She looked to the crown on the map again and watched it beat against the ancient paper, thump-thump, thump-thump. It was her heartbeat. It echoed against her insides, the pulse moving steadily beneath her skin. Her eyes moved slowly around the circumference of their symbols, taking in the green flourishes with growing comprehension.
Show me where to go, she thought. An invisible line bisected the green forming a path. She turned slowly and watched as the crown moved concurrently, the golden tips aligning along the path like an arrow pointing the way. She didn’t need to turn very far. A half circle came to life on the paper, a luminescent silver-white ink rising up, dyeing the page.
“Are you seeing this?”
“Look!” Eva gasped.
Zoe looked up in time to see the trees parting into a serpentine pathway moving between the bifurcated forests. Beyond the horizon of the pathway a white light emerged, blooming like a flower in the distance.
With the map in one hand, she reached down with her other and found Eva. Wordlessly they entwined their fingers and squeezed tightly, each giving the other the support they each needed. Hand-in-hand they began the long walk towards the white light in the distance.
Chapter 18: The Escape
The absence of the daily noises of Terra filled Kyra Straton with an unsettling feeling. She wasn’t used to the quiet. She walked through the corridors of Royal City, the entirety of the public spaces at her disposal. Everyone had been sent to their residences, a temporary lock-down that she could only imagine raised their curiosities. When life was ordinary, residents milled around the grounds of the city going about their lives peacefully and purposefully. As their Queen she didn’t need to do much. There was seldom any misconduct in Terra and her Crown Soldiers effectively dealt with any domestic issues. As far as monarchies went, she was a fairly hands-off Queen. Not like the Queen Mother.
Korina Straton, the first Straton Queen, was a Queen unlike any that preceded her. She hadn’t inherited the Crown; she fought for it, won it, and wore it with pride on her face and blood on her hands. For years she waited, using her family’s resources to build an army strong enough to steal the Crown from the Thanatos Queen, and she succeeded, taking out the entire family and their loyal companions. Nearly all of them, at least. In the time since the demise of the Thanatos family no one had ever claimed to have seen one in Terra, let alone claim to be one. The fact that anyone could remember the fallen sovereign’s name was in and of itself a near impossibility.
Her feet carried her into the Throne Room, the vast hall an empty cavern of magnificent height and opulence that was hers alone to appreciate. The ceremonial thrones that belonged to her and the King sat stiff like statues, dominating the vast expanse of the room. She had taken a seat on her literal throne on only a few occasions, mostly for official celebrations or other such events. Having wandered all around the realm she found herself back where she started, her own home. With a sigh she climbed the pedestal that elevated the two ornate chairs above the ground and sat, the high back of the chair stiffening her posture significantly. She closed her eyes as her mind wandered back to the Queen Mother
From the first day the Straton Queen assumed her role she had exiled the Thanatos family name, forbidding anyone to ever utter the word again. The Crown Soldiers made sure to enforce the law, using their new and imposing status as a weapon against anyone who would disobey. She hadn’t so much as heard the name Thea Thanatos since her own childhood, and it still had an effect on her.
Like the Queen Mother before her, she hated the name Thanatos, despised the very idea of it. She looked out towards the direction of the Military Complex, a building connected by corridor to the Throne Room and one of the only Crown buildings without public access. Somewhere an Elder was locked up, awaiting punishment for the crime of stealing from her, from the Crown. If that were the only crime she was accused of Kyra might have shown her leniency. Instead the Elder conspired against the Queen, accused her of being a fraud, claimed the identity of a dead woman, and orchestrated to both kidnap the King and hold him hostage.
There were others who played a part. How many additional residents were there in Last City who knew of the Elder woman’s claims about the Queen? How fast would her treasonous claims spread and trickle into the innermost cities? No doubt the residents were already questioning the necessity of the lock-down. They didn’t need any more gossip to whisper in each other’s ears. Kyra knew she would have to act soon to prevent even a small uprising. With any hope they would summarily dismiss the rumors, having forgotten the name Thanatos all together.