http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4x71kx114c14e0q
TEMPER, TEMPER
Queen Tarranna. Just the whisper
of her name made even the bravest of warriors tremble in their boots. And
rightly so, Tarranna was one extremely formidable woman. As many (now) dead
people found out the hard way, she was not only lethal with her impressive
collection of weapons but her superbly toned body. She'd killed thousands of
men herself but now she had an army willing to do it for her.
Soldiers said they were attracted to her remarkable leading ability,
motivational techniques ('play my way or die') and her unconquered skill as a
fighter. They said they’d happily follow her anywhere. What most didn’t
verbalise was they followed Tarranna because she had a fantastic gluteus
maximus and they just loved to watch her walk, or ride, or run, or fight.
Mostly they just loved to watch her.
Tarranna's gorgeous butt currently sat on her throne, her body slumped
in the pompous chair. She exuded casual strength and unacknowledged (by
herself, the rest of the world had already been there done that!!) sex appeal.
Her silky dark hair (cut to midway down her neck) bounced healthily as she
rolled the stiffness from her broad shoulders. The Queen’s impossibly blue eyes
devoured the minutest detail of everything and everyone within sight.
Just as all eyes were turned toward her and devoured every inch of the
body and total hypnotizing presence that was Queen Tarranna. Dressed in black
leather pants, a red silk shirt and knee length boots, she was breathtakingly
beautiful.
And extremely bored.
Now on a 'good' day, Tarranna was dangerous and unpredictable. On a
'bad' day, tough-as-steel- battle-hardened warriors fell at her feet crying for
forgiveness and mercy.
Today had quickly deteriorated into a bad day.
The Royal court had started out beautifully for her! A wealthy merchant
had the audacity to think selling his wares exclusively to the castle meant
that he didn’t have to pay taxes. He
even had the cheek to increase the prices of his wares!
The moron!
One icy glare from the Queen was all it took to make sure the merchant
(and some of the nearer onlookers) didn't have to worry about current or future
problems with constipation. By the time she’d finished with him, he’d paid more
than his back taxes. She took his entire business and gave herself mates’
rates!
Then she'd sentenced two of her soldiers to five years hard labour.
They'd been caught extorting freebies from local market owners. Not such a bad
a sentence, for the crime, they'd thought. Until they realized they’d be
cleaning the sewerage channels for the city… Five years in a shit job!
Beheading was starting to look extremely good to them.
Just when Queen Tarranna had begun to enjoy herself, a rapist was called
before her. He had brutally abused several women and laughed about his
crime.
Big mistake....
The usual sentence for rape was the removal of a man's 'jewels' -
without anesthetic, of course. But because he was so proud of his accomplishments,
Queen Tarranna ordered something extra special for him. His arms and legs were
shattered. He was then sent to the healers to have his mangled bones set. After
that, he was castrated. Tarranna saw that all his medical needs were seen to by
her healers.
The novice ones.
He didn’t laugh and brag now, in fact she could still hear his screams
coming from the infirmary. From the way the men in the room winced, the
incidence of rape in her realm should drop even further.
On the Queen’s right was Melanger, Captain of the Royal Guard and her
army. He reflexively winced as a piercing scream echoed through the hall. He
ignored it as he continued to survey the crowd that watched the prisoners’
trials. His job was to protect the Queen and he took his role very seriously.
He constantly scanned for potential trouble makers.
Even with the hundred or so spectators and guards in it, the huge hall
was still only half full. The hall was extravagant with its exotic wall
hangings and murals but nothing compared to the splendor of the rest of the
huge palace.
The huge palace Tarranna now owned and lived in.
Melanger internally cringed as he warily observed and ticked off the
signs of his leader's deteriorating frame of mind. Of course, this was done
whilst he maintained an appearance of complete authority and composure.
1 – The incessant tap of her fingers on the arm rest of her throne. The
rhythm of the tap increased in speed as her irritability increased. Thankfully,
it still set a slow, steady pace.
2 - The gentle suck/chew of the tip of the ring finger of her left hand.
Her head gently rested on the tips of her pointer and middle finger, her elbow
on the arm rest of her throne.
3 - The barely audible, exasperated sighs that intermittently forced
their way out of her lovely throat.
4 - The decidedly ice-cold glint in her normally cobalt blue eyes,
accompanied by the half squint of her eyes.
Fortunately, she hadn't picked up her favourite dagger and started to
toy with it. That usually meant her self
control was on a hair-trigger. Melanger shivered at the thought of her as she
played with that long, razor-sharp, dagger and the tremendous amount of damage
she could do with it. With a great deal of luck, the last of the prisoners
being brought to her wouldn’t overtax her failing temper. "God help the next idiot that ticks her off." he thought.
"Ooouuchh!! That pinches!!" The prisoner seemed oblivious to
everyone but the guards who dragged him into the room.
"Uh
oh!!" Thought Melanger.
A well dressed, rather good looking, tall man was pulled in and dropped
before the Queen. For some unknown reason, he was wearing chest armour 3 sizes
too big for him.
Melanger's eyes widened and quickly flicked to see what Tarranna's
reaction to the prisoner would be.
The tap of her fingers had stopped.
'Uh oh!!' She was
sitting straighter with both forearms on the armrests of the throne. The man
had her undivided attention!!
Definitely not good!
A bored Tarranna was deadly. Her undivided attention could be disastrous
for anything within range of her temper. Or even worse, her nefarious sense of
humour or justice.
"I just want to see the Queen! She'll know what a good soldier I
am..." The prisoner tried unsuccessfully to reason with his guards. The
guards just looked in stupefied bewilderment at each other, shook their heads
and stood at attention.
"My liege," said the court Sheriff "this man is accused
of inciting a riot, which caused one hundred gold coins damage to market stalls
and goods. He also skulked into the barracks of the Royal Guard and caused fifty
gold coins damage to the building. All told, three people were seriously
injured and thirty have minor injuries."
The prisoner stared open mouthed at the vision of loveliness who sat on
the throne in front of him. He turned decidedly pale as he realised he had her
attention. He also realised that to have the Queen staring at him, whilst she
caressed a long, sharp-looking, dagger, could mean trouble. Big trouble.
"So, you want to be a soldier.” her voice was deep, sensual and
amused.
“Amused!! Oh hell!!" Thought Melanger. Amused
was definitely not good. He hoped she
didn’t plan to put the man anywhere near lots of sharp weapons or anything
breakable.
"You started a riot. Just
how did you manage that?" The Queen’s smile grew wider.
The prisoner tried to answer several times before his voice finally
emerged. "I didn't mean to, Lady." He sighed. "I was just
walking along and tripped on a rock. Next thing I knew, people were yelling and
trying to hit me." He looked up at her with doleful brown eyes. His face
suddenly lit up in a huge grin. "Would you like to see me juggle? I’m
really good at it!"
Tarranna looked into the man’s eyes and saw a child looking back. She
drawled "Guard, get him something to juggle." The guard hastened to
fulfill her order.
Melanger stared open mouthed at his Queen as she smiled at the prisoner.
“What’s your name?”
“Maladroit, Your Ladyship. But I like being called Mal.” The prisoner
puffed out his chest as he stood straighter and started to stretch his arms and
legs. His ill-fitting armour got in his way so he removed it and put it on the
floor.
The guard returned and handed the prisoner four apples. The man-child
took them, rolled his shoulders, took a deep breath and proceeded to toss the
apples high into the air.
#1 hit the Sheriff smack between the eyes.
#2 bounced off an expensive looking vase. The lovely container did
several splendidly executed somersaults, before it landed inelegantly on its
base. It shattered on the tiled floor.
#3 hit the prisoner in his own nose, causing it to bleed profusely.
Everyone in the crowd yelled and screamed in support of Maladroit,
mostly for him hitting the stuffy Sheriff.
As awareness dawned of the direction of the last apple, all noise
ceased.... Not one person drew a breath.... It had Queen Tarranna in its
sights.
Melanger moved forward but was too far away to stop it. There was a
collective sigh of relief as the Queen effortlessly skewered the errant apple
with her dagger. Her left eyebrow disappeared into her hairline as she stared
at the man in front of her.
The crowd held their breath as she removed the apple from the knife and
proceeded to cut off a piece. "So that's how one starts a riot. And to
think, all these years I've been using soldiers, fire and fear. All I really
needed was to juggle and have no sense of coordination. Cool." No one
spoke, no one moved. She chewed her piece of apple, deep in thought.
Tarranna pulled a hand-towel off the small pile next to her (they came
in handy for wiping blood off her sword) and threw it to Maladroit. Tarranna
motioned for him to wipe the blood off his nose and face, which he did. “Why
did you go into the barracks and how did you destroy it.”
“I wanted to see where your Guard lived, ‘cos I want to be one. I didn’t
want to destroy anything. I just got scared when the soldiers started screaming
and swinging their swords at me. I ran around the room and they chased me.”
"Melanger" She drawled. Melanger snapped to attention, saluted
and stepped closer to her.
"Yes my Liege."
She crooked her finger and motioned him even closer. He looked uneasy,
but pushed back his shoulders and leaned close enough to hear her whisper
"You think he’s genuine?"
Melanger cleared his throat then answered "Yes, my liege, I do. I
don’t think he would hurt a fly but I also believe he’ll destroy any army he
serves in. That is, if the men didn't kill him first."
"My thoughts exactly..." He could almost see the wheels
turning in her mind. “Mal, what do you like to do? What are you really good
at?”
Maladroit grinned widely and immediately answered. “I love cooking!!
Especially cakes, I make great cakes. People love it when I cook! They say my
roasts are excellent. No one ever gets sick from my food. Mumma said that’s
because she taught me to always wash my hands lots.”
“Where’s your Mumma now?”
“Well Mal, I really love eating cakes and roasts. It’s a pity you want
to be in my Guard. I have too many of them already. But I do need a personal
cook.”
“You do?” He seemed torn between his career choices.
“How about you start off in the kitchen? Then in a few months we’ll see
what you want to do.”
“Ok. Can I cook in my armour and have a sword?”
“How about we get you some armour that actually fits you? You can wear
that wherever you want. The sword would be too much of a hazard in the kitchen,
so would a sheath and a new knife do?”
Maladroit thought that was an excellent idea. “Can I cook a cake now?”
“You look tired and you’re hurt. You go have a bath and a sleep first.
You can cook whatever you want after you look after yourself. Deal?”
“Ok... Thank you.” He took the towel off his nose and found the bleeding
had stopped.
The Queen stood, sheathed her dagger and looked at the man in front of
her. “Mal, go with Melanger, he'll look after
you." She directed her next words to the Sheriff, who was still rubbing
the red spot between his eyes. "I've had enough for today."
And she left.
For hours afterward, brave people swore they heard laughter coming from
the Queen's rooms. The brave people were scorned and teased.
No one had heard the Queen laugh in years.
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