High Elve of Red Hallow

CHAPTER 14: The fall of Cardamon

We had prepared a net for her steps. We had bowed down before. Yet, now we dug a pit before her; In the midst of the chaos, Cardamon had fallen. -- Scribe from Lebanon, former guardsman.

--

Queen Seseh Diddymous sat alone by the broken windows of the broken palace. Her husband and her son had died. There was nothing but the nymph of the North residing inside her. She locked the doors to the royal hall barring separatists against her. The rebel guardsmen had taken over the lands of Cardamon.

Atop her throne, she surveyed out a window. A wasteland stood before her that once held magnificent gardens and trees. The gates lay destroyed on either side, tarnished by war. She wore a long gown of purple fabric adorned with golden threads running through and a crown. Vanice was alone in her private hall deep within the castle and tapped Seseh's nails on the throne's arm.

Where had it gone wrong?

What'd she do to fail? Vanice couldn't say. She had not become the queen of Cardamon and created an alluring thrall to lose it all as quick as a child's sniffle. Years of planning only to be ignored and forced to lock herself away in her own home. In the complexity that was her plans, there were always problems. Yet, moments had provided improvisation that furthered her dark quest. She hadn't expected treachery, nor the fall of the Cardamon territory. Guardsmen were solid and loyal caretakers of the royal household. Yet, they'd become separatists. The Nymph's plan seemed to have failed.

There was an edgy, pit-of-the-stomach, nervous feeling. She sensed someone was coming. Whoever it was, a couple of locked doors wouldn't stop them from entering and making more of a mess.

Was it the betrayal of the Cardamon guardsmen that tripped her warning jitters?

Or was it someone else?

She stared at an open glass window, a breeze blowing in and calming a small part of her nerves. There was nothing else she could do about the edgy feeling. Someone was coming and she knew it.

Vanice wished she could do something.

They sat, Queen Seseh mocking Vanice all the while and forced to wait for whoever was coming.

****

Lebanon began, "This must be where Cassius Longinus was--" 

"This is?" Bramble interjected, climbing down the steps. "Uh-oh. Look at the floors. Scat, you mangy verman... SCAT!" Bramble ran toward a deflated corpse, flapping his arms at a group of carrion.

They were Cardamon guardsmen... WERE. Now with breastplates off, they scoured for remaining survivors. The two wanted to rally them against the former Queen Seseh. One name floated among the men, Cassius Longinus. Where was he?

"Dear Hovenlla. Poor Cassius."

They found him pecked and eaten. "Queen's birds were hungry. All that's left is gristle and bone." 

"So? You think it was Cass? It could be any guard's remains by the look of this horrid mess." Bramble offered. 

 "No other guard was posted in the dungeon. He was head." 

 "What am I missing here?" Bramble asked. 

 "A breastplate, of course. This has to be the so-called Queen's doing. She usually doesn't go without her filthy, feathered friends. All we find are trails of feathers in her wake, pecking around at whatever they can get. Oh yes, this was her ill-gotten doing." 

They looked downtrodden. 

 "All right," Lebanon said. "Let's head out. We know where Cass is and can prepare what's left for burial later. For now, we need to find more. One thing I know is, no matter how much I see ilk like this, it doesn't prepare me any more than before."