind twenty guards, fifty paces away, with you relaying my messages, right? Or some similar arrangement. I don’t care how dangerous it is, I want to talk to the Snakemen face to face.”

She had guessed correctly, once again. Kavanagh did not know what to do, he needed to keep her safe, but he couldn’t raise his hand against her to stop her from going, his persuasion was all for naught, what could he do?

“Are you afraid of the Snakemen? do you think a small retinue will not be enough to deal with them?”

“No, your Majesty, we can deal with them, but your safety…”

She smiled, “Royalty needs to put itself in harm’s way from time to time, don’t we? What would Aedhan say of a coward queen the just huddles in her palace?”

Kavanagh jolted, he had read stories of Aedhan’s brave host, and in his youth dreamed of being part of such a legendary group. But the age of adventurer kings had long since passed. This is how a queen should be, he thought once again.

It should be, brave, a bit reckless. This was better than Eriu’s old temperament.

“It is your job to protect me, not to mollycoddle me. I’m an adult, I can take some risks.”

While Kavanagh doubted himself, Miles offered a last bit of resistance.

“Your majesty, even with a very small group on horseback going at full pace, Sarda to the south is two full days away.”

“Is that a problem? The Queendom has functioned without my supervision for years now, it can afford two days of my absence. Lugh will welcome my absence, I’m sure.” she said, seemingly missing the danger to her safety “As for supplies, once your men come here tell them to go get enough supplies for all of us, get fresh horses and then catch up, we will wait for them.”

With such clear instructions, Kavanagh could do nothing but nod. Miles looked at the pacified knight and seemed to be going through a mental breakdown, wondering how they could keep their liege safe through all her mad requests.

Kavanagh decided that once his two men caught up, they should go back and bring four more guards along with the supplies, it will be enough men to deal with the Snakemen if they decide to attack.