Allorna's Legacy, Part 1
Chapter 1
The great stone doors opened and the whole Royal Banquet Hall watched as a girl in a plain black gown entered the room.
She was young, still not yet fifteen, and only a bit more than five feet tall, but all eyes were on her and the gold Unicorn dangling at her forehead.
She had been fasting, the tradition for young rulers before their coronations, har mourning gown hung loosely around her and her face was pale. She was known for being beautiful, and she would have been quite pretty had it not been for all the bruises and scrapes she had aquired during the many weeks and months preceding her parents' deaths, two days before.
"My Lords and Ladies," said Lord Rewan, the Prime Minister, "Behold Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Allorna, the new ruler of Licornia!"
Nearly two weeks after her coronation, Allorna was asleep in her immense bedchambers when Lord Rewan entered the room.
"Your Majesty," he said, "I have been sent to inform you that Raiders from the Dragonworlds have been invading the Unicorn Forests and that you are to report to the War Chamber immediately."
"All right," she replied, "Tell the Council that I will be arriving shortly." It did not show in the least that she was more nervous than she had ever been, for the whole nation watched her intently, to see what mistake the new Empress would make on her first was command.
"Good, we can finally start." said Duke Erodel, head of the War Council of Licornia. Allorna quite liked the duke, for he smiled a lot and was kind to her and the rest of the Court, but she found the rest of the War Council too cold and uncaring for her liking.
"All right," said Lord Agriador, whom Allorna ecpecially disliked, "We must begin to discuss the topic of that half-human scum from the Dragonworlds that seems to be invading our Unicorn Forests. Shall I ask Her Imperial Majesty what we must do?"
Allorna scowled at him. She knew perfectly well that he had only used that tone of voice because he, like many other people, didn't think that a woman, ecpecially one who was still a child, was capable of fighting in a war, let alone waging one herself. She felt her anger rise inside of her. "Don't you talk to me like that, Lord Agriador! Woman, or child, or anything, I'm ruler now, and you just obey my orders! And you'll see that I can wage a war, and you'll be sorry!" she exclaimed. She could feel her eyes filling with tears. "And we'll discuss this tomorrow!" she said as she fled from the room.
Allorna lay on her bed, sobbing. For she knew that she couldn't wage a war, and that Lord Agriador was right: she was just a young girl, she was weak, and she would never show him anything.
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