Critique and comments are of course welcome! The only thing that won't be tolerated is rudeness.
With no more ado, here is the prologue!!! Hope you like it!! ^__^
Night had fallen and Queen Liyah of the Chalian Empire gazed angrily out the window. She had been like this since she had found out, refusing food and drink for almost three days. If her husband thought that isolation and food deprivation would cool her anger he was wrong. Zafiya. Just thinking the other woman's name made her scowl, just picturing her with her henna-colored hair, tawny skin, large brown eyes, and all the general allure and air of mystery that women of the Southern Tribes had made her want to throw something.
Thinking on herself -pale, grey eyed, and common golden hair- it was quite easy to understand why it had happened. Zafiya was much more beautiful than she,. Everyone knew it. She knew that her husband knew it. However, she never imagined that her husband the good Emperor Jaran would take this woman as his mistress. Especially given their precarious position the thought seemed nonsensical. Had this woman been any common sixpenny strumpet -of which her husband found from time to time-things would have turned out better. But no! Her husband had to take the Queen of the Riddell Empire, the ruling lady of Chalii's closest ally for his secret wife.
Liyah recalled the event as though it had just happened a few moments ago instead of almost three days. A messenger from the Riddell Empire had come with news about some silly party or other which Liyah and Jaran had been invited to. He was a familiar messenger, the type that everyone says hello to, and does not need to announce his presence. He walked into Jaran's study to find the man himself and the Lady Zafiya hastily pulling on their clothes. The two tried to bribe the man with exorbitant amounts of money, but to no avail. The messenger was loyal only to his leader, King Riddelmas, and had long had his suspicions about his leader's foriegn bride (hailing from lands that could barely call themselves civilized, in the messenger's eyes) that had been given to him to strike an alliance between two powerful families, a girl given scarce after her fifteenth birthday to a man thirty years her senior.
Liyah remembered coming into the entrance hall to find her husband and Riddelmas fighting. At first, she chose to ignore all she suspected, and had been ignorant. She rushed down to see what the fight was truly about -Whatever it is, surely the leaders of the two most powerful nations on he Arleya coninent could not be so petty as to fight in this manner! It was dangerous, had they no thought for their people?-she remembered thinking.
The two men were almost at blows when Liayh reached them and sought to restrain her husband. Then in walks the catalysy, Zafiya. She ran over to Jaran and in front of Liyah and her own enraged husband she runs into his embrace, shoving Liyah aside.
"Jaran...?" Liyah whispered his name. If he heard her he did not acknowledge her. Zafiya, however, turned to face her and told her not to touch him.
"Your touch disgusts him, did you not know?" She saud maliciously. Liyah sank to the ground and cried, doing nothing but watching her tears hit the flagstones even as Zafiya declared her love for Jaran, even as she told her husband he was a disgusting pig and declared herself Jaran's Soul-Heart and her world fell apart, she could only watch her tears fall.
Two days later that pain still stung as though the event had just happened. Two days later the golden age that the two great Empires had know was beginning to crumble. Liyah put her hand to her face and feld the wetness. -Have I been crying again?- She though, as she dried her cheeks. A glance at the beautiful full-length mirror across the room showed her the wreck that she had become. She snatched up a vase and hurled it at the mirror. It cracked and fell to the ground with a crash.
Servants banged on the door, pleading with her to speak to them, begging to know that she was all right.
"I 'm fine!" She yelled through the huge oaken door. "Tell his highness that this wretched, disgusting woman he is bound to has not died yet!!" Through the door she heard the mad shuffling of feet as they scurried away.
Kneeling down, she picked up a fragment of the broken mirror. She gasped when a jagged edge cut her and a perfectly round drop of liquid ruby blood oozd out of her body and fell soundlessly onto the ornate carpet. The thought of killing herself crossed her mind. -But why?- She thought. -No one will cry if you are dead. Why not strike at what they both love?-.
The thought flashed through her mind and shocked her limbs like a bold of lightning. A primal scream tore itself from her throat and transformed itself into mad laughter that bounced around the large room, enveloping Queen Liyah in the dreadful, sanity-shredding sound.
Thinking on herself -pale, grey eyed, and common golden hair- it was quite easy to understand why it had happened. Zafiya was much more beautiful than she,. Everyone knew it. She knew that her husband knew it. However, she never imagined that her husband the good Emperor Jaran would take this woman as his mistress. Especially given their precarious position the thought seemed nonsensical. Had this woman been any common sixpenny strumpet -of which her husband found from time to time-things would have turned out better. But no! Her husband had to take the Queen of the Riddell Empire, the ruling lady of Chalii's closest ally for his secret wife.
Liyah recalled the event as though it had just happened a few moments ago instead of almost three days. A messenger from the Riddell Empire had come with news about some silly party or other which Liyah and Jaran had been invited to. He was a familiar messenger, the type that everyone says hello to, and does not need to announce his presence. He walked into Jaran's study to find the man himself and the Lady Zafiya hastily pulling on their clothes. The two tried to bribe the man with exorbitant amounts of money, but to no avail. The messenger was loyal only to his leader, King Riddelmas, and had long had his suspicions about his leader's foriegn bride (hailing from lands that could barely call themselves civilized, in the messenger's eyes) that had been given to him to strike an alliance between two powerful families, a girl given scarce after her fifteenth birthday to a man thirty years her senior.
Liyah remembered coming into the entrance hall to find her husband and Riddelmas fighting. At first, she chose to ignore all she suspected, and had been ignorant. She rushed down to see what the fight was truly about -Whatever it is, surely the leaders of the two most powerful nations on he Arleya coninent could not be so petty as to fight in this manner! It was dangerous, had they no thought for their people?-she remembered thinking.
The two men were almost at blows when Liayh reached them and sought to restrain her husband. Then in walks the catalysy, Zafiya. She ran over to Jaran and in front of Liyah and her own enraged husband she runs into his embrace, shoving Liyah aside.
"Jaran...?" Liyah whispered his name. If he heard her he did not acknowledge her. Zafiya, however, turned to face her and told her not to touch him.
"Your touch disgusts him, did you not know?" She saud maliciously. Liyah sank to the ground and cried, doing nothing but watching her tears hit the flagstones even as Zafiya declared her love for Jaran, even as she told her husband he was a disgusting pig and declared herself Jaran's Soul-Heart and her world fell apart, she could only watch her tears fall.
Two days later that pain still stung as though the event had just happened. Two days later the golden age that the two great Empires had know was beginning to crumble. Liyah put her hand to her face and feld the wetness. -Have I been crying again?- She though, as she dried her cheeks. A glance at the beautiful full-length mirror across the room showed her the wreck that she had become. She snatched up a vase and hurled it at the mirror. It cracked and fell to the ground with a crash.
Servants banged on the door, pleading with her to speak to them, begging to know that she was all right.
"I 'm fine!" She yelled through the huge oaken door. "Tell his highness that this wretched, disgusting woman he is bound to has not died yet!!" Through the door she heard the mad shuffling of feet as they scurried away.
Kneeling down, she picked up a fragment of the broken mirror. She gasped when a jagged edge cut her and a perfectly round drop of liquid ruby blood oozd out of her body and fell soundlessly onto the ornate carpet. The thought of killing herself crossed her mind. -But why?- She thought. -No one will cry if you are dead. Why not strike at what they both love?-.
The thought flashed through her mind and shocked her limbs like a bold of lightning. A primal scream tore itself from her throat and transformed itself into mad laughter that bounced around the large room, enveloping Queen Liyah in the dreadful, sanity-shredding sound.
That's all I can get in now, my time on the computer is almost up! Please tell me what you think, and if you like it I will get more up when I can!!!!
