???????? Chapter i : A Dance of Crows and Cravens ????????
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Upon an oaken throne that sat beside a larger one. A lady whose stature was impressive sat.
Her form robust and in fine fettle, resembling that of a war goddess.
She was adorned in a slender girdle, encrusted with jewels.
Her bosom was generous, her posterior and hips ample, creating an enviable hourglass silhouette.
Her burnished hair, a cascade of ruby and gold, accentuated the alabaster complexion of her skin.
Her eyes were the color of a clear summer sky and framed by dusky lashes.
She held a profound and sensuous mystique.
Her limbs were the finest alabaster, completing the vision of a beautiful goddess.
But her perfect visage was sullied by the commotion at hand.
Though blood and exhaustion stained her, she still looked radiant upon the oaken throne.
She was Queen Guinevere.
A young queen who hailed from the prestigious house of Goldmane.
Who were a house of mystique and legends due to their ancient bloodroots of elvenry.
They had once ruled Verdesainte. But its grip was wrestled away when they lost at the battle for Heavenfield.
The defeat was given by the disbanded Order of Cadagon.
Decades later, the Goldmanes would be betrothed back into the crown through the marriage of House Taliesion.
Whom held the crown after uniting the dukes of Verdesainte. Landing a decisive defeat upon The Order of Cadagon.
"Queen Guinevere!"
A gentleman of auburn hair and beard did proclaim.
He was bedecked in raiment of quality, gilded with the shades of night.
Twas Duke Gruffyd , hailing from House of Taliesion. Cousin to the king.
Guinevere, yet weary from the burdens of childbirth.
She was plagued by her child's disappearance. Whom were in supposed care of the wetnurses. Now they sing songs of murder upon Guinevere's name.
She faces a court with glaring and plotting eyes. The majority of the court convinced of her guilt.
During the court's session, there was a man with auburn curls that lengthened to his shoulders and a grizzled chin.
His build is slender, plagued by the weight of maintaining peace in the realms.
He was King Arwen of House Taliesion. King of Verdesainte.
He has secluded himself within the royal chambers, a sanctuary from the ramblings in the court.
There, he contemplated upon the empty silk-lined cradle.
His mind besieged by questions and uncertainties.
Though his place ought to be beside Queen Guinevere.
He elected to distance himself from the unfolding turmoil.
Some may deem it cowardice.
Others, perhaps irresponsible.
Yet, Arwen merely aspired to grace the boiling pot once the waters are a tepid murmur.
Back at the court.
"Hark! Marged! Advance!"
Thusly did Duke Gruffyd summon the wetnurse. So that she might acquit herself before the inquisitive court.
"In a fevered delirium! she committed the act! Your Grace!" Marged lamented. Her countenance was concealed within a sodden handkerchief.
"We endeavored to restrain her! Yet alas! She was drowned in delirium! Twas only Elaine who possessed the courage to confront the queen in her afflicted lunacy...
Yet she wielded the strength of a demon! and with her bare hands slew both the child and Elaine!" Marged wailed. With trembling hands, pointing to the queen's blood-stained girdle.
Guinevere, alas, found herself bereft of both the time and constitution to wash off the blood that stained about her.
Her face, once porcelain, now bore the pallor of exhaustion.
Her eyes were fixed with a hollow and an unnerving intensity.
Her thoughts were solely consumed with salvaging the scraps of her reputation and, naturally, the whereabouts of her child.
Any other queen would have unleashed a tempestuous roar at such a blasphemous accusation.
Yet, Guinevere remained resolute.
Queen Guinevere arose regally from her oaken throne with tears not in sight.
Though her every physical instincts urged collapse. She knew wailing before the court would be dismissed as maternal madness.
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She summoned her composure and elevated her trembling hands, preparing to address the court.
Her physical body notwithstanding.
"I struggle to raise a mere teacup...Yet, I am accused of overpowering three grown women with both murder of my son and Elaine"
She proceeded walking towards the Marged. Her gaze descending upon the woman's dirty woolen skirts.
"The hem of your gown is thoroughly saturated with mire...MARGED. Not the dust akin to the castle halls but the dark, peat-laden mud peculiar to the Castle's Grotto."
The court's gaze like the sway of a pendulum did fell upon Martha's footwear.
"At the stroke of midnight. The heavens did weep..." Guinvere remarked with a certain steel entering her tone.
"It is a well-known fact that the grotto alone suffers the indignity of a blackened mire...Pray...Marged...
Enlighten us as to your presence in the gardens. When the safety of my son was entrusted to your care."
Guinevere inquired with an inquisitive steel akin to luring a fish towards the rod.
"I-I-I... I went to fetch water!" Marged cracked like a frog's croak.
"The water basin was full..." Guinevere rejoined without a second behind. Her gaze alit with a righteous fervor burning within them.
Guinevere extended her hand. Grasping Martha's wrist with a delicate yet firm touch
A dark encrustation lay beneath the fingernails, a dried crimson hue.
"In your haste and machinations...Marged...you neglected to cleanse the evidence from beneath your fingernails...
You sullied the linens to incriminate me..." Guinevere spoke with a controlled intensity.
"You assert that only Elaine rushed upon me when the murder was in procession? Yet each of you have stains beneath your nails..."
Guinevere then relinquished her hold on Marged's wrist.
With the new revelations that transpired upon the court, a schism befell it.
Some embraced Guinevere's vindication, while others remained steadfast in their initial censure.
"Rumor has it...My Queen, that you exhibited a disconcerting lack of sentiment...
Pray tell, what manner of mother refrains from shedding a tear at the death of their child?"
Duke Gruffyd inquired, his trust in Guinevere remaining notably absent.
King Arwen finally entered the court with his hand white-knuckled on the hilt of his sword. He wouldn't look at his queen.
He rasped. "The nurses say you spoke of 'dagonic sacrifice.' They say you didn't even blink when the child was gone..."
"I shed no tears for that which remains retrievable. Whilst you lend your ears to the melodies of guests and courtiers...
The trail of our son grows fainter with each passing moment. Observe their footwear!
Pray tell! What explains the presence of garden soil? If they have not ventured forth from these castle halls until this court has convened?"
Guinevere remarked, her voice possessing a timbre as delicate as fracturing ice. Yet it sliced through Marged's demonstrative wails.
With a grunt of agony, Guinevere limped towards her oaken throne. Swaying her fingers reaching the throne for support. The burdens of childbirth still heavy.
King Arwen's decision was an axis upon where Guinevere's fate.
At this juncture, he remains neither a staunch ally nor sworn adversary.
Merely a king immobilized by the weight of his crown.
He divined in his heart that she has endured a most unjust predicament.
Yet his station demands he uphold the prevailing accord.
To Arwen, Guinevere's downfall presages his own.
Erstwhile, rival dukes will assert claims upon the throne should his dominion over the realm falter.
Yet, to safeguard the realm's delicate peace. He swears upon an oath with his blade unsheathed.
"Should Guinevere's innocence prove veracious and the infant be recovered!
She shall be absolved of all crimes! However! In the event of the child's absence!
I shall inscribe her death warrant! To satisfy the kingdom's lament!" Arwen declared with resolute before the court.
Queen Guinevere, in return, vows upon her honour.
To traverse every corner of this realm. She shall not return until the prince is found. Unless death has claimed her.
This accord found judicial support, albeit whispers arose concerning the perceived inequity.
To impose such a severe burden on the queen whose accusations remain unproven.
Despite Duke Gruffydd's endeavors to galvanize the dukes onto Guinevere's execution, he failed to garner sufficient endorsement.
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