Whitney Writes…

Raised voices came from the throne room as the front doors of the palace closed with a thud behind Shura and Mazar. They glanced at one another, they did not have to wonder what the commotion was about. Mazar took his wife’s hand and the two hurried into the throne room to see what was being discussed about the doom that had befallen them all.

The queen stood upon her dais, her arms outstretched and her dark cheeks flushed. She was desperately motioning for silence from her subjects. “Everyone, everyone,” she was saying, her voice barely ringing over them all, “please,” she pleaded, “be calm!”

Shura felt for the young queen. She had not had to face much threat in her few years upon the throne. Despite the on-going war between the Bretons and the Orcs, she had inherited a relatively peaceful kingdom from her father’s nine year rule. This would be her first true test.

There was a sharp clanging upon of metal upon stone that split the air in an ear-piercing shriek and everyone gathered in the throne room covered their ears and bent over in pain. The queen included. Queen Fadiya turned a scathing look at Ulfric, who stood on the lower step of her dais with his battle axe in hand. She forced a smile. “Thank you,” she said through gritted teeth.

The crowd gathered had fallen silent, so Fadiya turned her attentions to them all. “I hear all of your fears and worries,” she started, projecting her voice bigger than she had a moment ago. “I vow you all and your children are safe,” she continued, “the sun has not vanished. It is simply an eclipse. Scholars in the Imperial City have been studying it for ages.”

“But when will it end?!” Zaeri the Khajiiti blacksmith interrupted irritably. “How are my little ones to go outside and play in this? What if a vampire or werewolf were to carry them off?”

“The eclipse does not mean that fearsome creatures will roam the palace,” Fadiya said, the exhaustion creeping into her voice. “It just means we will have little light for a while. Those at the oil press will have to work harder.” She studied the crowd, picking out Aryon, her own husband, Ralof, Nakra, and Dull-Scales. “We will all be relying on you four to see us all through these harrowing times.”

Inktober 2024, Prompt #9: SUN🧡🖤👻🎃