Morgan Rice - A Sea of Shields

“Will you then sacrifice what is just for what is political?” he asked.

“Do not speak to me of justice,” Gwen said. “Many of our men—good men—died on the Upper Isles today because of your actions. Was that justice for them?”

“Then we shall kill the people who killed them, too.”

Gwen shook her head, frustrated beyond belief.

“You may be a good warrior,” she said, “but you do not know how to rule a kingdom.”

“You should be taking my side,” Reece protested. “You are my sister—”

“I am your Queen ,” Gwen corrected.

Reece’s face fell in surprise.

They stood there, facing off in the silence, Gwen breathing hard, feeling sleep-deprived, feeling overwhelmed with conflicting emotions.

“What you have done affects the state, affects the Ring, affects the security of us all,” she continued. “Srog is wounded. He is held now at the point of death. Half of my fleet has been destroyed. That means hundreds more of our men have been killed. All for your hasty actions.”

Reece reddened, too.

“I did not start this war,” he said, “ they did. Falus had it coming. He betrayed me; he betrayed us all.”

“ You betrayed you,” Gwen corrected. “Falus did not murder her. He merely brought her news. News which contained a partial truth, due to your actions. It may have been duplicitous, and deserving of punishment, or even death, but you must acknowledge your role in this. And you must realize that punishment is not yours to mete out—certainly not without checking with me.”

Gwendolyn turned and stormed across the room, needing to clear her mind.

She reached her father’s desk, leaned over, and threw off all the books, sending them down to the floor with a great crash, a cloud of dust rising up. She shouted in frustration.

In the tense silence that lingered, Reece not moving, watching her, Gwen sighed and marched to the window, looking out, taking a deep breath, trying to remain calm. A part of her knew that Reece was right. She hated the MacGils, too. And she loved Selese. In fact, a part of her admired what her brother had done. She was glad Falus was dead.

But as Queen, what she wanted or admired did not matter; she had to balance the lives of many.

“I don’t understand you,” Reece said finally, breaking the silence. “You loved Selese as much as I. Didn’t you, too, crave vengeance for her death?”

“I loved her as a friend,” Gwen replied, calmer. “And as a sister-in-law.”

She sighed.

“But as a Queen, I must balance vengeance with judgment. I do not kill one man to have hundreds of other men killed. Nor can I allow you to do so—brother or not.”

She stood there, leaning over, lowering her head, her mind swarming.

“You have put me in an impossible position,” she said. “I cannot allow Srog to be killed—or any of my other men. What’s more, the rest of my fleet are valuable, and I cannot abandon the Upper Isles, which I need now, more than ever, for reasons you do not know.”

She sighed, thinking it all over.

“I am left with only one solution,” she said, turning to her brother. “You will travel to the Upper Isles at once and apologize to Tirus.”

Reece gasped.

“I will NEVER!” he exclaimed.

Gwen hardened.

“YES YOU WILL!” Gwen shouted back, twice as loud, her face bright red. It was a shout that terrified even her, the voice of a hardened Queen, a powerful woman. It was the voice of her father coursing through her.

Yet Reece, her brother, carried the voice of her father, too. They stood there in their father’s study, each facing off with the strength of their parents, each equally strong-willed.

“If you do not,” she said, “I will have you imprisoned for your illegal actions.”

Reece looked at her, and his face fell in disbelief.

“Imprison me? Your brother? For executing justice?”

He stared back at her with a look that pained her, a look that said that she had betrayed him.

“You are my brother,” she said, “but you are my subject first. You will do as I say. Leave my sight. And do not return to me until you have apologized.”

Reece, mouth open in shock, pain and anguish etched across his face, stared back, speechless. She wished she could summon compassion for him, but she had too little of it left to go around.

Slowly, Reece turned, walked to the door as if in a trance, opened it, and slammed it behind him.

Gwen stood there in that echoing silence, wishing she were anywhere in the world but here, and wishing she were anyone else in the world, anyone, but Queen.

Erec galloped on his fine white horse, Alistair on the back of it behind him, her hands clasped around his waist, and never feeling as content as he did at this moment. Here he was, journeying south, toward his homeland, Alistair with him, and finally, after all these years, about to return to his homeland, to be reunited with his family. Erec could not wait to introduce Alistair to his family, his people, and to become wed to her. Meeting Alistair had been the greatest thing that ever happened to him, and he couldn’t imagine being apart from her, even for a minute. He was overjoyed that she had decided to come with him.

As they rode further and further south as they had been doing for days, Erec could feel the air getting heavy with moisture, could smell the ocean air, and he knew they were getting closer to the southern shore. His heart quickened. He knew that just around the bend would be the cliffs, the ocean, the ship waiting for him, to take them to his homeland. Erec hadn’t been there since he was a boy, and he was brimming with excitement. He missed his family dearly, and most of all, he ached to see his father before he died. He hoped they arrived in time.

As Erec rode, he felt mixed emotions about the Ring. After all, the Ring had become his home. He had been taken in here as a young boy, had risen to become the greatest knight of the realm, and King MacGil had been like a second father to him. He had been taken in and raised in King’s Court as if it were his own home. He had been raised with the brotherhood of the Silver, and behind him, Erec could hear the clang of their spurs, a dozen of them accompanying him even now as a gesture of respect. They were true brothers to him. A part of him felt guilty to leave their side, to leave the Ring unprotected.

Yet at the same time, Erec knew he was leaving the Ring in fine hands, with Kendrick and all the others still here to protect it. He also knew the Ring was stronger than it had ever been, with all its forts and castles repaired, the canyon protected, the Shield up, bridges and keeps strengthened. And most of all, Ralibar to watch over it. Leaving was painful, but at least Erec could be confident the Ring was impregnable—and if there was ever a time to return to his homeland, now, with his father dying, and his vow to marry Alistair among his people, the time had come.

Finally, they crested a ridge, and they all stopped and looked out at the vista before them. Erec looked out and saw the dramatic rolling waves of the Southern Ocean, and looked straight down and saw, way down the cliffs below, huge clouds of foam spraying into the air, as waves crashed against the shore. The Southern Ocean.

Erec scanned the shores, expecting to see, waiting for him on the shore below, the huge ship with the towering white sails that would take him home.

Yet, as all the knights stopped beside him, Erec looked down, perplexed.

His ship was missing from the shoreline.

Erec, stumped, scanned the shoreline up and down.

“It cannot be,” he said to himself.

“What is it, my lord?” one of the knights asked.