Dawn: Prologue Part 2

      "Your Majesty! I bring urgent news pertaining to Your Highness." a messenger, eyes wide with fear and shock, burst onto the ledge overlooking Silvia.

      "I'm listening." Queen Icewinter jerked her head up, shaking off her nostalgia, the cobwebs of her past. 

     "The Ru Evas are storming to the palace. They have come for Your Highness!" the messenger blurted out, evidently terrified.

     "Order the remaining troops to fall back and protect the palace. Bring the old and the young sheltering in the palace to the throne room. Hurry!" the she-cat commanded.

      Queen Icewinter dashed through the palace and into her private rooms. Glancing around, she spotted the tiny, sleeping form of her daughter, heir to the throne of the Blu Glaxias and daughter of Queen Icewinter and King Lionroar. She raced across the plush room lined with moss and soft rabbit fur to the little figure. Picking her up gently by the scruff, she bounded toward the throne room, ignoring her daughter’s little mew of protest and the tiny paws churning at her chest fur. 

     The throne room was massive. Gilded with silver and gold, a pair of thrones adorned with gorgeous jewels sat on a raised dais, one with a meticulously carved sun engraved in the center and the other with a moon emblazoned amid the brilliant silver, the gems reflecting the ribbons of moonlight, which turned the pelts of the cats gathering below silver, streaming into the room, and a vast space large enough to fit multiple divisions stretched out before the dais.  To the side, the banner of the Blu Galaxias, blue with a snarling cat, fluttered in the cool breeze flowing into the room, the banner the wings of hope and the shining sun in times of seemingly utter and complete darkness.

     Slipping between two pillars of stone, Queen Icewinter padded out onto the dais, settling onto her throne. Scanning the cats gathering below, she realized that it would take a few more moments before they were all assembled. She closed her eyes and sent her Sight through the windows of the palace and into the battle raging outside the stone walls.

     Soaring through the sky with a bird's eye view of the battle below, Queen Icewinter surveyed the devastation stretching out before her. All the gates had already been breached, cats streaming through in a seemingly endless throng, sweeping away the few defenders that remained in an unrelenting, ruthless surge. Ashes blanketed the land, transforming the world into a realm—a desert—of dark gray specks, and it appeared as if it were snowing, the heavens grieving for lives lost and blood shed. Yet all too similar to the landscape of the Red Sands. The throng of enemies rushed ever closer to the palace, a mass of glittering gold—the hue too close to that of her mate’s fur. Amber eyes flashed in darkness, harsh and emotionless—nothing like that clear amber gaze that had held such warmth. 

     Sending her Sight farther, she gasped in shock as she spotted rows and rows of muscular cats, each in what seemed to be impregnable armor, stretching toward the horizon. Daggers of gold and ice scimitars poked out of scabbards, glinting in the dim light. Their razor-sharp tips seemed ready to slice into tender skin and fur. The queen shuddered as she thought of the damage that they could—no, would—inflict.

     In the center of the army, a single cat glanced up, his intense amber gaze boring into Queen Icewinter. His golden armor flashed in the silver moonlight—the very armor he had worn to that very battle—and he curled his lip in a menacing snarl, narrowed eyes ablaze, ready to unleash their wrath on all that stood in his way, pitiless and unforgiving as the dunes of the Red Sands. It was the one cat that Queen Icewinter loathed the most, her arch-enemy and murderer of her beloved King Lionroar: King Mawt, leader of the Ru Evas, traitor of the Alliance. Once more, the last words her mate had spoken echoed in her ears: old friend. Anger surged through her, threatening to overwhelm Queen Icewinter, a wild fire raging within her, sweeping through her whole body until she knew nothing more but fury. More than anything else, she wished to flay her enemy and scatter his entrails on the Red Sands—tribute to the death of her mate. 

     Struggling with the urge to plunge her claws in King Mawt, to rip his life out as he had done with her mate and fling it onto the blood-stained sands, the queen of the Blu Galaxias glared at him, all the contempt she had every felt for the Ru Evas' king channeled into her gaze. 

     Jubilant shouts and shocked yowls sounded behind her in an uproar of noise. Queen Icewinter whirled around in midflight, whipped around to see the doors of the palace that once had been impeccable now standing open, hanging on their hinges. Eyes widening in shock and horror, she flapped her wings and desperately winged her way toward the palace. The Ru Evas were storming in! Hastily, she dived through a window and into the palace, returning to her body.

     Queen Icewinter opened her eyes to the throne room filled to its maximum capacity with terrified, yet determined cats. Calling over a servant, she delicately picked up her daughter in her teeth and entrusted her to the cat she knew would not fail her. Gazing at her daughter lovingly and most likely for the final time, Queen Icewinter leaned over and whispered an order into the ear of the white she-cat. The servant’s eyes immediately widened, and she murmured something back, but the queen would not back down from her decision. 

     Dipping her head in submission, the white servant disappeared into the shadows, carrying the little kitten that was looking back with fear and bewilderment, as if she couldn’t believe what had just occurred. Unable to watch any longer, Queen Icewinter glanced away, and when she turned back, the corridor was empty and only the inert statues of past kings and queens returned her gaze. Her daughter had gone. For an uncertain heartbeat, the silver queen felt tears collect in her eyes, ready to stream down, but she knew she had to stay strong—for her kingdom and for King Lionroar. Biting back her tears and grief, Queen Icewinter straightened up. 

    Her mother’s beautiful lilting voice went back to her now: Always take the chance to rest when needed. Do not let arrogance and pride cloud your decisions. Clutching at her courage, she stood up and strode to the edge of the dais. She took a deep breath, puffing up her chest, and began to speak.

     "Cats of the Blu Galaxias, the ruthless and arrogant Ru Evas have killed our noble king, King Lionroar, in an unfair duel. They have taken away many lives of our brave cats, all who have died for a courageous purpose. And they have stripped us of our kingdom, leaving us with nothing. But that wasn’t enough. Now they threaten all of our kind, old and young. They will kill off the frail elders too feeble to be of any use and separate the harmless kits from their mothers. Those that are too weak, they will kill. Those that are strong enough, they will train to scorn the name of their own. We would be obliterated. Not only physically, but also in the hearts and minds of all cats. The name of the Blu Galaxias would be forbidden, left to rot until the few that keep it alive, nourishing it, nurturing it, are gone from the face of this world. We would be erased. We would not have existed.” 

     “But if we hide away the flame of our kind and nurture it, feed it, it could one day become a blazing fire again, strong and formidable, ready to burn anything in its way. I am not saying that we will not get vengeance, but that we must strike at the right time, the opportune moment, and I believe that time is not now, but in the later generation.”

     Murmurs and whispers rippled through the throne room as cats openly stated their opinions. Many cats strongly disagreed, with only some of the cats of the Blu Galaxias acquiescing. Is it not sensible to leave and then take our revenge when we were stronger, with a better chance of winning? Queen Icewinter wondered.

     "Many of you think that we should take our revenge now, when our grief and anger are still fresh. The Ru Evas have taken what we hold most dear. You want reprisal. I can understand that, but would you risk the lives of our young and old for it? And do you think that those we loved died so that we could perish in a pointless battle for revenge?” 

     “You know very well that we would be going to our deaths if we battle now. In the end, if we go in battle, what will end up happening is the abolition of our kind. Our loved ones gave their lives so that we could live on, so that we could preserve the last of the Blu Galaxias, so that we could get them vengeance later on. I can hear that you call me cowardly because of my decision. But is it pusillanimous to stop and think about the safety of our kind? Our pride is important, revenge is important, but the safety of our kind is more important!" 

     At the sound of many cats agreeing, Queen Icewinter closed her eyes, as if bracing herself for something extremely painful, and began chanting in the ancient language of cats, casting the teleportation spell:

     H'yati H'yati tis kun nan
     H'yoti H'yoti tis kun nan
     Tis elpa wis be apprea
     As clou ef ligt te
     Tis elpa wis ja ligt te
     As te dak es ef h'yotis

     Just as Queen Icewinter finished her incantation, the richly decorated doors of the throne room burst open. The remains of her army, battered and beaten, backed into the room. King Mawt padded out of his cats, smirking. The Blu Galaxias’ petty queen was his. But then, suddenly there was a flash of a brilliant light that illuminated the room. King Mawt swiftly looked away, his eyes watering. 

     When he turned back, the Blu Galaxias were gone. The throne room was left empty and insignificant without its cats. There wasn't even evidence to show that there had been a large number of cats in the room a heartbeat before. He narrowed his eyes, anger surging through him. He would hunt down every single one of the Blu Galaxias until they were annihilated. Nothing—nothing at all—could stand in his path. Then he relaxed. There was no way they could escape his clutch. It would be as easy as picking off orphaned, new-born birds from a nest. 

     Marching up to the dais, he leaped up and brought the banner of the Blu Galaxias down with him, tearing it to shreds with his unsheathed claws. Accepting the cheers from his army, he proudly lifted his head. The Ru Evas would reign supreme, and the world would be his.