Chronicles of Den'dra - Spencer Johnson Page 0,166

That is the truth of it. I lost control of my powers and I killed one of my citizens.”

“You aren’t like Reigns. Nothing like him. Tell me, what would you have done if we could have capture him?” Alvin frowned as he saw the conflict on Em’risi’s expression.

“I would have… Couldn’t have had him put in a cell. If he was breaking free of your energy, nothing could have held him. His black robes… the Shadow Order, again. Still, that isn’t enough to condemn someone to death.” Em'risi rose from the chair and paced between the window and the door with her fingers intertwined in an attempt to keep them stilled. The throbbing returned as her concentration lapsed momentarily.

“He tried to kill you. That is enough to condemn anyone to death… He could have been imprisoned… Reigns found a way. It would have involved shackling him hand and foot. Each being pulled in a different direction until his joints were about to be pulled apart. Would you have been able to condemn him to existing in agony until the executioner put him out of his misery? How would you have controlled the rumors that would have begun spreading once the people learned that an assassin had slipped through our ranks and struck at you? You killed him instantly, putting an end to all those problems. You are a better ruler for it.”

“How am I a better ruler by having incinerated the man?” Em’risi bristled as she wheeled on her bodyguard who only flinched before continuing.

“Eventually, in a week or a month, you will order men into battle. Your men and Reigns’ men will die because of that order.”

“So I am better because I can kill? Is that what you mean? Did you fear that I couldn’t condemn a murderer to death? Is that it?” Em’risi paused to take a deep breath. Her heart was racing and it took a few seconds to focus enough to disconnect her Gift again.

“No. Being able to kill doesn’t make a person better. Understanding what killing is, that is something else. You will order these men into battle where many will lay down their lives in your name, but you will do so knowing what you are asking of them. You know the exact weight that will drag at their conscience. However, you will feel the weight of every man dead when the battle is over. Is that something you can bear?” Em’risi faltered as Alvin’s words spoke to a secret within her that she had been trying to avoid thinking about.

“I will do what must be done.” She prayed that she wouldn’t have to bear the guilt of having ordered men to their death in vain. She believed that should the rebellion fail, with her head on the heads man’s block; that she would die of the weight of all the men she had failed before the ax could descend.

“It is because of that, knowing that you would rather take the place of every dead on the fields. That is what inspires these men to fight in your name. They see someone who will do what must be done in order to do what is right. They know that their widows will not be turned away by you. That what they are fighting for is a better place for their children. They fight because they believe that you won't ask the same of their children when this is over. They believe you can lead us to peace.” Em’risi took a deep breath, a calm expression firmly fixed on her face.

“I never took you for the philosopher type, but… thank you.” Alvin merely smiled and inclined his head a little.

“I am whatever my Queen requires.”

“I am not the Queen yet. I have not yet sat the King’s Stone like all my forefathers since the time clan Brae first crowned a leader.”

“Minor difference for the people. They have taken to calling you the Princess Queen. It matters little to them if you have sat for some ancient ceremony.”

“Princess Queen?”

“It is the name they chose. They will rally to that name, shout it as a war cry and there is nothing that you can do about it. You are the people’s Queen.”

“Perhaps there is too much value placed in tradition. Who am I to argue with my subjects?”

“You are perhaps the first ruler in many generations to see the matter in that light. Speaking of which, the people would be loath to lose you.” Em’risi smiled at