Interlude V – Pride, Fall, Repeat

Meiling had been ruling her city for several months now, and in that time she’d managed to build up quite the powerbase.

She’d replaced all the tents with those interesting wooden huts her Queen seemed to love, the biggest one becoming her palace. Around the city was a simple wooden wall, based off of the one she saw when she last visited King’s End. And down towards the river was a dock, which they used to move goods and soldiers between cities.

The palace itself was a large, elaborate building. Ten rooms sat connected around a courtyard in the center, with the largest being the feasting hall at the front. In the courtyard she had placed her throne, from which she’d hold court with her people every ten days.

The building had taken three months to build, and would have taken even longer if she didn’t have such easy labor around. These local ‘Samites’ were very good for the hard labor her original people were too important to be doing.

After that war following Juliette’s ascension, things had become a lot quieter. The Samites grumbled and groaned about their new Queen, but they were subservient. All it took was for her guard to flash a bit of their weapon, and suddenly they’d fall all over themselves to do whatever she wanted. It was amazing! She wished she had realized this sooner, how easier her life would have been!

But that was besides the point. She’d spent the last few months planning and building up her forces. Creating an army, a city, and a capital. Becoming ready to expand Juliette’s (Meiling’s) empire. Getting ready to become a Queen in truth.

And just down the river was another city, ripe for the taking.

--

“My people!” Meiling shouted, raising her arms high. “Today is a glorious day!”

The crowd before her cheered and clapped, many eyeing the sharp spears of her guards as they did.

“Thank you,” she smiled at their cheers. She did so love being loved. “But please, save your voices for the end. For you see, today is a glorious day! Because today, we expand Queen’s realm once again!”

Grinning gleefully, she got into a stance, reaching out toward the crowd with her right hand. “Our armies are ready, our wills are strong, and our eyes see further than any other! We are superior, are we not? So we shall share that superiority with those around us—and as thanks for our generosity, they will give us food and luxuries and devotion! Their land becomes our land, and their wealth becomes our wealth—and soon enough, each one of you will live like Kings!”

‘And I will live like a goddess.’

This time, the cheers were a bit more enthusiastic, a bit more genuine. Meiling’s smile grew sharper.

“Today marks the beginning of our greatness, and of our future victories!”

Waving off the cheering crowd, Meiling retreated back to her palace to begin preparations for the long march east. These things didn’t just happen by themselves, you know!

Slipping off her formal furs, she shuffled back into her armor, huffing in annoyance as they caught on her hips. Did they shrink or something? Did blood cause leather to shrink?

She shook her head with a scoff. This was the next step in her path to glory, after all. She had far more important things to worry about. She’d just resow them later. She had some time, after all.

And so, with (Queen) Meiling in the lead, her army marched forth.

--

Too call what happened next a war would be a gross overstatement.

The city was small and weak—they didn’t even have any walls, just some houses built in a vaguely defensible formation. And even if they had a wall, they lacked any military to defend themselves.

Her army of fifty strong had marched to the city expecting a legendary fight against a powerful foe. Instead, they rammed into a dozen or so hunters who folded instantly. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but that was just disappointing.

Still, she supposed that was the point. A boring war was a good war, after all.

So how had everything gone so wrong?

When she’d first taken the city, everything had seemed fine. The people grumbled and griped, but they accepted her rule easily enough. Too easily, even.

But Meiling wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and so after a few days of talking with her soldiers and making sure everything was in place, she left to return to her much more comfortable palace.

When she returned home she declared a party, throwing a feast with the food she’d pillaged from the other city. Her people had cheered and laughed, and they’d even let the Samites in on the festivities.

Looking out over her celebrating people, she had felt like a true Queen.

Then, not three days later, one of her soldiers suddenly turned up at the gates, shouting for her.

“Lady Meiling!” he had shouted. “The village has fallen—and an army a thousand strong marches their way here!”

Meiling had froze when she heard that. Angry, fearful, surprised—she couldn’t describe what she was feeling at that moment. But soon all of those confused emotions melted away into a single one.

Rage.

She didn’t know if she was going to fight a thousand men to retake what was hers. But she certainly felt like she could.

Unfortunately, reality has a way of dashing empty bravado.

When she marched her way back to the river, she stumbled across that army personally.

And she learned that even if that army wasn’t a thousand strong, it sure felt like it was.

It smashed into her own army, shattering it and immediately forcing her to retreat and regroup. It was only the constant training she’d drilled into her soldiers that let them regroup after that first loss.

But that wasn’t the last time they clashed.

Once again, they ran into the army upriver, closer still to her home. And once more, they were defeated.

And then they were hit again, even closer to home.

And then, suddenly, they were at the gates of her walls, with the knowledge that the invading army was just a hop skip and a jump away from their own home.

After that she’d… well. She didn’t lose control. But it was a near thing.

Instead she ordered them back in the city. She had the injured and weaker start training the civilians she’d left behind, and her best soldiers settled in along the walls.

And they settled in for a siege.

--

The next day Meling sat in her palace, simmering over her recent defeat. Most of her soldiers were on the front line, but her personal guards and servants remained behind in her palace. On the table before her a feast had been laid out. Wild berries divided by type sat in cups along the table, with foraged herbs and spices scattered beside them. At the center of it all sat a cooked duck, its feathers plucked and its flesh a mouthwatering golden-brown. Truly, a feast for a Queen.

If only she could bring herself to enjoy it.

She’d lost the village. She’d been pushed back all the way to her home city. If she could force herself to admit it, she’d even say she’d lost her army.

She couldn’t go on like this. She couldn’t win like this. She needed help. But she didn’t want help. She could still win! It all wasn’t lost!

Meiling sighed. Who was she fooling. She knew what she had to do.

A choice had to be made.

“…It’s come to this, huh,” she muttered, clenching her fist. “I hate it, but it looks like I’ll have to get Juli involved. Gods, she’s going to be so annoyed at me.”

Getting up, she prepared to go get a messenger, when a voice made her stop.

“…How cowardly.”

Meiling froze. “What.”

It was the bitch, Lia. Her least loyal servant (slave).

She glanced away from her. Reaching out, she grabbed the other woman’s face, forcing her to look at her.

“I said,” she hissed, “what did you just say?”

The woman glared up at her. “I said it was cowardly.”

“I’m informing my leader of the situation,” she hissed lowly. “In what world is that cowardly?”

“Don’t try to fool me. You’ve never once thought of that woman as your leader. You’ve just bitten off more than you can chew, and are now running to hide behind your mother’s legs.”

“I should kill you for that remark.”

“And yet, that doesn’t make it any less true.”

Meiling glared at the younger woman, her face a mask of hatred. Then, with a scoff, she threw the other woman away. “Leave,” she snapped, “Before I kill you myself.”

The woman scampered out without a single glance back.

Meiling stood in her room, quietly seething. She considered Lia’s words. She understood that it would be smarter to inform Juliette of what was going on. That she should tell her Queen she was currently fighting a war (that she could win, she just needed a bit longer to come up with a plan). That wasn’t being cowardly, it was just being smart.

(It was being cowardly).

She’d put off calling the Queen for another few days. She’d be able to turn it around by then, she was certain.

--

Things had only deteriorated from there.

The army outside her city had settled in, stopping any outside communication. Now she couldn’t even send word to Juliette if she wanted too. But if it was just that, they’d be able to hold out for a while. The issue came not with the army, but the walls.

The walls were weak and primitive. They were well built, but still made of wood and only a few logs thick. They weren’t designed to hold up to a long siege—anyone with an axe could chop their way through the walls. In fact, several parts of her walls now had massive holes in them, broken by ambitious soldiers willing to die to get just that little bit closer to victory. And while she’d been able to stop them, her soldiers had paid the price.

Now, even her personal guards were forced to leave for the front line. All that was left in her palace was Meiling and her three servants.

And suddenly, her own house felt far more empty than she’d like.

When she was younger, she’d dreamed of feasting every day. Once she became Chieftess, she dreamed of having a hundred servants to cater to her every need. Once she saw the buildings Juliette built, she dreamed of a grand palace of her own.

She was living her dreams. Yet somehow, it didn’t feel worth it.

‘Why didn’t it feel worth it?’

Meiling scowled, tapping her foot. She had other things to think about. More important things to think about.

“Servant!” she snapped at Lia. “Get me my spear! I want to visit the front lines myself.”

“Yes, Lady Meiling,” the girl muttered tersely, walking away quickly.

Meiling rolled her eyes. One day that girl would learn her place.

But still, plans needed to be made, and her people needed to know she was still with them. Obviously, she couldn’t make any concrete plans until she arrived on the front line, but perhaps they should try for a counter-offensive? She wasn’t all that comfortable on the defensive. These walls worked wonders for slowing down the enemy, but they didn’t help much in actually winning this war.

She still had most of her veterans, right? Perhaps she’d have them lead the army. Especially Haileng, the old bastard had been threatening her authority recently, and needed to be punished accordingly. Perhaps she should give him the most dangerous task? If he succeeded, it would help her, but if he failed then she’d be down a political enemy. A win-win in her book.

Meiling allowed herself a small smile as she heard footsteps walking up behind her. Finally, she could get ready. It had been a long time since she’d fought on the front lines. Now, all she needed to was—

“HRK!”

Meiling choked, pain and agony and hurt and what was going on—

She looked down, staring in confusion at the bloody spear tip sticking out of her stomach.

“That,” Lia hissed, “was for my brother.”

With flourish, the girl then yanked the spear out of her, leaving the older woman to collapse to the ground.

‘What?’ Meiling thought deliriously. ‘What is happening? Why… this little… what did she do!?”

Perhaps, if she had been a true God-Queen, Meiling could have survived. She would have stood back up and taken her revenge on the girl, a pithy one-liner on her lips and rage in her heart.

But Meiling, for all she pretended she wasn’t, was a mortal.

And in a puddle of her own blood on the floor of her own palace by the hands of her own servant, the self-styled Queen Meiling died like a mortal.

And that night, the armies of the Red King marched into the city.