Burdened by Legacy: Chapter 3 – The Snake That Charmed the Dragon

Chapter 3 – The Snake That Charmed the Dragon

When you are born with the ability to turn into a snake, you are viewed as the flip of a coin. You are either a deceiver, a devil incarnate, or as just as saintly and royal as the dragon, like the serpent that was raised in the desert by Moses and to what Christ likened Himself. If this wasn’t bad enough, I was also born with a green right arm, which gives people the impression that I’m not only a half-breed, but a half-orc. In Draco, orcs are viewed unfavorably and as savages, especially after they ransacked our kingdom in search of traitors to the Church. As a result, my family was never able to ascend to any prominence in politics and we were always looked down upon.

I am the only one in the family with a green arm and as far as we know, none of our descendants mingled with orcs and this green arm is merely a birth defect. It is something that I wrapped up so that no one would notice it even though everyone would know about it sooner or later. My parents told me to always be on my best behavior, but I never listened to them since I wanted to change many of our kingdom’s laws and grow the ranks of our military and guards to enact justice upon the wicked men of the world. Still, they kept trying to make me look and act like a true royal and get me into the upper ranks of the kingdom’s royalty so the family could ascend above our current place in society. Hardly any of the events I went to did anything for us except for the one where Jianyu was.

It was a special gathering for the royal and business families of all parts of society to make deals, friends, and marry off children with Jianyu being the biggest prize. Everyone at the gathering focused on him and getting their daughters to try to marry him, especially since he had just become Emperor. My parents were no different and put me in line with the rest of the girls to meet him. I happened to catch his eye and we looked at each other for a bit before I decided that I had no chance with him and decided to walk out of line and step outside for some fresh air. While outside alone with my thoughts, I was surprised to see Jianyu joining me by himself.

“What do you want, your majesty?” I asked.

“Your name is Daiyu, correct? I’ve heard a lot about you,” Jianyu said.

“Yeah? I’m sure you’ve heard how cursed I am and how I have the savage personality of an orc.”

“More important than that, I’ve heard of the policies that you want our kingdom to follow. Of how you want us to be more aggressive in making our mark on the world and the enforcement of justice across not only these lands but the whole world.”

“What’s your point and don’t you have other women to attend to? Just leave me alone.”

I tried slapping Jianyu with my right hand, but he caught it and started taking off the wrappings on it.

“What are you…” I said in bewilderment.

“I found that you were the only one in the kingdom who shared my thoughts on how the kingdom should be run and how it should act,” Jianyu said. “You’re right in that the laws of the land should bend to what’s right and wrong and not to some façade of compromising with other kingdoms to keep some semblance of peace between us. We need to be bolder to bring real change to the world even if it brings about conflict and war. Our God is a God of battles and laws are meant to reflect the commandments of God, after all.”

Jianyu threw away the wrappings from my arm, got down on one knee, kissed my hand, looked up at me, and said, “If you will give me the honor, I’d be more than proud to call you, my wife.”

At that moment, my heart was stolen by Jianyu and there was nothing on my mind besides saying yes to him. The rest is history, as it is said, as I married him, gave birth to two wonderful children, and ruled the kingdom with him. To this day, Jianyu would tell me and others that my actions and eyes enraptured him, but as far as I’m concerned, he has my heart while I have his. He changed something in me to the point where I no longer hide my green arm and leave it unwrapped for everyone to see. Jianyu truly is a blessing sent by God who is meant to lead our country into glory and I would die for him if he asked me.

This is why I am currently headed to the high elf kingdom of Oron in the Holy Land to represent Draco dressed in my normal black and green royal robes and negotiate a deal with them. The Emperor of Phasianus, Kenzo, will be there as well and should be meeting me there and sure enough, I see him waiting outside of our hotel with three of his guards. He’s dressed in gold and purple royal garb that’s decorated with designs of flowers from his kingdom and the bird it’s named after. He smiles, bows, and says something to me that I don’t hear because I need to speak over him to say what needs to be said.

“My daughter should not be uncovering the plots of traitors from your kingdom, so if you want your kingdom’s continued independence, I suggest you keep your own under control,” I say to Kenzo, which seems to scare him.

“Ye-yes, Queen Daiyu. I’ll redouble my efforts to do so,” Kenzo says with another bow.

“Hmph. I hope so, for your sake.”

Following right behind me as I walk away, Kenzo says, “Do you think the elves will listen to us? I mean, spying on the Church’s thieves guild and taking justice into your own hands like this is…”

“They already know of Odollam and should know that spies should have people to keep them in line. No one is above right and wrong even those who are above the law. They’ll have to respect our request, at the very least.”

“You’re right.”

My bags are brought up to my room while Kenzo’s is brought to the room next to mine. Our rooms have been provided to us by the high elves along with our dinner for today and tomorrow’s breakfast to make me comfortable for our important meeting. They’re kind, but I know they’re trying to butter me up so I’ll be more willing to compromise with them. Evander, the king of the elves and the oldest living man alive, has a kind exterior personality, but underneath, he hides his true motives. As far as I know, he’s a greater obstacle to us than Bernhard, even as the orcs continue to multiply worldwide. A hidden enemy is more dangerous than an obvious one after all.

Still, this city of Nazareth is beautiful. It has retained its futuristic buildings from the past that managed to survive the war that turned humanity from a spacefaring race to one stuck in its original homeworld. Not every kingdom has retained its buildings and monuments from the past, especially since the machinery used to build them can no longer be repaired. Draco is one of the few kingdoms with a majority of its buildings survive though the electricity used to power them isn’t functional like the rest. After enjoying the sights of the Holy City for the day, resting for the night, and eating breakfast the next day, Kenzo and I head over to the Church of the Annunciation with our guards where the meeting is taking place.

In the church, the chairs have been arranged around large tables with leaders from the dark elf region of Abaddon, wood elves of Matias, and high elves of Oron sitting around with Evander at the center of them all. Kenzo and I take our seats and say the opening prayer before the meeting so that God’s will may be done through the results of it. During the prayer, I see Kenzo’s eyes darting around the room looking at the many elven leaders and their guards while we have very few guards behind us. Once the prayer is done, Evander claps his hands together and gently smiles as always.

“Queen Daiyu. It’s an honor to have you here,” Evander says.

“Spare me the pleasantries and let’s get to business,” I say.

“Ha, as you wish. What would you like us to give you? Draco seems to be on the rise as the most prosperous and largest kingdom on this side of the world and you even have the St. Dismas guild on their toes, something that even took me quite a while to accomplish.”

“I merely wish to have your promised continued cooperation and assurance of it in some form.”

The room is quiet and all the elven leaders except for Evander seem confused.

“Hmmm. A reasonable request,” Evander says with a slightly extended smile.

“Is that all you want? You came all the way here for something as simple as something that can be asked for over a letter or message carried by a conjured bird?” a high elf leader says.

“You’re missing the importance of what she said, my friend. Our continued support means that Draco will continue ascending in power and influence in the world. Queen Daiyu is also requesting assurance of our support in some form, probably something that she can use against us if we don’t hold to our promise.”

“Well? What’s it going to be then? It’s a simple request.”

“We promise that you will have our support as long as we can work together and not step on each other's shoes as it were. We elves don’t have plans to spread our influence and reach like you do, and only want to do God’s will for us.”

Hmm. I expected that we’d be on this point longer. Evander already does have influence in the Church, so I guess whatever Draco does won’t have any effect on his ingrained hold on it. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that there are greater plans in his mind than he lets on. A man of his age and experience can’t be so simple. I’ll have to have Odollam look into him and his works more.

“Thank you. Now, for our assurance of your promise?”

“Of course. One moment, please.”

Evander speaks to one of his associates who then conjures a bird that goes out from the church. Soon after, a normal-looking human woman with black and red hair, beige skin, and golden eyes walks into the church. She wears the black and brown leather armor of a soldier and has a sword, shield, bow, and arrows on her. This woman walks up to Evander who whispers to him and him to her for a little while to one another before she turns to me and he raises his hand as if presenting her.

“This is Priscilla, one of my most trusted. She’s served me for over two hundred years and will willingly answer any questions you have for her. When she receives an assignment from me, you can send your Odollam spies along with her to make sure that we’re on the same side,” Evander explains.

“Two hundred years? She’s a normal human,” I say.

She looks so young as if she’s in her early twenties.

“Priscilla has been willingly participating in our medical experiments to extend the long lives of elves to those of other races, and as you can see, our work has borne us good fruit. She can even enter the land of Unser Sieg, a place that is still unhabitable by ‘normal’ humans, and not get sick.”

I get up from my seat and walk up to Priscilla to closely examine her. There doesn’t seem to be anything off about her, and yet, my eyes feel like there’s something wrong with what I’m seeing, but I don’t know what it is.

“She’ll have to go through extensive questioning when we return to Draco.”

Priscilla bows her head and says, “I’ll gladly clear up any concerns and questions you have, Queen Daiyu.”

Her voice sounds young too and trustworthy. I can’t sense any deception in her, so I guess I’ll have to trust her for now. After accepting Evander’s offer, I and Jian shake hands with him. Jian then speaks with the rest of the elves to negotiate minor trade deals between the Asiatic regions that I don’t care to listen to or be a part of. Once that is done, Jian and I go our separate ways back to our homes. I send Priscilla to be questioned by Min and Odollam while I go to the castle and think about what greater plans Evander might have.

“I heard that you succeeded in your task, my dear wife,” Jianyu says as he enters my room.

“I have, but I don’t feel like I won anything. I still have a feeling that Evander is planning something greater than what we see,” I say.

“We’ll soon discover it if there is a plan. For now, you should rest. I have something special for you.”

Jianyu waves in the servants to play our wedding song for us. He offers his hand for us to dance and we slowly dance with each other with my head on his chest. This is my paradise on earth, my family, kingdom, and moments like this and I’ll do anything to protect it. If anyone, even Evander, threatens to ruin it, then I’ll crush their necks with my own hands.