The Princess and the Pod

"I will. But I'll have no issues." The busty blonde stood silent for a moment, and her eyes welled up. She leaned in for a hug. "Thank you, General Rokal." Then she turned to Honnie and the hug was more intense. The two women embraced for a long time, whispering into each other's ears. When they finally separated, both were crying. Zeeta pointed a long finger at Honnie. "I require state visits frequently, Queen Honnie."

"Absolutely." Honnie's tears trailed into that radiant smile that Rokal had fallen in love with.

Honnie and Rokal left the wagon, leaping lightly to the ground. The Ice Queen and her troops assembled, then began the long journey to the mountains without fanfare. Honnie and Rokal watched her depart, then walked to the center of the temporary village.

"I just deposed the queen," Rokal said softly. "I overturned what I had a sworn oath to protect."

"You had no choice," Honnie said. "You did the right thing."

"I'll find out soon. My captains have an oath as well, and that requires them to put me to death immediately."

"You followed the rules. Sela voluntarily gave you the crown. The circumstances surrounding that are irrelevant."

Given the situation and the packing of the camp, it was not warranted to build a stage or platform. An open supply wagon stood in the center of the settlement, and Rokal and Honnie joined Giana and Sonnsoe on the raised bed.

Rokal gave the signal. The bugler put out the call to assemble, and all work stopped as the soldiers, the laborers, and the concubines all hustled to the wagon and formed a half circle. Sonnsoe stepped to the front of the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she said. "A number of historic events have happened on this site over the past several weeks. I was called here to document them into the historical record at the request of General Rokal. As an official scribe I have entered them into the historic record of the world, and they are the truth. I will now read selected key events."

She unrolled the scrolls that scribes used to document the world, and Rokal felt a lump in his throat.

"First, Princess Sela has voluntarily ceded her crown to the commoner General Rokal in order to engage in carnal relations with him. In the eyes of the world, Rokal has now become the crown prince and acting king of the Kingdom and Sela is now a commoner. King Rokal also announces his retirement as the General of the Army to separate the monarchy from the military, and appoints Captain Giana to serve as the new General."

Rokal's anxiety rose. He saw a clutch of captains standing together, and he looked for signs that they were unsheathing their swords. Instead, they stood in shock.

"Second, in his new capacity as king, General Rokal has freed Princess Zeeta from her bondage to Princess Sela. Princess Zeeta is the rightful heir to the Ice Kingdom throne, and the two royals have negotiated a peace treaty. The war with the Ice Kingdom is declared to be over."

The entire camp was silent. Many of the soldiers were veterans of the Ice Kingdom War, and it was bloody and brutal. They might interpret that their sacrifices, the loss of their brethren, was for naught. Rokal scanned the crowd.

"Third, in his new capacity as king, General Rokal has freed Princess Honnie from her bondage to Sela. Princess Honnie is the rightful heir to the Lainian throne, and the two royals negotiated a peace treaty. The war with the Lainian Isles is declared to be over."

Rokal looked over the stunned and silent crowd. Toward the back, a spear rose into the air. "The wars are over!" the infantryman shouted.

"No more war!" rose another voice and a swell of voices began to rise.

"No more Sela!" shouted another one, and the swell became a roar, five hundred voices in unison. "Ro -- kal! Ro -- kal!" Spears tapped on shields in a rising rhythm.

Rokal looked to his group of captains. He had been through hell with these men and women, but knew that they were within their rights to charge the wagon and put him to death.

They stood at attention with their shields down and swords at parade rest. Rokal saluted them, and the enlisted troops behind them, and the camp followers further back.

Giana stepped forward. "On behalf of the army," she announced loudly, "I accept the new monarchy and serve our king." She dropped to one knee and bowed in front of Rokal, then rose on his subtle command. The troops hooted and cheered.

Honnie grasped Rokal's hand and drew him forward, nodding a signal to Sonnsoe. The crowd abruptly stopped as they knew that more news was coming.

"And finally, King Rokal and Queen Honnie declare their love for each other. All who hear this announcement are invited to a royal wedding on this spot tonight, at which point the Kingdom and the Lainian Isles will unite under the new royal family."

Sonnsoe curled the script up and stepped back. The cheering of the crowd drowned out the rest of his words as Honnie stood on her toes and kissed him.

****

The future legends told of the greatest Ice Queen of them all. A beautiful princess named Zeeta was taken prisoner by a neighboring kingdom and held as a sex slave. The barbarians of Corthos attacked, the royal family was killed in battle, and the kingdom teetered on the brink of extinction. Suddenly, Zeeta appeared on the border, her enemy queen in bondage at her feet. In a display of bravery she took the crown, led her troops into battle, and saved the kingdom. In a display of wisdom, she then aligned with two other nearby nations and their king and queen to form that Great Triumvirate, ushering in a thousand years of peace. And finally, in a display of mercy, she took her enemy queen under her wing, teaching the redhaired woman the fine arts of diplomacy and math and strategy and literature and even astronomy. Eventually the woman was granted a minor royal title in the Ice Kingdom, and the records showed that the two spent many nights under a velvet blanket in the alpine fields, huddled together and looking up at the nighttime sky.