The Prophet

By Jasmine Monica

Serinina goes to war in her homeland

Serinina transported back to the wall where her main army was. She had been told that her additional two hundred thousand troops were landing to maintain control. One hundred thousand of them were from Themyscira.

She faced her giant army. They had assembled in enormous columns with their red battle flags waving in the breeze. Their generals and commanders were standing in front of their troops. These were all battle-hardened Greeks. They had trained in the Spartan way and they had marched into every Greek city-state to defeat them. She led them into Rome and then crushed the Franks under Clovis.

“The false king, Patinea, rejected my generous offer of peace. She refused to sacrifice a few of the traitors that humiliated me. Patinea has decided to fight. So it is WAR!!!!” Serinina roared to the cheers of her army.

“We will make sure her old tactics won't work. We are Spartans. We won't flee the field as Ansey’s troops did. We won't abandon our positions or revolt against our leader. Will you abandon me?”

Her troops shouted a resounding no.

“Patinea will face real Spartans in battle. Her usual tricks won't work. She won't be able to use her hawks against us. Our army will be defended against her massive griffons. They won't be able to attack us from the sky. If she wants to fight us, she will find out she must actually do real battle. She will be on the front lines against real battle-hardened seasoned spartan phalanxes. She will get a taste of what real battle is! We will show her true war.”

Her troops began yelling the usual Spartan war cry.

“But don’t get too confident," she shouted to her army. "Patinea is strong, and she is intelligent. She is not the usual girl. Patinea is a powerful girl. She has stolen the strength from many men who underestimated her. The men she stole from are living miserable lives being feminized and humiliated. Don't underestimate her if you face her on the field. Fight her as you would any man. Seek justice for the men she stole from. Show her what real Spartan combat is. Make her pay for what she did. Once, we march into the heartland of her kingdom and the area controlled by the three ruling families of the Denaes', Fawnaes and Malnaes'. We will begin employing a scorched earth policy. We will burn their homes, cities, towns, crops, and fields. We will burn it all. March toward York.”

Her army began crying her name with the Spartan war cry. One hundred thousand Spartans marched out in enormous columns, waving their flags and shields on their back. They were marching toward York with Serinina in the front.

They didn't even slow down when they crossed into the Fawnae land. They continued on until they saw the first two border forts. Those small garrisons knew they stood no hope of stopping this army of a hundred thousand troops. This was the most massive army ever assembled on the Golden Isles. They didn't know armies of this size during the great war that threw down the Hekatin and burnt their temples. And that was one of the bloodiest wars ever fought on the Golden Isles. The small garrisons were crushed with little effort.

Serinina held her army back when they encountered the second border fort. She rode out by herself and fought the small garrison. She threw herself into battle against the small garrison of 50 riders and archers. She killed them all single handedly.

Then they ate and her army built a defensive camp for the night. She knew that York would not last long. A vast majority of each of the noble family's troops had been called by Patinea for this war. Their army was assembling to meet hers, and they would march out soon. Serinina had assembled her army and marched out first. Patinea’s army had been assembled and were ready for war. They only needed to march out. Serinina had already marched out and defeated Wenseas border forts.

Emily and Ajax approached from behind and sat down in front of Serinina and began eating with her. Ajax asked, “Serinina, milord. Is this really the life you wanted to live? Always on campaign, fighting, leading your army from place to place, camping like this?”

“No,” Serinina shook her head at her sister Emily. “It is not. When I was young, this life seemed romantic. Living under the stars, sleeping in the open like this. Camping every night and going on long military campaigns. But this is not what I want. It's a duty. We have to destroy this evil that's corrupted my homeland. I want peace and to stabilize my kingdom. I want to live in my palace, making policy and protecting my people.”

Emily laughed, “Doing a slash and burn campaign isn't going to make peace. It will turn your cities and your homeland into charred bodies and smoking ash. This is nothing but vengeance, Serinina.”

Serinina shrugged. “This campaign will be quick. My sister's army will be defeated, we will burn everything and start new. We will have a new aristocracy in place. New families. That's why I brought two hundred thousand people from Greece and Themyscira. Not only the troops to help maintain control. But their families. Greece is becoming overcrowded. York will become the new Thebes. Malnaes land in what some have started calling Wales will become new Argos. The cities will be rebuilt for Greek people. Our religion will reign here. There will be peace. And I am looking forward to it.”

Emily knew what was going on. This was going to be a brutal and bloody war.

Serinina continued. “This is not the way I want to live. But it must be done. This was also how my sister wanted to live. Patinea wanted this life of going on campaign to campaign and sleeping in the open like this. But I think once she got a real taste of this life, she no longer wanted it. But, once she got what she wanted, she abused and sidelined me. She tried to take it away from me and throw it in my face. That only angered me and made me her enemy. We could have had it together and fighting our enemies side by side. But she made me her enemy. She thought it was a good idea. And I’m going to teach her otherwise.”

The army marched at the first light. They saw the massive stone citadel that was guarding the path to York. It's enormous towers and massive stone walls grew as they approached. Serinina knew this was not going to be an easy battle. Even if Patinea had taken a majority of the garrison for her own war. The Citadel still had two thousand troops. That was enough to man the massive towers, it's catapults and ballistas to make any direct assault very costly. They still had no hope against a hundred thousand Spartan's. But they could make any frontal attack very costly. A frontal attack could cost ten thousand to twenty of her troops.

So she prepared her troops for a long siege. Serinina began preparing her long-range heavy trebuchets far out of range of the enemy towers and their catapults and ballistas. The trebuchets began launching heavy stones and iron balls into the outer walls of the Citadel. Serinina settled in for a long siege battle.

She watched her trebuchets launch their stones into a weak section of the Citadels large walls. They did very little damage upon impact. This was a massive citadel designed to withstand heavy attack and continue to protect its troops.

Then Serinina ordered some of the diggers to begin tunneling. That was the most common method of taking down a large, almost impregnable fortress. She saw the diggers start digging a large tunnel and then they started digging the tunnel deeper into the ground. That process took hours until they had finally tunneled under them and went on. It could take weeks to finally reach the walls of the enormous citadel. Serinina went down into the tunnel to inspect the progress every few hours. Progress was very slow. They were building a large tunnel for many people. And they had to keep bringing wood to support the tunnel so it would not collapse on top of them. Progress was very slow.

Meanwhile, her large trebuchets kept firing their massive stones into the weakest part of the wall. The constant firing seemed to have little effect on the massive walls. They were designed to resist and defeat the battering of the large trebuchets and catapults hammering into them. The weakest part of the walls was still over ten feet thick. It was better than the twenty feet in places that supported the towers.

Xxxxxxxx

Patinea was studying the map. Her army had been assembled and was about ready to march out. There wasn't going to be a grand celebration this time. There was really no glory to be had, and this wasn't an event to be celebrated with the grand procession of horns, shining armor flags waving, and a grand speech. This was in response to an invasion and an enemy occupation of their homeland. A foreign power had brought war to their shores and they were responding. The war had already cost the lives of thousands of innocent civilians and nobles in the great families that ruled the Isles. This wasn’t about glory or honor, Patinea had mobilized her army for their survival as a nation. This was a fight where very few thought that they could win. The worst of it all was that she was being blamed for the entire damn war.

The worst news was coming when Actonia came in with Lord Baldic Wensae. Actonia said, “The citadel guarding the path to York is under siege. Serinina has dozens of enormous trebuchets battering the citadel's walls. We have just received news that she had brought sappers to tunnel under its walls. With the battering of the walls, the hundred thousand Spartans putting the citadel under siege, and its inadequate garrison, we strongly suspect it will fall weeks before we can reach it.

More defeatism from her leaders. Patinea said gloomily, “So you are saying they are likely to take the city of York and the entire Fawnae lands.”

Lord Fawnae nodded, “I think so, and that's not the worst of it. We have been informed of massive burnings by the Spartans. They have evacuated many of the smaller towns and fields and burnt them. Serinina is employing a scorched earth campaign. They are burning everything. I heard they plan on burning York.”

“Oh, Goddess, I beg you to save us from my sister's rage. Please I beseech you,” Patinea pleaded in tears as she looked down at the map. This was her sister's rage. This was their punishment for what they did to Serinina. This was obviously going to be a campaign of no mercy. Their citadel was about to fall. When it fell, York would likely follow. They were going to burn York to the ground when it fell. It was up to them to find a way to stop it.

Patinea stood up with her crown and said, “It is time for war. It isn't a war that we wanted. It's the war that my sister brought to our shores, burning our cities, enslaving, and killing our people. We need to have hope that we can defeat her. We are outnumbered, but we have proven our soldiers are strong and capable. We can defeat this army of Spartans and save the Golden Isles. We can defeat my sister. This is why we felt it was necessary to make sure she never got the crown. She proves it with every one of our people she murders. Assemble the army and prepare to march to war!” commanded Patinea as she left her office to get suited up.

She went down to her royal armory, and her squires helped her put on her armor. Wearing this armor and holding this sword no longer felt as great as it once did. She felt something else, where before she used to feel victorious and powerful. She now felt fear.

“You know you could be marching toward your death, don't you?” A voice said as she walked into the King's personal Armory. “There is no chance for victory here. You were wrong. We are outnumbered, and our army can't counter that number with skill. The Spartans can outfight us even if we outnumbered them ten to one. They faced those odds before and won. They only lost against the Amazons at Troy but they have improved since then. We have some rebel Amazons here fighting against Serinina. It's not enough. Hippolyta, her daughter Dianna, and their small army won't be enough. You are also sending them to their death and their defection enraged Serinina.”

“Is that what your visions tell you, Actonia,” Patinea asked.

“My power has returned, and I see what happened in multiple times before they all merged. However, I can’t see the future of this. Serinina’s power is preventing my visions of this battle. We will be going in blind. However, it doesn't take a powerful seer like me to know that there is no way our army can win this battle. They outnumber us by a massive margin. The Spartans have superior skill, so we can't overcome their numbers with tactics. And they even have gods fighting against us. We will be seeing Serinina there. I have seen fragments of her personally fighting our troops with her husband, Ares. He will be there. Hades will also be there. There is no chance of victory. We had our chance for peace and you refused her.”

“Her offer would have left us little more than a vassal state under my sister's power,” Patinea said.

“Better than being destroyed and subjugated,” Actonia countered.

“I don't know. Personally, I would rather die in battle than to submit to my sister. I just couldn't bear that.” Patinea retorted.

“So this is about your pride and your anger at Serin. That's always what this was about,” Actonia accused. “You were never able to give up your childish resentment at Serin growing up the way he did and getting the love you wanted. Now you are going to sacrifice us all for it. And it will all be for nothing. It will change nothing in the end. The result will still be the same. Just more deaths on our side. Can you at least admit that how you treated her once she was a girl was wrong!”

“It was all of you who told me that I had to be harsh to force her to accept her place as a girl. If I remember right, Actonia, you were totally behind forcing her to wear dresses and live as a young woman. Now you want to say it was wrong?”

“I supported turning him into a girl,” Actonia countered. “I supported forcing him to live the life of a girl. I supported and advocated forcing him to dress as we do. It was necessary to get him to accept his new sex, and for the people to accept that their beloved prince was now a princess. As her elder sister was their King. Or they wouldn't have accepted it. But I didn't support your relentless taunting, teasing, and abuse. And you getting pregnant, then transferring it to Serinina forcing it on her, then her rape. You didn't have her protected, and you had to know that our family's personal enemies might target her. There's a lot that happened that I didn't support. What you did to her was extremely cruel. And really betrayed our sex.”

“I didn’t have her raped,” Patinea snarled in defiance. “That just happened.”

“You refused to provide her protection after you released Prett. Her rape pleased you and you used it against her,” Actonia pointed out accusingly. “And mocking her for her first period. Come on, Patinea, you were extremely cruel. Your sister's suffering brought you delight.”

“You have no idea what it was like living in his shadow when I was young,” Patinea snarled. “I knew I was stronger and would make a better King. I never got the support or love and he teased me relentlessly.”

“The way he teased you doesn't even begin to approach the level of suffering you inflicted on him,” Actonia pointed out. “If I was subjected to what you did to him, I would feel just as much rage. I would probably want to burn the country down too. Being raped, having a pregnancy forced on him, your relentless teasing after having everything he loved taken from him. It all adds up. And, as king, you had a responsibility to put all of the past aside and be a noble and kind King. You failed at that. You had a duty to train and help your sister in her new path. As sisters, you could have been allied against your family’s enemies. But you made each other enemies, and now the people are stuck in the middle. You are marching your army to your doom.”

“Then what am I supposed to do as Serinina burns York?”

“it's too late for them now. York will burn.” Actonia said. “But you could keep your army here and defend Denaerk. Make her come here and face a city defended by forty thousand of your best. Her army would be nearly broken trying to attack that. And you have your citadels.”

“Nothing we have can counter the gods that support her. I was supposed to be the vessel of a Goddess, but she doesn't seem able to help me like she once did. I feel we have been abandoned.”

“We have,” Actonia accused. “Thanks to you, Patinea.”

Xxxxxx

A triumphant smile spread across Serinina's face. She waited in anticipation. Her enormous trebuchets relentless battering had caused a small section of the top of the wall to collapse in a heap of dust and stone. But that wasn't what she was smiling about. It was about to happen. She just waited in anticipation. Then it finally happened as her trebuchets kept launching their stones at the wall.

An enormous section of the outer wall totally collapsed in on itself. Her tunnelers had done their job. A huge section of the wall was now a large pile of stone and floating dust. There was still the inner wall, but the outer wall was breached. Serinina charged in with her army into the defenders guarding the breach of their outer wall.

Serinina yelled as they charged in, “Leave none of them alive!”

Ares and his wife Serinina charged from the front. Fawnae’s army did their best to resist, but the thousand of them guarding the breach in their wall knew this was hopeless. Serinina and Ares charged into them, and it was a hopeless fight. Serinina slaughtered hundreds of them with her spear and her own hands. Her vision had turned red with bloodlust as she slaughtered them.

Not even Ares was as ruthless. He slaughtered another few hundred before Fawnae's army realized they were being defeated and retreated to the keep. They manned the inner wall and the keep. It was now time to fight for real. Serinina brought up her siege towers.

The Fawnae defenders watched in dread as Serinina’s enormous siege towers rolled forward, and their battering rams were placed next to the inner gatehouse. Ares and Serinina had already personally killed half of their army. And Serinina’s army controlled the outer walls and her archers and ballistae did their best to keep Fawnae's archers from harassing her army.

There was little threat to her massive armored siege towers as they were slowly pushed toward the inner defensive wall guarding the keep. The enemy archers poured arrows onto the siege towers to no effect. Serinina had designed them to be almost impregnable to enemy fire. The only thing that had a hope against them were the large catapults and ballistae, and most of them were taken out of action. There were a few left on the towers of the inner defensive wall but the Spartan Archers kept their fire on those towers to make sure they could not safely fire their weapons.

Serinina was in one of the leading siege towers waiting for it to approach the wall and lower its ramp. It was only a few more minutes now. Ares and Serinina waited for their moment as the tower was pushed up the hill. She heard the endless rain of arrows trying to damage the tower. Its bronze armor plate was all but invulnerable to arrow fire. The tower's heavy armor plating made sure that the enemy arrows could not puncture it. Her army was safe inside as long as a heavy catapult stone didn’t smash into the tower or a heavy ballista bolt slam into them. Serinina felt the tower slide into position. Its hooks pulled them into position. She lowered the ramp and ran out with a Spartan war cry, cutting down enemy swordsmen and pikemen by the dozens. The six large siege towers rolled into position and it was a massacre. The Fawnae knew they were defeated, and they tried to raise the white flag to no avail. There was no mercy by that point. Every single enemy defender of the keep was killed with no mercy. Serinina was in her bloodlust mode by that point. They killed the defenders and occupied the keep. The main citadel defending York had been taken. She spent another week rebuilding the damaged wall and making sure the citadel was garrisoned. Now it was time to besiege the city of York and burn it down.

She garrisoned York's citadel with four thousand of her troops. Then Serinina marched onto the city of York. Serinina guessed that this wouldn't be a long siege. Their defensive fortifications were already overrun. All they had left was their very formidable city walls and towers. Her army surrounded York and began building siege works. Then her trebuchets began launching huge stones at a point in the city walls. These walls weren't as thick or formidable as the walls guarding the Citadel. That was meant to be the main city defenses and it wasn't supposed to fall. The city was mostly defenseless when the citadel was taken.

She saw the wall start to buckle under her relentless bombardment by her trebuchets. Huge cracks began to appear on the face of the wall. It was about to collapse, and that was when she got in one of the largest siege towers and ordered her army to push them into position. The men began rolling the tower up to the wall and that was when York came out. They opened the gates and the towns commander came out waving a flag of truce. She got out and approached the commander when he said he wanted to discuss terms to save the city. He saw the Citadel fall and knew it was only a matter of time.

Serinina wouldn't accept any terms. “Your wall is about to fall. You know it. The towers will finish off the defenders. York will fall. There will be no terms Lord Fawnae. Open your gates and let us in. Or we will prolong this battle and the result will be the same. We will occupy and burn the city of York. The decision is yours.”

“Will you spare the city if we surrender,” Asked the commander hopefully.

Serinina shook her head. “No. You all watched as my life was taken from me. I intend to repay the favor. I will burn everything in Fawnae.”

He demanded in frustration, “How do you expect us to accept those terms?”

Serinina laughed cruelly, “I don’t expect you to accept it. It's just going to happen whether you accept it or not. There is no hope of resisting my army, Milord. Like my sex changing and my cruel and ambitious sister taking my crown. It's going to happen whether or not you accept it. What will happen is what will happen. I will destroy everything.”

The commander walked back into the city, wondering where Patinea's army was. Patinea had just formed and began marching out of Denaerk. They wouldn't be there for weeks. And even when they met Serinina's army, there was little hope of victory. Her army was totally outclassed by the Spartans. There really was no hope to be had here. Serinina had everything she needed to totally overrun the entire Golden Isles.

Serinina wondered why the commander of York insisted on the futile fight. But he did, so Serinina commanded her trebuchets to continue firing at the cracks in the wall. Serinina got in her siege tower and it rolled up to another section of the wall.

She felt the tower approach the wall, and its hooks launched out and grappled the edge. The hooks pulled them snug against the wall. Its ramp lowered, and they rushed into the defenders slaughtering them all.

Suddenly a huge section of the center of the wall buckled and totally collapsed into a heap of stone and dust. Her army rushed toward the center and she made sure they knew to spare the children in the city. Their army was to take the children into custody. Burn the rest.

Serinina and Ares overwhelmed the defenders and killed every one of the town's garrison. They invaded every house and took any child they saw. Then in no time, she saw smoke rising from York as an enormous fire began to spread among the dry wooden structures. York was burning. Everyone left in York was going to burn alive. Then they spread to the smaller towns and started burning them. They burnt the fields, crops, towns and the cities. The entire land of Fawnae was burning. Their children were taken to the port and were going to be resettled in Ansey or Sparta.

Xxxxxxxx

Patinea knew by now that this was a hopeless fight. As her army marched forward to meet the Spartans in Yorkshire in Fawnae territory. She knew this was not going to be like her war during the Restoration. This army was a lot larger and they were a lot more powerful than Ansey’s had ever been. They had all seen Serinina's power. They saw Hades' power when he killed Elverus and they saw Edwyn's dead body. This was about as hopeless of a fight as you can get. They were fighting gods, and she thought she had a goddess supporting her. But either that Goddess had abandoned her or Serinina was more powerful than that Goddess. Either way, the Goddess was going to be no help here. But she had to fight to preserve her country. It was her duty.

She had received news of Serinina’s cruelty. They burnt the entire city of York. It was one thing to hear about it, but it was still shocking when they approached York to see the city burnt down. Even from a distance, it was something totally horrifying. Then she saw her sister's triumphant face nearly hidden in the craw of her black cloak she often wore.

Serinina said, “Don't look so surprised. This is all your doing. None of this would have happened if you hadn't abused me. If you had just allowed me to become king. But you caused this. Now you must all pay.”

It was clear that the entire lands and holdings of Fawnae were all burnt down. This was a total scorched earth campaign. Patinea's heart wept at the total destruction before her and she finally realized what her cruelty had caused.

Patinea and her generals approached Serinina as she stood in the center of the open field overseeing the destruction of the City of York.

“So sister, does it make you proud to have killed so many people and destroyed their hopes and dreams?”

Serinina smirked in triumph and pleasure, “Absolutely. I see the look of pain on Lord Fawnae's face here. It pleases me very much. I saw him watching that day and made no move to help me at all, even if he knew I was the rightful heir. This is his penance. He gets to watch the hopes and dreams of his beloved people crushed the way mine was. I am very proud of what I have done. Are you proud, my dear cruel sister? Does what you did give you any feeling of pride?”

“It's not about pride,” Patinea tried to explain. “It's about our duty to our people as a sovereign. It's one that I think you would understand by now. Your people are all over Europe. The areas under your control. I did what I did so I could protect and help my people. It was about a duty entrusted to me by the Goddess.”

Serinina snorted rudely, “You did feel pride and a lot of personal pleasure for what you did to me. Is that why you killed our father to claim his crown from his son? Why you had me impregnated by your dark magic and let my rapist go free? While you had me humiliated continuously? The Goddess had little to do with that, it was your selfish and cruel desire to destroy me, dear sister. You are a monster ruling with monsters.”

Patinea chuckled sardonically, saying, “You call me a monster. You destroyed the entire area of Guenafer. Killing over fifty thousand people. You kill everyone in York and the surrounding towns and cities here. All are totaling up to probably near a million people. You dare call anyone else a monster?”

“I know what I did was heartless and cruel,” Serinina pointed out. “But it's all on you, you made this happen with your cruelty toward me. And you had our own father murdered. You sent him into that ambush, knowing he was likely to be killed. All so you could have the crown. You did what you did to me, and let's not forget what you did to that poor guy you call Feather. You stole all of his strength and consigned him into being a maid in the palace. Don't you try to take the high ground here, dear sister. I know what you did. There's no high ground here. We are all monsters ripping this country apart. But I am what you made me. I am your creation. You should be very proud of that.”

“I didn't have anything to do with my father's death,” Patinea protested. “That was Actonia. I had no idea what he was hunting when he went out that day.”

“You don't expect me to believe that, do you,” Serinina said harshly. “You knew, you all knew. It was all so you could become the king. You murdered our father and stole his crown from his body. You destroyed his only son so you could take his place. Don't try to fool me, you liar.” Serinina roared accusingly, pointing a finger at her. “And I have proven I am far superior to you. You should have left me in charge. These people would have still been living.”

“Everything you have done proves I am the superior leader. You have the blood of nearly a million on you right now. And it will rise. I am a better leader.”

Serinina laughed, “You can try to say that on the remains of your shattered army. Sister. You don't think you can win this, do you,” Serinina looked into Patinea's eyes.

“Yes, just like I have done up till now. I can win this.” Patinea boasted as Serinina walked away, laughing. She called, “Hades, Azazel. Are you ready?” She had a feeling.

Both replied yes as she approached her army, looking up into the sky. And then it happened. Dozens of huge griffins and hundreds of Sun Hawks appeared and descended on her army. She floated up and struck down dozens of them with her bolts.

A roiling black mist appeared over her army. It was Hades as he struck out. Hundreds of sharp projectiles flew out from his cloud, striking every creature that tried to attack from the air. They were all struck down within minutes. Azazel appeared in his dragon form eating and devouring every creature.

Patinea watched helplessly and roared in frustration as her aerial attack totally failed, just as Serinina said it would. She warned her, and then it was over. She roared in an enhanced booming voice, “I warned you, sister not to try it. It failed, and now we will exterminate the entire race of griffins and the great sun hawks. Future generations will know a world without them. These great creatures will only become things of myths and legends. Thanks to your foolishness. And now, destroy her army.”

Serinina marched forward with her husband to meet Patinea's army. Her army followed her as they clashed. Serinina and Ares did the most damage, crushing everyone they encountered. Patinea's army was amazed and horrified at Serinina's speed and strength. They had not known such powerful women, and mostly, they were raised in a very sexist and misogynistic religion, so seeing a woman march forward, killing everyone they encountered was unbelievable. It was all over very quickly. Serinina and Ares had no mercy. They slaughtered everyone. Even when they tried to lower their swords and surrender, Serinina had them all killed. She killed everyone from the lowest soldiers to the lords and generals. She only spared Patinea and had her put in chains.

“Your army is crushed, now there is no more royal army. Your crown and your throne is mine. Dear sister, you are now a slave.”

Then she turned to her army and shouted, “Now, march toward Denaerk.
It's throne is mine by right of conquest, and birthright that was stolen from me.” Serinina took Patinea's crown and placed it on her own head in full view of her army. Patinea looked up and sneered as Serinina placed the humiliating and demeaning princess tiara on her head.

“I expected to get this crown of the Denae Kings and I got the princess crown instead. I got humiliated and demeaned while you held power over me. That has been corrected, you sadistic bitch. This belongs to you, and I will have you buried in it! It will be on your head for all time, you cruel bitch!” Serinina snarled in pure hatred. Even Patinea was now afraid.

Serinina enjoyed seeing that demeaning crown on his sister's head again. “You deserve everything you are going to get.” Then she viciously slapped Patinea with such force that blood poured out of her split lip.

Her army marched away from the slaughter, and the still smoking city of York. They headed south toward the city of Denaerk.

From there, Serinina and her army marched into Denaerk with Patinea as prisoner. It was a rough march for Patinea trying to keep up with them, wearing heavy iron chains. There was no mercy on her. Any time she faltered or fell back, Patinea received a lash from a whip or a pole from Serinina. Serinina was showing a real sadistic streak now. Her sister was really enjoying this more than she should.

Patinea knew this was coming. She knew Serinina was going to reclaim the throne, and when she did, Patinea was going to receive no mercy. She was going to be beaten and treated as a common criminal under Serinina's sadistic pleasure. It was just about as much pleasure as Patinea received seeing her arrogant sexist brother live the life women were consigned to live.

As for Serinina, this was one of the moments she had been waiting years for. Serinina waited for years to see her sister deposed and in chains as the traitor she was. Serinina didn't want Patinea to die. There were much worse things than dying, and Patinea was going to experience them all, just as she experienced the horror. What Patinea did to her was a total horror, and Patinea was going to pay for it.

She didn't want to have to put Denaerk under siege and destroy its walls. They approached the walls, and the gates were opened. The guards knew what was going on and let the Spartans in, Serinina marched in with her Spartan army. Her army quickly took possession of the city. They set up patrols and searching for the traitors that betrayed her as Serinina. Her personal guard marched into the palace with Patinea in chains. She had a brief thought to burn it, but she needed the palace to establish her control. Her hundred thousand Spartans helped, but this pretty much made it official.

She went into the throne room, it was now her throne. This had been the moment that she had been waiting years for. The moment when she claimed the crown of her homeland and the throne that was stolen from her. Serinina turned and sat on her throne for the first time. It was all finally hers. She turned to Ajax and Emily and gave her first order.

“Ajax, take fifty thousand of the troops and march west toward the Malnae lands and occupy them. Then use the list and find any members of the Malnae family and bring them here. They are the final area we need.”

“Emily, take the army out and occupy the surrounding towns and cities. Make sure they are all loyal and find the remaining members of the Wensae's, Onsey's, Fawnae's, and Malnae's. Bring all of the families that are seeking shelter. Denaerk has fallen to me, and I am the law now. Everyone who betrayed me will die. Every single member of those families is now an enemy of the kingdom. All of them are traitors of the crown. Find them, and I will deal with them all,” Said Serinina in a majestic and cruel voice. She was sitting on her throne and wearing her royal crown of Danae.

Patinea was kneeling beside the throne wearing her heavy irons and was horrified at Serinina’s first royal command. Not that it was a surprise at all. She heard of the slaughters in Onsey and the Wensae. She knew this was coming when Serinina established her control, and there was no avoiding her revenge.

“So your first royal command as our King is to order general roundups. Do you realize there will be thousands? All of the remaining members of the main line of the Wensaes and Onseys that didn't make it out. In addition to the main and secondary and removed members of the Fawnaes and Malnaes. You just ordered them all to be taken and brought before you, sister. You are turning out to be a very great king.” Said Patinea sarcastically.

Serinina laughed, “This is not intended to be merciful in any way. It is not noble. I intend nothing short of revenge against everyone who sidelined, ignored, or abused me. I intend to deliver a message that they made a very costly error, dearest sister. It will be the last error of their entire family. They should have sided with me and helped me force you out. They didn’t, and now they must pay for their treason. I was the rightful heir, not you.” Serinina shouted. “You should have never claimed my crown. This will all be on you for what you did.”

“If I had not claimed the crown,” Patinea nearly snarled, “I would have ended up as Rhoontick's wife bearing his children and never doing anything I dreamed of. I would have been consigned to be his wife. I had to stop that life.”

Serinina smiled a horrifying evil wicked smile that sent ice shards down her spine. “You will wish you were his loving wife after what I have in mind for you, dearest sister. Being that man's wife will seem like a dream. I have a much, much worse fate in mind for you now as a traitor to the crown. There's a brothel waiting for you.” She laughed a horrifying cruel laugh as Serinina began removing Patinea's stolen strength. She felt her body weaken. Her strength diminished to that of a usual girl her age. She slumped in defeat.

Her dungeons were filling with the traitors who turned their backs on her and it wasn't even close to being finished. They had rounded up hundreds of traitors, and they had many hundreds more to round up from the Noble families.

Serinina received news that another hundred thousand families had landed from Sparta and were going to make a life here. And now she had the leadership of the Hekatin standing before her. Falconette looked at her with a sneer. “So you got everything you wanted, Serinina. You are again wearing a crown, you are sitting on your father's throne. It's what you have been fighting for since that day, and now it's here. You must be so proud. You shot down your dear sister, put her in chains, and forcing her to service military men at a local brothel. Take her to the dungeon.”

“The Hekatin are still here.” Serinina pointed out. “Not that they deserve to exist after what they did to an innocent, loving boy so long ago. But you are still here with your witches. Women have more rights under me than they did under the Maxis. As for my sister, she deserves it after what she did to me. She wanted to make me pay for living as a boy. She wanted me to experience all of the hardships women live through. She experienced none of it, it's about time she experiences it. Just like I did. I was raped, abused, and humiliated as a woman. While she held all of the power.”

Actonia got Falconette's attention and mentioned, “Remember to be nice. She has a set of orders already in place. All she has to do is sign them to make them official. Her royal order sixty-six to send the army out to round us all up and destroy us once and for all time. She wants to sign her royal orders to declare us all enemies of the crown and exterminate us. I have seen futures where she gladly sends her army after us. She will gladly sign those orders. Tread very carefully with her Falconette. Our lives now depend on it.”

Falconette looked up more submissively and asked, “So what have you called us here for?”

“I want to discuss peace with our religions. My idiot sister tried to make peace with the Church of Maxis. It didn't work well, but we mostly knew they would never accept a girl king. They would fight it and keep trying to kill her. Maybe I’m an idiot for thinking the Hekatin would ever accept a former boy follower of the Church of Maxis as their King, but I want to discuss peace between our two religions. Professor Falconette, will you accept me as your King?”

She shrugged. “You are a woman now, and you are a very devoted follower of a feminist religion and a strong warrior Goddess.” Falconette shrugged. “And I was upset that you rededicated the main temple of Actonia that your sister was having built. You rededicated it to your Goddess Athena, and you are teaching our children in the ways of Athena. I really don't have much problem with it at all. It's way better than Maxis. I am willing to discuss peace if you will have it.”

It was unsaid that it was far better than instituting royal order sixty-six.

“Good,” Serinina said. “Then let's discuss peace.”

They discussed and agreed to the particulars of a peace between their two religions, and Falconette had to make many humiliating concessions to the new order. But in the end, peace was signed between them. They just had to agree that the religion of Athena was the ruling religion of the Kingdom.

Falconette left humiliated. A new group was coming soon. The families of all that had betrayed Serinina.

Soon, her chamber was filled with thousands of people led there in chains. The cries of the condemned.

She spoke out loud, “You all ignored what my sister did to me while she ruled. You stood behind her while she destroyed my life and had me abused. I was raped, impregnated and humiliated beyond all reason and you stuck with her. That will have a cost. You are all to be executed. Except for your innocent children who will be adopted by loyal families to my regime. Your old order is gone. The New Order now reigns. I am the New Order.”

They were all led out to the courtyard where the executioner was waiting with his massive ax. A lot of heads were about to roll.

Serinina walked down to the prison level after dealing with the traitors and their children. That felt very good. She went to face her sister one last time.

She sat in her cell stripped of her royal garments. Now wearing a dirty gray lose fitting women’s prison outfit. Her legs were bound by heavy shackles. She looked up in angry defiance. “I never did this to you, not that the thought didn’t cross my mind but even I wasn’t that cruel.”

“That’s because you knew as a little teenage girl, I was little threat to your rule. At least until I started learning witchcraft. Then by the time you realized the threat it was too late. I was too strong to imprison. Don’t try to say you don’t deserve this my dearest sister. After what you did to me. It was a horror. I was raped because of you.” Serinina yelled in rage.

Serinina’s anger shook the very foundation of the palace. She struggled to get her anger under control. Patinea said, “You got everything you desired, and it looks like you win. I lose once again to you and I will get nothing but suffering and sadness. So, have you come to gloat?”

Serinina shook her head with a smirk struggling to get her anger under control. This was going to be something good. “I have come to give you an offer of everything you ever desired. I will make you a leader of a great empire on the eve of a great and massive war. You will get to lead them and fight to your hearts content. If you are willing to accept it, I will grant it to you. You can’t lead here. That’s my duty, but there are other nations that want a great leader. So, do you accept it?”

“Why would you do this for me?” Patinea asked in confusion.

“Because I really love you. I am angry at what you did, but I always loved you and I even told you that after what you did. You did make a good king. You were just very cruel to me. I think you hate me, but I always loved you. I just have a lot of suffering to recover from, but you were my dear sister. Even if you hated me with an uncontrollable rage. That hatred was wrong. The things I said were words said by an immature teenager. You weren’t that nice either.”

“I accept, but I suspect it’s a trick.” Said Patinea.

Serinina walked through the cells bars and embraced Patinea. Then there was a blinding light and everything shifted around them. Suddenly they seemed to be standing in some sort of strange and huge palace throne room. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. She was wearing some very strange scarlet royal robes. She was surrounded by adminsitrators.

Serinina spoke, “No one can see me. The year is 1893. You are the elder sister and had just secured the backing of the priests of the church and many of the nobles. They now support you against your younger brother Nicholai. He has just found out and that’s him coming in to confront you. Be aware.”

Nicholai rushed in with a red face pointing a finger, “Sister Patinea, how could you do this to me?”

She tried to look innocent but then said, “Why should you rule just because you are the eldest boy. I am older and would make a better ruler. I am sorry Nicholai.” Her accent and her language was very different and turned to look at Serinina.

“You speak a different language but you know it. That was a good response. And also, some of this empire’s greatest emperors were female.”

Nicholai’s features softened. Then he said, “That’s okay. I love you my sister. But my problem is that you were going to spring them on me in a few hours. I never wanted to be the emperor. It was thrust on me by our father Alexander. I never wanted it. I don’t think I will be very good at it. Our greatest leaders were women. Ekaterina, Katherine, Victoria, they were our greatest and most beloved Empresses. Just in the past few hundred years, the priests got their head stuck in their ass with incompetent male leaders. Had I known you wanted this, I would have gladly stepped aside for you. I had no idea, and then you pull this humiliating coup on me. You never needed to. But now we have a problem with me. I am afraid.”

“I won’t have you hurt or imprisoned.” Patinea responded.

Nicholia relaxed, “Good, but being our father’s chosen heir will pose a problem. You must exile me. I will go to New York.”

“I accept that,” Patinea responded. Then they discussed the matter for a few more minutes. Then she started discussing the specifics for her upcoming surprise coronation as the Tzarina.

Then she waited until everything was set and made her grand entrance into the throne room. The nations flags were hoisted. The finely dressed priests were awaiting as the music blared. She swaggered into the throne room as the head priest announced as she sat down holding the scepter. “I name Patinea, Tzarina of all Russia. Tzarina of Siberia. Tzarina of Lithuania. Tzarina of Estonia. Tzarina of Poland.” And he read off all of the areas she controlled. She wondered how fucking massive this empire really was. It just went on and on.

Then Serinina appeared behind her throne and whispered. “Just beware. There is a great war coming in around twenty years and your empire is very unprepared. Years of mismanagement and a refusal to enact any modernization is going to cost you. But you have twenty years until 1914. But if things continue as they are, it won’t be good in any way. And be very wary of a man named Vladimir Lenin. Then Serinina vanished and went back to her own time.

Just then, Ajax and a few of his people approached the throne. “My Lord, I fear we have been betrayed. You told us that the Hekatin were going to be executed. But you let them live at Ansey and now you sign a formal peace. You told us that the children of the nobles were going to become our servants. But you let them all be adopted by loving parents. You lied to us!”