Chapter one: Lady Lyric

"Welcome to the throne Lass," Alric said to the newly indoctrined queen. There was a hint of amusement in his voice as he said it. To think that the fun loving undisciplined Lyric that he had known since the day she was born was now not only Queen, but Queen  to a kingdom that lay shattered in ruins. Yes my child, he thought, welcome to the throne. You have a big life ahead of you and big job in undoing the damage your drunkard gambling father has caused.

 Young Lyric stood on what, until only two days earlier, was her father's throne. And now, with his death, it was officially hers. She had a kingdom full of peasants and merchants, good woman and not so good, and all were subject to her. She felt no fear; too young to truely understand the great responsibility ahead of her.

"Alric!" She called to the old buildmaster, who had been a constant presence at the castle since childhood. He had been the one who had been there to weep with her over the death of her mother and infant brother during childbirth and the only one who ever tried to control her wild ways as a child and teen.

"Yes Lady Lyric?" Alric asked with an elaborate bow.

"Alric!" Lyric laughed, "There's no need for formalities. I am still the same girl of two days ago."

Alric stood and smiled at the young lady  "Yes, I know this dear lass. This is what worries me."

"Very funny Alric." She stepped down off the throne and started to put on her cloak.

"And where exactly do you think you are going?" Alric asked, sterness in his voice

"I am just going for walk to the great forrest. I want some air. I have been stuffed up in this castle ever since the celebrations over my father's death."

"And for good reason! Lyric-"

"That is *Lady* Lyric," Lyric said with a smug smile, "I am now queen. I shall walk when I choose to."

She swung her cloak over her shoulders and walked with brave purpose out of the smokey and dried meat smelling throne room. Yes, she was now *Lady* Lyric. It had a very nice ring to it.

Lyric loved the outdoors. She had always found peace in running barefoot through the grounds of the castle and escaping when she could to the great Forrest nearby. She loved the smell of grass, the hum of dragonflies and chirps of birds. She hated being stuck in the castle - the constant haze of smoke that stung her eyes, the smell of both living and dead fowl that constantly permeated the air. She would have to talk to Alric about fixing up her father's old study so that she could have at least one room of her own where she could escape the smells and smoke and noise. Of course, Alric would probablly be worried about more important things than fixing up an old study...

Outside, she stepped through the stone fence that enircled the castle and greatfully started down the pathway towards the great forrest. She loved the spot right at the beginning of the path where she could stop and see the whole kingdom stretching before her. Today she stopped longer than normal, to really look at the fields and the clear streams, to see the smoke  from the village chimneys in the distance. It was all hers now. It gave her a sense of great pride to know that for as far as she could see, she not only owned but also ruled.

Finally she stepped down the pathway and made her way along clearbrook stream to the great forrest. Once there she could see the wildflowers  of spring were beginning to blossom. It was as if the kingdom was once again coming alive now that the burden of a drunken and gambling king had passed. She looked up, thinking that she should feel some sort of emotion about her father's passing, but in reality she did not. For the loss of her mother she wept daily, but her father? He had been nothing but a shadowy presence in her life. It was Alric who she had continually turned to, Alric it was who bandanged skinned knees and rescued her from too tall trees.

"And who is this?" Came a sudden unexpected voice.

Lyric glanced  over and could see immediatly that it was a bandit. Lyric felt no fear in answering "I am queen of the land upon which you walk."

"Your father was King Harold. I know him. He put my brother to death in a drunken brawl. Well, I can finally have my vegance."

Lyric walked up to the bandit with no fear. She pulled out an old dueling glove and threw it on the ground between her and the bandit. The bandit pulled back in surprise. Who ever heard of a queen with so much bravery? Or  was it just stupidity?

"Why do you stall?" Lyric said in annoyance, "If  you mean to fight me, fight me." She had spent many hours of childhood playfighting with the young knights that had at one time been trained in her castle. She had no fears of a small time wandering bandit, and she saw it as an opportunity to express her authority over the whole kingdom  for she knew news of the duel would travel quickly. She wanted to the villagers to make no mistake, that *she* was not a weak drunk like her father.

"Then pull out your sword!" The bandit shouted, pulling hers from a sheath at her side. Lyric threw off her cloak and yanked out a long sharpened sword. It was given to her by Alric when, as a teen, he had found out her penchant for wondering afare into the kingdom. He had given the sword in case of an emergency so the young overly brave heiress would stay safe and alive.

At the sudden appearance of a well made sword the bandit hesitated again, What kind of queen wandered around carrying a sword? Within just that moment of hesitation she found herself knocked off her feet and laying  on the ground, with a triumphant Queen standing over  her.

"Anything else you would like to say about revenge?" Lyric asked, pleased with how easily she had handled the petty crook.

The bandit knelt on her knees, "Please, I beg mercy of you!"

Lyric slid her sword back into place. "Go. I am not my father. I will not send a petty bandit to the pitt."

The  bandit stood and quickly disappeared along a forrest pathway. Lyric wiped the sweat off her face, and stood there a moment to revel in her triumph. She would have to get the knighthood started again, she decided, for the kingdom needed safety from bandits and thieves. They had ruled the roads for much too long. She looked towards the trees and saw that the shadows were beginning to stretch out long across the meadow grass. As much as she would love to spend all night there, staring up at the night stars and hearing the crickets, she knew she must return to the prison of the castle walls. She started back out of the forrest, sheathing her sword, but forgetting her cloak in her state of triumphant absent mindedness.

As she stepped back into the castle, Alric immediatly saw the tussled and roughed look of the Queen, and the tell tale missing cloak. "Young miss!" He said with sterness, "You may be *Lady* Lyric now but with that comes responsibility! You can not go around looking like an eighteen year old urchin!"

"Alric, this was not my fault! I was attacked by bandit in the woods. And the battle I won quite handedly!"

"Attacked! Lyric! This is why you must stay in the castle - the roads are still not safe-"

Lyric immediatly interupted her old friend, "Don't think for one moment I'm going to spend all my days in this dank smelly place!  Queenly duties or not!"

"Please, Lyric, listen to reason-"

"I am queen. I don't have to listen to anyone but myself now."

Alric  paused, seeing the stubborn flush entering the young Queen's face. "Very well then," He gave  in with reluctance "But please, when you do go out, do not wear your royal garb. You can grant me atleast that  much can you not?''

"Yes Alric, for you I will. I find these garbs cumbersome anyway." She started to turn away, to wash the dirt and sweat off of her, when Alric took her arm. He gently turned her towards him. "Lady  Lyric," he said softly "This kingdom is in ruins. I know you are young and stubborn and think you need no direction, but you have a great responsibilty on your shoulders. You have the welfare of all citizens of this kingdom on your shoulders and your shoulders alone. Please, Lyric, do not take this reality lightly. Brai desperatly needs a good leader. I have raised you since a babe with the hope that one day you would be that leader. But in the end it is you that must choose which type of Queen you will become, and the kingdom will fare under those choices."

Lyric said nothing. She quietly pulled her arm away and walked out of the throne room, but Alric could see the quietness in her walk and knew that she had heard his words.

Upstairs in her bedroom Lyric sat down infront of the fire. Alric's words rested like heavy chain mail around her. She was Queen. The kingdom was hers, to do as she saw fit,  to make all of the decisions...and based on those decisions, the kingdom would be rebuilt or be forever forgotten. It was much to take in and comprehend but she realized that she must. For the sake of all of Brai she must rise to the challenge of a true Queen.