Our Kingdom Come | KingdomCraft

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ x - ʟᴀʙᴇʟʟᴇᴅ ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ

THE TAIGA KINGDOM

Yammy and Kyle camped out in the middle of a forest. They had crossed the border into the Taigan kingdom days prior. Yammy shivered under a spruce tree. She could barely feel her fingers and her toes, numbed by the temperature. And her nose had turned pink from the moment they set foot in the snow covered north.

She unsheathed her knife and started scraping, slowly stripping the tree of its bark. Kyle had stayed with the horses, entrusting her to search for twigs and logs.

The cold was torture. She could see her labored breath in the form of clouds. With a pile of firewood in her arms, she circled back, eager to start a fire, even for just a little warmth.

As she approached the campsite, Yammy could discern a crunching sound following behind her. When she turned to face the origin of this noice, she was met with the nose of a reindeer.

Yammy yelped, throwing all the wood she had gathered into the air as she fell down on the white winter powder. Her backside became incredibly cold.

"Oh dear, I am so sorry." Yammy could only stare in wonder as someone had offered her their hand. The woman was dressed in leather and wool, clearly she was a native to the Taiga.

"It's fine," Yammy said. She stood up by herself, not needing the stranger's assistance.

"Well, I feel terrible for spooking you like that. Here..." she started picking up the sticks Yammy had dropped. "..at least let me help you pick these up."

Yammy smiled as she began to collect the twigs too. "Thank you. My name is Yasmin, but please, call me Yammy."

"It's nice to meet you, Yammy. I am Stacy, Queen of the Taiga."

Yammy froze, not due to the cold, but from those last words that parted Stacy's mouth. Queen of the Taiga. Yammy could only stare. She was caught off guard. And the Queen's face? She wasn't at all how Yammy pictured her, she appeared kinder, less maniacal.

Stacy held a bundle of wood in her hands. "I think that's all of it." She glanced around the area in search for any more. "So, do you have shelter yet? The weather is unkind to travelers, especially at night."

Yammy pounced, tackling Stacy. The wood in her arms soared through the air once again. The two struggled in the snow. Stacy screamed in surprise and fear, bewildered at Yammy's actions.

"Why did you attack my kingdom? Why did you hurt my people?" Yammy shouted.

"I-I didn't! I'm just looking for a wolf," Stacy replied.

"Exactly, the wolf, I heard them howl that night, it was so close to my kingdom, almost next to my ear. You were there or at the very least, you sent them!"

"Never! I never attacked anybody!"

Kyle heard the commotion. He sprinted to Yammy, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her off Stacy. He didn't let go until they were a few feet away from the Taiga Queen.

"Alright, calm down. It's me. It's Kyle." He whispered in her ear as he carried her away. Yammy stopped trying to escape his grasp, instead she allowed him to move her, even she didn't know why she ambushed Stacy.

Stacy sat upright, brushing off her clothes. "Who are you?" She asked Yammy again.

Yammy sighed. "I am Queen Yammy of the Flower Kingdom."

"And you say you were attacked?" Stacy questioned, as she got on her feet.

"Yes, during my kingdom's greatest celebration, Poppy Day. They were innocents; good men and women, children! Many of my people died that night. But I heard a Taigan wolf howl."