Palanquin

The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished. But not just that. It turned blood red. The crimson river emboldened dozens of youngsters, most of them men and women just eighteen and nineteen-years-old, to avenge the disappearance of their fair woman of the Riverson throne. They were the Thoroughbreds. The irony was that they possessed no horses in their camp. The name had referred to their completeness and sound abilities to take on any foe and aid whatever friend. To lead all of this brigade, to fight for her return, Azure began with a strategy. He was twenty-six and his skin looked like cinnamon. His hair had been stylized into a Caesar cut. Though youthful, he led the band of young men in their journey to rediscover the lady that blessed their lives.

With great scrolls unraveled like the blossoming of roses, the juveniles listened to their leader.

“That blood soaked river,” Azure said, “Is going to be clear again because we will have our Queen back.” In the glow of the candles and torches all around, the team strategized and planned their routes.

“I want to say,” Hanola said, “I’m prepared to go the fullest length to secure our Queen’s return.” The rest of the group cheered and the reverberation sounded around the room like great cymbals announcing the fervor. Hanola was smallish but feisty. Her skin looked like the black speckles of a monarch butterfly. She had been made the second in command as the trickle of the river burbled nearby.

“There will be a day when we will fight and we will win because we will crush the enemies capacity to make war, yes, but also their soul of battle and will to fight,” Hanola declared with an iciness that cooled the corridors.

Azure looked at her and grinned a wry sort of smile. “Yes. We will have our chance early in the morning. We will fight when dawn breaks and the sun will just be rousing from its slumber,” he continued. “Let us sleep well, ladies and gents.”

That appeared impossible. Everyone’s minds focused on the mission in the morning. Only the elders of the camp had dreamed of poison and power through the night. The venomous nature of their nightmares did not haunt the young people who included three thousand strong. Hanola looked around the areas, seeing that her warriors had been well fed and would sleep the night. She passed Azure.

“I think we’ll be––” she started.

“Don’t say it,” he admonished.

“I was just going to say we’re on the brink of creating something of greater power, of showing that we care.”

“Oh,” Azure replied. “Yes, that appears to be the way we must prepare ourselves to be in this battle.” A few torches burned all around. The glow illuminated their faces as they looked at the rows and rows of fighters that would be awakened in just a few hours' time.

“You better lay down for a while,” Azure suggested.

“Only if you do, sir,” Hanola replied.

Azure grinned that same smile again. They kissed.

They both found sleep and discovered they didn’t get disturbed by any blasts of fire or sheets of ice from the ogres in the valley. They stood at about nineteen or twenty feet tall and everyone knew that they must’ve had something to do with the disappearance of the Queen. The way of war meant that the eighteen and nineteen-year-olds would have the chance to see combat for the first time. Their tender faces and their robust bodies would be cast into the cauldron of militaristic exercises.

At last the sun just showed a bit. It peeked over the mountain tops. A horn announced the warriors to be wake. They grabbed their gear and stood in the ranks. Their clean faces looked like black diamonds and pearls. They shined with a luster and each of them looked as severe as the business end of a sword. Hanola took to the front of the fighters.

“Today, we will battle. We will not say what will be lost but what will be gained. We will have our Queen back. We will have the river returned to its original color. We will win.” Cheers flew up like the sparks from the torches.

Azure led the charge. He observed the sharpness of his blade and returned his sword to his scabbard. The battalion began the move.

Thunderous sounds from the valley had pounded in the distance. It coincided with the crash of the war drums of the unit. The sight of the monsters looked like ambling towers. With the might of the thousands of youthful killers, they banded together. Then the drums silenced. About five hundred of the warriors rushed to the front lines and remained quiet. With silence and stealth, they started to slice away at the heels of the ogres, causing them to fall and crumble. A few hundred or so encircled the ogres with great ropes and caused them to stumble and crash to the ground. With their heads on the ground, the fighters proceeded to slice their throats.

Azure slashed his way through the ogres who had no idea they would be attacked. Hanola looked about. The smell of charred flesh and blood stung her nostrils. She tasted the bite of battle. She unsheathed her sword and slashed through the ogres' heels. She watched them all fall and slid her weapon into their ears. She watched their eyes roll back in their heads. As the troops continued on their path of death and destruction, they found their way to the brink where the ogres had started to prepare for war following the sneak attack by the Thoroughbreds. More ogres came from the hills and launched huge boulders at the team. Some took the blows and fell with honor and integrity. The fighting abilities of these young warriors allowed them to become stronger in their resolve as they noticed their fellow members lost in battle.

As more and more ogres hurled those large rocks, even more Thoroughbreds lost their lives. Azure’s face became streaked with mud and blood. He drove on nevertheless. Hanola continued her progress with her sword slicing through the clash. The ogres all gathered and tried to guide huge hawks as they flocked down and ate up some of the Thoroughbreds. She had no time to cry or stop or do anything besides fight. The war machine never stopped until they reached the precipice where the ogres all gathered. In the distance, Azure and Hanola could hear the solemn, sweet song of the Queen. She had been locked in a rock prison on the cliff.

“We’re close,” Azure shouted. “Hanola, I need you to–” Right in the middle of the sentence, a large boulder crushed the frame of the second in command like a flame escapes from a match and leaves a trail of smoke. Azure's eyes widened.

“Hanola!” he called her. “My love, my life. You will be avenged with the Queen, sweet lady.” he held her body and told the men to place her on a stretcher along with the other fallen men and women. Azure now looked at her and kissed her mouth as the men picked her up, life fading from her body. Fire and fury burned in Azure’s soul and he found a new reason to drive even further into the heart of Ogre Country.

When he led now, as the commander of all of the others, she prepared them for the entirety of the fight. He put together a group and maneuvered around the ogres. These behemoths could not contend with the amount of aggression that the Thoroughbreds displayed. They wrapped more ropes around their legs.

“Pull now!” Azure shrieked. The men and women then took the grip of the ropes and the ogre slammed to the ground. Azure put his sword through the ocre's eye. He then moved onward with his troops towards the crag where the Queen continued to hum her tune. He kept her eyes on that steep hill. Then he averted her attention to the men and women still battling the ogres. He took into her mind the ability to reach the headland. As she ran forward, he looked at the ogres falling around him and felt encouraged to continue on with his mission. The officers under him also commanded the battlers to continue to knock over the behemoths.

There existed a great multitude of the combatants against the ogre. It looked like the battle had swayed in the latter’s way. Instead of throwing down their swords, the men and women challenged themselves, steeled by the understanding of their surroundings. They moved with vigor and never thought about backing down this time. There seemed to be an air of the fog of war. It painted the battlefield with dust and fire and debris and shouts and blood. In all of this, Azure kept pressing forward to where the Queen sat. Still alive in his mind, he felt the last bit of warmth from Hanola’s lips. With no time to mourn her death, at least in the moment, he used his speed and agility to keep going with his powerful mind and sinewy body. Ogres fell with great thuds that shook the ground and kicked up dust.

The advancement carried on to the crag. In full view of the Queen, she remained guarded by two ogres with clubs. Azure prepared the warriors with hatchets to aim and throw their weapons with precision. The whistle of the hatchets going through the air split the ogres into shreds. Ribbons of flesh fell to the ground as the other ogres bowed down to the feet of the Queen being released from her rocky dungeon. She had the skin color of oil which springs from the earth. She wore all black and possessed a halo of gray hair. The ogres soon committed suicide by jumping off the headland.

The Thoroughbreds all bowed down as the Queen floated from her prison that some of the warriors destroyed. She touched the head of Azure. The young warrior looked up with tears in his eyes.

“Where is Hanola?” The Queen asked.

Azure shook his head slowly and looked down at the ground.

“I see,” she remarked with gravitas. “I will make sure that you are to stay as the top leader of not just the Thoroughbreds but the Chief Council,” she ennobled him.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He said it but said it almost as a surrender and a defiance all at the same time. The Queen surveyed the field. She saw the carnage and knew that she would have to be back at her place on the throne. Her face wrinkled. With no King to speak of, she looked for the only thing she could consider as preventing the ogres thugs from taking her again.

“We shall have a way where there will be a new day where we stand in jubilation at not just my release but the egoism of the people of Riverson. We will restore all life and remember those who fell. It is in our self-interest to continue the way we govern our lives and make it better for the individual.”

The Thoroughbreds all rejoiced at their Queen’s words. When they had devised a black and gold palanquin prior to the trek to the headland, six of the warriors shouldered the burden of pulling the Queen back to her throne. Once she returned the water cleared and returned to its proper state. “You, Azure, will be my King and we will rule this land together,” the Queen announced.

Azure breathed. “While I appreciate the gesture, I remain a warrior amongst the ranks and I will be more than happy to allow you to choose a King to be next to you on the throne.” A little laugh escaped from the Queen. “I see you’re still committed to your abilities as a warfighter. You have an honest mind and you will be rewarded greatly in this life.”

In his role as Chief Councilor, Azure looked at the scrolls that would gave him greater powers and even more responsibilities. He knew he had a troublesome future ahead of him, but he was down for the fight. After denying his place in royalty, Azure completed a salute to the Queen and she bowed with dignity and with grace.