Making monster girls 7 f.., p.7
Making Monster Girls 7: For Science!, page 7
“Really?” Kleeia asked. “We don’t… We don’t know a lot about the Queen. Can you tell us more? What is she like?”
“I don’t remember a lot of my time as a guard,” Rian pondered, tapped her chin, and squinted her yellow eyes toward the ceiling. “I mainly remember ordering a bunch of soldiers around, but I can’t quite remember the Queen as much. What does she look like?”
“She’s…” Cecelia breathed, cleared her throat, and then started again. “She’s a sight to behold if I’m being honest. You’d think for how old she is… She’d be this tiny, old crone, hunched over and walking with a cane, but that’s not true… She’s beautiful, with this voice… Sure, it's awful to hear her speak when she’s angry, but listening to her talk to you… it’s like music or the babbling of a calm spring.”
“I’ve never seen her, only the image of her on coins,” I explained. “Edony, you had more of a relationship with her… Have you ever seen her in real life?”
“Relationship?” the Duchess snarked. “I wouldn’t exactly use that word to describe what the Queen is to me… but no, I’ve never seen the Queen. I’ve only seen depictions or general descriptions. A long time ago, before my mother passed away, I was summoned to the capital to speak to her, but the entire time, she stood behind a giant screen. It was enormous… So, I never actually saw her or her face.”
“Before your mother passed?” I asked. “Why would she do such a thing?”
“What did she say to you?” Valerie asked. “Why did she summon you there?”
“She wanted to form an alliance,” Edony described. “I doubt she realized that my mother had already explained to me what the Queen and her courts had done to my long line of ancestors. She wanted me to sign a contract that once I became the Duchess of Edenhart, she would have a hand in all of its control.”
“I can assume that you told her no?” I chuckled, and a sly smile spread over the she-wolf’s features.
“Of course, I did,” the Duchess nodded. “I would never hand over Edenhart to her… never. Not even the teeniest amount of land would be in her name, and I told her that. I wish I could’ve seen her face when I, a seventeen-year-old, told her no and then promptly stomped out of the palace with my shoulders thrown back and my head held high. I never told my mother what happened… She would’ve lost her mind and done something irrational. Maybe waged an attack against the Queen. My mother may have had a heavy-hand and iron-will while raising me, but she protected me and her city ferociously. I was raised under the same belief system as her… Edenhart was the one place that the Queen could never control, and it should stay that way until the end of time. I was fully prepared to teach my future daughters that, too… That Edenhart was the one place in the country that the Queen could never rule.”
“Cecelia,” Daisy broke in. “I’m still curious. What does the Queen look like? If she’s so beautiful, what makes her so?”
“When I imagined her,” Rian chuckled darkly. “I imagined the orcs and ogres from one of Daisy’s creature books.”
“Well, my dear,” the bear-girl giggled. “Technically, orcs and ogres aren’t ‘beasts’ at all. They’re actually closely related to humans. They have their own cultures and language systems.”
“Hey, now,” the black-haired beauty grinned. “Imps are beasts, and we also have those things.”
“You’re very right,” the brunette nodded. “But Cecelia, can you describe her for us?”
“I don’t know where to start,” the black-drake-woman snickered. “I already said she’s beautiful, but it’s a strange type of beautiful… Kind of like all of us. We’re stunning creatures, but of course, we’re monster-women.”
“I’ve heard,” Josephine broke in. “That she’s ten-feet-tall.”
“What?” the imp-woman laughed then shook her head. “No way, that can’t be possible.”
“Well,” Cecelia chuckled nervously. “Not ten-feet-tall… but that’s pretty close… I think she’s closer to seven or eight.”
“Really?” I asked.
“She’s this giant… statue of a woman,” the guard breathed. “Like something you’d seen in a museum or something. You see her, and you… know she’s someone important. Her power just oozes from her pores. When you look at her, she’s this beautiful, ethereal being, and you almost forget that she’s done atrocious, unspeakable things. Her eyes are forest green… just like Charles’. Her long hair is a deep auburn red, and her face is soft and warm looking as if you’d expect her to be kind and understanding… but that’s certainly not the case. Edony, I can assume that since you were the leader of Edenhart, you had house colors?”
“Yes,” the Duchess nodded. “Royal blue and silver. Not chosen by me, but I do like the pairing. The capital’s colors are garnet and gold, correct?”
“Ah, yes,” Cecelia nodded. “She wears the house colors every day in long gowns with sheer robes over top of it. When I first started working for her, the Queen seemed to be in some sort of state of mourning… though, for who, I have no idea, and she wore cloaks with the hood drawn low over her stunning face.”
“Did someone close to her die?” I asked. “Edony, do you know?”
“I have an idea of who could’ve died,” the Duchess pondered. “But my guess is as good as yours. Kelara was the Queen’s right hand, correct? I knew that she had a long line of female consorts that she kept close to her… For the longest time, she had male consorts, and then all of them kept giving her male children, so she switched to females. She’s ageless, so an heir seemed kind of pointless to her.”
“I may not have liked her,” Cecelia stated. “I hated her, actually, but I always thought she was the prettiest as she rode through the city streets in her enormous palanquin. The front was open with long, sheer curtains in the house colors while the sides were covered in intricate latticework, so the citizens could see her but still had a barrier between her and them.”
“If she’s so tall,” I uttered. “Did they carry her through the city? The only types of palanquins I’ve seen are those carried on the shoulders of servants or consorts.”
“She did for a long time,” the ex-guard nodded. “But then she hired a scientist to build her a newer, better version of the palanquin. It was mechanized and walked on eight legs like a spider.”
“So, she didn’t want the servants to carry her anymore?” I chuckled. “That seems oddly humane of her.”
Cecelia cleared her throat awkwardly, stared down at the table in front of her, and fiddled with her hands anxiously. It was clear there was something else that she didn’t want to tell us, and I leaned forward toward her.
“What is it?” I asked. “Did she do something else to the consorts?”
“She… She made them wear collars and leashes,” the redhead explained. “And they walked on hands and knees in front of the palanquin as if they were pulling her down the road.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I grumbled, leaned back in my chair, and rubbed at the bridge of my nose. “I shouldn’t have asked… but I was curious.”
“Moving away from that sensitive subject,” Daisy interjected. “The palanquin? A scientist made it?”
“Yes,” Cecelia nodded. “The same scientist she hired to create other things for her. We didn’t know what the woman was making for her, but we knew that the scientist was kept under lock and key. She was basically holed away in the palace.”
“Not unlike how I treated poor Lucien,” Edony murmured. “I’d almost forgotten that I’d killed him… How sad…”
“He was a misguided man,” I explained. “And it’s unfortunate that he died, but I tried to save him, but despite my best efforts, he didn’t listen to any of my warnings. I told him that I solely worked for you, and we weren’t involved any deeper than that, but he ignored everything I said.”
“I feel bad that I killed him,” the Duchess nodded. “But that’s in the past, and I cannot change the mistakes that I once made. He could’ve stopped… He could’ve gone back to the capital when I dismissed him, but it was his choice to stick around and harass us.”
“A lot of women in the Harlots believe that the scientist is the one who attacked the Queen,” Cecelia stated. “The one who created the super-soldier or whatever it was. Though… I doubt the Queen knows that.”
“Hmm,” I muttered, cupped my chin, and thought for a moment. “Do you know anything more about this scientist, Cecelia?”
“No,” the black-drake-woman shook her head. “As I stated before, the Queen keeps her locked inside the palace, so there isn’t much information about her. The Harlots believe she attacked the Queen, and the Queen decided that now was the best time to strengthen her army. So, she sought out a capable scientist who’d be able to improve her numbers through any means.”
“I think I remember that,” Edony gasped, sat up a little straighter in her seat, and pressed a delicate hand to her plump lips. “She sent out letters to each of the cities leaders… I never received one, but I heard from others in the close by cities that they did. She asked for recommendations and to send forth their best women, who’d she choose at a later time. I didn’t get the letter because, of course, the Queen knew I would never respond.”
“How did she get the scientist?” I probed. “Especially if she’s included in the Harlots masses?”
“Someone recommended her,” Cecelia shrugged. “And… she couldn’t exactly refuse, you know? If the Queen calls upon you with a job, you can’t say no. It’s a direct order, and if you disobey it… it can be considered treason, and they could be publicly hanged. I’m sure that the Queen has no idea that the scientist she keeps to work on her projects is the same one who attacked her.”
“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Edony chuckled lightly and met my gaze over the tabletop.
“Yes,” I grinned, reached across, and took her delicate hand into mine. “But I never plotted to kill you… or at least, I don’t remember doing something like that.”
“I think we thought about it,” Valerie murmured, squinted her eyes, and scratched one of her ears. “But, we decided against it…”
“Yes,” Daisy nodded with a sly smile. “We definitely discussed it, but I’m happy we didn’t do it. Edony is a perfect match for our family, and I’m so grateful she’s one of my sisters. Her cool, level-headedness is enough to keep most of us sane when things seem uncertain.”
“I have to admit,” I chuckled. “I feel the same way. Even before her transformation, Edony was always decisive and firm. I may not have enjoyed our time together, then, but I’ll admit I always admired her.”
“Thank you,” Edony smiled tenderly. “I’m glad that even though I changed as a person, there are parts of me that stayed the same.”
We sat at the table for a long time and talked, but once the candles burned low, we blew them out and headed off to bed together. We’d learned about the Queen and her dynamic within the capital. I wanted to know more about this scientist, but it seemed we’d have to wait to get more information on her since she was held captive by the Queen.
Our journey was a blur of nothing more than travel deeper into the forest. Just as before, when we journeyed to find the drake, the road inclined upward, and our horses strained to pull our large caravan, but they made it without too much effort. Slowly, we made our way down the mountain toward Granhamn under Edony’s keen direction. The Duchess knew this area the best since she’d controlled the larger city when it was part of her duchy and navigated us from the driver’s seat.
It became colder as we moved deeper into the mountains, but Edony explained that once we reached Granhamn on the far side, the weather would be warmer. Once we left the city, we’d enter into the desert on the other side and travel through the barren land to the next town. When we’d left Edenhart, the trees’ leaves were starting to turn yellow with hints of red and orange, but here in the mountains, the cedar trees’ branches were heavy with dark green needles, and the trees that grew leaves were barren. The dead leaves skittered and crunched underneath the wheels of our wagon, and a few times, I could’ve sworn I saw a few snowflakes blow through the wind from the driver’s seat.
I’d hoped that we’d reach Granhamn on the third day of our journey, but by the time we reached the peak of the mountain and started to come down on the other side, the flurries of white snow were heavier, and the dirt road became slick, so I had to slow the horses to a crawl to keep from sliding down. I looked out over the land below me and squinted my eyes for any sign of the city below, but the sky’s gray clouds made it hard to make out anything against the dark trees.
The only thing I could see off in the distance was a barren wasteland stretching out to the horizon. I assumed that this must’ve been the desert that Edony told us about, and I wondered how these two places, a frigid mountainside, and a blazing desert, could exist so closely together. Still, I instantly realized it had to do with the elevation of the two planes. They could coexist next to each other because of the shape and height of the land.
“Do you see it?” Edony asked, leaned forward off her seat, and pointed through the trees.
“See what?” I asked and craned my neck in the direction she indicated.
“Oh,” the she-wolf chuckled. “It’s difficult to point out to those who haven’t been here before. Granhamn was built to be something like a refuge. After Edenhart was built, and women started to rapidly develop powers, men decided to fight back.”
“Wait,” I stated and turned to stare at her. “What? I thought… The books I’ve read said that the men basically rolled over and gave up. What do you mean the men fought back?”
“The history books are wrong,” the wolf-woman shook her head. “I heard it from the mouth of my mother. Not only that but in my mother’s library, she had a book of ledgers dating all the way back to before Edenhart came into existence. It recorded anything that happened or had to do with my family, essentially since the beginning of my family line. There’s quite a few entries about fights and battles that broke out in the streets. Men with crude guns, kind of like the ones we have today, but they were much harder to load and shoot. They almost took a few minutes to reload a single bullet, and even then, the bullets barely ever hit anything. They were nonlethal and hard to use, but… they managed to scare a lot of the aristocrats, especially Duchesses such as myself.”
“What do you mean?” I probed. “Women… were powerful then, correct?”
“In some ways, yes,” the Duchess nodded. “The babies born with abilities were extremely powerful, but the women who developed over time weren’t as strong, and their abilities took more time to regenerate after a single-use. So, men could attack, force the women to activate their powers, and then kill as many of them before their powers reactivated. So, the leaders built smaller, fortifications close by in case more of these attacks broke out. They mainly meant to hold the Duchess, her family, and her wards, such as workers, consorts, and servants. Over time, they grew, and more people were allowed inside in case of an attack, but as women grew stronger, the men lost more and more battles against them. The fortifications built to protect the Duchess and her people became small cities all on their own. Granhamn was the place where my ancestors would run to in case men attacked, and then after all of them stopped, they built onto it.”
“I had no idea…” I breathed. “Why isn’t it in the history books? Why aren’t the attacks recorded?”
“They only record the things to fit their narrative,” the Duchess shrugged. “Not only that, but can you imagine if they had, and it got into the hands of a man? It would give them hope… They’d dream of a life and society that has changed for the betterment of their sex, and the aristocrats certainly don’t want that. So, they wiped all traces of it from records, but… as I explained before, my family rebelled against the Queen, and they kept their documents. They didn’t destroy or burn them as the Queen ordered everyone else to do… They hid them away in our personal libraries, and that’s where I found them, years later, with yellowing pages and curled wrinkled covers. I read them front to back. It may not have seemed like an interesting subject to most young girls my age, but… I was different. I was the leader of Edenhart, and these were things that I had to know.”
“You pointed out something,” I probed. “What was it?”
“Oh,” Edony smiled. “Look… You might be able to see it if you squint your eyes. There’s a spire, a single one peeking out above the trees. Every time I visited, I would look for that spire since it was the only landmark you could see from this distance away. It has a golden point on it, that’s what makes it easier to spot through the thick trees.”
I loosened my grip on the reins, handed them over to the she-wolf, and steadied myself in the driver’s seat as I stood. Then I gazed out over the acres of cedars and oaks and squinted my eyes in the direction that Edony pointed. At first, I didn’t see anything except the thick fog in the trees like a mass of white spider webs and the occasional flurry of snowflakes that brushed against my face. Suddenly, the heavy clouds above my head broke open, and a single ray of sunshine blasted through for a matter of seconds. A glitter of gold caught my attention, and I immediately spied the spire that Edony had described a few minutes ago.
The gold was a single finial affixed to the top of the round roof, and it glittered once then stopped as soon as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. We weren’t far from the city at all, maybe about fifteen to twenty minutes, and I glanced through the window over my shoulder as I sat back down. Valerie lazed around the table, eating from a small bowl, and leaned her head into her palm. The feline-woman’s chocolate brown tail thumped against the floor out of boredom, and she stared listlessly out the window at the passing scenery.
“Valerie,” I commanded. “Ready your sisters. We should be arriving soon. We’ll find a good spot to stop, set up camp, and then get as close to the city as we can without being noticed.”
“Yay!” Valerie squealed. “Alright, I’ll tell everyone!”
