The Queen's Curse (2 page)

In
a matter of seconds she turned her lithe body and caught the left guard full in the belly with a rapid and powerful side-kick. He immediately fell forward with a gasp; dropping his spear to the floor. Tirsa grabbed it and hit the other guard; who was too surprised to respond quickly, on the head. However, because he wore a thick bronze helmet it didn’t have much effect. He probably would have a headache later on, but he was still on his feet, pointing his spear dangerously towards her with wide eyes, ready to strike. With her ‘borrowed’ spear she managed to knock his spear out of his hands and with a puzzled look he watched it drop to the floor. She then struck him hard with the spear on the back of his knees. When he fell to the ground she whacked him unconscious with the wood on his unprotected neck.
That did it!

In the meanwhile the
Moustache was trying to get up, so she had to wallop him on the neck with the spear as well; which proved to be very effective indeed.

‘I am
so sorry,’ she said dryly. ‘But, I’m sure you’ll remember me now.’

She droppe
d the spear and quickly glanced around. Fortunately nobody had witnessed the commotion.

The two men lay on the floo
r in rather awkward positions, so she placed them both into sitting positions against each side of the castle door. It was quite a heavy task, but in a matter of moments she succeeded. It looked as if they were asleep; which probably did happen, because normally nothing really threatening occurred around here. Perhaps that was why they responded so slowly.

The real
threat lives inside the castle! she thought grimly.

Tirsa breathed in deeply; she
knew there was no turning back now. A serious penalty hung over her head if the queen found out. She might even lose her job, but she couldn’t care less.
Oh yes, she will find out soon enough!

Blind anger raged through her body like a
furious flame as she thought about the merciless queen. She struggled to think clearly. With a lot of effort she lifted the heavy iron bar, which barricaded and held the massive doors shut. It slipped and fell with a loud metallic crash on the stone floor and she looked nervously around.

A
ll was quiet in the courtyard. With all her strength she pushed against one of the doors and after a moment it slowly opened inwards and she hurriedly slipped inside, closing the door behind her with the same effort. She was in!

Wi
th a rapidly pounding heart, wide-open eyes and a dry mouth she stood with her back pressed motionless against the closed door.

She was in the Welcome H
all of Tarac; she could see dark high wooden chairs standing along the walls with red leather seats. It was calm in the huge hall with its green and blue carpets, oil paintings hanging from the walls, and highly embroidered tapestries which showed old scenes of crowds of people. In the middle was a perfectly round unlit fireplace surrounded by big grey round stones. It all looked very ancient and wealthy to Tirsa compared to her simple soldier’s quarters.

The place was
lit by the orange light of the rising sun shining through a large oval window to the left of her. In the air there was a scent like a mixture of cold stone and old wet wood. The smell of apathy.

At the end of the hall
, close to the wall, she noticed a white marble winding staircase covered with the same green and blue carpet.

She swallowed hard and searched her mind for familiar sights. Where was the l
arge Hall where she received her medal? She could see the hall ending in a corridor opposite her, which surely led to other rooms. The castle was truly huge; and now she knew why people could get lost in here. This hall in itself was already so grand!

She had to
find the queen quickly and Tirsa didn’t think she would be on the ground floor at this time of day. The kitchen would be here somewhere and the dining room with maids perhaps walking around preparing breakfast. She did hear a few muffled sounds coming from the far end of the corridor.

Artride would most likely be in her bedroom in one of the towers, her bathro
om or dining chamber; perhaps in her library or … in the dungeons watching the prisoners suffering. Queen Artride would love that according to the popular rumours she had heard about her. It was
she
who decided the fate of the condemned; it was a well known fact that she always had the last word in convictions.

Tirsa realized she had no idea
where she could be, because she didn’t know her habits at all, except from the bizarre stories she had heard. The companies were not really expected to know what the queen’s habits were; only what she demanded and how her kingdom was supposed to be organized and ruled.

I
bet she is in her personal quarters; wherever they may be.
Tirsa glimpsed the winding staircase and in a few seconds she was ascending it.

If I
meet anyone; I’ll just say I have an audience. They should not suspect anything
.

S
he tried to tread a little slower and behave naturally to avoid suspicion.

She cam
e across the first floor and noticed many closed golden doors. A little voice inside told her: “Not here.” So she went on to the next floor, and continued upwards until she was at the highest floor where the Towers had to be; everyone knew Royalty had their own guarded bedrooms. She peeked cautiously around and suddenly glanced into the grey, cold eyes of a mean looking old man.

Her heart leapt
into her mouth and her breathing stalled; but then she realised how stupid she was to mistake a painted face for a real one. And a frightful face it was. She felt shivers running down her spine.

Adrenaline was r
ushing through her body; all the while she was deciding which direction she had to go, left or right. The walls curved in both directions so she couldn’t see what was round either corner. She noticed a few more doors. She decided to see where the left side would take her and tiptoed across the floor keeping close to the walls. The corridors were all dimly lit with torches here and there.

S
he almost saw the guard too late. Quickly she hid herself, pressing her body tightly to the wall. Instinctively she reached for her sword and stiffened to find it gone.

‘Bl
ast, forgot!’ she cursed softly, but then remembered she couldn’t use it anyway without seriously getting in trouble. She didn’t want to harm her colleagues – as ignorant as they were.

Howeve
r, she didn’t have a plan; other than lying about having an appointment. She had no proof, so would they believe her?

They simply have to.
She decided to go and face the guard.

Vehemently she walk
ed over to the man, who straightened himself when he noticed her.

When she was only a few footst
eps away, she recognized the guard. Quickly she searched her memory. It was Barkor; a former soldier from the company she started her career in. Tirsa remembered he had been wounded and had lost an eye in the same campaign that she distinguished herself in. As a soldier he was worthless; but as a guard, she guessed, he was good enough. He still looked big and strong.

She sighed relieved and relaxed
. This could work in her favour.

He
also calmed down visibly when he glanced at her, his mouth gaping open and the one eye staring wide and unbelieving at her.

‘Tirsa? Is that you?’ he sounded
more than overwhelmed. She noticed a black eye rag in front of his missing left eye.

‘Why, Barkor!’

‘Come here, little one!’ he laughed while he embraced her in a rough but friendly way.

‘You have come to pay me a visit?’

‘Er, not really, I had forgotten you worked here.’

‘That’s okay,
’ his full lips formed a broad smile. ‘I’ve heard you’ve been pretty busy.’ He held her so he could look her in the eyes; she thought she saw a wave of pity combined with honest affection in his one dark eye.

‘Tirsa La
thabris, it’s been ages!’

‘So
how’s life in Tarac for you?’ she asked quickly, and released herself from his too lengthy and tight embrace.

He
looked shyly away scratching his head and messing up his neatly combed thick brown hair, answering in a stuttering voice, ‘Ah, the food is great and the luxury and all. I even get to see the queen sometimes.’ His hand reached for his heart and he sighed. ‘She is truly astonishing and she always nods at me kindly. But … well, the work is a bit boring.’ And he added ruefully, shaking his head. ‘Not like the old days. Not by far …’

She patted
him on the back and smiled at him warmly. ‘But less dangerous, I reckon and that is for the better.’

‘
Yeah, you’re right.’ He shivered when he thought about the worst part – the killing fields during war although somehow it made him feel more alive; to be close to death always did. He added proudly: ‘Hey, I even have quite some responsibility here. I am after all protecting the most important woman of the country. What more can a man in Ceartas want?’ He spread his arms and she saw he had gained some weight.

‘And a good job you do too.’

‘I should say so! Not a single person ever passed me without a fight! And I tell you, not even
you
would succeed, Tirsa!’ and he pointed a finger at her with an amused eye.

She laughed
somewhat nervously, and swallowed away her rising tension. ‘But well, luckily for me I don’t have to, for I have an audience with Her Majesty.’

His face showed interest. ‘Ah, of course you do. With the
queen herself?’ She nodded.

‘I can see and
heard you are a commander now; well you really deserve it too. I bet you have something really important to discuss with her.’

‘Yes, it is pretty serious actually.’ And her face became grim. He knew she wouldn’t tell him. He
always had to drag things out of her in the old days and he guessed that hadn’t changed; perhaps it even had become worse. The fact was she had changed for the better; but Barkor didn’t know that. After she had left that first company to join and upgrade to her second, things had changed, but now it was gone again; the way a rainbow would come and suddenly dissolve into thin air. Barkor only knew the stories that spread among the soldiers; and was too embarrassed to ask her for the details now.

From underneath his leather overcoat he pulled
out a small black book and began to leaf through it. His one eye shot from one side to another while he searched for her name on the thin pages with his thick fingers. Tirsa felt her heart in her throat pounding; this could be tricky.

‘What time did you say, Tirsa?’

‘An hour after sunrise.’

He still
kept his eye on the book, distressed because he couldn’t find it.

‘She
does have an appointment with a Commander Distoas from the Second Company, a little later, but –’

‘I
am replacing him’, she interrupted Barkor quickly with a high pitched voice.

‘He
’s got a nasty fever and this matter is very urgent and somebody had to go.’ Now he did look at her with his big watery eye. ‘In that case … I’ve heard that the Second Company had a hard time with opponents at the border with Zoria, didn’t they?’

Fortunately she knew enough about that to answer the question. ‘Yes, five deaths on our side and about fifteen wound
ed.’ She sighed. ‘King Zoltas’ army doesn’t want to hear about peace. At that time I was in Razoras with my company, so we were too late for back-up, just like most companies were. The second one isn’t the best of them, like in our days. Now we have to try to work on that and we also have to talk about negotiations between Zoria and Ceartas again. I trust that Queen Artride will talk with Zoltas soon.’

‘I hope so.
I don’t think Zoltas is the problem. At least his country has better honest laws, but he might want to expand his territory or perhaps some trouble between the two armies occurred? I have heard the lot of them are troublemakers. There should be some treaty, before it goes any further than this.’

Tirsa nodded. S
he hated the partial lie and hoped he wouldn’t be in any trouble afterwards.

‘Well, if it’s ab
out justice, you know what to do.’ Barkor complimented her and patted her on the shoulders. ‘You were always the best when it came to that. That’s why I don’t have to wish you luck, because I know you can work things out with her; witty and clever as you are.’ He added whispering, ‘They say she isn’t too bad when it comes to peace treaties.’

Tirsa smiled. ‘Thank you, Barkor.’
And she meant it more than he could possible know.

‘Ehm, do I get to see
you sometime, Tirsa, when you are free of course?’

Her
thoughts were occupied with meeting the queen, so a little absent-mindedly she responded, ‘Sure, we could have a drink together.’

His face lit up. ‘Great, th
en we can share some memories for old time’s sake.’