The Queen and Her Ring

The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished. Well, more accurately it had been running backwards for a very long time and on the day she disappeared it simply stopped running backwards. You see, long ago an ancient king used a magic ring of mysterious origin to alter the direction of the river to make it more beneficial for travel and trade. He also used his power to ensure bountiful harvests. He also erected a barrier to keep out monsters.

Ever since then for many generations the reigning king or queen has guarded that ring, for as long as it stayed in place the kingdom would prosper. But if it ever vanished, so would the bountiful harvests, the more favorable river direction, and the barrier.

Well, one day it vanished without a trace and so did the queen whose job it was to guard it.

That was five years ago, and ever since then, the kingdom has been in a state of disarray and turmoil. Well, it had never been a completely quiet or boring place, but it had become even worse as bandits, thieves, and enemy kingdoms all seized upon the confusion and chaos caused by the disappearance of the Queen and the ring. And that was all in addition to the fact that the river reverted to its original course, the barrier fell, and although mass famines hadn’t yet occurred, many crops failed causing food to be scarce.

The current state of affairs has been disastrous for the average citizen of the kingdom, but for adventurers like myself, the danger and unrest has been a great boon. There has been no shortage of work, be it slaying bandits, killing the many beasts that the guards and knights are now too busy to worry about, taking on contract jobs as mercenaries or spies for the kingdom, or escorting merchants. Some have even taken to being hired blades for bandits, but most adventurers, myself included, find becoming a criminal to be unsavory and immoral. Plus, becoming an enemy of the state is not a fun position to be in, especially if the turmoil ever dies down and the knights and guards are able to refocus their attention to stopping crime. It is much safer, albeit slightly less profitable, to stay on the right side of the law.

That particular day, I was on my way back to town after completing a job. A pack of vicious wolves has been terrorizing livestock and lone travelers, so some locals put up a quest through the adventurers’ guild to have the beasts dealt with. Even though the reward was small, I accepted that quest. It was simple enough and I had nothing better that day.

As I made my way back to town through the forest (a little short cut I knew) I was lost in my thoughts about how I was going to spend my reward. Suddenly, I heard a woman’s scream a short ways away. This immediately raised my alertness and I quickly made my way towards the screams. Even though I wasn’t required to, I always made it a point to help others.

I quickly arrived to the source of the screams, which I discovered to be a woman who was being attacked by a small group of bandits. ‘How despicable,’ I thought to myself as I crouched at the edge of the tree line just out of their sight. I sighed as I rose to my feet, drew my bow, and nocked an arrow. Time to teach them a lesson.

One of the bandits was in the process of rushing towards the woman with a knife. He was the first to die as a well-placed arrow struck him in his heart. Before the others could even notice they were under attack, I took out another one of them.

This got their attention. The bandits quickly turned their attention from the woman and began looking around frantically to find the source of the arrows. As they were looking, I took out one more with an arrow to his head.

“He’s over there!” One of the bandits yelled. They saw where that last arrow came from. They began to rush towards me with their weapons drawn. I fired off one more arrow, but it narrowly missed its mark. I quickly put away my bow as the three remaining bandits closed in on me.

I drew my sword just in time to deflect a blow from an axe. The bandit dodged my first counter attack, and swung at me again. But I quickly dodged him and before he could react I dealt a fatal blow. The other two attacked together. It was not a simple task dodging and blocking two different swords, but this wasn’t my first uneven fight. After a few moments, I managed to seize upon an opening caused by a parry. Suddenly only one remained. Now that it was a one on one fight, the last bandit didn’t last long. Before long all the bandits lay dead.

I took a moment to catch my breathe before sheathing my sword. As I sheathed my sword, I turned to the woman and as I walked towards her I asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, thank you for saving me,” the mysterious woman said as she picked herself off of the ground.

“It was my pleasure,” I replied, “plus I never pass up an opportunity to rid the world of bandits.”

At that moment I realized the woman’s bag was on the ground a few feet from me. It must have been knocked from her hands during the attack. I figured I would help her pick it up, so I quickly walked over to it. But as I picked up her bag, it came open and a couple items spilled out.

“I’m so sorry!” I apologized as I began to pick the items up and put them back into the bag. But as I did, my eyes fell upon a particular item that caused me to stop in my tracks. My eyes widened as I gazed at a small, golden ring with a glowing blue jewel.