The Eve of Judgement
Hellebore Dungeons, Aeoneous 16, 1789
Everything was silent from the outside of the Hellebore Dungeons. No civilian would dare to enter its halls, let alone go down to the lowest levels. Yet, the newly appointed High Judge of the Grisean Republic went down to stare at the downfall of the old Kingdom of the Blancs on the other side of the cell. Her black eyes gazed at the dark figure on the other side of the bars who began to step into the light of the torches placed on the walls.
“What are you doing here, Isobel?” The figure glared at her with those two blue eyes that Isobel used to hold reverence for.
“I’m here to see you, of course,” Isobel responded. “After all, I still cherish you as a friend, Mary Noe — “
“You’re such a backstabbing liar,” Mary Noe sneered. “I bet you relish the idea of my head rolling in a basket, huh?”
Isobel’s heart sank at the accusation, but she kept her chin up. “I do not intend that punishment for you, Mary Noe — “
Mary Noe latched onto the cold bars of her prison cells with a slam that almost made Isobel yelp. “Of course, it is, and you know it.”
Isobel could feel every ounce of blood in her body freezing when Mary Noe’s face contorted to one of wrath. Under the blaze, she could see the glint of anger in her former liege’s eyes making her heartbeat bellow in her head.
She tried to take a breath in and let it out.
“I do not take pleasure in what I have to do.” She straightened her back as if trying to maintain a semblance of order. “But it is crucial for the future of this country-”
“I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO IN THE NAME OF THIS KINGDOM!” Even the dungeon keepers’ on the top floor could hear the screeches of the once-revered Light Queen. “I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO TO KEEP THIS KINGDOM FROM TURNING INTO ASHES! BUT NOW IT SEEMS EVEN YOU TURNED YOUR BACK ON ME FOR THOSE LOWLY NUIT!”
A silence soon enveloped the dungeons. The only thing one could hear was the soft crackle of the torches around them.
But to Isobel, there was only the pleas of agony slowly engulfed by a thousand suns. Listening to the Queen’s fantasies only made her blood melt over. How dare Mary Noe speak of such things when she witnessed the flames enveloping her hometown? How dare Mary Noe say that when she had to carry the melting corpse of a mother to her burnt children?
How dare Mary Noe utter the words that escaped from her lips when Isobel’s mother was executed by Mary Noe’s guard when her only crime was to search for the truth of the Plague that tormented their country for hundreds of years?
“Are the ashes of my mother’s people the cure to the Plague?” The Judge knelt to meet the former queen in the eye. “Is that your well-prepared defense tomorrow?”
The only answer that the disheveled woman gave was a glare. And yet it spoke a thousand words to the Tenebresian.
“You know, this is truly disappointing.” The Judge said, rising to her feet. “I was expecting a debate, not a delusion.”
She then sighed as she fixed her dark gloves. “But you are making it easier for me to think of your punishment.”
The queen scoffed. In her eyes, Isobel Wriedt was merely an innocent court lady who could never even utter a single word of ill will to anyone. “Which is?”
The Judge could only smile. “Well, I don’t want to divulge that information. You might lose your head before the court date could even start.”
For the first time since she came here, the queen’s scowl faded as it gave way to widened eyes. “Wait, Isobel-”
“It would be in your best interest if you would refer to me as Your Honor, Madam Blanc.” Her former companion said as the curve of her lips straightened itself again. “After all, you have no right to call me by that name.”
The Judge’s cloak swayed as she turned to leave the queen even before the queen’s hands could latch onto it.
When they saw each other again the next day in front of thousands of people, they would no longer be known as “Mary Noe Blanc” and “Isobel Wriedt.” History would forever write them as the Bloodstained Queen and the Chief Judge who tried her to death.
