章 76: A Queen's Dissent
Solara had been asleep on Ra's shoulder, but after Morrigan's biting rebuke she leaped down. In a dazzling flash of flame she began to morph, and from within the flames, out walked a beautiful red-haired young woman, far more beautiful than any currently present, jealousy etched in every line of her face Sabrina spoke nastily, "And who might this be?" she asked coldly. "You are not qualified to ask who I am, nevertheless, I shall tell you. Before you stands a Phoenix, a race as old as magic itself, when your grandfather was born I was already old, mind your tongue, Ardian." Solara said quietly as the surrounding heat flared arbitrarily and the temperature in the room rose. Ra quickly came up behind Solara and placed comforting hands around her waist and began pulling her back. "As you can see, Queen, I have not brought creatures or animals here. All are vastly intelligent and extraordinarily powerful beings you would not want to offend." Sabrina hesitated then nodded, "Follow me then..." she said, visibly shaken; having felt the threat of death only moments before, she was not willing to push the issue. They were led into an exquisite dining hall, a long stone table was in the center of the room, surrounded by men and women in crisp white uniform. Sparkling crystal hung from the ceiling lending the atmosphere a sort of refined elegance. The table was soon laden with dishes each nite sumptuous and smelling more divine than the last.
However, Ra was boot distracted in the least, he had not forgotten his purpose in coming here, so after showing an appropriate amount of time to lapse he revealed his intent.
"Queen Sabrina," Ra began loudly over the clatter of cups and forks hitting plates. The noise began to die down.
"It is our intent to enter the recently discovered catacombs," he said quieter, "May I ask what opinion you might have on this matter?"
Sabrina raised her head from her food and eyed him evenly, seemingly in thought, "That old dusty place over by the western border across River Ard? I have none." she said nonchalantly.
Ra inspected her expression warily,
"That's good then, I take it we are free to enter and bring out what we wish without fear of legal ramifications?" And Ra was sure he saw Sabrina's lip twitch slightly after he had finished speaking.
Sabrina chewed the inside of her cheek, "I would advise that you do not presume overmuch," she said quietly.
Ra raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Then it is an issue? Very well, we shall wait for the Kingdom of Arda to collect its legal property before entering ourselves." Ra said evenly, a hint of challenge evident in his voice. Whether or not Sabrina caught it did not matter in the slightest as she still grew angry all the same. "We cannot enter the catacombs due to the barrier," she said through gritted teeth, "Nevertheless, anything found inside is the property of the Kingdom of Arda!" she said vehemently, her voice rising an octave despite clearly struggling to maintain her composure.
"My lady, please be at ease, we understand this point, we simply sought clarification. Needless to say, It was confusing to me when you claimed you had no opinion regarding the place when it is clear to me now that you in fact hold deep reservations, as such, I do not believe it would be beneficial for us to remove anything from the catacombs. So while we will still enter, we will not bring anything out apart from the knowledge of what we see." Ra said carefully.
Saying so, Ra returned to his plate of food, however, Sabrina seemed to have lost her appetite, instead she asked, "Will you not assist the Kingdom in the recovery of its artifacts?" and her teeth could be heard grinding against each other as she listened for his answer. Ra placed his fork down beside his plate and eyed her evenly, "Now why would I do that?" Sabrina bristled, "Do not be confused," said Ra, picking up his fork again, "I am not one of your subordinates, nor am I a citizen of Arda, and do not speak to me of the right thing to do, for if I had entered the catacombs and attempted to leave I would have surely been robbed." Sabrina's eyes were blazing now, "It is apparent to me..." Ra was saying after swallowing a large bite of meat, "that you wish to take advantage of my abilities, and I am sorry to say..." he paused to drain his goblet, "not gonna happen." he said in an extremely satisfied manner. He stood to leave, Sabrina was enraged, "GUARDS!" she shrieked, and almost instantly, armed men began flooding into the dining hall with weapons at the ready. Ra shook his head sadly, "You wish to detain me?" Sabrina stared at him with a superior look on her face saying nothing. She folded her arms after signalling her men to detain him. "Not possible," Ra said lightly, this elicited a chuckle from Sabrina, "You may not know this, but all those who cross the threshold lacking royal blood are sealed,"
"are sealed." Ra parroted, "Yes, I know." he said and revealed an all encompassing smile on his face, "Why is it then that I have not once felt disconnected from my powers?" and a powerful spatial gate appeared behind him.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Sabrina shrieked, "I am the last of the line, I am Queen!" and a trace of madness flitted in her eyes, "I am just as surprised as you are," Ra said gleefully, "Unfortunately it seems I have overstayed my welcome, else I think I'd quite enjoy catching up with you, I have always valued family after all." Sabrina's eyes revealed a trace of panic, "Kill him! Kill him now!" she shrieked, the guards hesitated, it was clear that Ra was of royal blood, but Sabrina was the ruling Queen, they had never encountered such a conflict before and were unsure of how to resolve it. As a result, they did nothing as the group they were being ordered to slay disappeared through the gate.
"No!" Sabrina wailed like the howling winds, her voice carrying beyond the walls of the palace, startling the populace.
クリエイターの想い 
Asaiyll
Asaiyll all feedback is appreciated :)
I went back and edited parts of the chapter, Found quite a few mistakes. I've also discovered my earlier mistakes on the beginning chapters, it was a conscious choice not to fix them, if you made it past those atrocities I can only commend you.
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