71. Royal Stratagem

In the east wing of Ice Castle,
Nora stood before her large mirror, adjusting her garments while her maids stood beside her, heads facing down. Nora’s sharp ears heard some murmuring noise behind her, and she eyed the mirror. Her maids gossiped and chuckled at each other without realising Nora was watching them through the mirror.
"What’s so amusing?" Nora asked them with an evil smile on her lips, "Am I not qualified to get involved in your amusements?" She asked them without turning back while attaching the embellishment to her garment.
All the maids were gulping terror and fear for their lives. Nora is known for her fiery approach to her anger; she would burn anything with her purple heated flames into ashes.
One of the maids opened her mouth, "My lady, we are talking about the girl that was brought by our crown prince."
Nora gritted her teeth and destroyed the embellishment in her hands, and the maids took a step back, dreading Nora's wrath. Nora turned her look to nothingness and urged them once more, "She should not be addressed along the with our crown prince. She deserves to be considered as a dungeon girl.” Nora stated emphatically, "She is a dungeon girl."
"We (the maids halted and hesitated) were discussing with her that all the maids are addressed as castle maids, and how is she addressed?" the maid said after nodding.
"How?" Nora asked, facing them. Since they weren’t opening their mouths, Nora approached them with flaming purple eyes to threaten them to reveal the gossip.
All the maids faced down, saying, "Royal maiden to the crown prince."
Nora gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and tipped her head down to calm her. Suddenly, a cool breeze passed over her face from the orchid. Soon her evil mind plotted something horrible; a wild gleam appeared on her purple-coated lips.
Nora rushed to the orchid and gazed at the beauty of the orchid one last time. Without a second thought, Nora took her sword and splashed on the twigs and walked on the buds, crushing them under her feet.
Nora smiled at the orchid and looked at her maid. The maid came forward and Nora told her, "Summon the dungeon girl to clean the dirt."
"My lady, my lady." Indigo rushed to Nora, "My lady, my lady."
Nora looked at her with a smile and a cool look. "Aren’t you going to praise me for my good deeds?"
Indigo stopped her rushing feet and looked at the orchid turned into ashes and hardly smiled at her, "My lady, your doings are becoming eviler. The reason I came here is that our queen has summoned you."
"Indy, make the dungeon girl clean her lovely burnt orchid and dispose of the ashes in the dungeon along with her," Nora instructed and marched to the throne room to meet the white queen.
*****
In the court of Las Oajar,
The five noble chieftains were seated in the middle, while the kings of all four allied kingdoms of Ayruzglow were seated to their left and the throne for the white queen was positioned to the right.
The Synker (host) announced to the court the arrival of the white queen. The white queen approached her throne and sat in her majestic position while Nora and Jaravles, the dark knight, stood beside her.
Everyone in the court stood and bowed to the white queen to show their respect and goodwill to her. The white queen nodded with a smile at everyone. The Synker started his hosting after getting positive gestures from the chieftains and the white queen.
"Las Oajar wants to discuss the attack that happened in the highly secured forbidden tower by ravens. The court seeks an explanation from the majestic kingdom of Ayruzglow. " The synker said and exited the court to stand in the corner facing down.
The white queen eyed Jaravles Shirk as he approached the middle of the court. He bowed his head in all directions and started to talk, "As mentioned by the Synker, the forbidden tower is secured not only with brick walls; it is secured with strong dragon warriors directly chosen from our crown prince’s army."
Jaravles continued, "As it stood secure for ages, it needs to be checked in time and I have acknowledged this to our honourable white queen. She tasked this to our crown prince, and he has put his powers to strengthen the life of the energy shield, which would stand for another thousand centuries."
Arger Gremjac, the king of an allied country named Pahrolymire, stood and bowed to the Las Oajar court members. He turned to the dark knight, Jaravles Shirk, and said sarcastically, "I hope our dark knight has a great explanation for the ravens’ attack on the Forbidden Tower."
"The unexpected incursion of ravens has nothing to do with our hopes for the Forbidden Tower’s security." Jaravles remarked and continued, "Our crown prince has won the battle with ravens twice (he emphasized the word TWICE) and the forbidden object in the Forbidden Tower is secured forever."
"As for now," Arger Gremjac smirked with an arched right-side brow, "But the defeated ravens may arise for revenge. I heard the ravens were led by a wizard (Arger Gremjac sharpened his eyes on the white queen) or perhaps by a witch. (He turned his head away from the white queen and faced the court.) The dark knight can’t assure for sure."
Mirabella the White Queen, Jaravles the Dark Knight, and Nora the Night Fury ragged on the king of Pahrolymire, Arger Gremjac. The chattering noise filled the court, and the White Queen’s tolerance level was minimalized.
Mirabella, the white queen, rose from her seat all of a sudden. The entire court was silenced for a moment, and Arger Gremjac was awestruck for annoying the white queen, knowing her identity as a witch.
Mirabella looked at the court and spoke, "Fear not the ravens. The energy shield has been restored along with the peace."
The sizzling voice of Mirabella echoed against the walls of the court of Las Oajar, yet Arger Gremjac didn’t stop. He asked, "How can we trust the retreat of the ravens? What if they attack again?"
Nora tried to pull her sword from its cover, which she had tied around her waist, but Mirabella signalled NO and the sword rested back on its cover. Arger Gremjac eyed to his left where the kings of the allied kingdoms of Ayruzglow were seated.
Cymonynx Toxiskon, the king of Eldornagton, stood up slowly following the eye signal of Arger Gremjac. He bowed at the white queen with anxiety and opened his mouth to speak, "The mighty kingdom like Ayruzglow got attacked today. It might happen to our small kingdoms that are dependent on Ayruzglow."
Mirabella understood clearly that Cymonynx Toxiskon was puppeted by Arger Gremjac. She titled her head upwards and felt pride in replying to them, "Our crown prince, my son, is restoring the energy shield and won the battle with ravens twice. Haven’t they witnessed enough that we are safe from any invaders?"
The king of the Katilawalder kingdom, Caleen Evintyron, added some fuel to the fiery conversation, "We don’t doubt the ability and strength of our crown prince. We have witnessed enough in recent years. But the world doesn’t stand still. Some rumours have spread that the ravens are led by raven wizard upon the command of a black witch."
The white queen replied, "Rumours will spread like a forest fire, but the truth will flow like a calm river. Our crown prince has the backbone to protect every kingdom with his strength and power."
Nora, in a soft voice, asked her father, Jaravles, "What is the motive of King Arger Gremjac. He is purposely showing toxicity in his words against our queen."
"He wanted his daughter to be married to our crown prince. But our crown prince turned down his proposal twice." Jaravles Shirk told his daughter, Nora.
King Arger Gremjac couldn’t wait to reveal the true motive of his annoyance; he opened up, which instantly disturbed the silence of the court again, "We have a precious crown prince to back our spines, but he can’t be still crown prince with the least control over the kingdom and us."
King Arger Gremjac nodded when delivering his words, making others agree with his statement. Other kings of allied kingdoms agreed with deep thought and chorused back, "Agreed."
The entire court agreed to the statement of king Arger Gremjac and, with wide support gained, he turned his eyes towards the white queen, "My majestic queen, when will our crown prince be crowned to be king?"
Someone from the crowd of subjects voiced, without showing their identity, "We have enough of being ruled by a queen. Crown the prince! We want to be ruled by a dragon king, not by a witch as queen."
The chieftains ordered the soldiers to capture the commoner who spoke those words. The soldiers brought a man with a blazing look in his eyes. He smelled hatred towards the white queen.
The soldier kicked his backside, and the man eventually knelt. One of the chieftains descended from his position and stood before the common man. "Don’t you aware of the consequences of your actions?"
"I am very well aware; I speak the voice of all subjects. I reflect the thoughts of everyone in this court. You can ask any ordinary man..." The man laughed to his maximum, sharing the hatred gaze with the white queen.
The first chieftain ordered the soldier to behead him for his foul talk about the queen. Before the soldier’s blade touched his head, the man shouted, "The dragon clan must be ruled by the dragon king, not by a witch."
Everyone in the court gasped and inhaled the words spoken by the common man, and the white queen was fuming in anger. In a fraction of a second, the large white wings fluttered and whooshed over the court of Las Oajar.
The white dragon changed its shape to mortal in the blink of an eye. Dev, after transformation, unleashed his sword to behead the man who spoke ill of his mother. "Dare you to speak against my mother?"
"Dev!" The white queen shouted at Dev to control his anger, so the head of the man was spared.
Dev resumed his actions and bowed to the chieftains. The chieftains stood to bow to the crown prince. The entire court, subjects, and other kings bowed to the crown prince, except his mother, Mirabella, the white queen.
"I must be the one to bow. You are all in respected positions and elders to me. Please accept my apology." Dev showered everyone with his charming words and alluring smile. He then continued, "I seek my apology for the uninvited appearance and disturbance caused by me in the respectable court of Las Oajar. I failed to control my anger towards this man for his wounding words against my mother. I have come to have a word with our dark knight regarding the forbidden tower."
"Our sagacious crown prince needn’t apologize to the court of Las Oajar." The middle chieftain declared in a loud voice.
Dev nodded and moved to stand beside the white queen, joining the dark knight, Jaravles. Nora jumped in joy to meet Dev and tried all means to catch his eyes and attention.
But Dev was seriously discussing something with the Dark Knight and failed to look at Nora. Her purple eyes fixed on Dev’s icy blue eyes in the hope of connection.