Mirror of Grace and Majesty Divine

WHO HAS THE AUDACITY TO DEMAND NEGOTIATIONS WITH ME?

The words hang in the air, the slight echo only serving to highlight each syllable.

The slight breeze stilled, letting the mist surrounding her remain motionless for a moment. The breaking of the gentle waves against the beach was muffled.

The queen’s cold gaze was fixed at the party. Her gauntleted hands rested on the pommels of her twin-swords, the right side of her mouth wrinkling slightly in a smirk. Her attendants hung suspended in mid-air, their white robes flowing around them, their bows cocked with icy arrows ready to flow.

The queen’s honour guard of rank and rotting seaweed, tortured and beaten into human form, mirrored their liege’s silence. Drops of water fell from them, darkening the white sand.

The cry of a sea-gull broke the spell.

The queen’s featured broke into a mischievous smile, and a giggle with all the crystalline delight of tinkling silver bells played across the beach. She winked at the party, her hands leaving her swords, the fingertips of each hand pushing against each other.

So lets get this right. This yokel murders one of my sons, then you turn up and help him murder another, and then you agree to meet me at a beach where my powers are at their most potent? You are either the most wonderfully stupid creatures I have come across, or perhaps the most heroic.

She made an imperious motion of with her arms and wisps of morning mist gathered on the beach, forming a table and seats for her and the party, complete with silver goblets filled with ruby-red wine.

Now, my dearest heroes. Let’s sit, toast and…negotiate, for I think there is a way to resolve our difficulties.