Queen Miraza Rainbow: Part Four. Queen Miraza's Betrayal.

“Welcome to Dark Land, Mother,” Queen Azarim said to me.
I was totally unfazed at this, for this was the deep, dark secret that Queen Miraza kept from everyone. I was the only person to know this. Queen Azarim was Queen Miraza’s daughter. The story Queen Miraza had told me was that Queen Azarim, back when she was princess of Robinson Land, was always a cruel and wicked person. Then she moved away to Dark Land, where she married the king. It wasn’t called Dark Land back then, but over time, Queen Azarim had turned it into a country of permanent black clouds and thorns everywhere, so it had gained it’s present name. It’s been Dark Land for so long, that nobody knows it’s real name.
From behind me, I heard Azzet and Rewolfnus gasp when they heard Queen Azarim call me ‘Mother’. Odom the dwarf didn’t gasp, though. No doubt Queen Azarim had told him as well.
“Why do you wear that cloak, Mother?” Queen Azrim asked. “It covers your pretty face.”
“I have a skin infection, my daughter,” I lied. “There’s someone in my court who suffers from it, and I looked upon him. It is contagious by look.”
“Then why didn’t he cover himself?” Queen Azarim boomed.
I couldn’t think of an answer, so I said nothing.
“You may take your cloak off, Mother,” Queen Azarim said. “I am immune to all ailments.”
“But no doctor in my land has heard of this one,” I improvised. “I don’t want to take a chance.”
“I’m pretty sure it won’t harm me,” came the reply. “Remove the cloak.”
I sighed. I could see that I had no choice. Slowly, I removed the cloak from my body, so I was left, wearing my normal handmaiden dress. Queen Miraza had told me to wear my dress, in case I had to take my cloak off.
Queen Azarim stood there studying me for a few minutes. She didn’t even look angry that I wasn’t her mother after all, which surprised me.
“My mother did say she would send over her handmaiden,” she told me. “Are you Mother’s handmaiden?”
“Yes,” I replied, qiute boldly. “My name is Rahc.”
Queen Azarim seemed to be thinking to herself. “Yes, yes,” she said to herself. “She did tell me that her handmaiden would be called Rahc.”
I stood there getting more confused. Queen Miraza had sent me to Dark Land as her decoy, just in case Queen Azrim wanted to harm her in any way. Then how come Queen Azarim seemed to know what was going on?
“Excuse me.” I broke into the queen’s thoughts. “What’s going on? How come you know that I am here, as Queen Miraza’s decoy?”
“Yes, Mother did tell me you wouldn’t know what’s going on,” Queen Azarim said.
“Well, are you going to tell me?”
Queen Azarim stareed at me. Then she smiled. “Yes, my dear child. Of course I’ll tell you. You see, your beloved mistress, Queen Miraza Rainbow isn’t who you think she is!”
I started. “Then who exactly is she then?”
“Oh, she’s Queen Miraza. But she’s not all sweetness and innocent as she makes out to be. You see, my mother and I are in cahoots with each other. We come from a faraway country called Nosnibor Land. Mother was the princess of this country, and she was very nasty. She terrorised the citizens of Nosnibor Land. She bullied the court servants into doing what she wanted them to do. She started up an affair with one of them, and they had a baby together.” Queen Azarim looked at me proudly.
“You!” I cried. “So, the late King of Robinson Land isn’t your father?”
“No. My grandfather, the King of Nosnibor Land, was angry when he found out his daughter was pregnant with a lowlife servant’s baby, so he banished her from the country, never to return. Mother eventually came to Robinson Land, where she married the king, and became queen. I grew up in Robinson Land with Mother and my late stepfather, and I eventually married the king of this country.”
“But that still doesn’t explain how you and your mother are in cahoots,” I protested.
“Well, when I was old enough to understand, my mother told me of her dream that she would one day like to rule the whole of this planet, and all the countries in it. It was such a good plan, that I wanted in. And so, all these years, we’ve been waiting for the right time to strike. To travel to all the different countries, marry the kings so we can become queens, and then bump them off, so we can rule the planet they way we like!”
“You mean countries filled with permanent black clouds, thorns and vicious creatures,” I said, in disgust. “But you’re forgetting one thing.”
“And what is that?” Queen Azarim asked.
“Half the kings of this planet already have wives.”
“That is why this is the time to strike. We have been brewing up a really nasty potion, to poison those queens, as we go along.”
“Won’t this take years to accomplish?” I asked. “And how can you guarantee that the kings will fall in love with you?” I nearly pointed out that it wasn’t possible because Queen Azarim was really ugly, but I stopped myself in time.
“Fool! We won’t travel to each country together! We’ll be travelling to separate countries. So as my mother will be going to one, I’ll be going to another at the same time. As for the kings falling in love with us, we’ll use a spell.”
“But there were a couple of times you tried to usurp the throne at Robinson Land,” I continued.
“Ah, that was just a ploy,” Queen Azarim explained. “Just to make it look like that I don’t along with Mother. You see, we thought of everything.”
I nodded. “Was it you who’s been brewing up the potion for all these years?”
“Yes, yes it was.”
“Then does she know?”
“Yes, she does. I told her yers ago, that when it’s the right time to strike, I won’t attempt to ‘usurp’ her throne, I will be sending over a messenger to ask her for a talk.”
But there was still one thing that was troubling me. “She was going to send me over as a ‘decoy’ anyway, wasn’t she?” I said. “Even if I didn’t volunteer.”
“Yes, we came to the agreement years ago that when I sent over my messenger for a talk, she would send you over.”
“But why?”
“She knows that you are a genuinely nice person, and that you will try to stop us. So she sent you over here for me to throw in the dungeon, lock you up and throw away the key!”
I stared at the ugly queen in horror, as she started to cackle, then rear her head back, and yell out: “GUARDS!!!”