Fairy Tale: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Mar. 29th, 2012 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kasihyaTitle: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Word Count: 1,563
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there were two kingdoms: the southern kingdom, ruled by the human queen Nosizwe, and the northern kingdom, ruled by the witch queen Mabyn. These two kingdoms had been at war for as long as anyone could remember: the southern kingdom desired the rich timber of the northern forests, and the northern people clamored for the gems and precious stones to be found in the plains of the southern realm.
When Queen Nosizwe had ascended to the throne, her primary goal had been to end the war. To this end, she sent out her husband to fight the fairies in the north; to protect their children, she said. But when he fell, there was nothing for it except to send out her eldest son to carry on. So the kingdom wouldn’t fall and be plundered by the witch queen and her armies. And when he fell, too, she sent out her daughters; then her younger sons; until, at last, she was left only with the very youngest, a boy of nine, who had been born shortly after the king died. Him she kept close, and trained him harder than any of his elder siblings, so that when at last he went to carry on the war that had begun so many years ago, he would succeed, and bring peace and prosperity at last.
Queen Mabyn had no children, for a true witch does not marry, nor can she bear children. Instead, she had a coven of sprites, nymphs, and pixies, whom she raised as her own and from among whom she would select an heir. Still, when she heard of how Queen Nosizwe in the south was training her youngest son for these last five years, she knew that she ought to take counter-action. To this end, she selected a crow spirit, whose deep black skin would bring respect among the southern peoples. The crow spirit hid his wings and hid his feathers and travelled to the southern kingdom in the guise of a jester.
‘Win the trust of the southern queen,’ instructed the witch queen. ‘She guards her son very closely, and allows him to see no one who is not in her innermost circle. Get there; and when you do, kill him.’
The crow spirit, a youth by the name of Emlyn, did as he was bade. He made his way to the court of Queen Nosizwe, where he pretended to be a wandering warrior. He joined her army, and for his skill and subtlety was quickly promoted through the ranks until he joined Queen Nosizwe’s palace guard. During this time, the crow spirit learned of the ways of the southern kingdom, and studied their culture so that he would not be discovered. His deception was such that, a mere two years after he joined the court, he was formally presented to Prince Nkosana to serve as a personal bodyguard.
He quickly discovered that all was not as Queen Mabyn had suspected. Prince Nkosana was a highly trained warrior, it was true, and a master of strategy, but he had no desire to wage war or to conquer the northern kingdoms. ‘I wish to improve irrigation,’ he confided to Emlyn one afternoon.
‘What of the fairies, my prince?’ asked Emlyn.
‘They want our stones and we want their timber. Let us trade for them,’ said Prince Nkosana. ‘I tell my mother this every time she asks for my plans, but she will not settle for a peaceful resolution to a war which has claimed the rest of our family.’
‘All the more reason to end it there, I would say,’ ventured Emlyn.
‘Exactly!’ cried the prince, and they smiled at each other.
After this, Emlyn knew that despite his orders from Queen Mabyn, who had been waiting these two years, he could not kill the prince. But neither could he remain forever in the southern kingdom, away from his family and his own kind. One night, he brought back his wings and his feathers, and stood before the prince. ‘My prince, I have deceived you,’ he said. ‘I am not as I seem. I have been sent to abduct you by my mother, Queen Mabyn, to end the war that still continues, but I find that I cannot in good conscience harm you. You have confided in me, and I find you to be a good and worthy person who does not deserve the fate I would have brought. Do with me what you will.’
The prince stood, stunned. And then, to Emlyn’s very great surprise, he began to laugh. ‘I am not going mad, then,’ he said. ‘I have long thought that you would look more at home clothed in feathers than armor.’
‘And you are not angered?’ asked Emlyn.
‘Angered? Yes, but that is for later. For now, I have an idea.’ The prince’s eyes lit up like garnets under sunlight. ‘You would have abducted me, yes?’
‘But I do not now want to,’ protested the crow spirit.
‘Nor do I want you to, either. Now listen.
‘You will abduct me, as planned, and you will take me to your kingdom. I want to understand your people, so that when I come of age and am given the power to wage war, I will understand how to make peace, instead.’ The prince smiled, and Emlyn thought of spending two more years away from his own court, with this odd, unpredictable human. He shuffled his wings back into place and nodded.
The prince and the crow escaped by air, Emlyn wrapping his arms around Nkosana’s chest as he takes off and his wings pump the air, buffeting the guards on their ramparts back head over heels. They fly for an hour or more, and then Emlyn spiraled to the ground, exhausted. They continued on foot throughout the night, slept during the day, until they reached the thick-wooded forests and cold winds of the northern kingdom. They swept to the east to avoid the worst of the battles, but they could not escape the effects of the war: impoverished villages whose crops rotted because there were no able-bodied humans left to harvest them, and forests full of sick and dying trees because their nymphs had gone to the borders and never come back.
When Queen Nosizwe discovered that her son, her favorite, had been stolen, she screamed and ordered her armies to be doubled.
When Queen Mabyn received no further news of her son, she grieved, fearing that he and the prince had killed each other before they reached the northern kingdom, and fought to push the southern armies back from her borders and into their own.
And all this time, the two princes traveled. Nkosana explained himself as a mahogany sprite whose tree had been cut down by the southern armies, and met with sympathy. He and Emlyn settled in a grove of trees near the latest battle site, and Nkosana learned about healing ritual among the tree nymphs and naiads. They tracked down the murder of crows where Emlyn’s brothers and sisters, not having been selected for royal consideration, had grown up, and Nkosana was introduced to them as Emlyn’s traveling companion. Finally, the two princes spent some time traveling with the army, fighting over a patch of land that the south was attempting to regain. It was only here, when Emlyn was shot through the wing by a southern warrior and nearly did not recover, that Nkosana realized he had inadvertently stumbled into a solution to their problems.
‘It is time,’ he said, on his eighteenth birthday. ‘Today, I return to my kingdom.’
‘And what will you do then?’ asked Emlyn.
Nkosana smiled and shook out his fingers, as though making a crow-wing gesture of reassurance.
They went to Queen Mabyn first. The witch queen’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher on her forehead as they described their plan for peace, hands clasping each other for support.
‘Now you must get my rival to see your logic,’ she said, and in the interest of peace, Prince Nkosana did not mention her subtle insinuations against his mother.
Queen Nosizwe wept when she saw her son alive and well, and raged when she saw Emlyn in her court, hand in hand with the prince he had abducted. Her anger did not abate even after explanations from Prince Nkosana. In the end, Nkosana drew his sword against his own throat, and threatened to end his own life in truth if she would not see reason. At this, she calmed herself.
‘You will do this?’ she asked. ‘After all that we have suffered at the hands of fairies like this one?’
‘Especially after all that,’ said Prince Nkosana.
And that is why, twenty-one years after constant warfare, on the edge of the northern forests and the southern plains, Nkosana and Emlyn were married in the presence of their subjects, and negotiated peace between the two kingdoms. They abandoned the palace of the southern kingdom and the citadel of the north, and built themselves a nest of stone in the middle of their newly joined kingdom. Prince Nkosana made peace with the common folk of the north, and Prince Emlyn negotiated diplomacy between the former southern and northern courts. They blended their customs and their peoples together, opened peaceful trade, and lived happily ever after.
Word Count: 1,563
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there were two kingdoms: the southern kingdom, ruled by the human queen Nosizwe, and the northern kingdom, ruled by the witch queen Mabyn. These two kingdoms had been at war for as long as anyone could remember: the southern kingdom desired the rich timber of the northern forests, and the northern people clamored for the gems and precious stones to be found in the plains of the southern realm.
When Queen Nosizwe had ascended to the throne, her primary goal had been to end the war. To this end, she sent out her husband to fight the fairies in the north; to protect their children, she said. But when he fell, there was nothing for it except to send out her eldest son to carry on. So the kingdom wouldn’t fall and be plundered by the witch queen and her armies. And when he fell, too, she sent out her daughters; then her younger sons; until, at last, she was left only with the very youngest, a boy of nine, who had been born shortly after the king died. Him she kept close, and trained him harder than any of his elder siblings, so that when at last he went to carry on the war that had begun so many years ago, he would succeed, and bring peace and prosperity at last.
Queen Mabyn had no children, for a true witch does not marry, nor can she bear children. Instead, she had a coven of sprites, nymphs, and pixies, whom she raised as her own and from among whom she would select an heir. Still, when she heard of how Queen Nosizwe in the south was training her youngest son for these last five years, she knew that she ought to take counter-action. To this end, she selected a crow spirit, whose deep black skin would bring respect among the southern peoples. The crow spirit hid his wings and hid his feathers and travelled to the southern kingdom in the guise of a jester.
‘Win the trust of the southern queen,’ instructed the witch queen. ‘She guards her son very closely, and allows him to see no one who is not in her innermost circle. Get there; and when you do, kill him.’
The crow spirit, a youth by the name of Emlyn, did as he was bade. He made his way to the court of Queen Nosizwe, where he pretended to be a wandering warrior. He joined her army, and for his skill and subtlety was quickly promoted through the ranks until he joined Queen Nosizwe’s palace guard. During this time, the crow spirit learned of the ways of the southern kingdom, and studied their culture so that he would not be discovered. His deception was such that, a mere two years after he joined the court, he was formally presented to Prince Nkosana to serve as a personal bodyguard.
He quickly discovered that all was not as Queen Mabyn had suspected. Prince Nkosana was a highly trained warrior, it was true, and a master of strategy, but he had no desire to wage war or to conquer the northern kingdoms. ‘I wish to improve irrigation,’ he confided to Emlyn one afternoon.
‘What of the fairies, my prince?’ asked Emlyn.
‘They want our stones and we want their timber. Let us trade for them,’ said Prince Nkosana. ‘I tell my mother this every time she asks for my plans, but she will not settle for a peaceful resolution to a war which has claimed the rest of our family.’
‘All the more reason to end it there, I would say,’ ventured Emlyn.
‘Exactly!’ cried the prince, and they smiled at each other.
After this, Emlyn knew that despite his orders from Queen Mabyn, who had been waiting these two years, he could not kill the prince. But neither could he remain forever in the southern kingdom, away from his family and his own kind. One night, he brought back his wings and his feathers, and stood before the prince. ‘My prince, I have deceived you,’ he said. ‘I am not as I seem. I have been sent to abduct you by my mother, Queen Mabyn, to end the war that still continues, but I find that I cannot in good conscience harm you. You have confided in me, and I find you to be a good and worthy person who does not deserve the fate I would have brought. Do with me what you will.’
The prince stood, stunned. And then, to Emlyn’s very great surprise, he began to laugh. ‘I am not going mad, then,’ he said. ‘I have long thought that you would look more at home clothed in feathers than armor.’
‘And you are not angered?’ asked Emlyn.
‘Angered? Yes, but that is for later. For now, I have an idea.’ The prince’s eyes lit up like garnets under sunlight. ‘You would have abducted me, yes?’
‘But I do not now want to,’ protested the crow spirit.
‘Nor do I want you to, either. Now listen.
‘You will abduct me, as planned, and you will take me to your kingdom. I want to understand your people, so that when I come of age and am given the power to wage war, I will understand how to make peace, instead.’ The prince smiled, and Emlyn thought of spending two more years away from his own court, with this odd, unpredictable human. He shuffled his wings back into place and nodded.
The prince and the crow escaped by air, Emlyn wrapping his arms around Nkosana’s chest as he takes off and his wings pump the air, buffeting the guards on their ramparts back head over heels. They fly for an hour or more, and then Emlyn spiraled to the ground, exhausted. They continued on foot throughout the night, slept during the day, until they reached the thick-wooded forests and cold winds of the northern kingdom. They swept to the east to avoid the worst of the battles, but they could not escape the effects of the war: impoverished villages whose crops rotted because there were no able-bodied humans left to harvest them, and forests full of sick and dying trees because their nymphs had gone to the borders and never come back.
When Queen Nosizwe discovered that her son, her favorite, had been stolen, she screamed and ordered her armies to be doubled.
When Queen Mabyn received no further news of her son, she grieved, fearing that he and the prince had killed each other before they reached the northern kingdom, and fought to push the southern armies back from her borders and into their own.
And all this time, the two princes traveled. Nkosana explained himself as a mahogany sprite whose tree had been cut down by the southern armies, and met with sympathy. He and Emlyn settled in a grove of trees near the latest battle site, and Nkosana learned about healing ritual among the tree nymphs and naiads. They tracked down the murder of crows where Emlyn’s brothers and sisters, not having been selected for royal consideration, had grown up, and Nkosana was introduced to them as Emlyn’s traveling companion. Finally, the two princes spent some time traveling with the army, fighting over a patch of land that the south was attempting to regain. It was only here, when Emlyn was shot through the wing by a southern warrior and nearly did not recover, that Nkosana realized he had inadvertently stumbled into a solution to their problems.
‘It is time,’ he said, on his eighteenth birthday. ‘Today, I return to my kingdom.’
‘And what will you do then?’ asked Emlyn.
Nkosana smiled and shook out his fingers, as though making a crow-wing gesture of reassurance.
They went to Queen Mabyn first. The witch queen’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher on her forehead as they described their plan for peace, hands clasping each other for support.
‘Now you must get my rival to see your logic,’ she said, and in the interest of peace, Prince Nkosana did not mention her subtle insinuations against his mother.
Queen Nosizwe wept when she saw her son alive and well, and raged when she saw Emlyn in her court, hand in hand with the prince he had abducted. Her anger did not abate even after explanations from Prince Nkosana. In the end, Nkosana drew his sword against his own throat, and threatened to end his own life in truth if she would not see reason. At this, she calmed herself.
‘You will do this?’ she asked. ‘After all that we have suffered at the hands of fairies like this one?’
‘Especially after all that,’ said Prince Nkosana.
And that is why, twenty-one years after constant warfare, on the edge of the northern forests and the southern plains, Nkosana and Emlyn were married in the presence of their subjects, and negotiated peace between the two kingdoms. They abandoned the palace of the southern kingdom and the citadel of the north, and built themselves a nest of stone in the middle of their newly joined kingdom. Prince Nkosana made peace with the common folk of the north, and Prince Emlyn negotiated diplomacy between the former southern and northern courts. They blended their customs and their peoples together, opened peaceful trade, and lived happily ever after.
