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Queen Kytha stood up from where she knelt on the side of the road. She turned to her guards, a small party, perhaps 5 or 6 split off from the main group here, and headed west.
Kytha and her guards had been tracking a group of bandits operating out of the hills east of Mytheth. They had begun merely by stealing sheep and cattle, but recently had murdered a merchant and his family and stolen his cargo. As Kytha was in the area, inspecting construction sites to the north of Mytheth, she decided she needed a bit of excitement and decided to lead the force that was being sent after the bandits. She had 20 local soldiers with her, as well has her own retinue of a dozen guards. The bandit party was estimated at approximately 40, though Kytha was confident that her own mens better equipment and superior training would be more than enough to counter the numbers. After all, two of her guards, twins by the names of Reson and Turanas, possessed the Serathrial.
She moved back to her soldiers, and they started along the path again. Before long, she sighted campfires. She held up a single fist to signal her mend to stop. Reson came up to her.
"Perhaps we should send a group to purse the small party that branched off, so that we are not caught off guard." he whispered to the queen.
"No. We can deal with them later. most of those men are a sleep, we can defeat them in a short enough period with little resistance. Sound the attack."
Reson looked like he wanted to argue, but, knowing his queen, he swallowed his words and moved to the other men. He issued a short string of orders, and the men all charged forwards at once. Kytha followed them, and watched form the edge of camp as her men overwhelmed the two sentries and began throwing back bedroll covers to discover... piles of dirt. The men looked to Reson in confusion, but before they could realize how wrong the situation was, arrows began raining out of the trees. Turanas ran back to the Queen, arrows sticking out of his back and the crimson glow of the Serathrial swirling across his body.
"Your Highness, Back to Mytheth!"
For once, the Queen had no words to argue with. She turned and ran, Turanas close on her heels. They broke into a clearing, only to find herself faced by six men, all with swords drawn. Turanas shoved Kytha behind him, and drew both of his swords. The crimson glow of his Serathrial gleamed off the blades, which were etched in runes the color of fresh blood. One of the men chuckled, and threw back his hood to reveal violet, geometric designs moving across his skin.
"Our lord has finally granted us the strength to combat your Serathrial, girl. Your guard will not be able to save you."
"Like hell I won't." growled Turanas, before hurling himself at the man. Kytha watched, slightly amused, she had seen Turanas cut a man in half with a single blade at the height of his rage.
However, this man was not cut in half. In fact, he blocked both of Turanas swords with his own, single blade. Turanas took a step back in bewilderment, no one had ever stood and taken a hit like that with on difficulty, not even other wielders of the Serathrial. The other man struck then, while Turanas was processing, thrusting his blade forward, faster than the eye could follow, into Turanas's throat and out the other side of his neck. He quickly withdrew his blade, and sheathed it, and he motioned for his soldiers to take the queen. She fraught valiantly, injuring two of them and killing one, but it was for naught.
The next morning, the people of Mytheth were horrified to find the body of their monarch impaled on a tree trunk outside the entrance to the city.
Word was sent to the heir, Kytha's nephew Myron, who reluctantly donned the Crown of Ash.
_________________ By the will of Azarn -Erastil -King of Pyrencia -The Hydra For a full list of titles, please see enclosed document. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=741
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