Princess in a new world

By Jasmine Monica
King Patinea faces her destiny and the consequences for what she did to her brother
Chapter 5

Patinea had spent the final few hours sitting in her own private office in her palace. It was her own office and her own throne for a few more hours, at least. She had received reports of an impossible number of ships on the horizon descending on their shores. The Saxons had arrived in a fleet of thousands of ships.

In their greater days, they may have had the forces to resist this invasion, but they didn't have the army or the numbers anymore. Their army was crushed by her own vindictive sister months ago. She drafted and conscripted as many as possible. However, it was still nowhere near enough to resist the tens of thousands of veteran Saxon troops crashing on their shores. This was the final hour of her kingdom. It was the end

Patinea now knew she had a horrible mistake stealing the crown from her brother. In doing so, it seemed right at the time, but she did it in such a horrific, cruel way that it was bound to inspire much resentment and hate from her brother. There was going to be no peace after that, and no way to rectify their relationship at all. Her brother hated her with everything that he was from that point on. And that hatred grew into something horrible and evil. Her brother now sister spent every minute of her life plotting revenge and the downfall of her regime, and there was no way to stop it short of imprisoning her or killing her. Serinina made sure that she was too powerful and too supported to get rid of by that time she made her intentions clear. She had become a potent witch with many supporters behind her.

Sitting in her office, she now felt nothing but sorrow for what she did when she used to feel pride at finally wearing the crown and ruling the kingdom as a girl. But, she didn't feel pride now. She felt sorrow, sadness, and fear for what was coming, and she didn't blame her sister for what she did to her. Her sister was the victim of a horrific and cruel plot to destroy a young boy's life. A time when his family should have supported and rallied behind him, they all turned on him and destroyed him. He only returned the favor ten fold. And now, they were all about to be slaughtered or enslaved.

It was time to go out and make a last stand against Cedric the great, the Saxon king that was about to land on their shores.

They had a few more hours, so Patinea decided to take one final tour of her palace while it remained hers for the time being.

Patinea walked up the steps to her brother's old bedroom, and there wasn't much left. She made sure none of his old clothes were ever available to him anymore once they decided to force him to live a girl's life. She now realized how wrong they were to try to do that. It was a disgusting violation of his very life, ontop of what they already did to him.

But the room was stripped bare, and there was nothing left except for his old bed and some of his old weed stuffed in the counter. He practically lived on it after the change, it was probably the only way he could cope with the destruction of his life was to remain high.

So Patinea left Sarin's old bedroom and went into her own bedroom. There was still a lot there, but few things remained from her teenage years as the reigning princess under Sarin. But she went to the back in her art studio, and there was still a lot of her old work there.

One of the her paintings caught her eyes. There were others that she painted at sixteen and seventeen years old. Her standing on a field of battle holding a sword, there were a few of those, or of her as a pirate holding a sword. She wanted to live that life so bad that she did anything to break free of the confines of the life of a princess. She seized the crown with both hands to take that life she wanted to live and forced her brother into her old life she hated. She should have known all along that would be a disaster. It had only two possible endings. His suicide, or him breaking free, destroying them to live the life he wanted. That included killing her, which he came close to doing, but this was a much better ending for him. This would be much more satisfying for him to see her enslaved to a powerful king.

Patinea stood in front of the final painting she made on the days prior to her coronation as the King. This was a majestic painting of a grand and restored temple to the Goddess that she had intended to start building once her reign was secure, and the wars were over. This was never to be built, and the goddess religion was never going to be restored. The Goddess was never going to be freed.

Her brother made sure that her reign ended in failure and disaster. How could this have happened? Why.

She heard footsteps approach from behind. Her mother said in a voice dripping with sorrow. “Looking at your past are you, Patinea. I agree, there's a lot of sadness. I see you never got to rescue your sister like you thought you would. She became so powerful no one had to rescue her, she nearly killed everyone else.”

“Yeah,” Patinea said sardonically. “how could we have made such a mistake. I know we were wrong to do this.”

“We should have never listened to falconette and Celestia. They were full of hatred and wanted to see the reigning crown prince destroyed. We all should have known that plan would backfire. Sarin, like you, was his father's son just like you were his daughter. Born and raised, and had the same ambitions and unconquerable spirit. You proved it to your brother in an excruciating way. But that should have been it, then we should have guided him in his new life with love and compassion of a family.”

“It took long along, but you finally realized your error,” A loud, commanding voice was heard behind them. Aanya turned and saw the Goddess standing there in all of her glory. It was an image, not actually her.

“You all fucked it up so badly that it's unimaginable. Sarin could have been happy as a girl. That future could have really happened if patinea didn't take every chance she had to mock, torment, and belittle her constancy. And force her into a life of meaninglessness and powerlessness. She had the same personality as you and you should have known she would refuse to live that life and accept your constant torment Patinea. Your abuse filled her with such rage. And a very justifiable rage that I can't blame her for hating me and hating you. You all ruined this in such a spectacular way and condemned me to remain in this tomb. Your brother said I won't be restored, and he's refusing to even try in his time. Not that I can blame him, this is all on you two. I hope you are so proud, Patinea. You were so proud of what you achieved. Are you happy now?”

“No,” Patinea looked down at the ground. “I know we were wrong, and there's no correcting it now. There's nothing I can do to change a thing now. I am sorry, Goddess.”

“It's too late to be sorry. As Caesar said centuries ago, the die is already cast. What's going to happen will happen. Your kingdom will be conquered. Your fate will be worse than death. And so will your descendants, many more generations of your boys and girls, will be raised as slaves Patinea. If you had respected and loved your little sister, you two could have been an unconquerable force, and the kingdom would have remained stable and powerful. But no, you had to abuse your sister and unleash your bitterness you built up at him for so long. You were unable to let your resentment go. And he did what he had to. But I worry about your sister now, she still so filled with such hate that I don’t know what she will do. But whatever she will do, there's no way that world can stop her. She wants to become their queen, but I see her doing it in such a horrific way that her regime will look much like a fascist police state under your sister's iron fist. I see many possible futures like that. Its all thanks to you. But before she even begins to embark on something like that, she has to grow and learn in this world. And she will encounter your descendant. And I see her destroying that young girl's very life. She is the spitting image of you, and a very accomplished athlete on a team. Your sister will see her in school, she is very innocent but with the same forceful personality. It will enrage Sarinina, and I see her tormenting that girl, and having her repeatedly abused and violated by the worst boys. And no one will be able to stop it because of the power Sarinina wields.

“How are my descendants there?” Asked Patinea.

The Goddess laughed. “As you will see, you will have many daughters and sons over the next few decades. Not of your own will, and you will never see them. But you will have them, and they will all be enslaved. And that line will lead into the modern day where Sarinina now lives. I hope Sarinina can get her rage under control. But it's all thanks to you, Patinea. So give yourself a hand, you deserve all of the credit. You sadistic bitch.”

Then the Goddess vanished from sight, and they were standing there alone, looking at a painting of a glorious new temple to the Goddess that would never be built now. The golden age she had planned would never occur now. There was no hope, and Patinea realized she had no one else to blame but herself for the disaster that was going to befall them. And it was time to face their destiny now, and for the final time as a free woman, and as the King of her people. She looked at her mother with pain and sorrow in her eyes. “Its time for me to arm myself and meet my army for a final time, and to do what we can to resist the invasion. We know there is no hope, but we have to try to fight them.”

Patinea marched down the steps and went into her armory, where her people stripped off the clothes she was wearing and suited her up in her military uniform and the armor plate of a warrior. She strapped her sword justice on her belt for a final time.

Even seeing that cursed sword brought her shame. It was supposed to be her brother's sword, passed from her father to her brother. It was the sword that she stole from him on transforming him to her little sister and then mocking her lack of strength for no longer being able even to pull the sword out. She wasn't much stronger than he was as a girl, but her armors magical ability gave her much enhanced strength to wield and fight with the sword. There was little reason she couldn't have allowed her sister to confront her with. But she wanted to humiliate and sideline Serinina. And she realized how cruel it was all and why her sister felt she had to fight her. Her own family had become her enemy, and by that, the entire kingdom she ruled.

She felt no pride wearing this armor and marching down to meet her army. She used to feel such male pride and swaggered around like a man wearing a knights armor and a sword. She felt no pride now after realizing what it cost her, and what it all resulted in. She considered what she was going to say and determined on the truth being the best course now. She was going to admit her mistake, and what led to this final moment and inspired them to fight on for their freedom.

She rode her horse out to the edge and standing in front of her army. It was a pitiful shadow of the army she once led that numbers in the tens of thousands of heavy swordmen pikemen archers and heavy cavalry and scouts. The army she marched out of the city with to wage war against the rebellious Ansay's upon her seizing the crown from her brother. She defeated them, and Ansay's army routed and fled from her.

Now, sitting here on her horse looking at what was left of the noble houses armys standings in formation in front of her. The Malnae's, Wensay's, and Fawnae's army is what was left. When there were tens of thousands of solider's stretching out for miles, there were now a few hundred at most. It was a pitiful shadow of what they were once. They all knew they were fighting a losing battle, and there was indeed no hope of victory now.

“I thank you all for coming to my aid one final time. You are what is left of our great army. Thank you for your house's support. Malnaes, Fawnae Wensays and the Denae. Thank you for your loyalty in this time of need. I admit that I made a horrible mistake in the way I dealt with my brother and taking his crown. The mistake led to the fracturing of our family, and his rebellion against me that was mostly successful in destroying our houses, and the great armys we led. My sister destroyed us, and provoking her rebellion and her rage was my mistake when I should have loved and cared for her. I treated her cruelly. This is my fault, and I'm sorry for leading us to this. But what is done has been done and we can't go back. We all know that this is the end. There is no hope for a victory beyond this point. The Saxons will land on that shore, they will march on us, and we don't have the forces to even hope for a victory anymore. They will defeat us, and we will be occupied and destroyed. So we have a choice to surrender, lay down our arms and hope for mercy from the Saxon's”

The army was filled with a bitter laugh that let her know what they thought of that option. She happened to agree.

“Or we can fight to the last man and woman and make them pay for the victory with as much blood as we can possibly draw and show them that we can still be a formidable force against them. So what will we choose?” Patinea demanded

And the pitiful army in front of her raised their swords and shouted fight.

“We fight to the end!” Patinea shouted, wishing her brother was here, perhaps he could have pulled off a victory here, but if he were still here and willing, then he would have never fought them in the first place. It was not to be.

“They will land within the hour,” Patinea shouted. “We will rush them before they are able to get their army organized and ready to advance upon us. We won't allow them that luxury. We will rush their forces while they are still landing and organizing their forces into formation. We will strike before they are ready and hope that is enough to stop them.” She knew it wouldn't be, and they would be overwhelmed. But it was all that was left.

So they all stood along the shore, watching the Saxon ships sail closer and closer within the hour. They reached the shore and anchored. Then the heavily armored Saxons rushed out with their swords drawn yelling in their germanic language.

Patinea and her lords shouted, “Attack” And they drew their swords for one final time and rushed the Saxon forces as they were departing their ships. They never got the chance to get into battle formations before Patineas forces reached them and attacked. The attack was as successful as possible. The damage of their attack far outweighed the meager forces they had, and they killed thousands upon thousands of the Saxons before they were able to organize a response. But it was nowhere near enough.

Patinea destroyed entire Saxon battalions up to their leading lords but they had many more battallions and army landing and there was no way to get to them all before they organized a response. The wings of the landings swung onto Patineas army and attacked from the sides and from behind as they were pushing forward. Patineas battle lords and her army were finally overwhelmed. The great houses lords fell for a final time, they were slaughtered. Patinea was knocked out and drug onto the shore where she finally woke with a headache and bleeding from the blow to her head. She was no longer wearing the crown and her hands were chained. She looked up.

“So you are the Girl King Patinea.” Said the man in an icy tone. “You were brave but you knew there was no chance you could beat my army. I am King Cedric of Wessex. Your army is defeated, and you and a few lords are all that are left. Your army is crushed, you, lord Fawnae are all that is left.”

“How did you know me,” Patinea asked, wondering.

“I met Serinina before embarking. She went to me months ago and told me all about your kingdom, what happened to her, and she gave me the funds, gold and motivation to land here. And she told me about you, King Patinea and we agreed on your fate. You will become my breeding slave. That's it. You will be a prostitute for my army. Breeding boys and girls to populate the land with more slaves. That's all. That's what Serinina wanted, and I agreed.”

She was a hostage to the Saxons marching onto the great palace that was their home. She watched as the Saxons rushed in, slaughtering everyone that was in there. They burnt the entire palace to the grown. Patinea wept as her home was burnt and crumbled to the ground.

Then Their King shouted, “We have a list of the remaining witches. Get them and burn them. Falconette, Lady Fawnae, Actonia. Danala, Celestia, find them all and everyone else that is in the girl's school. Kill them all. The rule of man has been reestablished.”

By now, Patinea wasn't surprised that the Saxons had the names and identities of all of the witches and to kill them all. This was her sisters doing also. All of the witches were rounded up, and they were set on fire. The women's screams would haunt her until the end of her days.

The Saxons set up crude huts to live in, and she was locked in one of them. King Cedric himself came into her prison and began stripping off his clothes. She cried knowing what was about to happen and she said under her breath, “Serin, you bastard. Is this what you really wanted to happen to me.”

And she closed her eyes as the hulking Saxon king descended on her pinning her arms over her head. She could not fight this, and she knew that this was going to happen over and over and over for the rest of her life. There was nothing she could do to stop the repeated violations. Then she remembered that Serinina had also been violated in the same way. Something had made her pregnant against her will. She knew her brother was very vengeful and angry. This was her final revenge.

Then she got to watch the formation of the Kingdom of Wessex under its brutal King Cedric. All while a few of the other Saxon Lords visited her during the day and she knew she was going to be pregnant by the end of the week.